Pumpkin seed risotto with Musquee de Provence poached in seasoned root beer, paired with root beer and coffee braised ham hocks and a coffee, onion and Piave Vecchio sauce. The pumpkin seeds were pressure cooked in the stock base for the onion sauce. Whole coffee beans, as opposed to cracked or ground, were used in the various preparations to control their flavor release and bitterness. The dish is an example of both the simple and the complex. If we eliminate the verbiage on how we cooked the pumpkin, seeds and ham hocks, and merely presented the dish as "pumpkin, pumpkin and ham", the dish is simple and delicious. When we share the method and ingredients used, the dish becomes something else, something with a more complex and confusing aura and the feeling of simplicity is lost. And yet, when the dish is actually eaten, most people are not analyzing the myriad components and processes that go into building the final result, they are just enjoying the balance of textures and flavors on the palate.
