22 Nov 2015 501 native Paige Russell recognized for culinary talent

by Callie Sterling
Ryan Tanaka photos

Paige Russell, a Conway native, has made great strides in the culinary world as a young professional and has been recognized by a national website.

“I was recently recognized by Zagat in the ‘30 Under 30’ here in L.A.,” said Russell, who attended the University of Central Arkansas before moving to Chicago. She has lived in Los Angeles for two years.

“I attended the Illinois Institute of Art in Chicago before moving to L.A.,” Russell said. “I lived in Chicago for a few years. After visiting L.A. there was no reason to endure Chicago winters anymore. After two years here, I absolutely love it.”

Russell is currently the pastry chef for Chef Brian Dunsmoor at Hatchet Hall. Russell’s culinary roots are deeply rooted in Arkansas, beginning with her family.

“I originally started baking with my grandmother and my mom,” Russell said. “Nothing else was really calling my name when I had to choose a career path. Then when I moved to Chicago, it opened up an entirely different world of job opportunities in baking and pastry.”

Russell enjoys baking in particular, yet finds it hard to choose a favorite food item to bake. She enjoys ice cream and a popular favorite, cookies.

“I just like baking in general, and love preserving and baking with preserved fruits,” she said. “I want to share my banana cream panna cotta with coffee cardamom cookies. This is a new dessert I recently put on the menu while we are in between fruit seasons here in L.A.”

Banana Cream Panna Cotta

Banana Filling:

7 oz. banana
7 oz. whole milk
8 oz. sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Blend the banana and milk until smooth, then warm slightly in a saucepan, being very careful not to scorch it or heat too much. It really just needs to be warm so when you add it to the hot caramel it doesn’t bubble up too much.

Put your sugar with a few tablespoons of water in a tall sauce pan (it will bubble up a bit) and cook until dark amber in color. At this point, stir in the banana and milk mixture and stir off the heat until everything is dissolved, and transfer to another bowl to cool.

Panna Cotta:

27 oz. cream
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 vanilla bean
3 each gelatin sheets
3 banana peels
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 oz. full fat Greek yogurt

Heat cream and steep banana peels for at least an hour, or you can do this step the night before and let it set overnight.

Strain out the peels and heat the cream, sugar, vanilla bean and salt until hot.

Add your bloomed gelatin and strain into a bowl.

Chill this mixture over an ice bath until cool, and it will be a little thicker.

Put the yogurt in a bowl and slowly whisk in a little bit of the cream mixture, adding it slowly so that lumps don’t form. Then add it back to the whole mixture.

Now that the panna cotta is finished and cooled off, you can pour it into your container over the banana filling, pouring slowly as to not mix the two. Chill for a couple hours or overnight.

Cookies:

7 oz. all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt, heaping
1 teaspoon cardamom
2 tablespoon instant coffee granules
4 oz. butter, room temperature
4 oz. sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon milk

Cream butter and sugar. Add milk, egg and vanilla. Add all dry ingredients. Chill, then scoop teaspoon-sized balls onto sheet tray.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes, turning halfway through. You want them to be crispy. If they’re under baked they will be soft and cakey.

Layer the banana filling on bottom, pour panna cotta off the top and crumble cookies on top once it’s set.