City sophisticates
ROOT BEER floats poured table-side, a “milkshake program” created by a sommelier, spectacular sundaes layered with gelee, meringues and buttery sable cookies. It’s a whole new world of soda fountain desserts.
If you’ve ever had the caramel copetta at Pizzeria Mozza -- creamy dark-caramel gelato layered with a crisp Italian pizzelle (waffle cookie), gooey caramel sauce and sticky-smooth marshmallow sauce, topped with a handful of salty, toasty Spanish peanuts -- then you know that a sundae can be so much more than just ice cream with hot fudge, whipped cream and a cherry on top.
Lately (maybe it’s goodbye-to-summer nostalgia), soda fountain standards -- sundaes, shakes, floats, ice cream sandwiches -- have sparked the imaginations of ice cream-minded pastry chefs.
The Little Door’s new pastry chef, Danielle Keene, has been concocting ice creams to serve by the scoop at the Los Angeles restaurant’s adjacent deli-cafe Little Next Door as well as for her new desserts at the restaurant.
She makes a sundae layered in a parfait glass, starting with kumquat-size almond financiers (made with brown butter, orange zest and orange blossom water), then adding roasted Adriatic figs, huckleberry compote and a scoop of honey lavender ice cream. Then the layers are repeated, topped with two more scoops of ice cream and candied orange zest. It’s the pinnacle expression of well-loved sundae characteristics -- the cake-like texture of financiers meets the creaminess of ice cream meets soft-roasted and syrupy fruit in a commingling of textures and temperatures.
‘The perfect bite’
AT THE recently opened Brix@1601 in Hermosa Beach, executive pastry chef Renee Ward is making her version of a layered sundae -- a show-stopping dessert that she calls a coconut coupe. Ward begins with tart kalamansi lime gelee perfumed with vanilla, then a layer of house-made raspberry marmalade and fresh raspberries for a parfait-like beginning. A coconut sable makes a crunchy platform for a tiny scoop of creamy coconut lime sorbet. For a final, flamboyant touch, a teardrop-shaped coconut meringue.
“I like to watch the guests . . . take the spoon and dive in all the way to the bottom so they get all the textures and all the different flavors and take the perfect bite,” Ward says.
Hers is an elegant dinner finale that sommelier Caitlin Stansbury serves with a Moscato Bianco from Vignalta. “The richness of the coconut and the tropical flavors she’s layered into that dessert,” Stansbury says, “pairs so well with the heady gardenia scent and jasmine” of the Muscat.
Like any traditional soda jerk who might draw from an arsenal of ice creams, syrups, sauces, nuts and sodas, Ward uses components made from several recipes. Each can stand on its own or can be combined in building-high style. No cherry necessary.
Her coupe has as much in common with current French-forward desserts as with old-timey soda fountain favorites. Ward previously worked at chef Alain Ducasse’s Mix in Las Vegas, where dessert coupes are a frequent after-dinner offering.
The coupe -- the stemmed glass bowl, such as for Champagne -- “comes across as really hip but still classic,” Ward says.
There’s a whole section of fantastic “coupes glacees” (which roughly translates as “bowls of ice cream,” a serious understatement) on the menu at chef Daniel Boulud’s Bar Boulud, which opened earlier this year in Manhattan. Pastry chef Ghaya Oliveira layers apricot sorbet with apricots, pistachios and lemon speculos (cookies); fromage blanc-berry sorbet with strawberry shortcake; and chocolate-vanilla ice cream with hazelnut feuilletine (crushed wafers) and chocolate foam.
The hippification of sundaes isn’t all about chefs. If the crowd at the new desserterie Haus in Koreatown is any indication, it’s chic to meet over artfully presented, ice-cream-and-more desserts such as bananas Foster or cherries jubilee and thick shakes in flavors such as green tea or almond. Here, among the girls with big tote bags and miniature dogs and the guys who pull up to the patio-side valet station in their new cars, the bingsu (a Korean sundae) comes in a glass tea pot filled with shaved ice, fruit, sweet red beans and rice cake. At the table, the server pours sweetened condensed milk over the whole thing.
At LA Mill in Silver Lake, Providence pastry chef Adrian Vasquez, who creates the desserts for LA Mill, has put his own version of bingsu on the menu after a trip to Seoul -- black sesame granita with sweet red beans, his own mochi (sweet pounded rice) cake and micro herbs.
Call it a copetta, call it bingsu, call it a vacherin -- whatever you call it, you’re talking sundae construction. A vacherin glace is chef Alain Giraud’s signature dessert at brasserie Anisette in Santa Monica -- lavender ice cream (which has followed him from his days at Lavande), fresh strawberries, raspberry puree, Chantilly cream and meringues.
