ICE Student

My Introduction to a Wood-Fired Pizza Oven

aday — Tue, 18 May 2021 18:10:42 +0000

My Introduction to a Wood-Fired Pizza Oven aday Tue, 05/18/2021 - 14:10 /sites/default/files/styles/width_1400/public/content/blog-article/header-image/Emily%20oven%20header.jpg.webp?itok=C-I_WqM2 A Student's First New York Kitchen Experience at Emily May 19, 2021

By ICE Student

Culinary Arts student Kristin Ambrosino went from working at a bank to enrolling in culinary school and initiated her restaurant experience at a popular pizza place from an ICE alum. Here's how the career change is going.

Indoor dining is closed. I have no restaurant kitchen experience. It's 11 a.m. on a pandemic Saturday in December, and I’m walking from my apartment in Brooklyn to my trail at Emily, a popular restaurant with a wood-fired pizza oven in Clinton Hill. Getting a trail was not easy, particularly since I was only one month into my culinary program at the time. Luckily, the owner of two Emily locations and Emmy Squared, ICE alum Matt Hyland (Culinary, '05), accepted my request. As I walk, I’m reviewing the flashcards that I made to memorize the 14 pizza names (e.g. “Lady Pizza Girl”) and the associated toppings (pecorino, harvarti, housemade ricotta, oregano, mushrooms, pickled chilis, fresh basil). This is my first trail, and I’m hoping it will lead to my first job in a restaurant kitchen.

Kristin in Culinary Arts class

I thought I might have some preparation for the trail because I spent a good amount of time in 2020 making the doughs and pizzas from Ken Forkish’s book, "Flour Water Salt Yeast." It turns out, my experience of making three relatively pizza-shaped pizzas at a time for consumption at home did not prepare me at all for stretching the dough at the restaurant to the perfect size, shape and thinness for 200+ pizzas a night. I struggled to stretch the doughs during that first afternoon, but I nailed the toppings. By the end of the shift, I was offered a part-time job and I accepted.

It was a relief to have gotten through this part of the process, but there were still some lingering fears that I had to work through as I came to the restaurant after Culinary Arts classes and on weekends for my initial shifts. I wondered:

Am I going to get trapped in the walk-in refrigerator if I let the door close behind me?
Can I stand for this long?
Am I going to cut my fingers off if I use the mandolin?
Will I get electrocuted if I stick the point of a pen into the Robot Coupe to make it work while it is plugged in?
What if I fall down the stairs when I have to carry a heavy pot or tray of something from the kitchen to the basement?

While these fears may have been unfounded, they stemmed from my prior work experience. Prior to attending ICE, I served as the head of underwriting for a large portfolio at a bank, meaning my job was to identify and evaluate risks. I quickly realized that none of these concerns was an issue. I learned how to consistently and successfully stretch the dough, going by feel to adjust my technique as conditions evolved throughout a given shift with changes in time and temperature. As I progressed through more modules at ICE, I applied the techniques I learned in class, especially as my role expanded to include executing a lot of the prep work and working on the hot line making burgers, wings, etc.

During all of this, I was still working to conquer the wood-fired pizza oven. The concept seems straightforward: Use the pizza peel to slide between the uncooked crust and the marble counter, pick up a pizza, and place it into the appropriate spot in the oven. I quickly saw that this was not the pizza-making that my grandmother had done. For 20 years, she had gone once a week to make pizzas at a restaurant in Pennsylvania called Sabatini’s, which I only learned from my dad after starting this job. According to her, pizza making was simply putting the pizza in one side of the oven and taking it out the other side. At Emily, the pizzas go in and out of the same side. In addition, the oven is solely powered by a pile of burning wood. There are many variables in this rustic form of cooking – oven heat and floor heat are impacted by the size of each log, how warm a log is when it is placed into the oven, how long each one has been burning for, whether it is placed directly on the oven floor or elevated, whether the log is on an upward slope or not. This all changes how the pizzas cook.

Emily's pizza oven

The placement of the pizzas in the oven and the dough characteristics also impact how the pizzas cook. For instance, a warm day may cause a lot of bubbles to form in the dough once it is in the oven, and these need to be popped by reaching in with a long hook without poking through the bottom of the crust. The pizzas also don’t sit still the whole time in the oven. They need to be rotated and repositioned to ensure even and correct cooking.

Fire management aside, getting the pizzas in and out of the oven was not easy. I’ve crumpled a pizza into the back wall of the oven when I didn’t realize how fast it was going to come off of the front of the peel. I’ve had a lapse in hand-eye coordination and slammed the peel into the lip of the oven opening, dumping the raw pizza (and all of the thousands of little bits of grated cheese) into the wood bin below. I’ve been too slow pulling the peel out from under a pizza in the oven, stretching it into the oblong shape of a racetrack.

Kristin (third from left) and her class present pastries.

But you know what? Throughout this whole experience, I learned. I made mistakes, I saw others make mistakes, and I saw it be okay. I figured it out. People helped me figure it out. I picked up, placed and cooked four pizzas at a time in the oven, repeatedly, for a full shift. I left the restaurant feeling happy after every shift. I got a raise. When the time came to secure an externship, Matt connected and recommended me to his contacts in the restaurant business. My next step is an externship at the recently Michelin-starred Rezdora, where I am looking forward to learning refined Italian cooking techniques. I am excited to continue to see where my culinary journey takes me.

In case they read this, I want to personally thank Matt, Meg, Sammy, Jack, Shaq, Juan, Dan, Juan Carlos, Jeremy and Deon for a truly amazing first New York kitchen experience.

Start your culinary journey at ICE's New York campus.

Pizza Externship Career Changer Culinary Arts

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ICE Pastry Students and Alumni Collaborate to Elevate the AAPI Community

aday — Tue, 27 Apr 2021 17:56:22 +0000

ICE Pastry Students and Alumni Collaborate to Elevate the AAPI Community aday Tue, 04/27/2021 - 13:56 /sites/default/files/styles/width_1400/public/content/blog-article/header-image/bakers%20box%20header.jpg.webp?itok=3iR36iL3 Photo by Ben Hon Pastry & Baking Arts student Stephanie Loo shares the success of a storytelling Bakers Box. April 27, 2021

By ICE Student

The vision for With Warm Welcome has been to amplify and humanize Asian American chefs, restaurateurs and founders by producing podcasts, programming experiential events and creating meaningful collaborations.

In mid-March, Arnold Byun, founder of With Warm Welcome (WWW), approached me with the idea of doing a Bakers Box after being inspired by the efforts of Bakers Against Racism last year. As an avid podcast listener, I had stumbled upon With Warm Welcome’s podcast months back and reached out to Arnold via Instagram saying that I loved the work that they were doing and asked if there was any way to get involved.

ICE Pastry & Baking Arts student Stephanie Loo

Fast forward to the last day in March, and Volume 1 of our Bakers Box project was a huge success. The idea behind Bakers Box was to provide a medium to share the stories of talented individuals who are creating their own paths forward in the world of pastry. The boxes showcase the breadth of both emerging and established Asian American pastry people. Not only have we had the opportunity to give a platform to these pastry chefs, but we’ve also impacted the AAPI community at large through this project, giving a percentage of proceeds from each box to nonprofit organizations such as Apex for Youth and One Book One World.

