I've been meaning to post this for MONTHS now, ah. The first time I ate at Craft in LA was about five days after it opened. I was writing about the restaurant for a mag and truly had a very subpar dining experience there. As I recall food was overcooked, undercooked, and bland. I did not return until this last August where I ended up enjoying a GREAT lunch. However, the highlight of the entire meal came from pastry chef
Shannon Swindle both with his amazing peach polenta cake and his sweet corn ice cream. The polenta cake used locally-grown peaches so sweet and juicy they epitomized the way a peach should taste. The cake part was moist, not too sweet, and melted in your mouth. As for the corn ice cream, once again a total hit. When I was little my parents would buy farm fresh corn from a tiny stand in East Hampton and I frequently found myself on corn-shucking duty. My friend Sarah and I would peel the corn and break off the husk, but I remember once taking a bite of the raw corn, realizing it was sweet and delish raw, and became completely confused as to why corn was cooked at all and not simply eaten raw. From that day forward whenever we shucked corn I would eat half a piece raw. And coming back to the ice cream, it tasted just like fresh sweet corn but cold and creamy. Anyway, these are two superstar recipes which I can't wait to recreate at home.
Peach Polenta Upside Down Cake3 – 4 ripe peaches, quartered, but not peeled
1 cup granulated sugar
2 ounces unsalted butter
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
Place the sugar in a small saucepan with enough water to moisten so that the mixture looks like wet sand. Swirl the pan over medium heat until the sugar dissolves and caramelizes into a dark amber color. Add the salt, and swirl. Pour the caramel into an 8-inch cake pan and allow it to set for 5 minutes. Place the peach sections on top of the caramel in a circular pattern, covering the entire bottom of the pan in a single layer. Brush the sides of the pan with butter, or spray with vegetable spray, and set aside.
8 ounces browned butter, cooled to room temperature
3 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped, pod reserved for another use
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cardamom
6 eggs
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup stone ground cornmeal
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 ½ cups buttermilk
Sift the flour and baking powder, and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the sugar, salt, ginger, cardamom, vanilla seeds and browned butter. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing for 1 minute between each addition. Add the sifted dry ingredients and the corn meal, and mix well. Add the buttermilk, and mix well. Pour the batter on top of the peaches, and bake at 350F for about 1 hour, or until the cake is just firm to the touch on top. Remove from the oven and allow the cake to rest for 10 - 15 minutes. Invert onto a serving plate while the cake is still warm. Serve warm or room temperature.
Sweet Corn Ice Cream3 cups whole milk
3 cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
15 egg yolks
1 ¼ cup granulated sugar
3 ears of fresh corn, shucked and washed
Place the whole ears of corn on a baking sheet, and roast in a 350F oven for 12 minutes. Allow the corn to cool, and cut the kernels off of the cobs. Roughly chop the cobs. Combine the milk, cream, salt, corn kernels and cobs in a large saucepot, and cook over medium heat to a boil. Remove the saucepot from the heat and allow the corn to steep in the cream base for one hour. In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar to combine. Bring the dairy mixture back to a boil and pour into the eggs and sugar. Whisk to combine and immediately place the base in an ice bath to cool. Stir frequently until cold. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Strain the ice cream base through a fine mesh strainer and freeze in an ice cream freezer according to the manufacturer’s directions. Ice cream is best eaten within two days.
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