Dessert featured at SCC dinner

Don’t be intimidated by the image of this dessert on the cover of the section.

For those ambitious enough to make their own praline pecan ice cream, reduction syrups and garnishes, chef instructor Robert Lombardi, from the Inland Northwest Culinary Academy at Spokane Community College, has shared the whole recipe. But the recipe can be easily simplified for home cooks. Simply serve the basting sauce from the baked apples over store-bought vanilla bean ice cream.

Students at the culinary school were practicing making beautiful plated desserts when Chef Lombardi introduced this dish. The Oven-Roasted Local Apples with Pecan Praline Ice Cream with Apple Cider and Tart Cherry Reduction Sauces and Spiced Carrot Cake and Oven-Roasted Butternut Ice Cream will be featured at the Fall Wine Dinner next week. The dinner is sold out.

Student-made dishes and desserts are also available at Orlando’s Restaurant on the SCC campus. The restaurant is open most weeks Tuesday through Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. Call (509) 533-7283 to confirm that the restaurant is open on a particular day or to get on the mailing list for the culinary academy’s calendar.

Lombardi’s recipe also emphasizes natural sugars and local ingredients. There are plenty of places to pick up local apples, and Lombardi finds his at Fresh Start Produce at 21619 E. Wellesley Ave. in Otis Orchards. Lombardi purchases the huckleberry honey from Chase Honey Co. at 4905 N. Eva St. in Otis Orchards.

Other ingredients are available at well-stocked grocery stores and Huckleberry’s Natural Market, he said. Look for date sugar with the other Bob’s Red Mill products.

Oven-Roasted Local Apples with Pecan Praline Ice Cream with Apple Cider and Tart Cherry Reduction Sauces

2 apples, peeled, cored and cut in half

2 ounces demerara sugar

2 ounces date sugar

4 ounces blackstrap molasses

4 ounces apple cider

2 ounces butter

Cinnamon, to taste

For the Pecan Praline ice cream:

4 ounces egg yolk

3 ounces sugar

3 ounces huckleberry honey

8 ounces milk

8 ounces heavy cream

1/2 ounce vanilla extract

Praline pecans, to taste

For the apple cider reduction:

16 ounces apple cider

For the tart cherry reduction:

16 ounces bottled tart cherry juice

Combine apple halves with sugars, honey, molasses, apple cider, butter and cinnamon in an oven-proof dish. Oven roast in a 350-degree oven until fork tender, approximately 35 minutes, basting occasionally after 20 minutes.

To prepare the Pecan Praline ice cream, combine egg yolks, sugar and honey in a bowl and whip until thick and light. Scald milk and cream. Gradually add to egg mixture. Heat over a water bath, stirring constantly until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Stir in vanilla and cool. Stir in pralines. Churn in ice cream freezer according to manufacturer’s directions.

To make the apple cider and tart cherry reduction sauces: Pour apple cider and tart cherry juice into separate pans. Reduce by simmering until each reaches a syrup stage. Cool.

To serve, drizzle reduction syrups decoratively on a chilled dessert plate. Place one apple half and a small scoop of ice cream. Lombardi also suggests using Linzer cookies, apple chips and pulled sugar garnish to enhance the presentation.

Or, skip the embellishments and serve the oven-roasted apples over store-bought vanilla bean ice cream, using basting liquid as a dessert sauce.

Yield: 4 servings

Approximate nutrition per serving: Unable to calculate.