More Than Sweet

chamomile

MANZANILLA ROASTED RHUBARB TART WITH TOASTED CHAMOMILE GANACHE

by Leave a Comment

Paid Partnership with Xoco Gourmet

MANZANILLA SHERRY ROASTED RHUBARB TARTS WITH TOASTED CHAMOMILE GANACHE

HAZELNUT PATE SABLÉ

75 g butter at room temperature 
50g confectioners sugar
1/2 egg 
15g toasted hazelnut flour
125g all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt

TOASTED CHAMOMILE GANACHE

200g dark milk chocolate, preferably Xoco Gourmet
150g heavy cream
1 Tbsp. honey
15g chamomile tea
Pinch of salt

SHERRY ROASTED RHUBARB

10-12 slender rhubarb stalks, washed and trimmed
80g sugar
50ml Manzanilla sherry
1/4 tsp. crushed pink peppercorn

Pate sable: Cream together butter and confectioners sugar. Beat in the egg, then gently stir in flour, almond flour and salt. Be careful not to overwork the dough. Wrap in clingfilm and rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. 

Roll out the dough and line six 7,5cm tart rings with the pastry. Trim excess dough along the edges and rest the tart shells for 15-30 minutes in the fridge. Use a fork to prick holes in the bottom of the tart shells. 

Preheat the oven to 175C and bake the tart shells until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely.

Ganache: Toast the chamomile tea in a pan over medium heat until toasty and fragrant, this shouldn’t take more than a few minutes. 

Add the dark milk chocolate to a heatproof bowl. Heat the heat heavy cream with the honey and chamomile and bring to a boil.

Pour over the dark milk chocolate and beginning in the centre of the bowl start emulsifying the chocolate and the heavy cream. Season to taste with a pinch of salt. Pass through a fine meshed sieve and press a layer of clingfilm against the surface chill the ganache overnight in the fridge.

Beat the chilled ganache until light and creamy and transfer to a piping bag.

Roasted rhubarb: Preheat oven to 200C. Cut the rhubarb to fit the six tart rings snuggly and place in a roasting tin. Sprinkle with pink pepper, sugar and sherry and roast for 10-12 minutes, until the rhubarb are fork tender, but not mushy. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

When ready to serve, pipe the whipped ganache into the tart shells and top with the rhubarb batons.

Serve within a few hours of assembly. 

Mango tart with vanilla, bourbon & toasted chamomile

by Leave a Comment

Mango tart with cinnamon sponge, mango-bourbon jam, vanilla cremeux, toasted chamomile and lemon thyme
MANGO-BOURBON JAM

500g mango, diced (about 2 mangoes)
3 Tbsp. bourbon
1/2 cinnamon stick
300g sugar
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Pinch of salt

Place mango chunks and cinnamon stick in a pan with the bourbon and cook over medium heat until the mango is softened and tender. Add sugar and lemon juice and cook until the jam reaches 105C on a thermometer. Season with salt to taste.

Remove from heat, leave to cool for 5 minutes then discard the cinnamon stick and pour hot jam into a sterilised 500ml jam jar. Leave to cool overnight.

The jam is delicious with greek yogurt, on buttered toast, or sandwiched between two linzer cookies. I may or may not have just eaten it by the spoonful.

PATE SUCRÉE 

75 g butter at room temperature 
50g confectioners sugar
1/2 egg 
15g almond flour
125g all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt

Cream together butter and confectioners sugar. Beat in the egg, then gently stir in flour, almond flour and salt. Be careful not to overwork the dough. Wrap in clingfilm and rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. 

Roll out the dough and line six 7,5cm tart rings with the pastry. Trim excess dough along the edges and rest the tart shells for 15-30 minutes in the fridge. Use a fork to prick holes in the bottom of the tart shells. 

Preheat the oven to 175C and bake the tart shells until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely.

MADAGASCAR VANILLA BEAN CREMEUX 

125ml heavy cream
125ml whole milk 
4 egg yolks
35g sugar 
1 Madagascar vanilla bean 
3 leaves gelatine
Pinch of salt 

Soak gelatine leaves in cold water for 10-15 minutes. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and mix with the sugar, beat with egg yolks until pale and very airy. Bring milk and cream to just below boiling with the empty vanilla bean, remove from heat and pour 1/2 into the egg mix while whisking rigourously.

Return to heat and warm up to 85C while whisking continuously. Remove from heat, squeeze excess water from the gelatine and stir into the hot custard, until it is fully dissolved.

Season with a pinch of salt. Strain into a clean bowl and press a piece of clingfilm directly against the surface to prevent a skin forming. Chill until fully set.

CINNAMON SPONGE

60g almond flour
50g + 25g cane sugar
20g egg yolk
75g egg whites
50g butter, melted
35g all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon 
1 generous pinch of salt 

Preheat oven to 175C and line a baking sheet with baking paper. Mix together the almond flour, 50g of cane sugar and egg yolk in a bowl and whisk in the melted butter.

Sieve together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt and mix into the batter.

Whisk the egg whites with the remaining 25g of sugar to soft peaks and fold into the batter until the batter falls from the spatula.

Pour the batter onto the prepared baking sheet and spread out to about 1cm thickness. Bake for 5-6 minutes and leave to cool on a wire rack.

Cut out 6 rounds of cake that fit inside the cooled tart shells.

TO ASSEMBLE AND SERVE

3 ripe mangoes cut into 1x1cm cubes
Chamomile tea
Lemon thyme

Toast the chamomile tea in a pan over medium heat until toasty and fragrant, a few minutes. Remove from heat and grind to a fine powder.

Place the cake rounds inside the tart shells and spoon a little mango jam on top.

