Sweet Cuisine

Prep sheet for new menus, a

Kermadecs kitchen is split in four sections, A kitchen serving the Brasserie, a kitchen servicing the Fine Dining a Bakery looking after bread for both kitchens, a small breakfast tasting room which sells danish, croissant and other pastries, and small wholesale to some a fantastic cheese shop,Maison Veron and then the Pastry Section serving both restaurants and tasting room, Menu changing can be a bit of a slog due to advertising and signage we need to change on the same day which means signage can change together saving money,which as usual makes this 1 day of change extremely hectic, planning is needed and Im on to it now with the first prep sheets  draft for fine dining being tested and basically getting the recipes down, in the next couple of days I will jump onto the brasserie menu and do the same and then it should all come together, ready on time. 

Chocolate Tea and Honey first test

Made a start today on the Chocolate Dessert for the new menu, Its components being Chocolate custard set with Kappa, A Earl Grey Tea Jelly and Ice Cream, Pohutakawa Honey, Honey Powder, Honey comb, and smoked salt, here is a first draft of the dessert to test the flavours which came out quite well, working on a Chocolate and tea Air to go with it and just need to finalise the plating up, Very happy with the texture of the chocolate custard,

Vanilla Creme Brulee

Here is a take on a Creme brulee served with a Passionfruit and Yoghurt Ice Cream Sandwich, Green Tea Mousse, Pistachio Meringues, yoghurt tuiles and Passionfruit seed jam. 

Passionfruit Parfait wrapped in Marshmallow

Here is the Passionfruit Parfait wrapped in Marshmallow, served with a caramel roasted pineapple, Coconut Gel, Dehydrated Pineapple Meringue, Rice Pudding Arroncini and Passion and Mango Crisps and Banana Gelato

Salted Caramel Mousse

Here is the recipe I use for Salted caramel Mousse as requested by on of the readers.

360g Double Cream

1 Vanilla Pod

6g Maldon Sea Salt

220g  Sugar

110g  Honey

660g  Double Cream (whipped to soft Peak)

100g  Stock Syrup(50;50)

140g  Egg Yolks

18g    Gelatine

In a Hard bottem pan Start to make a Caramel with the Sugar and the Honey, Meanwhile Bring the 300g of Cream to the Boil with the Vanilla pod Split inside, Once boiled rest by the side.

Once the Caramel reaches the desired colour, (for me its almost black as I want a full bitter flavour but lighter is fine) slowly add the cream, be careful as it will spit and boil up, mix in and rest off the heat. once cooled to 70c add the Gelatine leaves which have been bloomed in cold water. 

Over a double boiler make a sabayon with the syrup and the egg yolks. once light and fluffy, and fully cooked, fold in the Caramel mixture, the fold in the lightly whipped cream and pour in to moulds.

I set in Cannolli tubes wrapped in Acetate. then unmold and roll in Salted Caramel and Pain D'epice Powder

Dessert Tasting Menu at last

Finalised the Dessert Tasting menu at last , 

It will be a 5 course menu offered for 55 dollars and wine matched for 85 dollarsNZ. 

The menu will be :- 

Sweetcorn Gelato with Tamarillo Pudding, Popcorn Bubbles and Salted Caramel

Baby Beetroot salad with Vahlrona Chocolate Aero, Beetroot Sorbet, Chocolate Oil, Fourme D'Ambert, Hazelnut and Beet Tuiles

Balsamic, Apple and Vanilla Spaghetti with Granny smith Sorbet, Raisin Donut, Compressed  Vanilla Apples 

Soft Chocolate and Tonka bean Custard, Earl Grey Ice Cream, Pohutakawa Honey Powder,         Honeycomb, Prune Puree, Warm Earl Grey Tea Jelly.

Nitro Rhubarb Cheesecake Balloon, with Candied Fennel, Black Olive Jam, Rice Wafers, 

 and Ammeretto Custard.

      

I think I have good value for money with this and hope to attract a few new customers to the restaurant, It should also give me a small glimpse of how things may work when I do start on the planning for a dessert restaurant will work out, Photos will appear next week as the dishes are all being worked on at the moment, , Menu hits the restaurant on the 9th of June. 

Cant wait

Ok, Im back again after my laptop decided to die,  will have a new post very soon for you all.

Thanks for the patience, 

Cheers

Honey

Went for a bit of a tour to Taupo in the Central North Island yesterday, and found a nice little honey shop called the Honey Hive, where they do tastings and have some excellent honey, I picked up a few to take back to work to experiment with as the flavour range was incredible.

I bought the Wild herb Blue Borage which a dark honey, flavours reminicant of Toffee Apple, Lavender honey which is a more creamy white honey with slight lavender but more of a floral flavour, then there was the Pohutakawa honey, just awesome.Another was Heather honey which I havent seen since I was living in Scotland, This has a real earthy heather flavour that works amazingly with whiskey and has the stronest flavour profile of the 5 honeys pictured. certainly my favourite.

It all got my thinking about lowering the refined sugar content and trying to use more natural honey. Today Im going to take them all into work and find suitable flavour pairings. 

Winter is coming

Outside today, Heavy rain, cold, can sense winter is coming.

Just as we have settled into a rhythm with our Autumn menu winter is upon us and Im looking to the new menu which we will start in three weeks, so we are just finalising some dishes and working on other stuff to be ready on time. Also the new dessert tasting menu will be going on too. I cant wait for this and hope it sells well.

Winter traditionally starts the first week of june here in New Zealand, which is strange as Im used to June being the start of the british summer(oxymoron?, possibly) So the winter menu will comprise slightly heavier elaborations but still trying to keep a light touch to the dish, on will come the beetroots, Squash, apples and pears are great in NZ just like England, and Tamarillos will also feature. As well as Caramel, Tea, Coffee and chocolate which will play a large part in the menu. 

We Also just finished working with photographer Kieran Scott which was a pleasure, he is the best food photographer in new zealand for sure, some of the work you can see on here and the rest will be appearing on the kermadec website shortly.

off to work again, 

Salted Caramel Mousse

I love Caramel and Salt, its quite popular now and certainly a favourite for many, here is my salted caramel mousse which is set in a cannoli tube, then rolled in Pain D'Epice crumbs and salted caramel powder for a crunchy texture, served with a granny smith sorbet encased in a Calvados, Vanilla and cinnamon Jelly. Served with Poached and compressed apples, Feijoa Beignet, and Caramelised Puff Pastry.