Paris-Brest with caramelised buttermilk mousseline & pickled apple, apple sorbet and citrus herbs
For the sorbet, replace pears with an equal amount of apples.
Caramelised buttermilk mousseline
150ml heavy cream
75g sugar
4 egg yolks
25g all-purpose flour
25g corn starch
350ml buttermilk
150g softened butter, divided
Slowly caramelise the heavy cream on a nonstick pan over medium high heat, scraping the bottom once in a while, until the cream turns a a light caramel color.
Whisk together sugar, cornstarch, flour and egg yolks until no lumps remain. Whisk in buttermilk and caramelised heavy cream. Pour into a saucepan and bring to a boil, cook while whisking rigorously for a few minutes to thicken the cream and cook out the starches. Remove from heat and transfer to a bowl. Stir in 75g of butter until combined, cover with clingfilm and let cool. When the cream is room temperature, whisk in the remaining 75g butter and transfer to a piping bag with an open star nozzle. Store in the fridge until ready to serve.
Pickled apple
2 apples, peeled and cut into small balls
100g sugar
100ml water
1 Tbsp apple vinegar
A few sprigs of verbena, lemon balm and lemon thyme
Bring sugar, water, vinegar and herbs to a boil, and boil for 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat, cool for 15 minutes then add apple balls. Leave for 5-10 minutes, check to make sure apples are not mushy, then remove apple balls from pickling liquid.
Vanilla choux
Makes 6 choux rings
80g whole milk
80g water
65g butter
5g sugar
2g salt
100g strong bread flour, sieved
140-160g whisked eggs
*1 empty vanilla bean leftover from other purposes
2-3 Tbsp. icing sugar
Flaked almonds
Preheat oven to 175C.
Add milk, water, butter, vanilla bean if using, sugar and salt to a pan and warm up over low heat until butter is melted. Bring to a boil over medium high heat and remove from heat as soon as the milk mixture is boiling. Remove vanilla bean and rigourously whisk in flour until a homogenous paste, return to low heat and cook the dough for a few minutes. Be careful not to scrape off the thin film that forms on the pan.
Transfer dough to a bowl and leave to cool for 5-10 minutes.
Beat in egg a little at a time, you might not need all of it, until dough falls off the spoon in a V. Transfer to a piping bag and pipe six 7,5cm circles on a piece of parchment paper. Dust with icing sugar and sprinkle with flaked almonds.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, until puffy and golden brown all over. Leave to cool completely on a wire rack.
To assemble and serve
Floral olive oil
Icing sugar
Lemon verbena, lemon balm, lemon thyme
Cut choux rings in half, pipe caramelised buttermilk mousseline on the bottom half and arrange pickled apple balls on top of the mousseline. Place the upper half of the choux rings back on top of the apples and dust with icing sugar.
Serve with a few extra apple balls, fresh herbs, dots of floral olive oil and citrus herbs