Ginger Scallion Cockles with Wakame and Cha Soba

Singapore/Malaysian style Ginger Scallion Cockles with Wakame Seaweed and Green Tea Soba Noodles!

     Malaysia is known for great southeast asian fusion cuisine.  Many Singapore, Malaysian and Indonesian recipes are european and asian fusion creations.  There is also a large variety of asian fusion recipes that include ingredients from Japan, China and southeast asia that have no european ingredients.

     Cockles are a popular item in Malaysia.  Cockles are associated with Whales, Ireland and the British Isles in the western world.  There is a traditional Welsh breakfast recipe of cockles fried with bacon that is served with laver bread.  Laver bread is a grilled mixture of seaweed and oats.  It goes without saying, that Welsh cockle and seaweed breakfast is one of the healthiest breakfasts that one could possibly eat!  Anyone from Whales that likes that traditional entree's flavor would enjoy the flavor of this ginger scallion cockles with wakame and cha soba recipe!

     Cockles can be purchased fresh in oceanside fisheries and good seafood markets.  Frozen cockles in the shell are easy to find in asian markets.  Because Las Vegas is in the middle of the Mojave desert, fresh cockles are not always easy to come by, so I used frozen cockles for this recipe.

     Ginger Scallion Cockles with Wakame and Cha Soba Recipe:

     Place 1 tiny handful of rinsed salt packed wakame seaweed in a bowl of water, so it reconstitutes.

     Drain the water off of the wakame after it becomes plump.

     Coarsely chop the wakame seaweed and set it aside.

     Cook 1 portion of green tea soba noodles in boiling water over high heat.  The cockles can be cooked while the noodles are boiling!

     Heat a saute pan or wok over medium heat.

     Add 1/2 tablespoon of sesame oil.

     Add 1 minced garlic clove.

     Add 1 tablespoon of peeled ginger that is cut into thin strips.

     Saute for about 15 seconds, till the garlic and ginger becomes aromatic.

     Add 3 handfuls of scrubbed cleaned cockles in their shells.

     Add 1/2 cup of dry rice wine.

     Add 1/2 cup of dry sherry.

     Add 1/2 cup of fish broth.

     Add the reserved chopped wakame seaweed.

     Add sea salt and white pepper.

     Add 1 teaspoon of Korean red serrano chile pepper sauce.

     Add 1 small squeeze of lime juice.

     Cover the pan with a lid.

     Steam the cockles, till they open and are fully cooked.

     Remove the lid from the pan.

     Add 2 sliced green onions or 5 sliced scallions.

     Simmer and reduce the liquid, till 1 cup remains.

     Drain the water off of the green tea soba noodles.

     Use a carving fork to place the noodles on a plate, so they look nice.

     Spoon the ginger scallion cockles and broth around the noodles.

     No garnish is necessary!

     Light, tasty and very healthy!  This southeast asian style cockle entree goes great with the delicate flavor of cha soba noodles.  This is a recipe that is worth trying, if you like the rich clam flavor of cockles!  Yum!  ...  Shawna          

Chocolate Butter Cake

A very rich decadent Le Cordon Bleu chef school cake!

     This is a chocolate butter cake with a crisp hazelnut japonaise meringue base, covered and layered with dark chocolate mousse and coated with a chocolate glacage.  Hazelnuts are pressed onto the outside edge of the cake's glacage.  The cake is scored and each portion slice is garnished with hand made decorative tempered couverture chocolate.

     It takes an experienced baker to make this style of cake.  This style of cake is not easy for beginners.  I made this cake as a required baked item at Le Cordon Bleu chef school.  This is a copyrighted Le Cordon Bleu recipe, so I cannot write the details of the recipe.  I can refer you to the Le Cordon Bleu cookbook or the Larousse Gastronomique cookbook for each individual recipe.  A few tips and descriptions of the techniques is about all that I can describe.

     The chocolate butter cake recipe is not difficult to make.  A greased parchment paper circle that is slightly smaller than the cake pan will help to un-mold the cake.  A very shap cake knife makes it easy to cut the cake into 2 layers.

     The japonaise meringe is a Swiss or French meringue that is flavored with finely ground hazelnut.  The japonaise is piped on parchment paper 3/8" thick to the same dimensions as the cake.  The japonaise is baked at a low temperature, so the meringue dies to a crisp cookie texture and so the meringue does not brown.

