Grapefruit Tres Leches, inspired by the classic Latin American dessert.

New York, NY. January, 2007—Perhaps grapefruit is not immediately associated with desserts, but in the hands of a talented pastry chef like Deborah Racicot of NYC's Gotham Bar and Grill, this sunny citrus fruit proves to be an inspiring ingredient. Chef Racicot recently showcased several of her desserts featuring Texas red Rio Star grapefruits at Bright Lights, Big Grapefruits, a demonstration and tasting sponsored by TexaSweet and hosted by PastryScoop.com at The French Culinary Institute on Saturday, January 6th.

A group of 80 pastry chefs, food industry professionals, and dessert lovers were treated to an afternoon of grapefruit-inspired food and drink. Before delving into the chef's desserts, guests fortified themselves with salty dog cocktails made with freshly squeezed grapefruit juice and vodka and citrusy hors d'oeuvres created by The FCI's Chef Lee Anne Wong. Then they sat down to a delicious and informative presentation by Chef Racicot. Covering a wide a range of topics, from the basics of segmenting citrus to flavor pairing concepts, Chef Racicot showed off the grapefruit's versatility by using each part of the fruit in a variety of applications—gelee, sorbet, mousse, cake, marmalade, and even chips—for her elegant plated desserts.

Guests sampled the following desserts:

• Amuse bouche: Grapefruit-Cranberry Popsicle
• Grapefruit Sashimi: milk chocolate tarragon panna cotta and grapefruit gelee with fresh grapefruit, clementine, kumquat, and Granny Smith garnish
• Grapefruit Creamsicle: grapefruit sponge cake with white chocolate ice cream, grapefruit sorbet, and citrus consommé
• Grapefruit Beet Tart: mascarpone cheese filling, poached beets, grapefruit balsamic granité, and honey balsamic reduction
• Grapefruit Tres Leches: vanilla sponge cake and grapefruit mousse, tres leches syrup, cinnamon grapefruit sorbet, and grapefruit caramel sauce
• Warm Grapefruit Maple Cheesecake: maple cheesecake, candied fennel, grapefruit marmalade, and grapefruit sabayon
• Petits Fours: white chocolate grapefruit chocolate and grapefruit pate de fruit

A few lucky individuals won deluxe gift boxes of grapefruits while each attendee took home a packet of the chefs's recipes, a cutting board, and a goodie box of grapefruit.

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Guests line-up for tasty hors d'oeuvres flavored with grapefruit.		Grapefruit glazed scallop with celery root-Asian pear puree and grapefruit confit.
Fresh Rio Star juice lends vivid color to cocktails.		Chef Racicot takes center stage.
A full house eager for dessert!		The tasting begins with frosty Grapefruit-Cranberry Popsicles.
Essential kitchen technique: how to segment citrus fruit.		Behind the scenes, Deborah's crew plates Grapefruit Sashimi.
Grapefruit Creamsicle is an elegant spin on ice cream cake.		The chef is assisted by pastry assistant Monica Glass.
Poached beets top a tart of creamy mascarpone.		Pastry chefs Oscar Palacios and Joe Murphy
Cheesecake served warm accentuates flavor and texture.		A sweet finish: chocolates bedecked with edible gold leaf.
Gotham Bar and Grill's pastry team, from left to right: Nicole Weinstein, Monica Glass, Deborah Racicot, Robyn Eads, and Danielle Kapner

About TexaSweet www.texasweet.com

TexaSweet Citrus Marketing, Inc. is a nonprofit corporation chartered under the laws of the State of Texas for the purpose of advertising and promoting the sale of fresh citrus fruit grown and produced in Texas.

About PastryScoop.com

PastryScoop.com is an online resource designed to inspire and educate both pastry professionals and serious amateur bakers. It provides free content on such topics as dessert trends, baking tips, and food events in order to increase overall awareness of the pastry arts and to promote creativity within the field.

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Judiaann Woo, 646-254-8543, jwoo@pastryscoop.com