The time between our initial call, when we were floating the still amorphous idea around, to the day of Bakers Box pick-ups was only about two weeks. We were working around the clock to coordinate with all 18 bakers and pastry chefs we featured, design marketing content and have illustrations drawn, and figure out all the logistics, operations details and packaging. It was an ambitious timeline, but we pulled it off through a herculean effort from our small but dedicated team at With Warm Welcome.

Photo by Ben Hon

We debuted Volume 1 in New York City, Volume 2 in Los Angeles and have many more cities lined up for the coming months including Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia and San Francisco, to name a few.

Many ICE and ICC alumni, who I have admired for years, were featured in our first two boxes including Joy Cho (Pastry, '19) and Shari Tanaka (Pastry, '12). I also had a chance to be one of the bakers in the initial box, along with my friend and fellow Pastry & Baking Arts student, Ying Ting Hu.

We’ve been so overwhelmed by the amount of support we’ve received from everyone involved in the project: Valrhona generously donated chocolate for the LA Bakers Box; Cha An Bon Bon, Steep LA and Paulie Gee's Logan Square graciously opened up their spaces to host us; the Los Angeles Times and Infatuation New York wrote about our project. In each of our first two cities, we made 100 boxes and sold out within 48 hours. Though what we’re providing is a box of sweets, it’s much more powerful than that. There is boundless Asian American talent across the country, and it’s a huge privilege to play a role in showcasing these individuals and their stories, which can be overlooked. This project has been particularly meaningful to me, especially in light of the recent anti-Asian violence across the country.

The ICE community has participated in similarly sweet activism: Pastry & Baking Arts Chef-Instructor Joseph Settepani contributed to New York Magazine's The Cookie Edit, a box of a dozen cookies from bakers around the city benefitting ROAR (Restaurants Organizing, Advocating & Rebuilding) this month; ICE alum Bisma Akhtar (Pastry, '19) participated in Bakers Against Racism in June; and Pastry & Baking Arts Chef-Instructor Tracy Wilk started #bakeitforward delivering cookies to frontline workers in 2020.

You can keep up with what we’re doing — and follow along on my culinary school journey — on Instagram @stephanieloobakes. Build your community of fellow bakers while establishing a foundation in Pastry & Baking Arts at ICE.

Pastry Arts Baking Arts Social Change Philanthropy Alumni Students

Amazing

Submitted by Becks on April 28, 2021 10:43am

Amazing work, Stephanie! This is incredible.

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Broadway Star Turned Culinary Student

aday — Wed, 14 Apr 2021 14:41:27 +0000

Broadway Star Turned Culinary Student aday Wed, 04/14/2021 - 10:41 /sites/default/files/styles/width_1400/public/content/blog-article/header-image/Micaela%27s%20class%20header.jpg.webp?itok=L7D00D7- Micaela's Culinary Arts class wore custom aprons on their final day on campus. Here's how Micaela Diamond changed titles from Cher to Chef. April 15, 2021

By ICE Student

Micaela Diamond shares her shift from the performing arts to culinary arts and how both creative dreams became realities in New York City. After Broadway shutdown during the pandemic, she enrolled at the 51�Թ�, and now her stomach sings.

Before the pandemic, I found myself performing for Hillary Clinton, Kim Kardashian and a slew of other celebrities that made my life feel a bit like a dream. I had just graduated from high school and was making my Broadway debut as Cher in “The Cher Show.” It was a complete dream come true, and the years of practicing my signature for the stage door in my chemistry notebook were finally paying off.

It was the summer before I was supposed to leave for Carnegie Mellon University, one of the top musical theater schools in the country — on a full ride — and I got an audition to play “Babe.” I knew nothing of Cher besides hearing “I Got You Babe” in various Duane Reades around the city and so this audition felt somewhat useless. I threw on some bell bottoms and straightened my Jewish, curly, blonde hair and went to one of the biggest casting offices in New York. Callback after callback, I did more research learning about Cher's music, her Oscar, her bajillion boyfriends, and her plastic surgery (she did not remove her bottom two ribs, I confirmed this rumor with her, personally!). She had quite the life, and maybe, just maybe, I could pull this off. And then, unbelievably, I did. So the next two years of my life were filled with wigs, lower back pain, a Tony Awards performance (basically the James Beard Awards of theater), and a new platform my Gen-Z self was excited to use to make small change. There were 90 million highs and 10 million lows, and that’s about the ratio of life that makes you wonder how you got so lucky. At least for me.

Throughout these two years, there were also endless thoughts surrounding food. These thoughts ranged from, "How do I look smaller in this 1-inch skirt Bob Mackie (basically David Chang of fashion) personally tailored for me?" to, "Cooking food is the most delicious, beautiful and comforting process in the whole world!" I cooked a lot, and I ate a lot. I was navigating my thoughts about being smaller and simultaneously navigating New York food in a bigger way than when I grew up here, frequenting farmers markets and my favorite hole-in-the-wall places, like Nana Thai on 21st street, or making an excuse to fine dine at Blue Hill.

After Cher and a quick stint in LA to do a fun Coen brothers' play, I traveled to Paris. For my last night, I ate at L’Avant Comptoir in St. Germain with my lover. We got a bottle of orange wine and ate until our stomachs sang. The level of “worth it” after that trip was so high that I started to ask when and why fueling my own body had to be earned or deserved in the first place. The idea of feeding myself food that made me happy, nostalgic and full went home with me. It became this joy I kept chasing in my own home kitchen and slowly but surely, I bought new jeans and cooked cheesy lasagnas and then ... the pandemic hit.

Theater plays its part in shaping the heart of New York similar to the way food does. Being an actor, I formed a relationship with 1,400 people every night, hopefully transforming them in some small way while I trusted them with my heart for two hours and 15 minutes. The Broadway theaters became silent, like so many other buildings in New York, and this jolt of transformation from 55th to 39th Street at 7 p.m. every night was gone. Thousands of actors, stage managers, choreographers and dressers desired this connection while struggling with an intense loss of identity. Who were we without this jolt?

I was one of the lucky ones. I kept finding myself a little more each time I turned on the oven or tried a new recipe. I found this passion for food that could fill me up and let me explore my creativity in a different way. This passion has only grown since I started Culinary Arts classes at ICE in September. I am now making fried onions at Vic’s downtown under Chef Hillary Sterling, and let me tell you, those onions make my stomach sing.

The hustle of restaurant work and theater have so many similarities. The physical labor and hours, the passion and the pressure — these are things I am somewhat used to, but there is a complete and utter new-ness and challenge to all of it. It has saved me in so many ways. How I will combine the two loves of my life is the question, but one I am lucky enough to even ask myself. Cooking at our core is so simply and completely intertwined with our human instincts. Unlike bursting into song when you fall in love, but what can I say? It’s fun. Both tell stories and inadvertently tell the ones we as individuals are drawn to. Asking myself, "Why this one?" "Why this plate/character?" "This cuisine/story?" Hopefully, through answering the hard questions, we begin to lift one another’s voices and find that jolt and connection we all so dearly miss.