     There is no meringue in this type of mousse, so the mousse is firm enough to be used to layer and coat the cake.  A stainless ring mold with a thin plastic applique liner is set around the 1st cake layer that is place on top of the japonaise.  The ring mold should be 3/4" wider than the cake.  The chocolate mousse is poured over and around the first layer of cake, so it covers the cake with a 3/8" thick layer.  The second layer of cake is place on the mousse.  Mousse is poured over the second layer, so the cake is completely covered.

     The cake is then frozen, till it becomes solid.  Then the cake is un-molded.

     A piping hot chocolate glacage is poured over the frozen cake, to coat the entire cake with a thin layer.  The glacage must be very hot to pour!  You only get one chance to apply the glacage correctly.  A glacage cannot be spread with a spatula!

     After the glacage cools, chopped hazelnuts are pressed on the sides of the cake.  The cake is scored for 12 slices.  A tempered chocolate garnish and apricot glazed strawberry slice is place on top of the cake on the outside edge of each slice.

     Complicated, time consuming and well worth the effort!  I have done plenty of baking and pastry work professionally in restaurants over the years, so this cake was easy for me to make.  This cake turned out good enough to sell.  Making a cake that looks good enough to sell is a good goal!

     As a note, I received an "A" grade in the Le Cordon Bleu Baking and Pastry Arts Class!  I am a straight "A" grade chef school student and I am on the Presidents Scholastic Achievement Award list!  So, I do know what I am doing and I do have the credentials.  I do suggest getting some fine dining cooking experience, before attending any chef school.  You will get far more from the chef school education, if you do!  

     I hope these pointers help, if you make one of these fine, rich, elegant, decadent cakes!  Yum!  ...  Shawna   

MGM Grand Buffet, Las Vegas! Herb Crusted Prime Rib Night!

A delicious Las Vegas gourmet buffet!

     Guests from Chicago flew into town and we went out for dinner last night.  The guests requested a place to have a great Las Vegas prime rib experience!  That sounded like a good idea to me!
     During this bad economy, prime rib has gone off of the menu at many Las Vegas buffets.  Prime rib is pricey and many buffets have chosen to offer less costly roasted meats as buffet carving station offerings.  Many low price buffets in older casinos offer choice grade or select grade prime rib as a lure to their buffets.  Lower grade prime rib is great for getting people interested in dining out at older lower price casino buffets.
     The MGM Grand offers herb crusted prime rib as a featured entree on wednesday nights!  The prime rib at the MGM Grand Buffet is prime grade beef!  Prime is the very best grade of beef!  The herb crusted prime rib was roasted to a perfect rare/medium rare.  If a customer preferred beef that was cooked more, then the carving station chefs grilled the prime rib to the temperature of preference.
     Many gourmet items are offered at the MGM Grand Buffet!  Osso bucco, hunan BBQ chicken, Italian pastas and many other international entrees were very nicely prepared at the buffet!  A taco bar, chilled seafood bar and sushi also caught my eye.  I really like smoked trout and I made a smoked trout taco on one of my plates of buffet food!  The osso bucco was made with the old traditional Italian recipe!  The salad and soup bar also had many gourmet offerings that were made with top quality ingredients.
     Fresh baked breads were offered at the buffet.  I chose the lavash to go with a very nicely prepare hummus!  Hot seafood appetizers and entrees were also offered and every seafood item was prepared with traditional tasty recipes and cooking methods.
     We were there at the MGM Grand Buffet for beef!  A great prime rib is perfect for overindulging!  I have cooked thousands of whole prime rib in my lifetime and I must admit that the herb crusted prime rib at the MGM Grand Buffet was one of the best tasting prime ribs that I ever had!  Our table had at least three portions of the herb crusted prime rib apiece.  We all were so very stuffed to the gills with mouth watering top grade prime rib!
     The dessert shop at the buffet had the feel of a candy shop.  All of the desserts were expertly crafted by a talented pastry chef.  To my liking, the desserts were european in style and not overly sweet.  The blueberry panna cotta was perfect!  The pistachio ice cream was so very refreshing after indulging on prime rib!  I really liked the presentation of the key lime pie.  The picture of the key lime pie is a good example of a modern dessert presentation and the flavor was excellent!
     Our experience at the MGM Grand Buffet was a great one!  We sipped on coffee after dining and chatted at length in the nice atmosphere of the MGM Grand Buffet.  The service and waitstaff was very attentive and polite.
     I highly recommend the MGM Grand Buffet for visitors of Las Vegas and for locals alike!  Especially on Herb Crusted Prime Rib night!  Yum!  ...  Shawna

White Pizza with Sausage, Spinach, Mushrooms and Asparagus

The big yum!