Sublime add-ins
MERINGUES! They’re also chef Laurent Tourondel’s sundae add-in of choice, such as at BLT Steak on Sunset Boulevard, where he’s put an orange raspberry sundae on the menu. “It’s actually a Popsicle,” Tourondel says of the sundae. Maybe in terms of flavors -- creamy orange sorbet swirled with raspberries and orange liqueur and crunchy meringues.
“I love the crispy touch with ice cream,” he says. “We have several sundaes [at his several restaurants] -- every season is different. A chestnut sundae during the fall. It’s a take on the French classic called mont blanc.”
Besides sundaes, chefs are experimenting with sodas, shakes and ice cream sandwiches too.
A creative R&D; beverage team at LA Mill is concocting its own “coffee root beer” for the restaurant’s root beer float. (There’s also a Blanco y Negro coffee float -- coffee, coffee granita and vanilla ice cream.) Other soda flavors to be offered include candied ginger, rooibos and citrus-camomile. “We’ll try to match different ice creams with the sodas,” owner Craig Min says.
Says Craft pastry chef Catherine Schimenti, who recently has been making floats of muscat soda with peach sorbet: “I love the foam the soda creates when hitting ice cream or sorbet.” She also serves a root beer float with vanilla ice cream and Abita root beer from Louisiana, poured at the table.
And ice cream sandwiches? Sona pastry chef Ramon Perez is reinterpreting the classic with his own pistachio ice cream sandwich: Sicilian pistachio ice cream (with a hint of basil) between two crumbly speculos (thin cookies that he makes with orange zest and molasses), served with watermelon soda. The ice cream sandwiches at Osteria Mozza are more traditional, but come with a bowl of chocolate sauce to dip them into.
At Tourondel’s latest restaurant, BLT Burger in Las Vegas, it’s all about the shakes. Master sommelier and beverage director Fred Dexheimer collaborated with Tourondel for its “milkshake program,” including a toasted marshmallow “Stay Puft” shake. “Laurent has been tweaking that one,” Dexheimer says. “It’s a little difficult. The marshmallows when they’re toasted -- you need to have a powerful blender to get the marshmallow blended.”
And in a send-off to summer, chef Neal Fraser’s BLD is offering a special menu of milkshakes from 5 to 10 p.m. on Sunday, in flavors such as caramel (with an optional shot of tequila), chocolate oatmeal stout (with or without a little Jack Daniels), blueberry malted and roasted banana Nutella, to be paired with dinner. Shake pairings? Cheers.
--
--
Lime coconut sorbet
Total time: 20 minutes, plus freezing time
Servings: Makes 5 cups
Note: Adapted from Brix@1601 executive pastry chef Renee Ward. Coconut puree is available at Surfas in Culver City, Nicole’s Gourmet Foods in South Pasadena and online at www.perfectpuree.com. This recipe may be made up to a week before assembling the coconut coupes.
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
3 cups coconut puree
1/2 cup plus 4 1/2 teaspoons lime juice (4 to 5 limes)
1 tablespoon lime zest (1 1/2 limes)
1. In a medium, heavy-bottom saucepan, bring the milk and sugar just to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and pour into a metal bowl set over a bowl of ice water. Stir until the sweetened milk is thoroughly chilled.
2. Pour the coconut puree, lime juice and zest into a blender (or use an immersion blender and large bowl); pulse to combine. Add the sweetened milk and pulse several more times to combine.
3. Place the mixture in an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and keep frozen until needed. This makes a generous quart of sorbet, slightly more than is needed for the coupe recipe. The remainder will keep, tightly covered and frozen, for 1 week.
Each quarter-cup serving: 212 calories; 1 gram protein; 38 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram fiber; 7 grams fat; 6 grams saturated fat; 2 mg. cholesterol; 25 mg. sodium.
--
Coconut meringues
Total time: 25 minutes, plus baking time
Servings: Makes about 2 1/2 dozen
Note: Adapted from Brix@1601 executive pastry chef Renee Ward. Desiccated (finely shredded unsweetened) coconut is generally available at cooking and baking stores as well as at select Indian markets. This recipe may be made the day before assembling the coconut coupes.
2 egg whites
1/3 cup plus 4 3/4 teaspoons sugar
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon powdered sugar, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoons desiccated coconut
1. Heat the oven to 175 degrees. In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large mixing bowl with a hand mixer, whip the egg whites until frothy. With the mixer running, slowly add the sugar until incorporated and the meringue forms soft peaks, then rain in the powdered sugar and continue to whip just until the meringue forms stiff peaks when the mixer is removed.
2. Using a pastry bag outfitted with a large round tip (about one-half inch in diameter), pipe 12 small half circles onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. They should be one-half to three-fourth-inches tall and 1 1/2 inches wide, and should be spaced about 3 inches apart. Using the back of a spoon or small offset spatula, smear the unfinished part of each circle so that each meringue has a teardrop shape. Sprinkle one-eighth teaspoon coconut evenly over each of the meringues.