Explore a career change like Micaela with ICE's career programs.

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From a Career Crossroads to Croquembouche

aday — Wed, 31 Mar 2021 01:17:50 +0000

From a Career Crossroads to Croquembouche aday Tue, 03/30/2021 - 21:17 /sites/default/files/styles/width_1400/public/content/blog-article/header-image/Steohanie%20Loo%20in%20restaurant.jpg.webp?itok=3Py-KhT1 Pastry & Baking Arts student Stephanie Loo shares her path to pastry school. March 31, 2021

By ICE Student

Pastry & Baking Arts student Stephanie Loo finished business school and a finance internship before finally giving in to her passion for pastry. Today, she's pursuing a fine dining career next door to the global bank she left behind. Here's how she came to enroll at the 51�Թ� after gaining experience at Philadelphia restaurants.

In many ways, coming to culinary school has been a decade-long dream in the making, with a lot of detours along the way. I didn’t grow up in a family that appreciated food or restaurants much, so it’s always been a mystery to my parents as to where my unbridled passion for pastry came from.

I was born and raised in New York City. Although I loved sweets growing up, it wasn’t until my high school years that I got more serious about baking and enrolled in a summer pastry program at the Culinary Institute of America. I fell in love with the idea of going to culinary school upon graduating but I had been accepted to the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, my dream Ivy League school. My parents pushed me to go to Penn, believing that it would be a better long-term path for me and convincing me that at 17-years-old, I might not be sure that I really wanted to pursue pastry. Ironically, it was my personal essay on baking bread that got me into the college.

As I made my way through finance, management and accounting courses at Wharton, I could not stay away from the kitchen. The tight-knit restaurant world in Philly welcomed me with open arms in so many ways. As a wide-eyed, eager and easily excitable freshman, I was fortunate enough to have Ellen Yin, restaurateur and two-time James Beard Award nominee, take me on as a pastry stagiaire at Fork and High Street. I worked in pastry on a weekday evening once a week, taking SEPTA down to Old City after my classes wrapped up for the day. I also had the opportunity to intern with Starr Restaurants after my sophomore year, learning the ins and outs of the business in Philadelphia and New York and being able to rotate through FOH and BOH positions at different restaurants. One of the coolest parts of my internship that summer was being able to see the opening days of Le Coucou here in New York City.

My love for food permeated other aspects of my college experience. During my junior year at Penn, I decided to do my exchange semester in Copenhagen, for the sole, express purpose of wanting to eat at Noma, the No. 1 restaurant in the world at the time. Back on campus, I ran a private supper club out of my dorm (offering a rotating six-course tasting), had the opportunity to be a teaching assistant for a food journalism class, and volunteered at different food events such as the James Beard Awards in Chicago and Cherry Bombe Jubilee in New York. I dined out in Philadelphia as much as I could — it’s truly one of the most exciting and underrated food scenes.

I immersed myself in the food world during college and at times, it felt like living a double life, always having one foot pursuing a traditional business path and one foot pulling me towards the culinary world.

Prior to my senior year, I landed a coveted internship at Goldman Sachs and it felt like being back at the crossroads I had experienced towards the end of high school. The Goldman Sachs office and the 51�Թ�, funnily enough, are right next to each other, and sensing towards the end of the summer that I wouldn’t be fulfilled with an office job, I scheduled a tour of ICE’s campus. Though it would still be three years later that I would bite the bullet and enroll in culinary school, I knew that I would be back someday.

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A post shared by Stephanie Loo (@stephanieloobakes)

It’s hard to express what my first few months of classes have been like. I’ve always loved learning, but feeling so much excitement about the things we’re producing in class each day keeps me going. Upon graduating, I’m hoping to work in fine dining, but we’ll see what the future holds for me.

If you’d like to follow along on the rest of my adventures through culinary school and beyond, you can do so here.

Bite the bullet like Stephanie by applying to career training at ICE.

Career Changer Pastry Arts Baking Arts Students

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How to Make Rasam

aday — Tue, 02 Mar 2021 23:32:04 +0000

How to Make Rasam aday Tue, 03/02/2021 - 18:32 /sites/default/files/styles/width_1400/public/content/blog-article/header-image/rasam%20header.jpg.webp?itok=nG-pGFfy The tart, subtly spiced broth packs flavor and health benefits. March 2, 2021

By ICE Student

Health-Supportive Culinary Arts student Nandini Ravichandran shares her recipe for the South Indian rasam, a specialty she grew up with.

Kitchens are always brimming with possibilities, and traditional Indian kitchens extend beyond feeding to healing. Growing up, it was very rare that we would go to a hospital for common ailments – my mother always had a trick up her sleeve and deftly used spices and concoctions to treat sickness. Cumin seeds in warm water could cure an irritated stomach, soaked fenugreek seeds helped with menstrual cramps, turmeric in hot milk with a pinch of black pepper boosted general immunity (eons before the age of golden lattes!). We chewed on a clove to soothe an achy tooth or applied a paste of fresh turmeric as an antiseptic for all the bruises from childhood accidents - everything in the kitchen had a role to play in our daily body care. A true homage to the notion that we are what we eat, traditional Indian kitchen wisdom believes that body care is about making daily adjustments to our diet in response to weather, illness, our surroundings and other external factors.

The food that is front and center in a South Indian kitchen, when it comes to its healing prowess, is the humble rasam, a dish that is said to have originated to treat a sick royal prince. Befitting, rasam is basically a broth that is characteristically tart (usually using tamarind as the souring agent), subtly spiced, and in most cases, made with minimal ingredients. It is a staple in South Indian households (and like many Indian foods, while its name varies by states, the essence is more or less the same).

Rasam was my mother’s weapon of choice in her kitchen apothecary arsenal. Whether it was a common cold, sore throat, stomach ache, frayed nerves or almost any other known malady, there was nothing that a piping hot bowl of rasam couldn’t cure. And I happily complied. I am not sure if it was actually medicinal, but a bowl of rasam was always the antidote that my mother promised it to be. The dish is a piquant combination of the sweetness of ripe tomatoes, the pucker-inducing tartness of tamarind, the fragrance of carefully chosen spices, and the exotic nuttiness of whole spices and curry leaves tempered in ghee and scattered on top.

As I delve academically into the healing properties of foods in the Health-Supportive Culinary Arts program at ICE, I can confirm that the halo around rasam's benefits wasn’t just homemaker wisdom. It wasn’t just the placebo effect that instantly fixed me up from whatever was ailing me. The composition of rasam is innately connected to health.

Rasam ticks at least three of the six rasas (tastes) that Ayurveda posits as being essential to overall well-being and health. I am no expert on Ayurvedic wisdom, but I've read that at least some elements of the six rasas – sweet, sour, salty, bitter, astringent and pungent – should be present for a food to fully benefit the body. And rasam is sweet, salty and sour – variations may even account for some of the other rasas.

