I've been a chef for several years, and while it gives me room to play around with my food (especially while in culinary school) I've always wondered what I should try to do next.
I've always had on the backburner the idea of a soup using tea as a base. I figure that people tend to use water, stock, or cream as a base, so why not tea? I love using it for recipes, especially an Earl Gray custard sauce I made for a chocolate molten cake a few years ago.
I've been meaning to make a "soft pretzel panzanella"- that is to say, a bread salad using soft pretzel croutons. I'd like to experiment with all the classic South Philly flavors- broccoli rabe, sharp provolone, etc., with some sort of mustard-y vinaigrette. I made an iteration once that didn't quite do it for me. I haven't had occasion to try again, but now that tomato season is almost upon us...