I work in acquisitions, I chuckle as I think that. Yeah, the acquisition of ingredients and spices that I stockpile because I’m ambitious about my culinary experiments. It gives new meaning to mergers and acquisitions. Some projects take longer than others because you know, out of side out of mind. After sharing my initial post on my underutilized pantry to combat this issue, I figured I would introduce this as an ongoing series. Welcome to the second installment!
Procera Gin botanical salts, Agar powder, Chestnut tree honey, Barberries, Cinnamon leaf
A seemingly disjointed collection of items, I like to think about this as my relaxed version of Chopped. The only rule is that everything has to be used up and I can create multiple dishes if need be. Here’s what I came up with:
MORITA CHILE CRISP: This is more like a cross between a chili crisp and a salsa macha. I added cinnamon leaf to it. The leaf is sweet smelling and doesn’t have the intensity of cinnamon bark but it adds complexity to the flavor, so that you get more than just heat. It makes it more interesting on the palate that way.
STRAWBERRY BARBERRY JAM: I’ve been making strawberry syrup for mocktails all summer which means I have strawberry pulp leftover. Making jam is the most logical option, so I added barberries(Berberis vulgaris). There is something to this pairing — the sweetness of the strawberries with the tartness of the barberries.
The second half features a few foraged ingredients. Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)is the only plant in which Monarch butterflies lay their eggs in. I have a colony that I have been nurturing for a few years, savings the seeds in hopes to plant them more intentionally in a bed with other wild flowers.
Fried milkweed (battered in sourdough), whipped mascarpone, topped with chestnut tree honey, powdered sugar and powdered meringue with a wild strawberry
MIlKWEED FRITTER: Chestnut tree honey is extremely bitter, I don’t think there was a way to temper it, so I worked around it with different textures and flavors - the creaminess of the mascarpone, the sweetness of the wild strawberry as well as the meringue powder.
JELLY: This one is composed of mostly wild grapes and elderberry juice, flavored with spicebush (Lindera benzoin). Garnished with black raspberries, mascaporne and Procera botanical salts (similar to sal de gusano/chapulín in its use). And on the side we have elderberry gel with a black raspberry and an elderflower. This was served with a strawberry rum infusion that is not pictured given how shallow the platter is.
