Wednesday, 26 March 2008

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

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