     I have posted a few nice gourmet pizza recipes in this bog that do not have the usual Italian American pizzeria style ingredients.  Another nice gourmet pizza is something that I have been wanting to post for a few months, but I have simply overlooked that option after getting involved with other blog menu directions.

     At chef school, we were required to make pizza on the last day of baking lab duties.  Just my luck!  I took a brief look at the French chef school pizza dough recipe, but I decided to use my own pizza dough recipe.  One mini pizza was all that the assignment required, so I scaled the recipe back.  Because I used my own dough recipe, I can publish this gourmet pizza recipe in my blog, instead of having to abide by the chef school's copyright laws.

     The ingredients for this pizza were all fresh.  A basic focaccia dough was used for the pizza dough.  Sausage adds a nice flavor, but without sausage, this would be a nice vegetarian style pizza.

     Old time Italian pizzas were basically focaccia bread with no tomato pizza sauce and a few toppings placed on top with cheese.  Tomatoes were not used in Italian cooking, till well after the discovery of the Americas.  Tomatoes are in the nightshade family of plants and nightshade plants were considered to be associated with witchcraft.  Tomatoes did exist in europe, but they were never bred, hybridized or cultivated as a food source due to superstition, so the native european tomatoes were very small and considered to be inedible.

     White pizza refers to a pizza with no tomato pizza sauce.  Ricotta cheese is not on every white pizza recipe!  White pizzas are a throwback to the age of pre-colombian Italian cuisine.  A good white pizza requires nice quality ingredients to taste great!  I prefer to present focaccia white pizzas with a rustic style.  The white pizza in the pictures above does have a rustic look with a very nice old fashioned flavor!

     Pizza Dough Recipe:  

     If you have dough making experience, then this will be easy.  

     High gluten flour is best for this recipe, but bread flour can be used.  Pizza dough is focaccia dough or Italian bagette style bread dough.  No oil in the mixture will produce a dough that is like many Italian breads that are not enriched with fat or French baguette bread dough.  Many pizzeria chefs do not add oil to a pizza dough and that is correct pizza dough too.  

     Focaccia style doughs require enrichment with fat.  Olive oil is a fat!  Oil strengthens and elongates the gluten strands of the dough.  It only takes a very small amount of oil to produce a nice texture.  The elastic gluten strands give pizza dough the ability to be stretched and tossed in the air!

     Add 2 tablespoon of fresh yeast or 1 tablespoon of dry yeast to 16 ounces of tepid luke warm water in a mixing bowl. 

     Place the mixing bowl in a luke warm place like on top of a warm oven.

     When the yeast activates, add 2 teaspoons of sugar to proof the yeast. 

     Add about 2 cups of flour.

     Add 2 teaspoons of sea salt.

     Add 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil.

     Stir the mixture with a spoon, till a very loose wet dough is formed.

     Start adding a little bit of flour at a time,while stirring, till a loose dough is formed. 

     Add a little more flour at a time, while mixing with your fingers, till the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl. 

     You will be able to feel when the dough is starting to get elastic.  It will stick to your hands when made correctly, but that will change after rising twice.

     Add flour, while hand mixing, till the dough can pull away from the sides of the bowl.

     Cover the dough in the mixing bowl with a dry towel. 

     Set the bowl on top of an oven in a luke warm area, with a second towel underneath the bowl to protect the dough from too much heat. 

     When the dough rises more than double, beat it down with your knuckles and gather the dough like a ball in the bowl. 

     Cover the dough with a towel and let it rise again.

     When it rises the second time, beat the dough down and knead firmly with your hands for 1 minute.

     Place the dough on a floured counter top.

     Roll the dough into a large ball. 

     Cut the dough ball in half for two medium size pizzas portions or into four portions for mini pizzas.

     Roll and tuck each dough portion with with your hands to make smooth dough balls. 

     You can cover and refrigerate each dough ball for a few days or freeze the dough portions for later use. 

     Rosemary Olive Oil:  

     Heat 1/ cup of olive oil over low heat in a sauce pot.

     Add 2 tablespoons of fresh rosemary leaves.

     Gently simmer till the olive oil becomes flavored with the rosemary.

     Pour the rosemary olive oil through a fine mesh strainer into a small bowl and set it aside.

    

     Sausage:

     Heat a saute pan over medium/medium low heat.

     Add 1 small splash of olive oil.

     Add 4 ounces of uncased Italian sausage.

     Break the clumps of sausage up as the sausage cooks to a light brown color.

