Johnny Iuzzini, Dessert Four Play

Frasca June 2009

I don’t know how I came upon Johnny Iuzzini’s site but have been captivated by his “within reach” combination of classic and cutting edge approach. He has had recipes up on his website since last fall (2008) and I pre-ordered his book, Dessert Four Play. More than that, I was lucky enough to sit at the salumi table at Frasca when he came to plate (Boulder, CO). You can go to my other page  Dessert Fun at Frasca if you want to read a full description.

While I started to make recipes from his site before his book came out and have made a number of them from the book, I’m only going to post a few. If you’ve also made some of the recipes and want to chat, feel free to contact me.

*Disclaimer:  I am not selling his book.  Since I’ve recently been teaching pastry, I like to keep up – both by exploring new things when I travel and by trying new things at home.  His website recipes had so many classic skills combined with different and interesting ideas that I had to stop and explore.

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Dessert making is about components. A plate is like a blank canvas. You make the components and then you put them together to form something new and beautiful.

Strawberry Moch & different types of Nomai Chi

Extensive notes on these:

• Chocolate Consomme
• Strawberry Mochi  (Basil fluid gel):  Strawberry Mochi, Strawberry-Cherry Compote [The basil fluid gel was great.]
• Tart Cherry Soup, Frozen Yogurt, & Tuiles
• Shortbread-Almond cream-Peaches

Other recipes I’ve made but am not putting out any notes (but you can ask if you want to know).

•Key lime parfait – great slightly tart flavor; Graham cracker sable is great on its own.
•Chocolate beet cake, candied beets & raspberry beet sauce – Cake is very dense (even after making adjustments); candied beets were fantastic (particularly the golden ones, couldn’t find the chiogga); the sauce was too “beet” flavored – started again with raspberry sauce and gradually added beet sauce to it – lovely texture & color when done.
•Strawberry-rhubarb consommé with basil tapioca – This is really interesting.  Some people liked it and other people found it too different.  If you like basil, the basil tapicoa is fun.  The small tapioca worked a bit better for me.
•Fromage blanc panna cotta & crispy almond phyllo – I didn’t make the rhubarb and instead used strawberries & blackberries as garnish.  The crispy almond phyllo is fantastic as an easy garnish on lots of things.  The panna cotta is also good and lovely with the vanilla bean (don’t substitute here).
•Chocolate chipotle soup with the brioche croutons and shredded coconuts. I might try a different brioche recipe.