Mochi Ice Cream is a Japanese dessert of ice cream coated in a sweet glutinous rice dough. Mochi is creamy, chewy, sweet, and conveniently portable.

This is a hand made mochi incorporating mexican flavors. The inside is a kiwi and sour cream sorbet. It’s coated in a glutinous rice dough spiced with cinnamon, anise, clove, and vanilla. The spiced riche dough gives the flavor profile of the refreshing Mexican rice milk drink horchata. The mochi is sitting on a bed of sweet corn, agave, and vanilla puree (I love vegetables in dessert!). Finally, the mochi is garnished with candied lime zest to give it that extra mexican flair.

This stunning photograph was taken by Mike Boehmer.

Mike is a Chicago-based photographer and a regular contributor to The Windy Pixel. Please visit www.mikeboehmer.com for more fantastic photography!

Share on Facebook

Yeah…why the hell not? Most fish have an intrinsic sweetness which makes seafood delicious with fresh fruit, nuts, and sweet sauces. This dish features seared halibut along with a cucumber and yogurt sorbet. The sorbet is both sweet and bitter. It adds some needed acidity to the halibut and the hot/cold contrast makes a party in your mouth.

The sorbet is sitting on top of some diced, pickled red onion and topped with black sesame seeds. The velvety sauce is a sesame milk. I made it by toasting sesame seeds, then soaking them in hot water. I then blended the mixture into a smooth puree to create a sauce with a delicate richness and intense aroma. Finally, a splatter of sweet cilantro puree adds another dimension of flavor.

These stunning photographs were taken by Mike Boehmer.

Mike is a Chicago-based photographer and a regular contributor to The Windy Pixel. Please visit www.mikeboehmer.com for more fantastic photography!

Share on Facebook

The common cucumber. They’re so ubiquitous nowadays that the cucumber has become boring to most diners. The flavor is far from common however. Sweet, bitter, subtle, and aromatic, cucumbers have a rich history and hold importance to cultures around the world.

The cultivation of cucumbers began some 3,000 years ago in India and spread westward into the Mediterranean, where the Greeks in particular liked the cucumber for it’s refreshing bitterness. Tzatziki, a sauce of cucumber and yogurt, is probably the most easily identified Greek-American food item in the today’s multicultural dining lexicon. Cucumbers were a popular crop in the middle ages because the creeping vines grew easily and produced a lot of fruit with little maintenance. Cucumbers found their way to America during the age of exploration and a few hundred years of cultural transformation placed them on top of our hamburgers as our sweet and tangy pickles.

Because they’re used in more savory applications, we often consider cucumbers a vegetable. However, cucumbers are actually a fruit, along with tomatoes, eggplant, and bell peppers, among other plants, because they’re produced from the ovary of a flowering plant. They belong to the gourd family, along with the sweet melons we’re familiar with: watermelon, musk melon, and honeydew. Next time you eat a melon, concentrate on the cucumber-like bitterness in the refreshing background flavor. Although hundreds of cucumber varieties exist, the most commonly encountered in America are the waxy cucumber (which contains a heavy center of seeds), the seedless or English cucumber, and small pickling cucumbers.

Keep reading Garrett’s Table in the coming days for a dish that proves that cucumbers can be both sweet and savory at the same time.

Share on Facebook

This Mexican-inspired cocktail will be perfect for the crazy hot summer months. The drink starts with silver tequila. Cactus pear juice gives the vibrant color and a bright acidity. Cinnamon simple syrup and a splash of lime juice add more layers of flavor. Finally, the glass is rimmed with some vanilla salt. Salúd.

These stunning photographs were taken by Mike Boehmer.

Mike is a Chicago-based photographer and a regular contributor to The Windy Pixel. Please visit www.mikeboehmer.com for more fantastic photography!

Share on Facebook

Beer and pretzels go together like peas and carrots. Both beer and pretzels play starring roles in this dessert.

The dish starts with a chocolate stout cake. It’s the same cake recipe I used in my Pumpkin Ice Cream Sandwich. The cake is extremely moist. The chocolate is a background flavor to the maltiness and bitterness of the stout beer. The cake is soaked in cherry Lambic Ale to add even more moisture and beer flavor. After soaking it’s covered in stout ganache then filled with a pretzel infused caramel.

Opposite the cake is a sweet and salty pretzel ice cream. It’s sitting on top of some crushed pretzels and topped with black Hawaiian lava salt.

Finally, I used the leftover cherry Lambic that I didn’t use to soak the cake (or drink) to create a thin gel of beer which I then cut into pretzel shapes. Some stewed cherries add an extra cherry element, because the fruit pairs fantastically with beer, pretzels, and chocolate.

Want the recipe for this beer and pretzel dessert? I’m more than happy to share. Simply click the link below and sign up for the Garrett’s Table monthly newsletter. I’ll include the recipe in my next mailing (5/1/2010). Each newsletter contains updates from Garrett’s Table as well as subscriber only content. Signing up is easy and you can unsubscribe at any time.

These stunning photographs were taken by Mike Boehmer.

Mike is a Chicago-based photographer and a regular contributor to The Windy Pixel. Please visit www.mikeboehmer.com for more fantastic photography!

Share on Facebook