

Once a month my good friend Greg throws a supper club at his apartment with Chef Ronald Hsu. Chef Hsu is a sous chef at Le Bernardin and prepares 4 absolutely incredible courses. He doesn’t specialize in dessert and invited me to make the 5th course. Obviously, there’s some pressure following a chef of that caliber and wanted to create something that complimented his meal. I saw ginger and citrus in each of his courses and I decided to continue the theme and use blood orange.
I happened to have dinner with Chef Jenny McCoy (formerly of Craft) and I asked her advice. She saw that Chef Hsu introduced a new citrus into each course and she pointed out that blood orange was already used. She helped me brainstorm citrus and I went with key lime. Jenny also introduced me to Fingerling Limes. These little pickle looking limes have these little citrus looking caviar inside of them - bursting with flavor. You can order them from Mikuni Wild Harvest.
I was super nervous but it turned out quite tasty. Its been an entire week and I’m still getting compliments from some pretty serious foodies.
Ingredients:
Crust:
- 1 cup AP flour
- 1/2 cup ground almonds
- 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 5 Tbsp butter
- 1 Tbsp ginger syrup
Filling:
- 8 oz chevre / goat cheese
- 8 oz cream cheese
- ¾ sugar
- 2 large egg, lightly beaten
- 1/4 cup greek yogurt
- 2 Tbsp lime zest
- 2 Tbsp key lime juice
- 2 Tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 Tbsp of freshly grated ginger
Key lime Custard:
- 8 egg yolks
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
- 3 key limes, zest grated and juiced
Garnish:
Fingerling Limes
Instructions:
Crust:
1) Preheat oven to 350°f
2) In a small bowl, combine the flour, almonds, sugar, and ginger syrup; cut in butter until crumbly.
3) Press crumb mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a 10 inch tart pan.
4) Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned.
Filling:
1) In a small bowl, beat goat cheese, cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy.
2) Beat in the eggs, yogurt, zest, juice and vanilla just until blended.
3) Pour over crust, and bake for 30 minutes or until filling is set.
Custard:
1) While cake is cooling, place the custard ingredients in the double boiler over boiling water. Ensure that the top pan does not touch the water.
2) Cook and continuously stir until mixture begins to gel or thicken, for about 15-20 minutes
3) Pour over cake while still warm and spread it, using an offset spatula if needed
Garnish
1) Cut fingerling limes and scoop out filling
2) Place the filling (caviar looking) around the rim and in the center or however you like garnish with fingerling limes.
3) Refrigerate until ready to serve (up to 2 days)
Serving:
1) Remove from fridge 20 minutes before serving
2) Slice with a hot knife
3) Serve










































