The ingredients for rasam are specifically chosen for their nutritional value. According to cookbook author Usha Prabhakaran (she has chronicled 1,000 ways of making rasam in her upcoming book), there is a reason for each of the spices that go into making the podi (spice powder) that adds body and flavor to rasam. Black pepper is good for immunity, cumin helps with digestion, mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds have antioxidant properties, and coriander seeds are anti-inflammatory. Tamarind, which lends rasam its characteristic tartness, also has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, and ghee, which is used for tempering (and really brings the whole dish together), is a rich source of vitamins, healthy fats and antioxidants.

Each building block of the flavor bomb that is rasam has unique healing properties – so it is no wonder that rasam is the magic remedy that it is touted to be. It is the perfect dish for all seasons and all reasons. When winter blues get you down, have some spicy, peppery rasam to perk you up. If you are recovering from a cold or on the edge of one, have some garlicky rasam to open your congested sinuses. Or make yourself a rich tomato rasam just because you deserve it. Sip it like a soup, mix it with some overcooked rice or enjoy it as you fancy. Rasam will always engulf you in the warmest of hugs.

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A post shared by Nandini (@n.a.n.d.i.n.i.ravichandran)

A few key culinary notes (all of which are essential for that perfect rasam):

Your hands are your best friend: Don’t be afraid to get hands-on to assemble rasam. Crush the tomatoes, curry leaves and cilantro with some salt and the tamarind extract – this will bring out the maximum flavor in the dish.

Roast your spices for rasam powder: My mother sends me the key ingredient from India. She laboriously dries the whole spices in the grueling Indian sun and gets them ground at a nearby specialty spice mill, but it is very easy to make the spice powder at home. However, make sure to roast the whole spices before powdering them – this will release the flavor in the spices. If the spices burn in the process, throw it out and redo.

Don’t let your rasam runneth over: When it is about to boil, take the rasam off the heat, garnish with the tempered spices and let the broth rest (closed) for at least 5 minutes before eating.

Don’t skimp on some ingredients: I don’t believe in buying ingredients for single-use, but just in this case, if you can, I urge you to buy some ghee and curry leaves (if you don’t use them in your regular cooking). These two ingredients really elevate the flavor of a rasam – the nuttiness of curry leaves and spices tempered in ghee bring the whole dish together. Besides, both ghee and curry leaves have a variety of uses – so they will not go to waste.

Ghee is available in many supermarkets now, and curry leaves are generally found in specialty Indian food markets. If you cannot consume ghee for dietary reasons, you can use oil for the tempering. Use grapeseed oil or sunflower oil as opposed to olive oil (as the flavor from olive oil may be overpowering).

If it is burnt, throw it out. The tempered spices and curry leaves added at the end of the cooking process are rasam’s crowning glory – that extra flavor layer that ties the whole dish together. Add the spices and curry leaves in the following order: Once the pan is hot, add the mustard seeds and let them sputter. Then add the red chilies, cumin seeds and curry leaves. I also add a pinch of asafoetida (hing) before adding the curry leaves. If the spices burn in the process, throw the whole thing out and make it again. It is worth spending the extra few minutes for perfectly tempered spices.

Beetroot and Carrot Rasam Recipe

2 tablespoons beetroot, julienned
2 tablespoons carrot, julienned
2 medium tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 small lemon-sized ball of tamarind (use tamarind pods, not paste)
400 mililiters water
1 1/2 tablespoons rasam spice powder (see directions below)
2-3 sprigs cilantro, roughly chopped
5-7 curry leaves, roughly torn
1 bird’s eye chili, slit in middle, optional
Salt, to taste
1/2-1 teaspoon lemon juice, optional

For the spice powder:

1 teaspoon oil (I use sunflower or grapeseed oil)
2 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns (reduce if you desire less spice)
2-4 dried red chilies (per desired spice level)
1 teaspoon toor dal (pigeon peas)
1/2 teaspoon chana dal (Bengal gram)
1/2 tsp Turmeric
5-7 curry leaves
1 pinch asafoetida, optional

For garnish and tempering:

1 teaspoon ghee
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1-2 dried red chilis
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 pinch asafoetida, optional
1-2 sprigs cilantro, roughly chopped
8-10 curry leaves

For the spice powder:

Heat ½ tsp oil in a sauté pan and roast the dals (toor dal and chana dal) on low heat. Roast until dals change color and are aromatic. Transfer the roasted dals to a plate.
In the same sauté pan, add the coriander seeds followed by the chilies and roast until they are aromatic and crispy. Transfer to the plate with the dals.
In the same pan, now add cumin seeds and black peppercorns. Roast for 2 minutes and set aside in the same plate as the dals and other spices.
Heat the remaining oil in the same pan and add the curry leaves and asafoetida (if using). Fry them until they are crispy and set aside with the other ingredients. Add the turmeric to this mixture and let it cool.
Once cool, grind to a fine powder (I use a spice grinder for this). Store any spice powder remaining after use in a clean dry glass jar.

For tempering:

Heat the ghee in a sauté pan or a butter warmer.
Once the ghee is hot, add the mustard seeds and let them pop and sputter (should be a matter of seconds).
Once the mustard seeds sputter, add the red chilis, cumin seeds, asafoetida (if using) and curry leaves (in that order). Turn off the heat immediately after adding the curry leaves and toss to coat. The curry leaves will crisp up from the residual heat.
Set aside and use to garnish Rasam as described below.

For the rasam:

Soak the tamarind in 200 ml (warm) water and set aside.
Boil the beetroot and carrots in 200 ml water. Strain the cooked vegetables and reserve the cooking liquid.
Puree 1 tbsp each of beetroot and carrot (with some of the cooking liquid, if needed) – retain the rest for garnish.
Extract the juice from tamarind and reserve the water. Discard the tamarind pulp.
Add the pureed beetroot and carrot to the tomatoes in a medium saucepan, then add the curry leaves, salt, tamarind water, reserved liquid from cooking the beetroot and carrots and bird’s eye chili (if using). Crush the tomatoes with the rest of the ingredients with your hands. Cook the mixture on low heat for 5-7 minutes.
Add 1 ½ tbsp of the freshly prepared spice powder (see method above) and cook on medium-low heat until the Rasam comes to a gentle boil.
As soon as it starts boiling, take the Rasam off the heat. Add the chopped cilantro, the reserved beetroot and carrot, tempered spices and curry leaves (see tempering method above). Adjust seasoning, as required and add lemon juice per taste (optional).
Cover and let it rest for 5 minutes before serving. Serve hot. Enjoy by itself as a soup or with some rice.

Study more medicinal food in Health-Supportive Culinary Arts.

