Melon-Mint Gazpacho
A refreshing and simple summer dish to be served at the height of melon season.
A refreshing and simple summer dish to be served at the height of melon season.
This Melon-Mint "Pesto" was originally developed for a summer short rib dish that was served with seared watermelon and pickled rind. It was a fun play on fruit and beef, and people really enjoyed the preparation. To be completely honest though, this sauce was so specific to this dish, I'm not sure I would ever put it with anything else or even make it again for that matter.
Ionic spherification was first introduced by Ferran Adrià of El Bulli. They would serve a beautiful apple "caviar" in a caviar tin, which at that time was absolutely mind-blowing. Because the overall technique is fairly simply, "faux caviar" quickly became many-a-cook's first foray into hydrocolloids and modern cuisine (also commonly referred to as "molecular gastronomy").
In a previous video, I demonstrated how to peel and slice watermelon for use on a fruit platter or salad. In this video we’ll take the left-over rind and turn into a versatile condiment by using a fairly straight forward pickling process.
Fruit trays are a great way to welcome guests to a party or event and can add a festive, visual "pop" when done correctly. Demonstrated in this video is an easy and efficient method for laying our a fruit platter or mirror. I chose to make the above video part of the "Kitchen Prep Series" because as a prep cook, your value will be greatly increased if you can properly prep and compose a fruit tray.
The video above will take you through the process of creating and plating our ahi sashimi dish that we are currently serving at Stella. If you've already watched the video and just need a quick refresher, you can refer to the step by step pictures below. For more information on acquiring specific ingredients or supporting recipes, please see the notes section at the bottom of this post.
This video will teach you how to properly peel, slice and dice a watermelon.
This video will teach you how to peel and slice any seeded melon including honeydew melon and cantaloupe.