     Drain off any excess grease.

     Set the cooked crumbled sausage aside.

    

     Wilted Garlic Spinach:

     Heat a saute pan over medium/medium low heat.

     Add 1 small splash of olive oil.

     Add 4 sliced garlic cloves.

     Saute till the garlic turns a golden color.

     Add 1 generous large handful of baby spinach leaves.

     Add sea salt and black pepper.

     Saute, toss and stir, till the spinach wilts.

     Spread the wilted garlic spinach on a plate, so it cools quickly.

     Leave the pan on the heat 

     Sauteed Asparagus Spears:

     Add 1 tiny splash of olive oil to the hot pan.

     Add 5 peeled asparagus spears.

     Add 1 pinch of sea salt.

     Saute till the asparagus are less than halfway cooked.

     Set the asparagus spears aside and leave the pan on the heat.

     Sauteed Mushrooms and Shallot:

     Add 1 splash of olive oil to the hot pan.

     Add 1 thin sliced shallot.

     Saute till the shallot slices just barely start to turn clear in color.

     Add 1 handful of thin sliced mushrooms.

     Add sea salt and black pepper.

     Saute till the mushrooms become tender.

     Set the sauteed mushrooms and shallot aside. 

     White Pizza with Sausage, Spinach, Mushrooms and Asparagus: 

     Coat a smooth countertop with a very thin film of olive oil.  (Just a few drops of olive oil wiped on the counter is plenty!)

     Place a mini pizza size portion of the dough on the counter top.

     Press and stretch the dough flat.

     Use your finger tips to gently press the dough outward fro the center to form a flat rustic pizza dough shape that is less than 1/2" thick.

     Place the flat pizza dough on a pizza pan that is lightly brushed with olive oil.  (Re-stretch the dough if necessary.) 

     Brush the dough generously with the rosemary olive oil.

     Season with sea salt.

     Sprinkle a small amount of grated parmesan cheese over the pizza.

     Sprinkle the crumbled cooked Italian sausage over the pizza.

     Place the sauteed mushrooms and shallots on the pizza.

     Place 5 small mounds of the wilted garlic spinach around on the pizza.

     Place the asparagus spears on the pizza, so they point outward from the center and drape over the small mounds of spinach.

     Sprinkle a small amount of grated parmesan cheese over the pizza.

     Sprinkle some grated mozzarella cheese over the pizza.

     Drizzle a little bit of the remaining rosemary olive oil over the pizza.

     Bake in a 450 degree oven, till the crust becomes fully cooked and the cheese lightly browns.

     Cut the pizza into 5 slices.

     The flavor bomb!  You certainly can imagine how good this white pizza tastes!  Plenty of healthy olive oil is on this pizza.  Rosemary is an old fashioned Italian focaccia flavor.  Yum!  Ciao Baby!  ...  Shawna

Rigatoni e Ragu di Carne Macinata di Suino

Rigatoni pasta with minced pork ragu!

     Pork is a nice traditional meat for making an Italian ragu.  Ragu means stirred stew.  The French word ragout and the French stirred stew cooking technique originates from the Italian word ragu and the old fashioned style of Italian home cooked stirred stews.
     There are many different regional ragu recipes in Italy.  There are many specific name ragu recipes in Italy too.  There are also very basic standard ragu recipes in Italy, like this minced pork ragu recipe.  Minced pork ragu is a nice standard Italian home cooked meal!
     Depending on what Italian region or city that you are in, the choice of pasta style for a minced pork ragu may vary.  Large tube pastas, tagliatelle ribbon pastas, artisan pastas and even cappelini pastas may be used for accompanying the ragu.  I chose a nice size rigatoni tube shaped pasta for this recipe.
     A savory slow cooked ragu does not need large piles of parmesan or romano cheese for it to be great tasting.  Just a light sprinkle of finely grated parmesan is plenty for this rich sauce.
     A thick rich ragu is used like a sauce for pasta in Italy.  Traditional ragout in France is usually not accompanied by pasta.  Tomato is not always the base of very old traditional Italian ragu sauces.  Many modern Italian ragu recipes do have plenty of tomato in the sauce.  Good imported canned Italian crushed tomato is perfect for a ragout.  The better quality of Italian tomato, the better the ragu!  California tomato products tend to be acidic and the difference in flavor is easily noticed.
     I tend to cook my pastas to order (a la minute) both in restaurants and at home.  That is the way to have a perfect al dente pasta!  A ragu can take more than an hour of slow simmering to finish cooking.  If you time it right, the dried pasta should be started cooking about ten minutes before the ragout is done simmering.  Dried pasta is always better freshly cooked!
     Ground pork from a market is just okay for this recipe.  The better thing to do is to purchase a piece of pork shoulder.  Trim the excess fat off of the pork shoulder and use a heavy knife or cleaver to chop and mince the meat by hand.  The flavor is better and the texture will be better.  There will be a few small chunks of pork in the ragu this way and that adds a nice rustic hand crafted touch!  When an Italian housewife is using a large cleaver to mince meat in her kitchen, the polite "please and thank you" words are also heard from family members a little more often!  Ha ha ha!
     Italian parsley is added during the stewing of this recipe and it is used to garnish this entree.  Nice looking finely minced fresh Italian parsley sprinkled over a pasta adds flavor and color.  The finely minced parsley also shows that the cook took the time to mince the parsley correctly and a customer will certainly trust that the same care was used to cook the entree!  I never really liked to see coarse sloppy looking chopped parsley thrown on a nice plate of food, because I assume that the cook put the same minimal attention in the sauce that was made.  Refined looking minced parsley is the way to go, when garnishing!

