ICE alum Tom Coughlan (Culinary Arts/Culinary Management, 2012) is never not adding to his culinary repertoire. Just a few months after graduating from ICE, he started hosting pop-up dinners in Brooklyn, creating bold dishes using hyper-seasonal products, some of which he foraged himself. Raw mackerel with foraged pears and handmade pasta with foraged acorns were a couple of the crowd favorites. Since then, he’s competed on Chopped, worked for a number of high-end restaurants and spent a year as head chef of Brooklyn’s beloved Sunken Hundred.

I’ll spare you the standard “When I was kid … summertime/hot day … watermelon juices dripping down my chin … aww, memories” introduction. Instead, I’ll proudly tell you that watermelon is the first food I ever grew myself. Okay, this might still fall under the category of a “When I was a kid” intro, but bear with me.

Clafoutis is one of the easiest desserts to make, not to mention an absolute showstopper. Like a soufflé, this dessert puffs to great heights and begins to deflate moments after being removed from the oven. However, unlike a soufflé, clafoutis batter is super simple to make — just whisk the ingredients together and voila!

Think of salmorejo as gazpacho’s velvety cousin: it's rich with tasty Spanish olive oil, thickened with a bit of bread and as smooth as a perfect flan.