“I’m excited when strawberry season starts because they’re just stellar, and I can’t wait to use them in a new way,” says Aly Lang, pastry chef at California Modern. This year, Lang has fun with different textures for the Chino Farms Strawberries dessert.
It starts with a soft hibiscus-infused jelly paired with sliced strawberries from the Rancho Santa Fe farm. Any remaining berries get pureed and turned into an aerated frozen strawberry yogurt that lends a creamy texture.
Her dark-horse ingredient? Tajín, the staple Mexican chili-lime seasoning. “Mexico has awesome salty and spicy candies,” she says, “the opposite of overly sweet Americanized candies. As a San Diego native, you can’t ignore the influence.”
To finish, she tops it with a chilled strawberry-rhubarb consommé and crispy dehydrated strawberry meringue pieces. “The different textures and temperatures are what make this dish most interesting to me, but the real star is how amazing Chino Farms strawberries are as-is, unaltered.”
1250 Prospect Street, La Jolla
Sweet Spot: California Modern’s Chino Farms Strawberries
Photo by Bhadri Kubendran
