Take a French man and ask him to cook outside his comfort zone and maybe, maybe he’ll cook something Japanese for you. Needless to say, i didn’t know how difficult it would be to roll sushi with that damn baguette stuck under my arm. This is of course the 2nd challenge in Project Food Blog: “The Next Food Blog Star” where we are asked to pick an ethnic classic and try not to make a fool of ourselves. Thank you so much to all of you who voted to advance me in this competition. If you like this post, then vote again!

I wanted to go Japanese today partly because i’m flying to Tokyo on Friday so i thought this would be the perfect exercise to condition myself for a week of non-stop Japanese eating. You could compare it to the stretching athletes do before competition. Except in my case it’s stomach stretching. The second reason i picked sushi is because i got a lesson from Yoshimi Tanigawa last year in Kyoto, and as much as i love Japanese cuisine the ungrateful student that i’am didn’t do much Japanese cooking to honor his Master since. Boooo… yes, go ahead, don’t be shy! Booooo…

This post is a last attempt to redeem myself before being denied entry at Narita airport.

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I must admit i’m not a great baker. There’s a love/hate relationship between me and yeast that’s so bad at times i can almost hear the micro-organisms yell in unison: “We ain’t working for you, sucker!” It’s a little bit like trying to run things with a worker’s union on your ass. The problem is, i’m really eager to learn more about bread so on my quest to become one with the dough i asked my friend Jeremy Shapiro, Chef, Baker Extraordinaire and Blogger at Stir the Pots, to stir me in the right direction.

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I’m entering this post to Foodbuzz’s “Project Food Blog 2010: The Next Food Blog Star”. Voting for me will guarantee you many years of good apple karma. You know, that’s the exact opposite of rotten apple karma. That’s when you’re about to take a bite and a little worm comes out and look at you in the eye. Yuck, yuck… You don’t want that!

Some of my earliest memories consist of arranging apple slices on a tart pan lined with pâte brisée. I was maybe 5 or 6 years old and i was helping my mom to make an apple tart with a layer of compote de pommes (apple sauce) underneath the apples. I was forbidden to get too close to the oven yet but i still remember the sense of accomplishment as i watched the perfect tarte aux pommes come out of the oven. I just couldn’t wait to sink my baby teeth into it. Somehow, those early steps in the kitchen helped define the chef and food blogger that i am today.

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With summer fleeting away rapidly i’m rushing to use the last of the summer harvest. The overripe tomatoes were turned into a roasted tomato coulis, the herbs from the garden which don’t do well in colder temperatures were used to make a stuffing for ravioli along with ricotta, mascarpone and spinach. The overgrown basil was made into basil oil and to welcome the fall i used tiny chanterelles and a healthy grating of parmegiano-reggiano. The change of season is in the plate right in front of you, my friends.

I know what you’re thinking right now. Something that goes like: ” Is that micro-greens on the plate? Pfeww.. he’s so pretentious!”

Don’t judge me! I really couldn’t help it and i tried, and tried, to resist the urge but habits acquired in restaurant kitchens die hard. I hope those tortured baby greens won’t get in the way of our friendship, will they?

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Pêche Melba was created by famed chef Auguste Escoffier in 1892 for opera singer Nellie Melba after she performed in Wagner’s opera Lohengrin at London’s Covent Garden. The lovely Ms. Melba was staying at the Savoy Hotel in London and sent Escoffier a pair of tickets to come see her sing that night. To celebrate her triumph he prepared the dinner party the following night at the hotel, and for dessert he served poached peaches on ice cream in a dish set on a swan carved out of ice… What a fliiirt!! A few years later, Escoffier opened the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in London where he added a sauce of puréed raspberries and named it Pêche Melba. The rest is history…

I’m sorry to disappoint but i didn’t have a swan carved out of ice handy, so i used crystal dishes. And i used a sour cherry coulis instead of the classic raspberry coulis (because i can!) and i went all fancy with the citrus tuile and basil blossom. I know, i behaved badly. Plus, the night i served this dessert in the Hamptons an incredibly talented violinist with a mohawk played some Wagner before dinner. How times have changed! Or not.

Here you have it, friends. One of my all-time favorite dessert. And a last ode to summer.

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