J. TORRES CHOCOLATE & GRATIN PEACHES

Tonight we're two desserts, one a simple peach gratin and the other, a fancy-looking dessert with phyllo triangles stretching up almost a half a foot above the plate called the Fontaine Jacques Torres, Jacques Torres Fountain (about Jacques Torres). While we did a version of the gratin back in Level Three, with figs, we haven't done anything as fancy as the chocolate fountain--it's a good night for a fancy dish as my family is coming to the restaurant (L'Ecole) to eat. Besides my family my aunt, uncle and my two cousins (who are like a younger brother and sister to me and my sister, Emily) are also coming to eat: Christopher (an ace pitcher) and Carolyn (an aspiring actress with an operatic voice).

More about tonight's class on the jump...

DISH: Peach and Champagne Sabayon Gratin, Gratin De Pêches Au Sabayon De Champagne

RECIPE:

The Poached Peaches
6 Peaches
1 Bottle Pink Champagne
240 G Sugar
½ Vanilla Bea, Split and Scraped
1 Sprig Rosemary
2 Points Star Anise
1 Teaspoon Anise Seed, Tied In a Sachet

The Sabayon and Service
7 Egg Yolks
300 ML Heavy Cream
100 G Feuillantine

Procedure:

POACHED PEACHES Rinse the peaches and cut them in half. In a saucepan, heat the champagne, sugar, vanilla bean, rosemary, star anise, and anise seed. When the champagne syrup has come to a boil, place 8 peach halves into the pan and poach until tender. Remove the poached peaches and add the remaining 6 halves to the liquid and poach in the same manner. Cool all the peaches in the syrup, and when they are cool enough to handle, remove the skins. Set the peaches aside until service. Strain the poaching liquid and reduce to 250 ML.

SABAYON Measure out 200 ML of warm poaching syrup and mix with the egg yolks. Make a sabayon by placing the egg mixture over a water bath and whisking until the sabayon is very thick and glossy and holds a ribbon. When the sabayon is done, transfer it to the bowl of a tabletop mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whisk at low speed until the sabayon is cool. Whip the heavy cream to soft peak stage.

FOR SERVICE Cut the peach halves into thirds or quarters depending on the size of the peaches. Sprial a peach in the bottom of a soup bowl and sprinkle with the feuillantine. Gently fold the sabayon and the whipped cream together and spoon over the peaches. Gratinez under the salamander and serve on a dolly-lined plate.

DISH: Jacques Torres Fountain, Fontaine Jacques Torres

RECIPE:

The Chocolate Genoise
5 Eggs
125 G Granulated Sugar
100 G Cake Flour
25 G Cocoa Powder
30 G Butter, Melted & Kept Warm

The Ganache
300 Grams Bittersweet Chocolate (preferably ganache chocolate), chopped into 1-inch pieces
250 ML Heavy Cream

The Assembly
1 Recipe (half-sheet pan quantity) Chocolate Genoise, About ¼ Inch Thick
1 Pint Fresh Raspberries
8 Sheets Phyllo Dough
250 G Butter, Melted
10-X Sugar, In A Shaker

Procedure:

CHOCOLATE GENOISE Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Combine the eggs and sugar in the bowl of a tabletop mixer. Place the bowl over a pot of just simmering water. Stir the micture gently with a whisk until it feels warm to the touch and all the sugar is dissolved, about 100ºF. Put the bowl on the mixer and whip the egg-sugar mixture on speed 3 until it holds a ribbon. Remove the bowl from the mixer. Double sift the flour and cocoa, sifting it the second time over the bowl containing the egg and sugar mixture. Fold it the second time over the bowl containing the egg and sugar mixture. Fold it in with a rubber spatula. Rpeat with the remaining flour and cocoa, and then fold in melted butter Spread the mixture with a metal spatula onto a half-sheet pan lined with buttered parchment paper. Bake in the preheated oven for 5 to 10 minutes, or until the eges come away from the sides of the sheet pan. Cool on a rack, covered with a towel. Increase the oven temperature to 375ºF.

GANACHE Put the chopped chocolate into a bowl. Bring the cream to a boil and then immediately pour it over the chocolate. Sitr gently with a whisk until the chocolate is completely melted. Set aside at room temperature.

