Avocado Toast

We recently decided to restart breakfast service at the restaurant so we did a couple of tastings to see what exactly we would put on the menu.  Over the past few years we have seen the rise of the avocado toast everywhere from restaurants to hipster coffee shops.  The trick is to find your own unique version and run with it.  Because we are a California brasserie, I decided to use a kale pesto.  For the bread, we chose to use brioche toasted and seasoned with the pesto.  Then topped with a fresh ripe avocado, sliced and seasoned simply with sea salt, pepper and lime juice.  Next, a perfectly poached egg with a beautiful rich liquid gold center.  The whole thing is finished off with a roasted chili oil and pumpkin seeds.  The only challenge now is to go to work everyday and try not to make this my daily breakfast.  The avocado makes it healthy, right?

 

Poblano Mango Relish

Recently we received a case of Europa Chicken Mango Brats to use for a special.  We just happened to have a few pounds of poblano peppers left from a party, so I decided to put together a relish to go with the brat theme.  To play off of the mango flavor I added mango puree, micro cilantro and lime juice.  The dish really came together quickly with its simplicity.  The only thing left was to figure out what to serve it with…we needed a side dish to compliment the flavors.  For the side dish, I decided to make chips out of purple fingerling potatoes tossed with a squirt of lime juice and chili salt.

The relish would be good on any sweet brat or sausage.  You can also slap the spread on or in a burger.  I also took all of these ingredients and made a flatbread out of it with a little bacon jam and jack cheese. As for most spreads and sauces, they are much more versatile than people think.

Poblano Mango Relish Recipe

1 quart poblano peppers

2 quarts red onion, diced

¼ cup sugar

1 cup white balsamic vinegar

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

½ cup fresh lime juice

½ cup mango puree

Begin by roasting the peppers over an open fire or in the oven until the skin becomes black.

Place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap and steam for 10 minutes.  After the 10 minutes, take out the peppers and use a knife to remove the skin, seeds and stem.  Dice the peppers and sauté with the onions until tender.

 

Add the sugar and cook until caramelized, then deglaze with the vinegar and simmer for a couple minutes.  Add the remaining ingredients and simmer until a jam like consistency.

Remove from pan and cool.  Store the relish and use as a jam or jelly.  Enjoy!

 

Bhut Jolokia Chile Corn Ice Cream

As with the rest of the ice creams I make, I start out with an ingredient I love, and in this case admire.  The Bhut Jolokia Chile is known by a few different names, but one of the most publicized names is Ghost Chili.  This chili is an interspecific hybrid cultivated in the Indian states of Assam and Nagaland.  In 2007, the Bhut Jolokia was certified with the Guinness World Record for the World’s Hottest Chili Pepper.

Chili spices are rated on the Scoville Scale that measures them in SVU (Scoville Heat Units).  The SVU measures the capsaicin concentration of the spice.  Based on this scale, this chili has between 330,000 and 1,532,310 units, which make it approximately 400 times hotter than tabasco sauce.  In 2012, the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion Chili became the hottest chili in the world, of which I first used to make this ice cream.  Just last December they were both surpassed by the Carolina Reaper.

Another ingredient I love to use, and even just eat on its own, is Melissa’s Produce Dry Roasted Corn.  It is so sweet and delicious.  All of my fresh produce comes from Melissa’s Produce Company.

Ghost Corn Ice Cream:

*Yields 3 Quarts*

1 Quart Whole Milk

1 Quart Heavy Cream

16 Egg Yolks

1 Pound Sugar

1 Fresh Ghost Chili

2 Packs of Melissa’s Dry Roasted Corn

Begin by heating the milk and cream in a medium sized pot.  Add the chili with the stem removed and the 2 packs of corn.  Bring to a simmer, then remove from heat, cover and steep for 30 minutes.  Once the mixture is done steeping, combine the yolks and sugar in a stand mixer fitted with a whisk and cream them together on high speed until light and pale.

Blend the cream mixture carefully in a blender until smooth, then return to heat.  (Please note, when blending a liquid, you need to start out on a very low speed.  If you start high, the steam will build up and pop off the top and then you will be covered in hot cream and chili.)  Temper the cream mixture with the yolk mixture, and over low heat slowly cook the custard while continuously scraping the bottom of the pot with a rubber spatula until it coats the back of a spoon.

Transfer the mixture into a bowl set over an ice bath and stir until cooled.  Process the mixture using an ice cream machine (follow the instructions provided by the particular ice cream machine you are using).  Store in the freezer in an air tight container labeled and dated.

Just remember that any ice cream made with a chili or pepper can be hot!  You may be tempted or tricked to eat more of the ice cream to help cool your mouth.  However, doing so will only make it worse.  My wife found out the hard way (she loved the taste and kept eating it, but it was a little too spicy for her palate).  Only those with tolerance for heat need consume.  Now get out there and make some ice cream!