Organic Squash

We recently received close to probably 100lb of organic squash from Hammock Hollows Farm in north Florida, and they are just beautiful. There is so much squash we could put it on every dish on the menu, and still have tons left to use. So for the tasting menu tonight, I was trying to create a dish the was relative simple, but still had some complex flavors, and allowed the squash to be showcased.

For the squash: I sliced them super thin, seasoned with j leblanc olive oil, fleur de sel, and compressed 5 times to break down the cell walls. Then I fill them with a truffle/ricotta filling.

Next I made a consomme from the squash. This is where I really wanted the complexity and flavors to come through. I made a very well seasoned "squash soup."

Next I clarified the soup using a .25% agar base.

Here is the final dish, Squash 'Raviolo,' Squash Consomme, Maitake Soil, Basil, Nasturtium

The plate up needs a bit of touching up, and it the oil got a bit muddled when I tried to move into better light, but I was pleased with the flavors, and had some good feedback from a couple of the servers who are always willing to try anything.

This dish will be served cold, and has just a touch of acid and slightest hint of spice to open up the palate. And is so light, but with such complex flavors that it lingers just enough to keep you interested until the second course arrives.

corn

This post will be brief, but the other day as I was prepping for diner service and cutting the cornbread for the nights service I was trying to think of something to do with all of the waste. So, I decided to make a cornbread ice cream. I had never done it or tried it, but it was awesome. I was really pleased with how it turned out.

I took the scraps and made a concentrated cornbread base, and also charred off some corn and added it to the liquid. This is the base in the gelato machine.

The other night for the amuse I decided to do a dish based solely around corn. This is what I came up with

Cornbread Ice Cream, Corn Silk, Freeze Dried Corn, Pulverized Cornbread