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Recipe steps

Step 1 - Heat ½ tsp oil in a sauté pan and roast the dals (toor dal and chana dal) on low heat;

Step 2 - Roast until dals change color and are aromatic. Transfer the roasted dals to a plate;

Step 3 - In the same sauté pan, add the coriander seeds followed by the chilies and roast until they are aromatic and crispy;

Step 4 - Transfer to the plate with the dals;

Step 5 - In the same pan, now add cumin seeds and black peppercorns;

Step 6 - Roast for 2 minutes and set aside in the same plate as the dals and other spices;

Step 7 - Heat the remaining oil in the same pan and add the curry leaves and asafoetida;

Step 8 - Fry them until they are crispy and set aside with the other ingredients;

Step 9 - Add the turmeric to this mixture and let it cool;

Step 10 - Once cool, grind to a fine powder (I use a spice grinder for this);

Step 11 - Store any spice powder remaining after use in a clean dry glass jar;

Step 12 - Heat the ghee in a sauté pan or a butter warmer;

Step 13 - Once the ghee is hot, add the mustard seeds and let them pop and sputter should be a matter of seconds;

Step 14 - Once the mustard seeds sputter, add the red chilis, cumin seeds, asafoetida if using and curry leaves in that order;

Step 15 - Turn off the heat immediately after adding the curry leaves and toss to coat. The curry leaves will crisp up from the residual heat;

Step 16 - Set aside and use to garnish Rasam as described below;

Step 17 - Soak the tamarind in 200 ml (warm) water and set aside;

Step 18 - Boil the beetroot and carrots in 200 ml water;

Step 19 - Strain the cooked vegetables and reserve the cooking liquid;

Step 20 - Puree 1 tbsp each of beetroot and carrot with some of the cooking liquid, if needed retain the rest for garnish;

Step 21 - Extract the juice from tamarind and reserve the water;

Step 22 - Discard the tamarind pulp;

Step 23 - Add the pureed beetroot and carrot to the tomatoes in a medium saucepan, then add the curry leaves, salt, tamarind water, reserved liquid from cooking the beetroot and carrots and bird’s eye chili if using;

Step 24 - Crush the tomatoes with the rest of the ingredients with your hands;

Step 25 - Cook the mixture on low heat for 5 7 minutes;

Step 26 - Add 1 ½ tbsp of the freshly prepared spice powder (see method above) and cook on medium low heat until the Rasam comes to a gentle boil;

Step 27 - As soon as it starts boiling, take the Rasam off the heat;

Step 28 - Add the chopped cilantro, the reserved beetroot and carrot, tempered spices and curry leaves see tempering method above;

Step 29 - Adjust seasoning, as required and add lemon juice per taste optional;

Step 30 - Cover and let it rest for 5 minutes before serving;

Step 31 - Serve hot;

Step 32 - Enjoy by itself as a soup or with some rice;

Bourbon Caramel S'mores Layer Cake

aday — Mon, 27 Jul 2020 15:51:15 +0000

Bourbon Caramel S'mores Layer Cake aday Mon, 07/27/2020 - 11:51 /sites/default/files/styles/width_1400/public/content/blog-article/header-image/bourbon%20smores%20cake%20header.jpg.webp?itok=LLDIRN19 Channel summer s'mores memories with this alumna's winning dessert recipe. July 27, 2020

By ICE Student

For our final virtual market basket challenge, Director of Culinary Research and Development Barry Tonkinson invited students and alumni to make their own ingredient list and share their best original dish without boundaries. Recent grad Kelly Bedford (Pastry, '20) layered chocolate cake, caramel, bourbon mousse, ganache, graham crackers and meringue for a s'mores dessert.

Kelly shares how she developed the dish:

When I saw the market basket challenge was a free for all I just went along with my love for s'mores. I bought a sheet pan extender months ago that I hadn't used yet so I've been looking for an excuse to put it to use. I also wanted to use some techniques I haven't done in months so I went back to my books and played with some of the recipes we did at school. It came out well.

Explore Pastry & Baking Arts at ICE.

Bourbon Caramel S'mores Cake

Rice Layer

90 grams egg whites
180 grams granulated sugar
225 grams corn syrup
180 grams rice cereal
180 grams graham cracker crumbs

Make wet sand with sugar and corn syrup. Bring to 240 F, and slowly pour into egg whites while whipping to make meringue.
Mix graham cracker crumbs and rice cereal well to make graham rice.
Mix just enough of the meringue with the graham rice to make it all stick together well. Save the remaining meringue at room temperature for decorating.
Using a half sheet and sheet pan extender, press thin layer of rice mixture across the bottom.

Caramel

Ingredients

210 grams heavy cream
140 grams corn syrup
Scraped vanilla bean
115 grams sugar
7 grams unsalted butter

Directions

Heat heavy cream, corn syrup and vanilla bean.
Make a medium caramel with sugar, and then deglaze with heavy cream mixture and bring to 245 F.
Stir in butter.
Pour thin layer of caramel on top of the rice layer.

Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

229 grams chocolate chips
50 grams cocoa powder
3 grams espresso powder
230 grams boiling water
150 grams vegetable oil
230 grams sour cream
250 grams eggs
6 grams vanilla extract
270 grams all-purpose flour
220 grams granulated sugar
100 grams brown sugar
10 grams baking powder

Directions

Combine first four ingredients in a KitchenAid stand mixer, mix with a paddle attachment until well incorporated and allow to cool.
Combine dry ingredients (flour, sugar, brown sugar and baking powder) and set aside.
Combine wet ingredients (oil, cream, eggs and extract) in stand mixer, slowly pour chocolate mixture if still a bit warm. Add dry.
Bake in half sheet pan at 350 F for about 15 minutes, checking with a toothpick or the touch test to determine that the cake is done.
Allow to cool in the pan and then place in freezer to harden so you can flip without breaking.
Once cooled, place cake layer on top of caramel.

Bourbon Mousse

Ingredients

337 grams heavy cream
6.75 sheets gelatin
120 grams egg yolks
90 grams water
45 grams bourbon
45 grams milk powder

Make pate a bombe over a bain and combine bloomed gelatin while still hot.
Whip to ribbon.
Whip heavy cream and fold into pate a bombe, fold in more bourbon, to taste.
Pour on top of cake and allow to set.

Assembly

Make ganache using the 1:1 ratio with chocolate and cream and allow to cool slightly still keeping it spreadable. I used 53% chocolate chips, brought the cream to a simmer and then poured it over the chocolate and whisked.
Once assembled, allow it to set. Remove sheet pan extender and portion as desired.

