Amanda Pilkington runs her own personal chef and catering business in the Park City and Salt Lake City areas. She's passionate about showcasing Utah's best local ingredients. She brings a worldly flair to her dishes, because she grew up in New Zealand (where food is very different) and started working in restaurants at the age of 13. Her inspiration is her dad who is amazing chef, and with her family they opened up an Italian restaurant and bar when Amanda was 16.
Amanda regularly cooks for VIP parties and celebrity clients, who have high expectations and love to be impressed. The last few years she's done high-profile events during Sundance, and was the featured chef for Oculus/ Facebook and Yellowstone.
Amanda joined us with a recipe to share!
Tangerine/Clementine Parfaits with Mascarpone Cream
Ingredients:
• Fresh Tangerine Curd (recipe below)
• Mascarpone- Vanilla Bean Cream (recipe below)
16 butter shortbread cookies, crushed chunky (I used 'Walker`s' brand in the plaid box) or Ginger Cookies
• Orange zest curls, flowers, or crumble for garnish
To Assemble:
-Begin by adding your prepared and chilled Tangerine Curd to a piping bag (or large zip lock bag with the bottom corner cut off), and do the same with your prepared and chilled Mascarpone Cream; have the two piping bags ready, along with the crushed cookies.
-Place all 4 of your glasses in front of you, and add 2 crushed shortbread cookies to the bottom of each; next, pipe into the glass over the shortbread cookies a layer of the curd, about 3 tablespoons worth, starting in the center and working towards the sides of the glass; smooth the curd out gently with a small spoon to bring the curd to the edges; next over top of the curd, pipe in a layer of the mascarpone cream, about 3-4 tablespoons worth, again starting in the center and working towards the sides of the glass; smooth the mascarpone cream out gently with another small spoon to once again bring the cream to the edges; next, repeat the layers once more beginning again with the cookies, next the tangerine curd, and finally finishing with the mascarpone cream, filling the glasses about ¾ of the way up, leaving a bit of room at the top of the glass; garnish to your liking; serve immediately while cold, or place into the fridge to hold cold until ready to serve.
Tangerine (or Clementine or Orange) Curd
Yields 1 ¼ cup
4 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
pinch salt
1 tablespoon tangerine zest
2/3 cup tangerine juice
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened and cut into slices
Preparation:
- In a medium glass or steel bowl, add the sugar and zest, and incorporate the two well with your fingers; next, add egg, and then the tangerine juice, and gently combine with a whisk, just until the sugar is dissolved (be careful not to whisk too hard as you don`t want to incorporate air into the mixture).
- Next, set the bowl with the tangerine curd mixture over a pot of gently simmering water (double-boiler method), making sure that the bowl is not actually touching the simmering water; using a rubber spatula, continuously and gently stir the curd mixture (it will be quite thin at this point). Slowly add/whisk in the softened butter. Keep whisking making sure to scrape down the sides and bottom of bowl for even cooking and to avoid 'scrambling' the eggs; cook for roughly 12 minutes or until the curd mixture thickens and has a `pudding` consistency; next, remove the bowl from the pot of simmering water and wipe the condensation off of the bowl with a towel.
- Strain the curd into a clean bowl and cover top with plastic wrap to prevent skin from forming; place into refrigerator to completely chill until ready to assemble the parfaits. (*For quicker cooling, you can strain the cooked curd into a bowl set into a larger bowl filled with ice, just be sure that it`s set securely in the ice and won`t slide around, spilling the curd out; stir with a clean spatula for a few minutes, then once cooled, set plastic wrap over the curd and place into fridge to keep cold.)
Mascarpone Cream ingredients:
1/2 cup mascarpone, room temp (prefer BelGioioso brand)
1 vanilla-bean pod, cut length-wise and scraped for paste (or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract)
8 ounces cold whipping cream, cold
2 tablespoons sugar
Preparation:
-In a medium bowl, add the mascarpone and the paste from the scraped vanilla bean (or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract), and gently blend with a spatula; set aside for a moment while you whip the cream.
-In the bowl of a mixer fitted with a whisk (or using a hand-held mixer and a separate bowl), whip the whipping cream until slightly thickened, add the sugar, and continue to whip until stiff peaks form.
-Combine the vanilla/mascarpone mixture with the sweetened whipped cream by adding the whipped cream into the yogurt-vanilla base in increments, folding each increment gently in with the spatula to create a light, fluffy cream; cover the vanilla-bean cream with plastic wrap and place into the fridge to keep cold until ready to assemble the parfaits.
To find more information please visit: chefamandapilkington.com.
