Beetroot and Chocolate Coulant, Blood Orange and Walnut, Candied Baby Fennel and Beetroot; The Evolution of a Dish

The following dish started as an idea about a year ago. I had this idea of making a savoury fondant in the style of Michel Bra's Chocolate coulant. The flavour I wanted to use was Beetroot. As I thought about it more the natural thing to use for the liquid centre seemed to be goats cheese. I tried a few different types and finally decided on a lovely fresh goats cheese from the Caparis farm in central New South Wales. I added a little cream and finally came up with a lovely runny centre when hot. At the time we were making a beautiful beetroot puree for another dish. I took some of this puree and reduced it a little more to thicken it up. I used this puree to replace the chocolate from Bras original recipe and reduced the sugar slightly. The result was a really nice biscuit for the fondant. I did a few trials but the dish never made it on to the menu and went back to the drawing board. The idea didn't return to me until recently when I started to play with beetroot as a dessert item. (see my post for Beetroot, Walnut, Blood Orange a dessert?) After a while the idea of mixing the beetroot biscuit with a chocolate liquid centre seemed like a good idea and mixing it with the blood orange element and the walnuts, from the previous dessert all seemed to make good sense. So the flavours we're all there all I needed was a dish to bring them all together. I thought I would add an element of caramel to the dish and decided to make a caramel gel which had caramelized walnuts scattered through it. on top of this I started to assemble the other elements of the dish. I took another element from the other desert in the shape of the candied baby fennel, and baby beetroots. I dressed the sweet salad with some fresh walnuts and a little walnut oil. I then added a some leaves of Bulls Blood micro cress.

I was really happy with the look of the dish but when we ate it the caramel gel just didn't fit in with the other flavours, especially the beautiful blood orange sorbet. So I scrapped that idea and cut the dish back to the key flavours I started with. Everything ate so well together that the only thing to decide on now was the presentation.

We tried a few different plates as you can see but decided on a flat rectangle. Every element separate but brought together as soon as the customer breaks the biscuit and the liquid ganache comes flooding out.

For me this is one of the highlights of being a chef. You start with an idea, or two, or even three and through trial and error you fashion it into the final dish. Sometimes you come up with nothing , or it seems that way at the time, but sometimes you end with something your really happy with. A year from conception right up to the finished dish today. The dish is now very balanced. I used a 66% chocolate and this goes very well with the beetroot which is earthy but very luxurious at the same time. the candied vegetable salad with the walnuts adds a different nuance with each bite and the sorbet balances all the rich oils and fats. Today I'm happy with this dish but who knows how it will look this time next year.

'Rhubarb and Custard'

I made this beautiful rhubarb sorbet the other day. I cooked the rhubarb out in a fair amount of butter and a little water. When I pacotized the puree the next day it had the smoothest texture. I could have eaten the whole tub. Being English the first thing I think of when I see rhubarb is crumble. I loved it as a child and can still remember waiting for it to come out after dinner in the winter with loads of hot custard. So that was the inspiration for this little dish. I paired the sorbet with some vanilla cream, a little pistachio soil and a lovely ginger and vanilla jelly. Happy days.

Spanish Makerel, Chorizo, Romesco Puree, cassoulet of Baby Squid, Banyuls Reduction

To say this dish was inspired by the fishes name would be a fair comment. Its very Spanish in all areas. The Mackerel is a fantastic fish when we can get it and it is best served on the rare side of medium rare, like tuna. It also makes great sashimi or carpaccio. If it is over cooked it becomes dry and has the texture of canned fish. For this dish I've wrapped the mackerel in wafer thin sheets of chorizo. This adds a nice spice to the meaty flesh and also gives the fish a little protection form the pan. I love romresco sauce and this smooth puree goes well with the spices of the chorizo. The cassoulet, although not entirely Spanish, finish of the dish well and fit's right into the story. I sometimes feel that the rich butterieness of the beans needs a little sharpness to lift them to that next level. I could have added a little vinegar to the beans at the last minute but instead I have made a warm jelly with the broth from the beans and sharpened it up with the addition of Banylus vinegar reduction. It works really well and add's another texture to the cassoulet. The baby squid is served in two different preparations, the rings are marinated in a little vinaigrette and the tentacles are deep fried to a nice crunchy finish. The plate is finished with a few drops of the beautiful Banyuls reduction. A nice dish for autumn.

