Thursday, April 5, 2012  Tarragon Olive Oil Ice Cream  In the
preface to Chez Panisse Desserts, Alice Waters writes:   Pre-
shoot, I read through a series of interviews by Kimpton pastry
chefs, including Tim Nugent of Scala's in San Francisco, who
said that his favorite dessert to incorporate savory elements
into is gelato; specifically, tarragon olive oil. So I put that
on the list, and Eric responded by saying, "Tarragon olive oil
gelato? I want to eat that!"  He didn't have to twist my arm. I
whipped up a batch based on David Lebovitz's olive oil ice cream
from my ice cream bible, The Perfect Scoop, and blended in a
bunch of blanched and shocked tarragon, a technique I learned
from my stint at Farallon which keeps the herb looking vibrant.
The finished ice cream was bright pea green and tasted like
nothing I'd ever experienced previously. During the shoot, we
ended up nestling a scoop of it beside a strip of bacon topped
with whole roasted baby bell peppers which we drizzled with dark
chocolate and sprinkle