Top Chef Canada: Pineapple ravioli?

Last week’s Top Chef Canada challenge, pitted the remaining 5 chefs against not only each other but against the science of cooking using little of the science to which the chef’s are accustomed. Rich’s comment “I’m a knife and heat” kind of chef - said it all! Rich’s dish sounded fabulous to me, and according to Dan Clapson, who had the opportunity to try it, it was amazing. Terry, though, really pulled out all the stops creatively. And while he did minimal amounts of work with the devices and chemicals offered, he made something truly unique. Pineapple ravioli, filled with coconut mousse and topped with avocado sorbet and crispy basil.  My version varied.



























Yes, that “pasta” is actually pineapple and that was the toughest part of the whole process for me.  I still don’t know if my pineapple was too ripe, or my skills too poor!  I tried slicing the fresh pineapple thinly with a knife but it kept falling apart before I could get a slice large enough to act as a sheet of pasta big enough to become even one small ravioli.
I tried the mandolin and ended up with pineapple pulp. That’s fine, I enjoy a good pina colada but it wasn’t helping me achieve my goal! So I opted for knife cuts that were slightly thicker and placed them on silpat line cookie trays  in the oven at 200 degrees.  That wasn’t doing the job either so I finally pulled out the trusty dehydrater and set them on the trays for a couple of hours or until they were malleable without being tough but held together.

Meanwhile I made the coconut mousse. Terry told me to ensure that it was frozen when I assembled and that tip saved my sanity since assembly was more than frustrating!



























I spooned the coconut mousse into an ice tray (about halfway full) and froze it for several hours.

Instead of making avocado sorbet, I made avocado ice cream. Honestly, this was a mistake on my part. I watched the show several times and thought he had used ice cream but found out (via twitter) that it had been sorbet, after I had already begun.  I think the freshness of a sorbet would have worked better
than the ice cream since the coconut mousse was already creamy.



























The avocado ice cream was the simplest part of the day - I simply blended the meat of 2 avocados with 2 Tbs lemon juice, a cup and a half of whole milk, 1/2 a cup of sugar and when thoroughly blended, whisked in a bowl with 1 cup of heavy cream and churned in my ice cream freezer.



























Easiest ice cream I have ever made and yet is it as smooth and creamy as if I had made a custard style ice cream.

Assembly is not as difficult if you can manage to get the pineapple to the right texture. “Simply” cut your pineapple into squares, place the mousse atop and then mold another piece of pineapple over the top pressing the edges with a fork as you would for the usual ravioli - skip the egg wash, however!



























With the top layer:



























I plated with 3 ravioli per plate ( they are about 2 small bites each) and a quenelle of avocado ice cream
(a shot of the center)



























I garnished with crispy basil leaves that I deep fried in coconut oil.



























I would have liked to have garnished with colorful edible flowers but was unable to find any in my local markets.  If you’d like to try this dish, I can give you the coconut mousse recipe, though I didn’t share it because mine tasted more like semifreddo than mousse!  I would not, however, recommend making this at home, unless you have all day and the patience of a saint - or are a professional chef with way more skills than I have!