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Recipe steps

Rice Layer;
Step 1 - Make wet sand with sugar and corn syrup. Bring to 240 F, and slowly pour into egg whites while whipping to make meringue;

Step 2 - Mix graham cracker crumbs and rice cereal well to make graham rice;

Step 3 - Mix just enough of the meringue with the graham rice to make it all stick together well. Save the remaining meringue at room temperature for decorating;

Step 4 - Using a half sheet and sheet pan extender, press thin layer of rice mixture across the bottom;

Caramel;
Step 1 - Heat heavy cream, corn syrup and vanilla bean;

Step 2 - Make a medium caramel with sugar, and then deglaze with heavy cream mixture and bring to 245 F;

Step 3 - Stir in butter;

Step 4 - Pour thin layer of caramel on top of the rice layer;

Chocolate Cake;
Step 1 - Combine first four ingredients in a KitchenAid stand mixer, mix with a paddle attachment until well incorporated and allow to cool;

Step 2 - Combine dry ingredients (flour, sugar, brown sugar and baking powder) and set aside;

Step 3 - Combine wet ingredients (oil, cream, eggs and extract) in stand mixer, slowly pour chocolate mixture if still a bit warm. Add dry;

Step 4 - Bake in half sheet pan at 350 F for about 15 minutes, checking with a toothpick or the touch test to determine that the cake is done;

Step 5 - Allow to cool in the pan and then place in freezer to harden so you can flip without breaking;

Step 6 - Once cooled, place cake layer on top of caramel;

Bourbon Mousse;
Step 1 - Make pate a bombe over a bain and combine bloomed gelatin while still hot;

Step 2 - Whip to ribbon;

Step 3 - Whip heavy cream and fold into pate a bombe, fold in more bourbon, to taste;

Step 4 - Pour on top of cake and allow to set;

Assembly;
Step 1 - Make ganache using the 1:1 ratio with chocolate and cream and allow to cool slightly still keeping it spreadable. I used 53% chocolate chips, brought the cream to a simmer and then poured it over the chocolate and whisked;

Step 2 - Once assembled, allow it to set. Remove sheet pan extender and portion as desired;

Pancake Pot Pie

aday — Sun, 19 Jul 2020 20:55:45 +0000

Pancake Pot Pie aday Sun, 07/19/2020 - 16:55 /sites/default/files/styles/width_1400/public/content/blog-article/header-image/pancake%20pot%20pie%20header.jpg.webp?itok=jTFYT78A Culinary Arts student Drew Moore won this week's market basket challenge with a combination of five breakfast favorites. July 19, 2020

By ICE Student

We're hosting a voluntary virtual market basket challenge each week our New York campus is closed, and this week's seasonal focus ingredient was corn. Student winner Drew Moore incorporated breakfast comfort foods, including bacon, cornbread, gravy, scrambled eggs and pancakes into his winning dish. Here's how he developed the recipe.

I have incorporated variations of cornbread into several of my challenge submissions, so I was excited to give it one more shot with corn as the "must-use ingredient." Everyone loves brunch, and my idea for this dish came from a restaurant I visited a few years ago in Dallas before the Cotton Bowl. I loved how this dish incorporated several brunch favorites into a single choice, removing the stress of picking just one item from the menu. It was like a fusion of pancakes, biscuits and gravy, eggs, and even hash browns as the base layer.

For my version, I made the pancakes with a cornbread mixture that included cilantro and chili peppers to give it a more savory flavor. I also incorporated some bourbon barrel-aged syrup to really level up the dish and give it some unique sweetness. This dish can satisfy intense hunger and intense cravings. When I eat this dish, I'm reminded of Ohio corn, my visit to Texas and the Buckeye victory over USC in the 2017 Cotton Bowl!

Pancake Pot Pie

Yields 3-4 servings of 5-inch pancakes

Cornbread Pancakes

4 ears fresh corn on the cob
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons butter
1 egg
1 tablespoon baking powder
1-2 tablespoons sugar
2-3 red fresno chili peppers
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped
Salt and pepper, as needed

Directions

Using a knife, remove kernels from corn cobs and place in a saucepot. Add a few pinches of salt and about 2 tablespoons of butter. Cover pot and simmer on low heat, stirring occasionally, to sweat the corn for 30-40 minutes. For the last 5-10 minutes, remove the cover to allow excess moisture to evaporate.
While the corn is cooking, finely chop the red fresno chili peppers and cilantro. Aim to have a few tablespoons of chopped peppers and about 1/2 cup of chopped cilantro.
When the corn is done, allow to cool for a few minutes and then blend into a smooth puree.
Measure your corn puree and add it to a mixing bowl with an equal amount of AP flour. Depending on how big the ears were, you should have roughly 1/2 cup of corn puree.
Add the egg, baking powder, sugar, cilantro and chili peppers. Mix well.
Add the milk slowly and continue to mix. Depending on how much moisture was evaporated from the corn, you may need to add a little more or less milk than ½ cup. The finished mix should have the consistency of pancake batter – thick but fluid enough to pour out of the bowl.
Add salt and pepper to taste, and then set aside.

Bacon Gravy

Ingredients

4-6 thick slices of bacon
1-3 tablespoons of flour
2-3 cups milk
1/4 cup maple syrup, bourbon-barrel aged is preferred
Salt and pepper, as needed

Directions

Cut bacon strips into roughly 1-inch squares and add to a small saucepan. Cover and cook on medium-high heat to crisp the bacon and render the fat. Turn/toss the bacon throughout the cook as needed to cook thoroughly.
When bacon is done, use a pair of tongs to remove bacon onto paper-towel lined plate. Be sure to leave as much bacon fat in the pot as possible. When the bacon cools, cut or crumble into smaller pieces, if desired.
Lower the heat slightly and sprinkle flour in with the bacon fat to make a roux. Add enough flour to completely mix with the fat, but not so much that the flour burns. Cook to a blonde roux – just a few minutes until it bubbles and darkens slightly.
Add the milk, 1/2 cup at a time and stir well to remove any clumps in the roux. In total, add 2-3 cups of milk. Add the cooked bacon and maple syrup at this point, stirring well.
If the gravy is too thick, add more milk. If you add too much milk and it becomes runny, just allow it to cook longer and reduce in volume to its desired thickness. Hold the gravy at a warm temperature for serving.

Scrambled Eggs

Ingredients

2 eggs per serving
Salt and pepper, as needed

Set aside a small bowl, preferably with straight vertical sides. Your pancakes must be equal to or smaller than the diameter of this bowl.
In another bowl, crack the eggs and whisk until homogenous. Add a pinch of salt and pepper, then set aside while the pancakes cook.
Add a small amount of butter to a pan or griddle. Pour some pancake mixture onto the pan, according to the size of your bowl. You will need 3 equally sized pancakes. Try to cook on one large griddle or simultaneously on multiple pans so the dish is served warm.
Cook the pancake mixture until it bubbles on one side, then flip and continue to cook until browned on both sides and interior batter is cooked through.
Place one pancake in bowl and add 2-3 tablespoons of the bacon gravy on top. Repeat three times for three pancakes with bacon gravy on top of each one.
Cook the scrambled eggs on the stovetop, then add on top of the pancake stack.
Garnish with a few pieces of chopped chili peppers, and serve with additional maple syrup on the side.

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Tuscan Baked Beans

aday — Sun, 12 Jul 2020 16:27:52 +0000

Tuscan Baked Beans aday Sun, 07/12/2020 - 12:27 /sites/default/files/styles/width_1400/public/inline-images/tusan%20baked%20beans%20header.jpg.webp?itok=JDSfeRuE Health-Supportive Culinary Arts student Natasha Brunetti wins a market basket challenge with a dish channeling Italy and the UK. July 12, 2020

By ICE Student

While our Los Angeles campus reopened on June 30, we're hosting a voluntary virtual market basket challenge each week until career students return to our New York campus. This week's focus ingredient was tomato, and Natasha won for a second time with a vegan, gluten-free recipe. Here's how she developed her comfort food dish.

