u/joross31

I made two kinds of mushroom shaped cookies that also happen to be made with candy cap mushrooms (candy cap mushrooms taste like maple syrup but without the sweetness)! 

The first are amanita or toad stool mushrooms that I shaped by hand out of a gingerbread containing candy cap and a bit of cocoa powder. After baking, I coated them in a royal icing with piped royal icing for the gills, edible wafer paper for the veil, and chocolate to color the cap. I used cocoa powder to mimic dirt. 

The second is a baked almond and candy cap marzipan. I used a mold for these (since I had it from Halloween last year) and then painted them with edible food dye diluted in vodka. Once colored, I baked them and then dipped them in white chocolate thinned with cocoa butter. I rubbed powdered sweetener and cocoa powder on for the appearance of gills and dirt.

I used precooked beets here for ease and to not heat the kitchen up (we have been in a heatwave) but you can roast them however you like or even cook them rubbed with oil and salt sous vide at 182ºF for 3 hours then use a paper towel to rub skin off while still warm.

Ingredients:

Dressing:

2 tablespoons olive oil, or avocado oil

1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar or champagne vinegar

1/2 small shallot

1 teaspoon mustard

2 tablespoons mint, sliced fine plus a few leaves to scatter as garnish

salt and pepper, to taste

Salad:

8 ounces Stracciatella, see note

8 ounces baby beets, precooked, peeled, and sliced 1/4 inch thick

2 oranges, preferably Cara Cara, cut into segments

2 blood oranges, cut into segments

2 avocados, sliced thin

1/3 cup pistachios, toasted and chopped

Instructions:

• Combine all dressing ingredients (except mint for garnish) in a bowl and whisk to combine. Adjust seasoning to taste and set aside.

• Spoon the Stracciatella onto a serving plate. Top with beets, citrus segments, and avocado slices. Drizzle the dressing all over top and then scatter the pistachios and whole mint leaves for garnish.

Notes:

You can make your own makeshift Stracciatella:

8 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese

3/4 cup heavy cream

salt, to taste

Break up the mozzarella into small shreds or pieces and add the heavy cream. Mix together well, cover, and refrigerate overnight to let the cheese soften and the cream thicken. Allow the cheese to come to room temperature for 10 minutes before serving.

Lilly Pilly (Syzygium spp.), also known as brush cherries, water berries, rose apples, or satinash are flowering trees or hedges in the myrtle family that are native to Australia. There are many species and they make flowers and fruits of varying edibility (not due to toxicity but tastiness) and they are often used in landscaping to create dense hedges. I spotted this Lilly Pilly (which I believe is Syzygium paniculatum) while helping my sister move and I knew I wanted to make a few things with them. This was my first time trying them and they taste like an apple mixed with cranberry and a faint hint of clove (and have a similar texture and tartness to cranberry as well). I ended up making a jam out of them and decided to use that in several dishes both savory and sweet. The fruits are easily split by hand to remove the seed, which is a bit tedious. They are naturally high in pectin so readily thicken a jam or sauce. I also added a bit of lemon, sweetener, and vanilla to mine. One fun thing I found is that these are high in anthocyanins, a colorful water soluble compound that is pH sensitive. So if you’ve ever played with butterfly pea powder or red cabbage juice for its color changing properties, these work the same way and become more red/pink with acidic ingredients and blue with more basic ingredients. 

Lilly Pilly White Chocolate Namelaka with a Spiced Cookie, Lemon Meringue, Lemon Gel, and Lilly Pilly Gel:

I made both a single bite dessert as well as a plated dessert so included both here. I pureed some of the jam into a smooth sauce, which is the dark purple. I also strained some to get the juice for a namelaka (chocolate and cream set with gelatin). I made a spiced cookie that I used as a base for the single bites or crumbled for both flavor and texture on the plated version. Similarly, I added lemon meringue for texture and lemon gel for a bit more of a concentrated lemon punch. Garnished with amaranth leaves or oxalis leaves.

Pork Belly With Lilly Pilly Gastrique and Endive Salad With Almonds, Feta, and Fried Shallots:

I pureed some of the jam and strained it to get a thin puree to cook down with vinegar for a sweet and sour gastrique to pair with a rich pork belly. I also added an endive salad for some bitter notes to help balance the sweetness and fattiness of the dish. 

Lilly Pilly Glazed Duck with a Shaved Cabbage Apple Salad and Lemon Gel:

I used the Lilly Pilly jam puree along with some vinegar and star anise to glaze a roasted duck and paired it with a shaved red cabbage and Pink Pearl apple salad that I dressed with a Lilly Pilly vinaigrette. Garnished with some Meyer lemon gel and chives. Served with a quenelle of strained cooked Lilly Pilly fruit. 

Location: California

Samphire (also known as salicornia, pickleweed, glasswort, sea asparagus, and sea beans) is a wild succulent that grows along the saltwater edges (shores and salt marshes) that can be harvested late in spring through early summer. Around the Bay Area we have Pacific Glasswort (Salicornia pacifica). Salicornia have a neat adaptation for dealing with the high salt environment in which they thrive. They sequester the salt in specialized vacuoles at the tips of the plant. Once full of salt, these regions break off thereby disposing of the salt. 

