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BUENA VIDA

Spice

savory sweets
Executive Pastry Chef Jorge Sotelo takes his cues from main
dishes in order to create delicious desserts.

By IDY FERNANDEZ

Serve Jorge Sotelo a savory blue cheese salad with candied walnuts and pears for lunch, and by dinnertime he’s figured out how to make dessert out of it.
“Chefs right now use a lot of things like chocolate or fruits for their sauces that pastry chefs use for their desserts, so that inspires me to apply what chefs
use in their dishes to my pastries,” says Sotelo, who has been the executive pastry chef for Disney’s Grand Californian

Hotel in Anaheim, California since 2000. “I like to combine fruits with different items, like apples with almonds or other combinations that explode onto your taste buds.”

Other unique combinations that have made it onto Sotelo’s dessert menu include an almond tartlet a la mode with a scoop of manchego cheese ice cream that’s been drizzled with caramel sauce and topped with white wine cooked pears. And if cheese flavored ice creams aren’t exactly your thing, Sotelo also whips up avocado flavored ice cream and a more “traditional” cinnamon flavored soft serve for an array of fruit filled tarts, pastries and cakes.

“At first people are skeptical when they hear ‘manchego ice cream’ or ‘goat cheese cheesecake,’ but then we give them a sample and they find they really like it,” says Sotelo, adding that all the ice creams start off with a vanilla base to which the cheeses or extra flavorings are folded into. “What they find is that the ice cream is still sweet but has a hint of saltiness from the cheese and creates an interesting contrast.”

But Sotelo’s desserts are not just for the adventurous palette. Sotelo also enjoys experimenting with fresh seasonal fruits to tease the taste buds of those who are watching their waistlines with an assortment of low-calorie or sugar-free options.

In fact, at Napa Rose, the resort’s fine dinning restaurant where Sotelo changes the desserts weekly, diners can enjoy a low-calorie cheesecake made with Greek plain yogurt as well as a gluten-free flourless chocolate sponge cake with chocolate mousse. For garnishes, Sotelo will sometimes use fruit “ chips”—thin sliced pieces of fruits like strawberries or mangos baked in the oven until crisp—instead of heavy sugar-laden sauces. And when he can, he will use a sugar substitute to create some of the blown sugar work of his more sculptural desserts.

“I try to do things that aren’t too rich or sweet, that look attractive and petite and give you enough of a taste that you savor and want more,” says Sotelo, a Mexico native who arrived in the United States at 18 years old and worked his way up from dishwasher to line cook. Then, while filling in for a sick bakery employee, Sotelo got a taste of the pastry world and made the switch. He attended culinary programs in Chicago and Maryland to learn the fine art of pastries.

The world of desserts, he has found, provides its own inspiration. “I like being artistic and impress you [so] you start eating with your eyes and then at the end you’re left smiling and satisfied.”

APPLE CRANBERRY CRISP
CRISP TOPPING	CRISP FILLING
11⁄2 cups granulated sugar	6 Granny Smith apples
11⁄2 cups brown sugar	3⁄4 cup each, sugar and brown sugar
1⁄2 cup oats	11⁄2 Tbsp ground cinnamon
11⁄2 cups pecans	2 Tbsps corn starch
5 ounces coconut flakes	2 Tbsps flour
2 cups all purpose flour	2 cups cranberries
11⁄2 cups butter (melted)	Zest and juice of 1⁄2 orange and 1⁄2 lemon
Melt butter in a small sauce pan. In a large bowl combine the rest of the ingredients and toss together well. Slowly add the melted butter while stirring until everything is well combined. Spread mixture on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Allow to cool and break up the mixture with your fingers. Set aside.	Peel, core and dice the apples into medium chunks. In a large bowl combine all the ingredients and toss together. Divide the mixture into six ramekins and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and top with prepared crisp topping. Place back in the oven for 10 more minutes or until the apples are tender. Serve with dulce de leche ice cream