Plugged Into Cooking :: The Electrified Cooks

 

We recently attended the International Association of Culinary Professionals annual conference in New York City. This is always a stellar conference jam packed with information about food and trends. Not to mention, we get to meet so many food professionals, famous and not so famous.

We went in a day early to participate in a Chocolate and Pastry tour.  What can I say? We had a fantastic culinary adventure through the streets of New York. Here are some pictures of our pastry and chocolate filled day.  My all time favorite was the  Kouign Amann from Dominque Ansel’s Bakery. Dominque’s DKA, as he calls them, are croissant like pastries with a caramelized crust and a soft, almost pudding-like center. Oh, how I have dreamed of a bakery like this in Kansas City. Dominque shared his DKA and a salted caramel eclair with us. I am still thinking about how decadently wonderful they were.

 

With all the pastry treasures close to mind, I wanted to enjoy a Lemon Meringue Pie.  After researching many new recipes, I settled upon one that I thought would be very easy. Easy was important because I am really suppose to be testing more cake pop recipes in order to meet a pending cookbook manuscript deadline. While this was developed to be a tart similar to what is found in many Paris patisseries, I wanted to make a pie.  I made my favorite pastry crust and added Ina Garten’s lemon filling and meringue.  Perfection! Here is the link to Ina’s recipe. I hope you will give this a try and let me know your results.

Can I share one New York laugh with you all?  We were in Times Square one day and happened upon Minnie Mouse.  I begged Kathy to stand with Minnie for a picture so that I might send it to my daughter, who would be so excited.  She is madly in love with all things Disney.

Notice Minnie coming down the street swinging her purse.

See the perfect pic of Kathy with Minnie?  What you don’t see is Minnie hitting Kathy with her purse until she paid her $1.00 for the picture! I exclaimed to Minnie that Walt Disney would not be impressed. After we got over the shock and awe of the event, I must admit, we giggled about it the rest of our trip.  So be forewarned, no pictures in Time Square without payment!

May your week be filled with lemon tart moments and photo snapshots (if only in your mind). The kind that you can giggle and smile about.