Confit of Hiramasa Kingfish, Brussel Sprout Leaves, Foie Gras and Rhubarb, Smokey Red Wine Sauce

With the arrival of the colder weather comes the humble brussel sprout. For me brussle sprouts meant one thing only, Christmas dinner. When I was young this was the only time I would eat them because I really didn't like them. However as I grew up I began to eat them more often until eventually I would look forward to there arrival. Here they are the garnish for one of the great fish of Australia, Hiramasa kingfish. I really like kingfish, its fantastic raw and can take meaty garnishes when cooked. Here I've confit the fish. I find sometimes that if you cook kingfish to aggressively the fish flavour becomes to strong, however with the confit the gentle cooking lets the fish retain its clean flavour. We saute the sprout leaves in a little butter and finish them with some ginger and lemon zest. The rhubarb is sugar/salt cured and the sharp flavour livens up the whole garnish. I wanted to add some crunch to the whole dish so we rolled the Foie gras in crushed macadamia nuts before the beignet batter. They are very easy to eat and very moreish with ther warm liquid centres, a bit like a ferrero rocher. The other good thing about the kingfish is that the bones make the most fantastic sauce. We added a little speck trimming to the reduction and a few drops of super smooth macadamia nut pure on the plate. The dish eats really well together with the rhubarb cutting nicely through all the rich fatty components. From turkey to kingfish, its funny how things change.

Beetroot, Fennel, Blood Orange, Walnut- A dessert???

This is something I've been playing with for the last few weeks as a dessert. Its still not the final dish but I'm pretty happy with this version. The fine line between sweet and savoury really interests me and this was the inspiration for this dish. All the components I have used in a salad previously, a savoury salad. If you add some goats cheese the flavour combination is pretty classic. I didn't, but how about a nice goats cheese sorbet??? The base is a beetroot sponge,(and this is the element I'm not happy with, I'm thinking more beetroot financier), I've dressed this with two citrus 'sponges', one blood orange and the other mandarin. These add a freshness to the rich and buttery cake and ice cream. You've also got fresh blood orange segments. Next the walnuts which we have in 3 different textures; ice-cream, emulsion and fresh from the shell. The ice-cream is finished with buttermilk and is so rich, the emulsion with its oil and a little caramelized red wine vinegar is rich and sharp at the same time and the wet walnuts are just in there fine natural state, soft and buttery. The fennel is candied, a process that takes a week to accomplish, but well worth the wait. The process really intensifies the flavour without loosing the fresh, clean taste of the vegetable. The edible flowers help with the Strong bouquet of the other ingredients; Heartsease, Native Violets and Nasturtiums, sweet ,peppery and floral all help with the savoury element. I really like the dish so far but am looking forward to the next version. It looks great but if you get 10 on order your right in the shit. Ah well you can't have everything. Later

W.A. Marron, 'Kipfler' textures, Pearls of Caramelized Vinegar

This dish is the sum of 3 quality ingredients, W.A. Marrons, cocktail Kipfler potatoes and 'Cintra Estate' caramelized vinegar. The marrons are poele'd in foaming butter and left to rest while we put the rest of the dish together. The kipflers were getting at the moment have been so sweet and buttery and reminded me a little of the fantastic Jersey Royals that I used to get back in England. There so versatile and so I thought that I would shoe them off in a few different ways; boiled with lemon thyme and lemon zest, brushed with a little butter and crisped up as chips and made into a silky buttery mousse. Each preparation bring out a different quality of these fine potatoes.
The pearls or sago are blanched first and then left to marinate in the vinegar overnight. The next day your left with shiny pearls that hold a wonderful sharp and sweet taste. The caramelized vinegar is one of my favourite ingredients at the moment. The flavour is slightly sweet with a rich red wine taste. It makes great dressings and is great for livening up sauces . The Sauce is a reduced marron fume finished with some beurre noisette and a splash of cider vinegar and some chopped chives. The brown butter flavours in the sauce go well with the buttery kipflers and the pearls add a refreshing sharpness as you bite into them. We finish the whole thing with some slices of raw spring onion again as a balance to the richness of the other ingredients.

We've also had the dish with a warm mayo instead of the kipler foam however the textural thing worked best. As for the sago, well they take on what ever you marinate them in. I'm looking forward to makingYuzu pearls to go with some scallops and kos hearts. Later

Carrot & Saffron, Mango, White Chocolate, Liquorice

This is just something I was playing with and is completely different to the finished dish. Carrot and saffron puree, mango sponge, white chocolate sorbet, liquorice powder. Looked great and was full of flavour however not quite right. Back to the drawing board for this one but it has started another desert. I'll post it later this week along with my de-constructed opera cake. Later