“Food is memory, it’s travel, it’s medicine. It can fill your heart and soothe your soul.”

This year with the many changes and adaptations, I realized I won’t be making my planned trip to see my family in London or my husband’s family in Italy. This is what was on my mind when I saw the beautiful, seasonal market basket ingredient this week of tomatoes.

This hearty tomato-based dish uses tomatoes in two ways, complementing them with natural pairings like garlic, chili and basil. It is a transporting dish and certainly helped to soothe my desire to travel, bringing the UK and Italy into my dining room.

One of the great comfort foods I grew up eating in the UK was beans on toast. Simple, hearty, filling and quick to make, it is a time-honored traditional dish that is tucked away in your back pocket, like an old photo, for when you are in need of the comfort it brings.

I decided to elevate this dish with all the herbs and spices you get from the classic bean soups of Italy. The unassuming dish complements the humble tomato with the ingredients of the surrounding terroir. The aroma of the garlic, tomato, basil and thyme will envelop your senses with a warmth so embracing that it feels like a heavy knit blanket being wrapped around you on a cold and rainy day.

This dish will take you less than 30 minutes to cook and can be used as beans on toast, served with pasta or eaten as a soup. It can be adapted to your own palate, dialing the heat up and down. It is the 35th recipe I have recorded for my Quarantine Kitchen Series on IGTV, so check out the two-minute video to travel with me @plant.to.table, on YouTube or at planttotable.com.

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A post shared by Natasha Brunetti, Modern Veda (@plant.to.table) on Jul 10, 2020 at 4:21am PDT

With love from my kitchen to yours.

Tuscan Baked Beans

2 tablespoons coconut oil
1 tablespoon fennel
1 large shallot, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 fresh tomato, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2-1 teaspoon chilli flakes
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
1 can organic tomato puree
1 can white beans, washed well
2 cups spinach, chopped
1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh thyme

Warm oil in a deep pan on a medium-low heat.
Add the fennel and stir. Once the fennel starts to sizzle add the shallots and garlic. Cook on a gentle heat for 5 minutes and add ¼ cup of water if it is cooking too quickly.
Add the fresh tomato, let cook for 5 minutes.
Add the can of tomato puree and mix together.
Add the salt, pepper, chilli flakes and paprika. Mix together.
Cook for 10 minutes and adjust for seasoning.
Add half the fresh basil, the white beans. Mix and cook for 5 minutes.
Add 1 cup water, stir and let cook for 5 minutes to infuse the flavors.
Add spinach, stir and cook for 5 minutes.
Add fresh thyme and basil before serving for aromatherapy.
Serve as a soup, with pasta or on toasted bread.

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Tuscan bean recipe

Submitted by Marylou on July 26, 2020 11:12pm

It would be helpful to have the size can listed for the beans and tomato puree

Standard can

Submitted by aday on January 31, 2021 3:36pm

15 ounces

What size can of beans

Submitted by Jet on October 16, 2020 7:44pm

What size can of white beans goes in the Tuscan baked beans recipe?

Standard can

Submitted by aday on January 31, 2021 3:37pm

15 ounces

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Recipe steps

Step 1 - Warm oil in a deep pan on a medium low heat;

Step 2 - Add the fennel and stir. Once the fennel starts to sizzle add the shallots and garlic;

Step 3 - Cook on a gentle heat for 5 minutes and add ¼ cup of water if it is cooking too quickly;

Step 4 - Add the fresh tomato, let cook for 5 minutes;

Step 5 - Add the can of tomato puree and mix together;

Step 6 - Add the salt, pepper, chilli flakes and paprika. Mix together;

Step 7 - Cook for 10 minutes and adjust for seasoning;

Step 8 - Add half the fresh basil, the white beans. Mix and cook for 5 minutes;

Step 9 - Add 1 cup water, stir and let cook for 5 minutes to infuse the flavors;

Step 10 - Add spinach, stir and cook for 5 minutes;

Step 11 - Add fresh thyme and basil before serving for aromatherapy;

Step 12 - Serve as a soup, with pasta or on toasted bread;

Vegan Chickpea Salad Wraps

aday — Mon, 06 Jul 2020 21:00:19 +0000

Vegan Chickpea Salad Wraps aday Mon, 07/06/2020 - 17:00 /sites/default/files/styles/width_1400/public/content/blog-article/header-image/lettuce%20wraps%20header.jpg.webp?itok=n91qbNKV Health-Supportive Culinary Arts student Julianna Abdallah wins another market basket challenge. July 6, 2020

By ICE Student

Each week our New York campus is closed because of COVID-19, we host a voluntary virtual market basket challenge. This week, the focus ingredient was Old Bay seasoning, and Julianna incorporated it into vegan lettuce wraps. Here's how she developed the recipe.

Life is complicated, and sometimes I like a complex, time-consuming recipe to distract me and take my mind off the everyday. But at the moment, I’m all about simplicity —anything to make life a little easier right now.

It’s hard to believe we’ve been at this for 16 weeks now. I’m probably not the only one who incorrectly assumed there’d be three, maybe four Market Basket Challenges before ICE reopened. I love them, though. In the middle of a week when I’m immersed in work or feeling all of the emotions watching the news, I get to pause, get in a creative headspace and reflect back on the fun times in culinary school. Once the ingredient is announced, I think, what did I learn about that in class? and what did Chef say we should do with it? I get to not only test my skills but also reminisce on all of the tastes, sounds, people and experiences ICE gave me.

When I saw that the must-use item for the week was Old Bay, my obvious first thought was seafood. I dreamed about the most divine roasted oysters I had the honor of tasting on one of my trails at Gramercy Tavern. They made their own version of an Old Bay seasoning with celery salt and paprika, and then mixed it with breadcrumbs to give the roasted oysters a texture and flavor far superior to anything I’ve tried.

This memory took my brain to my very last trail at The Modern during the first week of March. The murmurs of COVID-19 were just starting to buzz, and NYC had not had many cases yet. I vividly remember standing at my prep station, sweating, nerves rattling, in the zone brunoising approximately four zillion carrots as I listened to the kitchen chatter.

“What if Corona gets worse and restaurants have to start limiting guests … or I don’t know, close altogether?!” one of the commis chefs muttered. I didn’t look up from my cutting board, but I remember thinking the question was a bit of a stretch. That moment was a blip in time, but I wonder about that team often and pray they are able to get back in the kitchen.

All of this to say, I know your minds are working overtime, too, and even us food-obsessed need a break from meal planning when we have other pressing work/life/family matters that take precedence. That’s why I wanted to make something simple, delicious, and nutritious this week. Something that balances the complexities of life. These chickpea salad wraps fit the bill and are now my go-to, satiating lunch for busy weeks. The dish has tuna salad vibes with the Old Bay and fresh dill, but it’s 100% plant-based. It comes together in a snap, and I promise you do not have to brunois even one carrot to make it.