     Rigatoni e Ragu di Carne Macinata di Suino Recipe:
     This recipe makes enough for 2 portions or one large portion!
     Heat a large saute pan or a small brazing pan over medium medium low heat.
     Add 1 ounce of unsalted butter or lard.
     Add 2 ounces of olive oil.
     Add 5 chopped garlic cloves.
     Saute till the garlic just starts to turn a golden color.
     Add 1 handful of small chopped onion.
     Add 1 handful of small chopped carrot.
     Add 1 small handful of small chopped celery.
     Saute till the mirepoix vegetables start to become tender.
     Add 11 or 12 ounces of lean pork shoulder that was chopped and minced by hand with a cleaver or heavy chef knife.
     Saute till the minced pork becomes very lightly browned.
     Add 14 ounces of imported canned Italian crushed tomatoes.
     Stir till the tomatoes start to simmer and combine with the oil and fats in the pan.
     Add 1/2 cup of dry Italian red wine.
     Add sea salt and black pepper.
     Add 2 pinches of oregano.
     Add 1/2 tablespoon of minced Italian parsley.
     Add 2 pinches of basil.
     Add 1 pinch of ground sage.
     Add 2 pinches of whole fennel seed.
     Add 2 pinches of crushed dried red pepper.
     Add 1 cup of light pork stock.
     After the ragu comes to a gentle boil, reduce the temperature to medium low/low heat.
     Gently simmer and reduce the ragu, till till it becomes thick.
     Stir the ragu occasionally.
     Add 1 cup of light pork stock.
     Repeat the simmering, reducing and stirring steps.
     When the ragu becomes thick again, add 1 last cup of light pork stock.
     Repeat the simmering, reducing and stirring steps one last time.
     The minced pork ragu should take at least 1 1/2 hours total time of slow cooking to be fully cooked and so the full rich flavors develop.  The pork meat will become very tender!
     About 10 to 12 minutes before the ragu finished cooking, boil 1 large portion of rigatoni pasta in a pot over high heat.  Use a wooden pasta stick or wooden spoon handle to stir the pasta, so the pasta does not not break apart.  A sharp metal spoon will damage the pasta.
     Boil the rigatoni, till it becomes al dente!
     Drain the water off of the rigatoni pasta and leave the pasta in the pasta pot.
     Add the finished minced pork ragu to the pasta in the pasta pot.
     Toss the ragu and pasta together.
     Place the Rigatoni e Ragu di Carne Macinata di Suino into a large pasta bowl.
     Sprinkle a small amount of finely grated imported Italian parmesan cheese over the pasta.
     Sprinkle a few pinches of finely minced Italian parsley over the pasta.

     This minced pork ragu and rigatoni entree is simple, comfortable and delicious!  Rigatoni e Ragu di Carne Macinata di Suino is a good example of Italian home cooking.  Once the first bite is taken, it is hard to stop eating this pasta!  Just remember, its not polite to talk with your mouth full!  Ha ha ha!  Ciao baby!  ...  Shawna 

A trendy classic dessert menu example

Roadrunner!

     














     
     A baking and pastry arts class at chef school assigned a project of creating a five item dessert menu.  The dessert menu had to feature individual dessert creations made with lemon curd tart, chocolate truffles, ice cream, pate a choux and creme patisserie.  The exercise was simply for students to begin creating menus and to food cost menu items.