ASSEMBLY Using a pastry cutter, cut the genoise into eight 2-inch circles. Moisten each circle by brushing with the flavored simple syrup. The cake should not be completely soaked--just moderately moist. Using a spoon or a pastry bag, put a large dollop of the partially cooked ganache onto each genoise circle. Place 4 raspberries on top of the ganache.

Lay out 2 sheet of phyllo dough on the work surface. Brush it lightly but completely with melted butter; work quickly as phyllo tends to dry out and become difficult to work with. Keep the rest of the phyllo dough covered with a damp towel. Sprinkle a light coating of 10-X sugar over the buttered sheet and top with another sheet of phyllo. Cut the double sheet of phyllo into 4 equal rectangular sections, and place one of the genoise circles on the edge of each.

Completely encase each circle by flipping the edges of the phyllo over the ganache to cover. Repeat this procedure to get 8 packages. Place the packages on a parchment-lined sheet pan. Brush the outside of each package lightly with butter and sprinkle with 10-X sugar. Refrigerate.

For the garnish, prepeat the procedure of layering 3 sheets of phyllo with butter and sugar. Cut the triple sheet in half width-wise, and then cut each section into ten 8-inch long triangles. Repeat until you have 24 triangles. Per order, place the phyllo triangles on a parchment-lined black steel sheet pan. Dust with 10-X sugar. Cover the triangles with another sheet of parchment. Place another black steel sheet pan on top. Bake the triangles at 375ºF for about 6 minutes, or until golden brown and caramelized. Remove the triangles carefully with a spatula to a cooling rack. Increase the oven temperature to 425ºF. Bake the packages to order for 6 to 7 minutes until golden brown. Serve immediately with the triangle garnish and fresh raspberries.

BREAKDOWN: The restaurant was buzzing. My family had a reservation for 8:45 PM but that's pretty late for them to eat dinner so they arrived at 8:15 PM to see if they couldn't sneak in earlier. Unfortunately for them this was the busiest Friday we've had in at least two months-- at least that's the way it seemed. Chef said we were 40% busier than usual.

Meanwhile, back in the pastry kitchen, Meg was out with allergies so we were down one student. But we've gained Zoe who switched into our group on Wednesday and we're Level Four students afterall so there was no panicking.

For service of the Peach Champagne Sabayon Gratin we multiplied the peaches by three as well as the recipe for the sabayon. While this dish was similar to the Fig and Orange Gratin we did back in Level Three, I preferred this one, even though I love figs, because this sabayon wasn't grainy. As the recipe in the book dictated, we browned the sabayon under the salamander as opposed to using the torch as we did back in Level Three which burned the top a bit too much.

But let's get down to business here, right? We're all here for the Jacques Torres Fountain. It's an impressive-looking dessert to many students when it is brought up to the front of the kitchen for the waiters to take out to the tables and even more impressive when it goes out into the dining room (so I'm told) and that's because of the phyllo triangles which stretch up above the plate.

A few students said that this dish features a lot of phyllo, which I suppose is true, but really when you think of it the phyllo on the plate is pretty thin, only a few layers thick. It's the kind of dessert that teaches you about using dimensions when plating.

I'm not talking about doing desserts that stretch up a foot into the sky here (at least not yet!) but it gets you thinking about possibilities. But how does it taste you ask? And really, how difficult was it to make?

Well, honestly, I shouldn't say this because I think it looks really impressive (and the genoise, the chocolate cake, was pre-made for us-- not that we haven't made it before) but it wasn't that hard to make at all! We had some problems, like the coulis being too thin, the whipped cream being underwhipped and the order of sugaring the package before putting it on the plate. But to me, the most challenging thing was closing the individual packages containing the goodies (ganache, strawberries and syrup-moistened genoise) and that's something you can get into a rythym with after doing one after another.

How did it taste? Good. I'd have preferred some more fruit and syrup inside each but as it was the ingredients inside kind of melt together and do a little steaming inside the phyllo pocket-- it was a very cool and tasty dessert. My family's ticket was one of two last tables to get the fresh desserts-- we started running out and had to use some leftover frozen packages made the previous day for a few remaining tables.

How did my family enjoy the food? With full bellies and a tour of the kitchens it seemed as though everyone came away pretty pleased, non-fish eaters and non-meat eaters alike and that makes this cook-in-training very happy.