plated desserts part 2

Here are some more plated desserts, these were some we did in level 3. Both of the plated desserts were made using pate a bric. Pate a bric is sort of like fillo dough, except its thicker and much less fragile. Its actually very flexible, which is how it's able to be rolled and folded into these shapes. It comes frozen in packs of circular disks, so its very handy.

This first dessert i wasn't to crazy about, i thought it was pretty ugly, and it didn't taste very good either.

It's a mango beggars purse (a disk of ginger cake inside and a ginger mango compote inside the pate a bric dough) it's served with a ginger sake sabayon (which was torched) and a lychee nut sorbet in a pate a bric cup. The little people decoration is also made from the pate a bric dough.

This next dessert was actually probably one of my favorite things we made. It was soooo good!

So here it is asian pear spring rolls served with a raspberry creme fraiche ice cream (in pate a bric cup), a champagne raspberry gastrique (also in a pate a bric cup) with little caramel chopsticks for decoration. All of this is served on top of a banana leaf.

A short definition for a gastrique is basically a sauce thats a caramel vinegar reduction, sounds weird but its actually quite tasty.

Chiboust

Here are some more photos of plated desserts. All of these are chiboust's, chiboust is pastry cream that has been lightened with either whipped cream, or stiffly beaten egg whites.

Chiboust can be used as a dessert on its own, mixed with fruit, or used as a filling in cake or cream puffs.

This first one is a coconut chiboust that has been baked, then dusted with powdered sugar, with it is a chocolate sauce, and a vanilla creme anglaise (vanilla cream sauce).

This one is also a coconut chiboust, however this one has been sprinkled with sugar an then torched. Its also paired with a chocolate sauce, and vanilla creme angaise. Its also served with a chocolate sorbet (delicious!!!!).

This last one is a lemon chiboust that has been torched, its served with a lemon & thyme sauce, crystalized thyme, and a rosette of raspberry sorbet.

plated desserts part 1

Today i figured i'd share some pictures of some of the plated desserts i did in school. Plated desserts is basically when you have a dessert that has usually been plated in some decorative manner, and has accompaniments such as sauces, sorbets, ice creams, etc.

There are a lot of components to make up every plated dessert, which is what makes them seem so daunting to some. However usually in the end, it's quite worth it.

All of these were from our first section of plated desserts (we had three)

This first plated dessert was orange crepes, filled with an orange pastry cream, litghtly dusted with powdered sugar and topped with fresh orange segments. It was accompanied by a simple orange sauce, and blueberry sorbet (that sat on top of a meringue petal).

Okay so i know these are supposed to be desserts, but every once in a while we would make some savory things. So this next photo is of a savory jalousie. Jalousie means blinds in french, so its referring to the slits in the jalousie which are supposed to look like blinds. Jalousies are basically just a puff pastry case and can be filled with anything you like, either sweet or savory.

This one was filled with sauteed shallots, garlic, spinach, crimini mushrooms, button mushrooms, and goat cheese. It was served with a bechamel sauce which is basically butter and flour cooked together to make a thick paste, then the milk is added to thin it out. Its a great base sauce for many things, and you can add whatever spices you feel are appropriate to accompany many dishes. We used salt, pepper, chives and nutmeg as flavors in ours. I really liked this one it was quite tasty.

This next one again isn't really much of a plated dessert in my opinion, however i do think it would make an amazing appetizer.

Here we have a base of puff pastry thats been topped with a goat cheese spread we made with goat cheese, honey, and thyme. Then on top are thinly sliced figs, then drizzled with more honey and sprinkled with thyme (this was then placed in the oven for a minute to warm it). It was served with a port wine reduction, and caramelized figs on the side (fig slices coated with sugar then a torch taken to them :) fun).

Here is one of my favorite books on plated desserts if you're interested

Stay tuned there will be more posts with many more plated desserts soon!