They can be eaten raw, cooked, and/or pickled. You want the tender bright green stems (which also leaves plenty of the plant to regrow) so avoid picking any woody stems (once they turn red they are too mature) and rinse them well since they like to grow in sandy soils. They are nice and salty raw and if you wish to reduce the salt level, you will have to blanch them. I blanched these for about 1 minute and they still retained an excellent crisp texture and briny taste. They will store in the fridge for about a week wrapped in a damp paper towel in a ziplock bag.

I used it to make a couple of dishes: 

Smoked Salmon Salad With Samphire, Radish, Fennel Flowers, Pickled Shallots, and Lemon Cream Dressing

I used blanched samphire to add to a butter lettuce salad dressed with a lemon cream dressing (cream, lemon juice, zest, Dijon, salt). There is also thinly sliced purple radish, foraged fennel flowers, pickled shallots, and smoked salmon on there.

Mussels With Fennel Lemon Cream and Samphire

I added the blanched samphire to a dish of locally sourced California Black Mussels that I cooked in a lemon fennel cream sauce. I started off with some shallots, peppercorns, young fennel seeds (also foraged), and a bay leaf cooked in a bit of butter. Added a bit of Pernod to enhance the fennel flavor and then cooked that down with some cream. Finished with some lemon zest and juice and served with the samphire. This would be amazing with some crusty grilled bread.

Location: California

Samphire (also known as salicornia, pickleweed, glasswort, sea asparagus, and sea beans) is a wild succulent that grows along the saltwater edges (shores and salt marshes) that can be harvested late in spring through early summer. Around the Bay Area we have Pacific Glasswort (Salicornia pacifica). Salicornia have a neat adaptation for dealing with the high salt environment in which they thrive. They sequester the salt in specialized vacuoles at the tips of the plant. Once full of salt, these regions break off thereby disposing of the salt. 

They can be eaten raw, cooked, and/or pickled. You want the tender bright green stems (which also leaves plenty of the plant to regrow) so avoid picking any woody stems (once they turn red they are too mature) and rinse them well since they like to grow in sandy soils. They are nice and salty raw and if you wish to reduce the salt level, you will have to blanch them. I blanched these for about 1 minute and they still retained an excellent crisp texture and briny taste. They will store in the fridge for about a week wrapped in a damp paper towel in a ziplock bag.

I used it to make a couple of dishes: 

Mussels With Fennel Lemon Cream and Samphire

For this dish, I added the blanched samphire to a dish of locally sourced California Black Mussels that I cooked in a lemon fennel cream sauce. I started off with some shallots, peppercorns, young fennel seeds (also foraged), and a bay leaf cooked in a bit of butter. Added a bit of Pernod to enhance the fennel flavor and then cooked that down with some cream. Finished with some lemon zest and juice and served with the samphire. This would be amazing with some crusty grilled bread.

Smoked Salmon Salad With Samphire, Radish, Fennel Flowers, Pickled Shallots, and Lemon Cream Dressing

I used the same blanched samphire to add to a butter lettuce salad dressed with a lemon cream dressing (cream, lemon juice, zest, Dijon, salt). There is also thinly sliced purple radish, foraged fennel flowers, pickled shallots, and smoked salmon on there.

I don’t know how to describe the juice of these prickly pear cactus fruits except for violently pink. It is also delicious, like a subdued watermelon. There are a few varietals and these particular ones have the most beautiful brilliant pink color. They are often used in sweet preparations but I decided to use them to make a savory, chilled gazpacho. I blended the fruit with some tomato, cucumber, shallot, garlic, Calabrian chili paste, and lime juice to make a gazpacho and the result is a smooth, unreal looking neon pink soup that is faintly sweet, vegetal, fruity, and refreshing chilled. I served it with sliced avocado and a charred corn and crab salad. I fried the corn silk in a bit of oil and used that to dress the salad to get a bit more corn flavor into it. Garnished with some cilantro and amaranth leaves. I also included a few process photos, the photo setup, and a picture of the unripe growing fruit.

I don’t know how to describe the juice of these prickly pear cactus fruits except for violently pink. It is also delicious, like a subdued watermelon. There are a few varietals and these particular ones have the most beautiful brilliant pink color. They are often used in sweet preparations but I decided to use them to make a savory, chilled gazpacho. I blended the fruit with some tomato, cucumber, shallot, garlic, Calabrian chili paste, and lime juice to make a gazpacho and the result is a smooth, unreal looking neon pink soup that is faintly sweet, vegetal, fruity, and refreshing chilled. I served it with sliced avocado and a charred corn and crab salad. I fried the corn silk in a bit of oil and used that to dress the salad to get a bit more corn flavor into it. Garnished with some cilantro and amaranth leaves. I also included a few process photos, the photo setup, and a picture of the unripe growing fruit.

Prickly pear cactus (Opuntia spp.) grows in abundance around where I am in California. Both the cactus pads (nopales) and the fruits (tunas) are edible. The fruits are ripe when they are deep pink or purple, typically late in summer and through early fall. You’d think the large obvious spines are the things to be most careful of but it’s the fine glochids that get into your hands and make you miserable. To get around those, I use tongs to hold the fruit, cut them in half, and scoop out the fruit. I’ve tried burning them off as well as rubbing/scrubbing them and still always managed to get the fine hairs stuck in my hands. 