Whisk the cremeux until light and smooth and transfer to a piping bag. Pipe on top of the jam and smooth the surface with a spatula. 

Arrange the mango cubes on the tarts and dust with toasted chamomile powder and garnish with lemon thyme leaves just before serving.

Yuzu-chamomile tart with mezcal gelé, elderflower & cucumber sherbet

by Leave a Comment

Yuzu-chamomile tart with mezcal gelé, fresh elderflowers & cucumber sherbet

Serves 8

CUCUMBER SHERBET

115g sugar
3 grams ice cream stabiliser
35g glucose syrup
450g cucumber juice (from about 3 cucumbers)
15g yuzu juice 
300g full fat plain yogurt 
Pinch of salt, to taste

Mix 15g of sugar with stabiliser, and set aside. Add 100g sugar, glucose syrup, cucumber juice and yuzu juice to a pot and warm up to 36C. Add stabiliser and warm up to 83C while stirring continously. Remove from heat, cool down to 60C, then blend in yogurt with an immersion blender. Season to taste with salt.

Age the sherbet overnight in the fridge, then churn in an ice cream maker. Chill the sherbet in the freezer at least an hour before serving.

YUZU-CHAMOMILE FILLING

180ml heavy cream 
2 Tbsp. dried chamomile blossoms
275g eggs (about 5 eggs)
1 egg yolk
200g granulated sugar
150ml yuzu juice
Pinch of salt 

Bring heavy cream to just below boiling in a small saucepan, remove from heat and whisk in chamomile blossoms. Leave to infuse overnight in the fridge.

Stir together eggs, yolk and sugar, then set aside until the sugar is completely dissolved. Pour the heavy cream through a fine meshed sieve into the egg syrup and stir gently to combine. Stir in the yuzu syrup and a pinch of salt.

PÂTE SUCRÉE

75 g butter at room temperature 
50g confectioners sugar
1/2 egg 
15g almond flour
125g all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt

Cream together butter and confectioners sugar. Beat in the egg, then gently stir in flour, almond flour and salt. Be careful not to overwork the dough. Wrap in clingfilm and rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Roll out the dough and line four 10cm tart rings with the pastry. Trim excess dough along the edges and rest the tart shells for 15-30 minutes in the fridge.

Preheat the oven to 175C and preface the tart shells for about 15 minutes, until golden.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack, meanwhile lower the heat to 140C.

Gently pour in the yuzu custard, then bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes, until the custard is just set but there is a wobble in the center of the tarts. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely.

MEZCAL GELÉ

100ml water
50ml mezcal
1g agar agar

Add water and agar to a small saucepan and leave to hydrate for 5 minutes. Bring to a boil and cook for 2-3 minutes while whisking, whisk in mezcal and remove from heat. Pour into a bowl and leave to set for an hour. Purée until smooth, pass through a fine meshed sieve and transfer to a small piping bag or squeeze bottle.

TO ASSEMBLE AND SERVE

Fresh elderflower blossoms or baby leaves of herbs such as lemon thyme, basil, cilantro or mint

Cut the tarts in half and pipe 12-13 small dots of mezcal gelé on the set custard. Place a single elderflower blossom or herb leaf on the gelé dot.

Serve with a quenelle of cucumber sherbet.

Blackberry tart with chamomile and lemon thyme

by Leave a Comment

Blackberry tarts with chamomile and lemon thyme

Serves 6

Pâte sucrée

75 g butter at room temperature 
50g confectioners sugar
1/2 egg 
15g almond flour
125g all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt

Chamomile syrup

75g granulated sugar
50ml water 
2 tsp. dried chamomile  

Almond cream

50g almond flour
5g all purpose flour
50g butter at room temperature 
50g confectioners sugar
1/2 egg 

Bring the water and chamomile to a boil, stir in the sugar until fully dissolved. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and leave to steep for 30 minutes. Strain out the chamomile and discard. 

Cream together butter and confectioners sugar. Beat in the egg, then gently stir in flour, almond flour and salt. Be careful not to overwork the dough. Wrap in clingfilm and rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Roll out the dough and line six 10cm tart rings with the pastry. Trim the edges and rest for another 15-30 minutes in the fridge. Preheat the oven to 175C and blind bake the tarts for 15 minutes. 

Meanwhile prepare the almond cream by mixing the ingredients together to a flowy paste. Spread the almond cream onto the blind baked pastry shells and bake for 10 minutes, or until golden brown. Brush the frangipane with warm chamomile syrup and cool completely on a wire rack. Save any leftover syrup.

Lemon pastry cream

250ml whole milk or half and half
1/2 seeds of vanilla bean
Finely grated zest of 1/2 lemon
1/4 tsp. of salt
2 Tbls. cornstarch
50g sugar
1 large egg
2 Tbsp. lemon olive oil 

Warm the milk, vanilla, lemon zest and salt in a saucepan to just below boiling over medium heat. 
In a mixing bowl, whisk the sugar, cornstarch and eggs. Slowly add 1/2 of the milk into the egg mixture and whisk constantly to temper them. Add the remaining milk and return the custard to the saucepan.
Cook while whisking continuously until you get a thick pudding like consistency.
Remove from heat and pour the pastry cream into a bowl, let cool for 10 minutes and then incorporate the olive oil, one tablespoon at a time, until the pastry cream is smooth and glossy. 
Press a piece of clingfilm directly against the surface of the pastry cream and let cool completely in the refrigerator.

To assemble and serve

600g (wild) blackberries
Lemon thyme

Transfer the lemon vanilla pastry cream to a piping bag and pipe onto the cooled pastry shells. Arrange blackberries on top of the pastry cream and brush with a little chamomile syrup. Garnish with lemon thyme.