I am so excited to be posting installment #1 of the Dessert FourPlay project! It took me a while to decide which recipe would make the best opener, but after narrowing it down by season and deciding that I wanted to save chocolate for next week’s valentine’s day post, I decided to focus on the light and bright flavors of the citrus salad. It seemed like an appropriate starter.

For those of you who are not familiar with the book, the desserts in Dessert FourPlay are organized into sets (tastings) of four different desserts, served together for a ridiculous experience of flavor, texture, and taste. Since I’m too strapped for time to tackle four at once, I’ve decided to focus on one or two of the component desserts each week. So imagine, if you will, this salad, sitting alongside lemongrass ice cream with dehydrated grapefruit, carbonated lime curd, and crispy tangerine sticks; a citrus almond sponge cake with margarita semifreddo; and a meyer lemon tart with chocolate creme chiboust and earl grey fluid gel – and you begin to get the idea, this ain’t your grandma’s cookbook.

The very first task that I completed was baking the brioche. I’m always down for trying a new brioche recipe, and Chef Iuzzini’s proved to be a delight: light, rich, and extremely buttery. This particular recipe employs thin slices of brioche, destined to become sweet croutons.

The most difficult step in the process was procuring the calamansi puree, a task that prompted some internet research. The names “calamansi” and “kalamansi” appear to be interchangeable for this lime-like citrus fruit that is popular in the Philippines and other parts of Southeast Asia. I tried Kalustyans (who carries fruit puree, but not this flavor) and Dual Specialty (which does not carry any purees at all), before finally scoring at SOS Chefs, just blocks from my apartment. I was less successful in finding micro shiso (or even the alternative, red shiso), and after trying Whole Foods followed by some Asian groceries in Chinatown, I decided that I’d try to find some small mint leaves to use instead, which is what is suggested as an acceptable substitute for shiso in the Alinea cookbook. Unfortunately, even the nicest mint I could find looked like it had been severely beaten, and it smelled like nothing at all. I couldn’t bring myself to use such a sad product, and so, I forged on, without it.

I diced a very thin slice of brioche and allowed it to stale on the counter, then I tossed it with good olive oil, a pinch of salt, and a sprinkle of granulated sugar and toasted it in the oven at the same time as some black and white sesame seeds.

I let some gelatin bloom in cold water before adding it to a saucepan of simple syrup. I very carefully circulated the pan over a low flame just until the gelatin had melted, with the warning from my Pastry I  chef echoing in my head “DO NOT heat gelatin over 100 degrees, or your mousse will smell like a barn!”. I’m not sure if that’s true, but I’m just as happy never really knowing for sure.

To the gelatin solution, I added lime zest and the calamansi puree.

I had decided not to taste the calamansi until it was part of the final dessert, just so I could be surprised. It smelled amazing – like the lovechild of a lime and a tangerine, and it was all I could do to wait while the gelatin set up.

While I was waiting, I kept myself occupied by cutting supremes of blood orange and clementine.

Once the calamansi gel had set, I cut it into “noodles”.

Dessert components: blood orange and clementine supremes, toasted sesame seeds, sweet and salty brioche croutons (warning: addictive), and calamansi “noodles”. Missing components: micro shiso.

The verdict: Just WOW. It’s been kind of a dark week for me, our cat Nico is very sick, the weather has been cold and isolating, and a whole crack team (get it? crack team? Plumbers? heh) can’t seem to figure out how to fix the heat in my apartment. This dessert is like an uplifting, sunny day on a plate, an homage to citrus flavors as they are. The presentation is gorgeous, it reminds me of stained glass in natural light. The first bite was an explosion of perfect citrus, subtly sweet and tangy, accented by a hint of caramel crunch from the croutons. The best part is when the “noodles” start melting on the tounge, coating it with a sweet/tart layer to compliment the firm flesh of the citrus perfectly. Calamansi is truly unique, like a lime but sweeter, with a hint of good, solid bitterness. The leftover puree is destined to find its place in the best pisco margarita this kitchen has ever seen.

As for the leftover gelatin, I couldn’t resist the book’s suggestion to add gin “for a killer “jell-o” shot. Salute!

Interested in playing along? Click to get your copy of Dessert FourPlay: Sweet Quartets from a Four-Star Pastry Chef