3. Bake the meringues for 2 to 3 hours, until completely dry. Set aside in a dry place, or leave in the oven with the heat turned off. Baked meringues will keep for up to one day at room temperature in a cool, dry place.
Each meringue: 25 calories; 0 protein; 6 grams carbohydrates; 0 fiber; 0 fat; 0 saturated fat; 0 cholesterol; 4 mg. sodium.
--
Coconut sable cookies
Total time: 45 minutes, plus chilling time
Servings: About 5 dozen cookies
Note: Adapted from Brix@1601 executive pastry chef Renee Ward. This recipe makes more cookies than are needed for the coconut coupe recipe. The remainder will keep for one week stored in an airtight container. Desiccated (finely shredded unsweetened) coconut is generally available at cooking and baking stores as well as at select Indian markets.
2 1/3 cups plus 2 tablespoons flour
2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons plus 1/2 teaspoon almond flour
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons desiccated coconut
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups butter (3 1/2 sticks)
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1. In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, almond flour, coconut and salt. Set aside.
2. In another bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and egg yolk separately until each is fully incorporated. Add the flour mixture, one-third at a time, and stir until incorporated in the dough.
3. Spread a large sheet of plastic wrap on the work surface, place the soft dough on the plastic and pat it into a rectangle. Wrap the dough tightly with the plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, 2 to 3 hours.
4. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Roll half the dough (keeping the other half wrapped and refrigerated), between two lightly floured sheets of parchment paper, to one-fourth-inch thickness. Remove the top sheet and cut out the cookies using a 2-inch round cutter. Remove the cookies from the bottom sheet and place them, spaced 1 inch apart, on baking sheets lined with lightly oiled parchment paper or a Silpat. Repeat with the remaining dough. Freeze the sheets until the cookies are solid, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
5. Remove the cookies from the freezer and bake about 15 to 20 minutes, until golden. Cool on a rack.
Each cookie: 97 calories; 1 gram protein; 9 grams carbohydrates; 0 fiber; 7 grams fat; 3 grams saturated fat; 21 mg. cholesterol; 31 mg. sodium.
--
Coconut coupe
Total time: 50 minutes, plus overnight jelling time
Servings: 12
Note: Adapted from Brix@1601 executive pastry chef Renee Ward. Make the marmalade and the gelee the day before serving. Gelatin sheets are available at cooking and baking supply stores. Apple pectin is available at cooking and baking supply stores, as well as at some well-stocked supermarkets. To make simple syrup, combine equal parts sugar and water in a saucepan and heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is dissolved.
Lime gelee
1 1/2 gelatin sheets, or 1 1/4 teaspoons plus 1/8 teaspoon powdered gelatin
3/4 cup lime juice, divided
1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons simple syrup
1/2 -inch piece vanilla bean, split lengthwise
1. If using gelatin sheets, soak them in a small bowl of cold water until softened, 2 to 3 minutes.
2. In a small saucepan, combine half the lime juice with the simple syrup and vanilla bean. Drain the gelatin sheets, squeezing out the excess water, and add them to the saucepan (if using powdered gelatin, gently sprinkle it over the liquid in the pan, allowing the powder to soak up some of the liquid and soften).
3. Heat the liquid over low heat, stirring occasionally just until the gelatin is dissolved. Remove from the heat and stir in the remaining lime juice. Strain the liquid and discard the vanilla bean. Divide the gelee among 12 martini glasses and refrigerate, uncovered, until set, several hours to overnight.
Raspberry marmalade
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons apple pectin
3 1/3 cups raspberries (scant 1 pound)
1. In a small bowl, combine the sugar and pectin.
2. Place the berries in a medium saucepan and pour the sugar mixture over the berries, stirring gently to combine. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture has thickened to a jam-like consistency. Place in a nonreactive container, cover tightly and refrigerate until chilled. This makes about 2 cups of marmalade, slightly more than is needed for this recipe. The remainder will keep, covered and refrigerated, for 1 week. Assembly
12 martini glasses with lime gelee
1 1/2 cups raspberry marmalade
1 pint fresh raspberries
12 coconut sable cookies
3 cups lime coconut sorbet
12 coconut meringues
1. Spoon 2 tablespoons of raspberry marmalade into each glass, spreading it gently and evenly over the surface of the set gelee. Add a single layer of fresh raspberries to each.
2. Place a sable cookie over the raspberries in each glass and then place a scoop of sorbet on each cookie. Garnish each with a meringue set on a tilt into the sorbet. Serve immediately.
Each sundae: 410 calories; 3 grams protein; 71 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams fiber; 14 grams fat; 9 grams saturated fat; 23 mg. cholesterol; 68 mg. sodium.
