chamomile Arkiv - More Than Sweet

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 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.

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