Take an Italian chef who spent twelve years in Spain, give him some pink candy popcorn and he turns out a Ghetto Gourmet-worthy trashy take on some Mexican favourites.
The Lucky Elephant pink candy popcorn still exists (it also comes with some pretty sweet stickers inside the box) and chef Rob Bragagnolo of Marben has already revamped the formerly meat-heavy menu at the restaurant (now with more seafood and Mediterranean influences), so being instructed to create a dish with candy-coated popcorn shouldn’t be too difficult.
Rob’s eight-month stint in Mexico helped him create a polenta and pink popcorn taco with seared foie gras — a true mix of ghetto with the gourmet — and a crushed popcorn deep fried ice cream. A dessert that would fit into any pseudo Tex-Mex restaurant.
The popcorn was ground up and mixed with water and polenta — a reflection of Rob’s Northern Italian background — boiled, spread on a baking sheet and baked. Taco shells were cut out while the mixture was still warm and pliable.
Not much could be more decadent than a little sliver of fatty foie gras that is sprinkled with crushed candy popcorn and seared. Acidic or sweet ingredients help balance the fat of the foie gras, Rob explains as he tops his tacos with peaches and tomatoes. Chef’s tip: “Think of what the animal eats because those ingredients usually pair well with it.” It was a deep thought for me. Ducks eat corn (among other things). Polenta is corn, popcorn is…err…corn. Foie gras is duck liver. This is the mind of creative chef.
His dessert is just straight ghetto fried house-made vanilla ice cream scooped into a baseball-sized serving, rolled in crushed candy popcorn and dropped into sizzling hot oil. As he’s plating the dessert, I can’t figure out why the chef would be putting ribbons on a dish until he tells me they are made of sugar. You can dress up fried ice cream after all.
Follow Marben on Twitter: @MarbenResto
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