I can’t believe I’m writing about this two months after the fact – better late than never, I guess. Here’s what I made to celebrate my mom’s 50th. Yummy yummy yummy.
Chilled sweet corn broth with crabmeat and avocado salad, inspired by a similar creation from John Harris of Lilette. The avocados could’ve been a day riper, but the crabmeat, which I bought fresh at the Mid-City Farmers’ Market, was more than enough to make up for it.
This penne with caramelized onions, portobello mushrooms, asparagus, and goat cheese is a staple in our house. I honestly had the best of intentions to make something new and creative for the main dish, but Mom loves this so much that she wouldn’t have wanted anything else.
But I’d been interning for a few weeks in the kitchen at Sucré, making all sorts of dandy confections for hours on end, so I was most excited to test my new skills on dessert. A moist vanilla cupcake with salted caramel buttercream and chocolate ganache stripes is more than meets the eye…
The single best thing I picked up in my tenure at Sucré was the art of filling cupcakes. SUCH a quick, easy, simple touch that takes an already spectacular dessert to an otherworldly level of luxury. Use the non-ink end of a Sharpie marker to make a protrusion inside a fully cooled cupcake. Then, fill a pastry bag with your filling of choice (a Ziploc will do fine, too), snip the edge, and go about your merry business. Present your loved ones with this cupcake and watch in giddy awe as their teeth sink, unsuspecting, through the hidden reservoir of excellence. It’s a gift that keeps on giving, to be sure.
