Bite-sized watermelons!

These micro melons are 20 times smaller than traditional watermelons, measuring just over an inch (3cm) from tip-to-tip

The rare Pepquino melon has the identical external pattern and distinctive shape of conventional watermelons and has a fresh crisp taste similar to a cucumber and juicy light green flesh.

It's a natural wild fruit, first discovered by Dutch food producers in South America who brought it to the Netherlands and cultivated it in greenhouses.

It can be eaten as a snack or appetiser, like olives, in a summer salad, stir fried or made into a sorbet and teamed with dark chocolate. Keeping up with the new trends, hip London restaurants are already making Pepquino melon martinis.

Prices start at £10 per 250g box, which contains around 50 melons.

It is a good business idea, but I doubt that the trend will last long.

The Alchemist dinner menu worth 300 bucks from EL BULLI

yield: Makes 4 servings

Pollo con Frutos y Frutas Secas

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup pitted prunes
1/2 cup dried apricots
1/4 cup pitted dried sour cherries
2 tablespoons pine nuts
1 strip orange zest (4 inches), white pith removed
1 strip lemon zest (4 inches), white pith removed
1/2 cup tawny port
1 small cinnamon stick
2/3 cup chicken stock or broth
1 store-bought rotisserie chicken (about 3 1/2 pounds), cut into 8 pieces, juices reserved

preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F.

2. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the prunes, apricots, cherries, pine nuts, and orange and lemon zests and cook, stirring, until the pine nuts turn golden and the fruits are browned in spots, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the port and cinnamon stick and cook until syrupy, about 5 minutes. Add the chicken stock and the chicken juices. Increase the heat to high, bring the sauce to a boil, and cook until reduced, about 5 minutes.

3. Place the chicken pieces in a baking dish that can hold them snugly. Pour the sauce over them, scraping up all the fruit and liquid from the bottom of the skillet and turning the chicken to coat it with the sauce. Bake the chicken until it is warmed through and the sauce is further reduced, about 10 minutes. Transfer to plates and serve at once.


NUTRITION FACTS
Calories 653
Cholesterol 173mg 57%
Sodium 222mg 9%
Potassium 717mg 20%
Total Carbohydrate 16.2g 5%
Protein 45.0g 89%


SOURCE: http://www.recipezaar.com/rotisserie-chicken-with-dried-fruit-and-pine-nuts-367701

350$ for this cook book!

Ferran Adrià i Acosta is the famed head chef of the El Bulli restaurant in Roses on the Costa Brava. Today he is considered one of the best chefs in the world and tops the European Restaurant Ranking. El Bulli has 3 Michelin stars and is regarded as one of the best restaurants in the world. In 2005 it ranked second in the Restaurant Top 50. It was awarded the first place in 2006, displacing The Fat Duck in England. El Bulli has retained this title in 2007 and 2008.

Along with British chef Heston Blumenthal, Adrià is often associated with "molecular gastronomy," although the Catalan chef does not consider his cuisine to be of this category. Instead, he has referred to his cooking as deconstructivist. Adrià's stated goal is to "provide unexpected contrasts of flavour, temperature and texture. Nothing is what it seems. The idea is to provoke, surprise and delight the diner."

El Bulli is only open from April to October. Adrià spends the remaining six months of the year perfecting recipes in his workshop "El Taller" in Barcelona. He is famous for his thirty course gourmet menu.

He is also well known for creating "culinary foam". In his quest to enhance flavour Adrià discards the use of cream and egg; foam is made exclusively of the main ingredient and "air" (combined in a whipped cream maker equipped with N2O cartridges). Adrià's foam creations include foamed espresso (Èspesso), foamed mushroom, and foamed beetroot.

Adrià is the author of several cookbooks including A Day at El Bulli[2], El Bulli 2003-2004 and Cocinar en Casa (Cooking at Home). (Source Wikipedia)

El Bulli 2003-2004 is priced at 350 USD.
If you want to check for yourselves:
http://www.amazon.com/El-Bulli-2003-2004-Ferran-Adria/dp/0061146684