Chocolate semifreddo with tamarind meringue, citrus salad and green tea ice cream
It is starting to get warmer here but with just enough winter left to keep the popsicles and air conditioners at bay. In the dessert world this means a transition period between the heavier desserts based on chocolate, nuts and dried fruits of winter and the lighter more refreshing desserts we crave in the summer. Therefore, this week’s dessert combines a super, rich, frozen, dark chocolate mousse with things that make it feel lighter. The green tea ice cream is custard based and thus creamy and cool, cutting the richness of the chocolate. Tamarind meringue is added for crunch and visual appeal. Tamarind comes from a seed pod that grows all over the tropical belt and is both sweet and sour in flavor. The sourness of the tamarind was added to the crunchy meringue to balance the inherent sweetness of the meringue. The citrus salad is composed of ruby red grapefruit, orange and lemon slices which were cut down so as not to overwhelm the plate with their size and stored in simple syrup until service. The simple syrup kept them fresh and juicy and tempered their acidity, making them both a colorful garnish and a foil to the denseness of the chocolate. I felt this was a successful dish as all the components worked together as I intended them to and its visual appeal and color palate had the servers calling it the “fruitloop” plate all night.