Nespresso SoHo
Nov 06, 2010 | From the kitchen of Rose
Wherever I travel in the world, I always seek out Nespresso boutiques. I enjoy the elegant and original designs of the stores and seeing their coffee machines and new coffee pod flavors which I at times get to taste..
I also love going to Nespresso events as everything is as first class as their coffee and coffee makers. The opening of the long awaited SoHo boutique was no exception. the high point was: I finally got to meet the president Frederic Levy (a cousin?) who is from Paris but lives in the US and manages both the US and Canada.
There were several appealing drinks and food stations, all of which included coffee as one of the ingredients. I chose the champagne cocktail with "caviar" made from their ristretto coffee and some molecular gastronomy truc that created the pearl shape and temporarily solid consistency. It was delicious I had two cocktails!
Trays of appealing appetizers such as foie gras (i had many) circulated through the crowd and three NY restaurants set up stations to serve their special dish featuring coffee. The risotto with freshly shaved white truffle was delicious (not sure where the coffee component was here but who thinks of coffee when there is he scent of white truffle in the air--sorry!). Arepa containing shredded pork and several fabulously zesty sauces, made me take a seat to enjoy it fully. And then surprise surprise: my dearest friend Elizabeth Karmel, who recently opened Hill Country Chicken, was serving her amazingly perfectly cooked beef tenderloin with the reknowned Anson Mills grits, and red eye gravy--yes--made traditionally with coffee. Elizabeth grew up in North Carolina so red eye gravy was not a stretch!
President Levy made a short and charming speech as a spotlight illuminated the Nespresso banner fluttering in the pre-rainstorm wind.
I ran the block home just as the rain started and sadly missed what I'm sure was a delicious dessert.
A special benefit to me: with the new store just one block away means I am minutes away from refurbishing my supply of Nespresso pods!
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sue bloom
11/23/2010 11:56 AM
Hi Rose,
I am a trained pastry chef and a great admirer of your books. All your recipes have been exacting and fool proof until one I tried recently. I made the caramel ice cream out of the pie and pastry bible and had a great deal of trouble incorporating the hot milk into the cooked sugar. Much to my dismay, the mixure kept curdling. I strained it but there was lots of residue. I then made the anglaise and tempered it with the caramel that had been strained out. I still wasn't happy,...the mixture didn't have the caramel flavor I wanted and there was still a lot of curdled residue in the strainer. I then poured the entire mixture into the blender and voila, everything came together. I strained the mixture again with very little residue. Finally, I added the caramel custard mixture to the cold heavy cream that had vanilla bean seeds in it. The recipe was written so that the hot milk was added into the cooked sugar and then reduced to 3/4 cup. The problem is that milk can't stand up to this kind of cooking. Wouldn't it have been better to add part of the heavy cream to the caramel instead and then add that to the anglaise and finally to the heavy cream (minus 1 cup cream/add 1 cup milk) that had steeped with vanilla bean seeds. Anyhow, that's how I would make it on my next try.
Please let me know what you think.
Thanks,
Sue
REPLY
Zach Townsend
11/06/2010 11:33 AM
I know how you love your Nespresso and now you have this fabulous boutique just down the street? Oh my. I want one in Dallas! Tell President Levy to give me a call and we can discuss the arrangements.
Yes, the last name is a curious coincidence....
REPLY
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