When
Omni Rancho Las Palmas Resort & Spa came up with their Perfecting Pie submission, Chef Tiburcio Neri turned to the local crops for inspiration. The Coachella Valley is responsible for 95% of the nation’s date crop. The Valley’s crop is celebrated each year at the Riverside County Fair & National Date Festival. Many people also have their own date trees, some even bring theirs to us to make the pies for the holidays. Using local influences and the popular date crop,
Omni Rancho Las Palmas presents to you, the
Date Pie. (
More “Perfecting Pie” Recipes)
Date Pie Recipe
Makes six
The Crust:
4″ Ring Mold
3 oz Oreo flour for each ring mold
1 Tbsp melted butter
1 oz Chocolate ganache
1. Mix Oreos and butter well
2. Spread evenly in bottom of ring mold, 1/2″ deep
3. Bake at 360 degrees for 4 minutes and remove from oven.
4. Add 1 oz chocolate ganache on top of Oreo crust
The Date Mousse:
1 cup Dates, pureed
1/2 cup Milk
6 Egg yolks, whipped
4 sheets Gelatin
2 cup Heavy cream, lightly whipped
The Italian Meringue:
2 oz Egg whites
5 oz Sugar
 Best to use Italian meringue for this procedure. It has much better results with the date mousse! |
The Pastry Cream:
1 cup Milk
3 Egg yolks
1/2 cup White sugar
1/4 cup All-purpose flour
1 Tbsp Butter
1 Tbsp Vanilla extract
1. Bloom gelatin leaves in water, reserve
2. Boil date nuggets in water until soft, remove liquid, puree
3. Heat milk, add date puree and egg yolks. Stir until blended and at 140 degrees. Place in mixer at low speed and slowly add Italian meringue, when lightly beaten add gelatin, whipped cream, mix and remove.
4. Prepare pastry cream.
5. Let all cool and mix pastry cream and date mousse together.
6. Add mixture to ring mold, refrigerate and remove ring to serve.
 Tiburcio Neri started working at Rancho Las Palmas, on September 25, 1983. For the first three months, he worked in stewarding. He then transferred to the bakery working in the afternoons; making croissants and other pastries, as well as helping in banquets.
After 5 years, he became the head assistant Pastry Chef. At that point, he began to love baking. He worked tirelessly practicing new recipes. Much of his free time was spent reading about interesting recipes and learning how to improve the taste and presentation of the food.
Marriott paid for Chef Neri to go to Washington D.C. for six weeks to study baking. Then, he was employed with the hotel for seven years, and was promoted to the head Pastry Chef.
Chef Neri’s favorite aspects of his career are making chocolate and sugar sculptures. He enjoys teaching other bakers because they work so hard and they deserve to learn. After over 30 years of baking, Chef Neri is a true master of his craft. |