     This assignment was easy for me, because I have written many menus at restaurants in the past.  I used to rely on trendy popular dessert items that were proven sellers when I wrote a dessert menu.  Now that I live in the #1 food destination in the world, Las Vegas, I feel much more creative and bolder when writing a dessert menu.

     In Las Vegas, exciting creative desserts are served in nearly every fine restaurant.  Fabulous presentations of fine desserts command a nice price in return.  As a pastry chef, Las Vegas is the place to let it all hang out!

     I am not a certified pastry chef or an executive pastry chef, but I do think like one!  My usual restaurant titles are chef de cuisine, sous chef, saucier and saute chef.  You would be surprised at how many times that a sous chef or saucier is asked to make desserts, when a pastry chef is absent!  Throughout my career, I have had to occasionally temporarily fill the basic pastry chef duties as a sous chef.  That can be a challenge, especially when the mind has been focussed on savory food for weeks on end.

     I have worked in fine Michelin Star rated French restaurants that had very nice dessert menus.  I have dined in some of the greatest Las Vegas restaurants and sadly just looked at some fantastic dessert menus, because I am borderline diabetic and I control diabetes by not eating sweets.  Every so often, especially around holidays, I do enjoy going to a fine Las Vegas restaurant and ordering a finely crafted skillfully presented dessert!  Never mind the consequences!

     So, I have seen some great dessert menus in the past and eaten a few great desserts.  I have also created a few great desserts.  Tonight, I created a very nice dessert menu for the school assignment.  These are all items that I can easily make and present as intended.  An experienced certified pastry chef may even like working this nice five item start of a dessert menu.

     I will cook, present and photograph each of these dessert items, before writing the recipes in the near future.  These dessert creation ideas turned out to be fairly good, if I modestly do say so myself!  Ha! Ha! Ha!  

     When writing a menu, the object is to selectively and tastefully use words to name the dessert item and to describe the dessert item in a way that naturally causes customer interest.  Partially describing the presentation and leaving room for welcome presentation surprises is a good way to keep the interest of returning customers.

     Fruit flavors are the collective theme of the caribbean resort style dessert menu that I wrote.  All the flavors were written around the required five classic French dessert items.  The presentations are both creative classic French and trendy modern in style.  The extensive presentations help to command a higher price.  You do get what you pay for in the world of star rated fine desserts!    

     The golden dark chocolate treasure chest in the pina colada white chocolate truffle dessert is actually intended to be coated in pure edible gold foil.  A shiny pure gold coated treasure chest!  I helped make heart shaped gold foil coated chocolate jewelry boxes that held an assortment of chocolate truffles one year on St Valentines Day and that was truly an impressive decadent dessert presentation!

     Croquembouche for two is a classic French dessert item!  Fried ice cream lollipops were an idea that I have kicked around for months.  A Salvador Dali surrealistic presentation of a lemon tart in a bird cage is actually based on a classic French caged lemon tart recipe that is usually only served at estates and mansions.  Drunken Brazil Nut?  There are plenty of those in the Rio Casino in Las Vegas!  Ha!  Actually, a liquor soaked japonaise tort is a classic French dessert.  

     When writing a dessert menu, have fun, be creative and design the desserts to coordinate with the theme and prices of the regular dinner menu.  Keep in mind, many customers visit a fine restaurant only to order dessert!  

     The photographs above are odds and ends pictures that I shot around Las Vegas in 2012.  Las Vegas inspires artistic creation! ...  Shawna

                 

Lemon Tart in an Amber Sugar Bird Cage - A surreal presentation of lemon curd tart garnished with white raspberries and dark chocolate mint molecular gelee displayed in an amber sugar bird cage. 24

Pina Colada White Chocolate Truffles - Caribbean pina colada truffles in a golden dark chocolate pirate treasure chest floating on a blue curacao sabayon sea with Midori gastrique 28

Fried Finger Banana Ice Cream Lollipops Neapolitan - A candy shop rack of fried coconut crusted tropical finger banana ice cream lollipops with neapolitan strawberry, dark chocolate and vanilla creme anglaise dipping sauces 14

Huckleberry Chantilly Croquembouche - A towering classic presentation of huckleberry chantilly filled pate a choux puffs and crunchy spun sugar for two 22

Drunken Brazil Nut Japonaise Creme Patisserie Tort - A layered neoclassic tort of rum syrup soaked brazil nut japonaise, passion fruit French pastry cream and bitter sweet tamarillo puree on an Amazon jungle theme dessert sauce hand painted plate                                                                                                                                                                                    23