Pop-Up Part Deux

Pine Nut and Rosemary Cookies

About 160 Pine Nut and Rosemary Cookies (I think I ate about 20 because they weren't 'perfectly round' enough - that was my excuse anyway)

First Batch of Syllabubs made with Potentino's wine and Lemon Simple Syrup

Syllabubs Chilling Out in the Walk-in Fridge

7 days later and I’m officially recovered.

Last weekend was my second pastry chef Pop-Up, again for Potentino.  It also coincided with Guilty Pleasures at Koko. The physicality of it all was something else.  It went something like this…

Friday: Prepping until the wee hours making lemon simple syrup, 4 batches cookies, and a batch of Hawaiian macadamia nut cupcakes (Guilty Pleasures theme for the month was Hawaiian Beach Party)

Saturday: Costume arrangement, rehearsal, cupcake assembly, run-throughs, performance, non-stop dancing until 3 am, sleep at 4 am

Sunday: Alarm at 7:15, at restaurant for 9 am, 128 syllabubs later, collapse

Monday: Hobble (can’t walk), limit coughing and laughing (can’t move abs), no lifting (shoulders and arms feel like they’ve been pulled out of sockets)

General physical state can be summed up here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbgyppGqBgg

Call me crazy, but I loved nearly every moment of it. (There was a 'brief' second Sunday morning when my alarm went off after only 3 hours sleep – if it hadn’t been attached to my iphone it would have been thrown against the wall and smashed into tiny pieces).  Except for that little 'blip' there was a smile plastered across my face the entire weekend.

So what was on tap for last weekend’s Potentino Pop-up?  Syllabub with pine nut and rosemary scented cookies/biscuits.

Syllabub was a new one for me and not something I’d normally slip out of my back pocket. Having a slightly less than enthusiastic attachment to creamy desserts (for those of you not in the know, syllabub is a creamy chilled dessert, essentially whipped cream with lemon, sugar, and sweet wine mixed in). With no actual baking involved it seemed (at first) something that the Pop-Up folks could have had a line cook whip up easy peasy. 

That said, once a complimentary biscuit was agreed (I'm a baker, I need to bake - not just whip and chill) I felt happier about putting my name to the dish.  I had visions of guests breaking off pieces of deliciously baked biscuits and dunking it in the sweet creamy glasses of syllabub.  Success was on hand when that’s just what I saw looking around the dining room at guests Sunday afternoon.

I spent a lot of time hemming and hawing over which cookie to serve with the syllabub.  Needing to stay true to Potentino’s request of ‘simple’ and ‘Italian’ I went against my natural tide of cookie flavour combinations and decided on the pine nut and rosemary duo.  I was cautious and a bit concerned. While the recipe I’d decided on was easy, I did wonder for a minute if I was going to end up with a cookie that was going to compliment roast chicken more effectively than the lovely syllabub.  Thankfully for all those involved in consumption – there was no desire for poultry to be found.

Essentially sugar cookies, but with the added complexity of olive oil, ground pine nuts, ground ginger, and a wee bit of chopped rosemary (I used half of what the recipe called for) – the cookies were sweet but just a little bit savoury as well. They were stellar and mapped to the syllabub perfectly which was served with large rosemary sprigs as ‘spoons’.

Pine Nut and Rosemary Cookies: 

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/pine-nut-cookies-with-rosemary 

Syllabub: 

Recipe given to me by the Potentino folks (initially in Italian, which clearly did me no good since my Italian language skills peak at Gelato flavours). Once translated, the recipe was essentially as follows:

1. Dissolve (in the microwave) 1/2 juice and zest of lemon and 1/2 cup sugar

2. Once chilled add 1/4 cup sweet wine - set lemon wine mixture to the side

3. Whip up about 300 ml whipping cream and 1-2 egg whites until firm peaks

4. Fold in lemon wine mixture

5. Serve in individual small glasses, sprinkle with nutmeg, chill for at least 2 hours

6. We served the syllabubs with a sprig of rosemary, you could also serve with a stem of red currants

7. And don't forget the cookies for dipping. Any simple / crispy number will do!