4/30/10 Dessert of the Month: April

one of the local newspapers, the stranger, runs an auction for charity every christmas. each year there's a dozen or more items. these can run from the risque (box of stuff for an erotic night) to decadent (cruise or vacation time). it's this auction where matt has won Chef Ethan's dinners 4 years now, and won Chef Renee's a couple years ago. This year Chef Cree, the pastry chef at Poppy, jerry traunfeld's restaurant, offered 'desserts for a year'. basically you get 1 dessert a month, every month of the year. matt made a deal with me. if i go pick them up he'll bid on it, and we won it.

as this is a monthly item, i've decided i'll just repost (hopefully) on the last day/1st day of the month as we travel through the year.

January: chocolaty goodness this dessert helped her earn her rising star award! Go Chef!



Bittersweet Chocolate Terrine on Gingerbread Pudding: Mexican Vanilla Bean Whipped Cream, Toasted Sesame, Cumin Toffeed Cashews and Crystalized Ginger


if this looks just too good to pass up, check out poppy http://www.poppyseattle.com/ and maybe it'll be on the dessert menu. or the recipe was actually published. https://www.starchefs.com/chefs/rising_stars/2009/seattle/recipe_dana_cree.shtml


February: something i never thought i'd say "yum" about!

 

Carrot-Walnut Chiffon Cake with Orange Caramel, Roasted Pineapple and Cream Cheese Mousse

that's right. you heard me! i said 'carrot cake'. never before have i had a carrot cake and actually taken more than 1 bite.  i guess that's the difference between an award-winning chef like dana cree and those mass bakeries or boxes of powder on a grocery store shelf.






March: crepes!


Apricot Crepes with Honey-Vanilla Ice Cream, and Toasted Almonds.

pretty tasty!

April: pudding....

but first i want to applaud chef cree for the write up of her wonderful gastronomical work:

http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/theres-no-wrong-way-to-eat-dessert/Content?oid=3994893

Chef has just finished explaining to me how to plate the items and i ask her what she calls 'this'. i got a slightly puzzled look from her. "...pudding" she replies, "why?"
"well, i just wanted to know if it had a more, er, snooty-sounding name" i stammered. i mean pudding is yummy, but well, a bit common.
she giggled. she tells me about when she was telling chef traunfeld (formerly of the Herbfarm and now owner/Executive Chef of Poppy) about it. Apparently he thought the same thing i had, and asked her to give it a more 'posh' name.

looks good, doesn't it? i think this is now my new favorite of the desserts so far.

i got to use our new dessert glasses, thank you ruth! and thought it looked oh so rich on the gold charger.

goat cheese pudding with pink grapefruit and fresh mint from Poppy's garden.

may's will be a little late due to scheduling conflicts. :-(