Vegan Chickpea Salad Wraps

Yields 6 lettuce wraps

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1/4 cup vegan mayo
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons fresh dill, chopped
Kosher salt, to taste
Fresh ground black pepper, to taste
6 butter lettuce leaves
2 tablespoons chives, chopped
Optional: shredded red cabbage, shredded carrots, avocado slices

In a medium bowl, mash chickpeas with the back of a fork until mostly smooth (I like to leave some whole for texture).
Add the next seven ingredients (through salt and pepper) and mix well.
Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes to overnight.
To assemble lettuce wraps, scoop 2-3 heaping tablespoons of the chickpea salad onto the lettuce leaf. Top with desired toppings and sprinkle with fresh chives. Enjoy!

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A Strawberry-Lemon Tart for Summer

aday — Mon, 29 Jun 2020 13:23:45 +0000

A Strawberry-Lemon Tart for Summer aday Mon, 06/29/2020 - 09:23 /sites/default/files/styles/width_1400/public/content/blog-article/header-image/strawberry%20tart%20header.jpg.webp?itok=gs5ySM7F Culinary Arts student Ana Tejada was inspired by pink lemonade for this week's market basket challenge. June 29, 2020

By ICE Student

Each week our campuses are closed as a result of the pandemic, we host a voluntary virtual market basket challenge on Instagram @iceculinary. This week's must-use ingredient was strawberry, and the winning student shares how she developed a dessert with a crunchy pistachio tart shell followed by a layer of tangy lemon curd topped with a layer of sweet and creamy strawberry mousse.

As I read the ingredient list for this week’s #icehomework, I knew I wanted to make a dessert with a refreshing combination of flavors for the summer heat. As a kid, I loved to make pink lemonade and sell it around my neighborhood. I remember my mom packing up some snacks which would include pistachios and other mixed nuts, which is my inspiration for my dessert.

Strawberry-Lemon Tart with a Pistachio Shell

Yields 1 tart

Pistachio Tart Shell

100 grams (3.5 ounces) pistachios
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup confectioners sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, chilled, cut into cubes
1-1.5 tablespoons ice water
1 egg white, lightly beaten

Directions

Blitz the pistachios in a blender or food processor until very fine.
Add the pistachios, flour, sugar and salt to the food processor and blitz until well combined. Add the butter and blitz for 5-10 seconds until the mixture is like large breadcrumbs. Slowly drizzle in the water while the processor is running on low and stop as soon as it starts forming large clumps.
Tip the dough out onto a piece of plastic wrap and turn it into a flat disk.
Refrigerate for a half hour.
Preheat the oven to 350 F.
Dust a large sheet of parchment paper with flour and sit the dough on top. Dust the top of the dough with flour, and then roll it out to a large circle about 3 mm thick. Place dough in tart tin and gently nudge the pastry down into the corners.
Prick the base with a fork and line with parchment paper and baking weights.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Take away the parchment paper and weights, and brush the inside of the tart shell with beaten egg white all over the base and sides. Bake for 10 more minutes.
Meanwhile start the lemon curd. (The dough will bake for 8 more minutes with the lemon curd.)

Lemon Curd

Ingredients

1/2 cup lemon juice
1 lemon, zest
5-6 fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped
2/3 cup sugar
1 pinch salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed
2 large eggs + 2 large egg yolks

Directions

Grab a fine mesh strainer before you start and have it ready within arm’s reach.
In a medium saucepan (no heat yet), whisk together the lemon juice, lemon zest, basil, sugar, salt, egg yolks and eggs.
Add the cubed butter and turn the heat to medium.
Whisk slowly until the butter is all melted.
Continue whisking steadily for several minutes until the mixture thickens to a thin custard consistency.
Immediately pass the lemon filling through the fine mesh strainer (to discard the basil pieces) directly into the tart shell.
Using an offset spatula, smooth out the top of the filling.
Bake the tart for 8 minutes, until the filling has slightly set and turned slightly deeper in color.
Set aside to cool.

Strawberry Mousse

Ingredients

500 grams fresh strawberries, hulled
1/3 cup confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon powdered gelatine
1 cup heavy/whipping cream

Purée together the strawberries and sugar, and then strain into a saucepan to remove most of the seeds.
Sprinkle the gelatine over the strawberry puree then stir over low heat until the gelatine has dissolved. Let it cool to room temp.
Whip the cream to soft peaks. Mix 1/4 of the cream into the strawberry mix. Now gently fold the rest of the whipped cream through the strawberry being gentle so you don’t lose all the air you whipped into it.
Gently spread the mixture over the tart. Place in the fridge for at least 2 hours to set.
Decorate with fresh strawberries, crushed pistachios and lemon zest.

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Recipe steps

Pistachio Tart Shell;
Step 1 - Blitz the pistachios in a blender or food processor until very fine;

Step 2 - Add the pistachios, flour, sugar and salt to the food processor and blitz until well combined. Add the butter and blitz for 5-10 seconds until the mixture is like large breadcrumbs. Slowly drizzle in the water while the processor is running on low and stop as soon as it starts forming large clumps;

Step 3 - Tip the dough out onto a piece of plastic wrap and turn it into a flat disk;

Step 4 - Refrigerate for a half hour;

Step 5 - Preheat the oven to 350 F;

Step 6 - Dust a large sheet of parchment paper with flour and sit the dough on top. Dust the top of the dough with flour, and then roll it out to a large circle about 3 mm thick. Place dough in tart tin and gently nudge the pastry down into the corners;

Step 7 - Prick the base with a fork and line with parchment paper and baking weights;

Step 8 - Bake for 20 minutes;

Step 9 - Take away the parchment paper and weights, and brush the inside of the tart shell with beaten egg white all over the base and sides. Bake for 10 more minutes;

Step 10 - Meanwhile start the lemon curd. (The dough will bake for 8 more minutes with the lemon curd.);

Lemon Curd;
Step 1 - Grab a fine mesh strainer before you start and have it ready within arm’s reach;

Step 2 - In a medium saucepan (no heat yet), whisk together the lemon juice, lemon zest, basil, sugar, salt, egg yolks and eggs;

Step 3 - Add the cubed butter and turn the heat to medium;

Step 4 - Whisk slowly until the butter is all melted;

Step 5 - Continue whisking steadily for several minutes until the mixture thickens to a thin custard consistency;

Step 6 - Immediately pass the lemon filling through the fine mesh strainer (to discard the basil pieces) directly into the tart shell;

Step 7 - Using an offset spatula, smooth out the top of the filling;

Step 8 - Bake the tart for 8 minutes, until the filling has slightly set and turned slightly deeper in color;

Step 9 - Set aside to cool;

Strawberry Mousse;
Step 1 - Purée together the strawberries and sugar, and then strain into a saucepan to remove most of the seeds;

Step 2 - Sprinkle the gelatine over the strawberry puree then stir over low heat until the gelatine has dissolved. Let it cool to room temp;

Step 3 - Whip the cream to soft peaks. Mix 1/4 of the cream into the strawberry mix. Now gently fold the rest of the whipped cream through the strawberry being gentle so you don’t lose all the air you whipped into it;

Step 4 - Gently spread the mixture over the tart. Place in the fridge for at least 2 hours to set;

Step 5 - Decorate with fresh strawberries, crushed pistachios and lemon zest;