The fruit tastes like a subdued watermelon to me. There are a few varietals and these particular ones have the most beautiful brilliant pink color. They are often used in sweet preparations but I decided to use them to make a savory, chilled gazpacho. I blended the fruit with some tomato, cucumber, shallot, garlic, Calabrian chili paste, and lime juice to make a gazpacho and the result is a smooth neon pink soup that is faintly sweet, vegetal, fruity, and refreshing chilled. I served it with sliced avocado and a charred corn and crab salad. I fried the corn silk in a bit of oil and used that to dress the salad to get a bit more corn flavor into it. Garnished with some cilantro and amaranth leaves. I included a few photos of the plating/process as well as the fruit and some unripe cactus growing.

This sub was recommended to me so I hope that this is allowed. I love to play with plating of food and these dishes involved rolling and manipulating strips of squash and carrot.

The first is Shaved Squash Salad with Macadamias, Pickled Shallots, Basil, and Sea Fig Vinaigrette and the second is a Crustless Pumpkin, Caramelized Onion, and Gruyere Quiche with Carrot Decoration.

I foraged some Sea Fig fruits (also known as sour fig, pigface, or ice plant) and used them to make a jam which I mixed with some champagne vinegar, avocado oil, and salt. I placed shaved squash that I halved so it would lay flat standing up on a plate inside a ring mold. Once it looked how I liked, I spooned the vinaigrette into the spaces between the squash. Topped it with chopped roasted salted macadamia nuts, Thai basil leaves, pickled shallots (with a touch of hibiscus in the pickling liquid for color), and some bachelor button petals. 

Sea Fig, also known as sour fig, pigface, or ice plant is one of about twenty species of creeping succulents in the genus Carpobrotus, most of which are native to South Africa. They were intentionally introduced in California (where I harvested them from) for erosion control and have become an invasive species. Specifically we have both Sea Fig (Carpobrotus edulis) and Chilean Sea Fig (Carpobrotus chilensis) all along the coast here. Both plants can produce yellow or pink flowers. The fruits and leaves are edible. Ripe fruit is sweet and tastes like skittles candy or kiwi and lychee or strawberry mixed with bubblegum and hit of saltiness. The texture is a bit mucilaginous similar to okra so they make a good emulsifier. I’ve included a few photos of the plant and the fruit preparation.

I used the fruits to make a jam that I added sweetener and lemon to. It is not pretty but it is quite delicious! I used that jam to make a menu:

Shaved Squash Salad with Macadamias, Pickled Shallots, Basil, and Sea Fig Vinaigrette. 

I mixed the jam with some champagne vinegar, avocado oil, and salt. I placed shaved squash that I halved so it would lay flat standing up on a plate inside a ring mold. Once it looked how I liked, I spooned the vinaigrette into the spaces between the squash. Topped it with chopped roasted salted macadamia nuts, Thai basil leaves, pickled shallots (with a touch of hibiscus in the pickling liquid for color), and some bachelor button petals. 

Sea Fig Glazed Black Cod with Kumquat Beurre Blanc And Samphire. 

I pan seared some local Black Cod so that the skin was crisp and glazed the underside while it cooked with a bit of the jam with some kumquat juice for added sharpness. I garnished with blanched samphire that I foraged as well as thinly sliced kumquats and a few pieces of shaved purple radish.

Sea Fig Ice Cream with Coconut Caramel and Macadamias.

I mixed the jam with an ice cream base so that there were still large pieces of the fruit throughout, which leaves bursts of the flavor in there. Topped that with a caramel made with coconut cream, some chopped roasted salted macadamias and a few cornflower petals as well.

Inspired by the colors and shapes all around in nature! These noodles are soaked in a a few different things - red cabbage juice, which contains anthocyanins that give the cabbage and butterfly pea its beautiful purple and blue colors color, or turmeric. Anthocyanin is a natural pH indicator that is turns purple/red in acidic conditions (achieved with some lime juice). I topped them with sliced avocado, carrot, radish, and chili pepper along with pea shoots, green onion, fennel flowers, pansies, and cornflower petals. Poured over a dressing of chili crisp, fried garlic and shallot, rice vinegar, and coconut aminos.

It has been so many years since I’ve had dim sum after going gluten-free but I have fond memories of visiting Chinatown in San Francisco with my family and experiencing the dim sum there so I had to try to recreate some of the dishes I remembered. The Ham Sui Gok were easily my favorite and I highly recommend that recipe if you like them. From top left going clockwise I referenced the following; 

Ham Sui Gok (Fried Glutinous Rice Dumplings)

Har Gow (Shrimp and Chive Dumplings)

Bok Choy with Fried Garlic Sauce

Char Siu (Chinese BBQ Pork)

San Choy Bow (Chinese Lettuce Wraps)

Braised Shiitake Mushrooms

Mut Jup Mun Gai Yik (Honey-Soy Braised Chicken Wings)