olive oil

Almond sorbet with strawberries and vanilla olive oil

juli 3, 2020 by marie Leave a Comment

A refreshing and not overly sweet treat perfect for warm summer afternoons or as a light dessert. The almond sorbet is my variation on the traditional Sicilian almond granita typically eaten for breakfast.

Almond sorbet

650ml water
100g sugar
50g glucose syrup
17g dextrose
6g ice cream stabiliser (or 2,5g locust bean gum)
150g blanched almonds or almond flour
Pinch of salt, to taste

Mix ice cream stabiliser with 15g of the sugar, set aside. Add water, remaining sugar, glucose and dextrose to a pot and warm up to 35-36C. Add stabiliser mix, whisking to dissolve, and warm up to 85C. Remove from heat and cool to 60C. Transfer to a blender with the blanched almonds and blend until a very smooth mixture. Pass through a fine meshed sieve, season to taste with salt and pour into a bowl. Cover with clingfilm and age overnight in the fridge.

Use an immersion blender to emulsify the sorbet base before churning in an ice cream maker.

Freeze for at least an hour in the freezer after churning, before plating the sorbet.

Strawberries with vanilla olive oil

250ml fruity olive oil
1 empty vanilla bean
300g strawberries
Pinch of salt
Fresh herbs (lemon verbena, orange tagetes, basil, lemon balm, lemon thyme…)
Raspberry vinegar

Infuse the vanilla bean in the olive oil for at least a few days, up to 2 weeks. Rinse and hull the strawberries. Cut them in quarters, drizzle them with vanilla olive oil and a tiny pinch of salt. Arrange the strawberries in four bowls, drizzle with a little raspberry vinegar and garnish with fresh herbs. Serve with a quenelle of almond sorbet.

Salt & olive oil gelato

maj 11, 2020 by marie Leave a Comment

Olive oil gelato

700ml whole milk
65g skimmed milk powder
100g granulated sugar
40g liquid glucose
4g ice cream stabiliser
125ml fruity olive oil
A generous pinch of salt

Start by mixing the stabiliser with 15g sugar, then set the mixture aside. Add whole milk, skimmed milk powder, the remaining sugar and liquid glucose to a heavy-duty pot. Warm the mixture up to 40C, before whisking in stabiliser mixture and warming up to 84C while stirring continuously. Remove from heat and emulsify using an immersion blender until homogenous. Pour ice cream mixture into a lidded container and age in the fridge overnight. Aging the ice cream mixture will improve both texture and flavour of the ice cream. Next day add the olive oil to your ice cream mix and blend using an immersion blender. Season with a generous pinch of salt to your taste, then churn the ice cream mixture in an ice cream maker.

Transfer ice cream to a lidded container, then freeze for at least an hour. If frozen for longer, thaw the ice cream in the fridge for 15-20 minutes, before serving. The olive oil gelato is delicious with chocolate desserts, fresh fruit or on its own, I love it sprinkled with the olive oil crumble for a bit of crunch.

Note: If you don’t have an ice cream maker at home, you can still make a delicious ice cream. It just takes a little longer, and a bit more work on your part. Instead of churning in the machine, pour the mixture into a suitable container and freeze for 30 minutes. You then whisk the mixture with a hand mixer or whisk to break all the ice crystals that are forming. Repeat this process every 30 minutes for 2-3 hours, until the ice cream is smooth and without any ice crystals left. Freeze for at least an hour before serving.

Green tea-olive oil apple tart with vanilla ice cream

april 25, 2020 by marie Leave a Comment

Tahiti vanilla ice cream

1 Tahiti vanilla bean
650ml whole milk
65ml heavy cream
65g skimmed milk powder
100g sugar
40g liquid glucose
4g ice cream stabiliser
Pinch of salt

Mix stabiliser with 15g sugar, set aside. Scrape the vanilla bean and add seeds and pod with milk, cream, milk powder, remaining sugar and glucose in a heavy-duty pot. Warm up to 40C, whisk in stabiliser mixture and bring up to 84C while stirring continuously. Remove from heat and age in the fridge overnight. Emulsify using an immersion blender, season with a generous pinch of salt to taste and churn in an ice cream maker.

Green tea-olive oil apple tarts

Makes six 7,5cm tarts

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 six 7,5cm tart rings with the pastry. Insert a 2cm round cookie cutter in the center of the tart ring and line with pastry to make a tart wreath. Trim the edges and rest for another 15-30 minutes in the fridge. Preheat the oven to 175C and bake the tarts for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

Green tea-apple compote

3 medium green apples, peeled cored and cut into small cubes
50ml strong brewed Sencha green tea (I used this)

Cook apples in the green tea for 15-20 minutes, until apples are very soft. Mash with a fork until a chunky compote and leave to cool in the refrigerator.

Olive oil ganache

200g white chocolate, chopped
25g honey
100ml heavy cream
125ml fruity olive oil (I used this)
Pinch of salt

Add the chopped white chocolate to a heat proof bowl. Bring cream and honey to a boil over medium heat and pour over the white chocolate. Stir with a spatula until the chocolate is melted, and continue to stir while slowly drizzling in the olive oil. If mixture begins to split, emulsify using an immersion blender. Season with salt to taste. Pour the ganache into a piping bag, and set aside.

Divide the cooled apple compote between the tart shells and top with olive oil ganache. Leave the ganache to set in the fridge for an hour.

Assemble and serve

6 green apples
3 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 Tbsp. honey
1/4-1/2 tsp. salt

Mix lemon juice, honey and salt in a shallow bowl. Slice one apple at a time thinly on a mandolin and use af 1cm round cutter to cut small discs of apple and macerate for 5 minutes in the mixture.

Arrange the apple discs on top of the olive oil ganache, finishing each tart before slicing apples for the next. This prevents the apple discs from becoming too soft in the maceration liquid.

Sprinkle with crushed green tea and serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on a little olive oil crumble

Lemon olive oil brownies with rosemary almond praline

oktober 18, 2019 by marie Leave a Comment

Lemon olive oil brownies with almond rosemary praline

Makes one 20cm round or square baking pan

Salted almond praline with rosemary

100g blanched almonds
120g sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. finely chopped rosemary

Preheat the oven to 175C and toast the almonds for 10 minutes. Make a dry caramel with the sugar in a small saucepan, remove from heat and mix in warm almonds, salt and rosemary. Cool completely on a silicone mat or a piece of baking paper. Coarsely chop and set aside.

Lemon olive oil brownies

150g lemon olive oil, alternatively 150g fruity olive oil and zest of 1 lemon
100g 70% chocolate
225g granulated sugar
75g brown sugar
3 medium eggs, straight from the fridge
75g all purpose flour
75g unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. Salt

Warm olive oil over low heat to about 45-55C and add in the chocolate. Stir to melt the chocolate and set aside.

Whisk eggs with both sugars until very pale and airy, about 6-8 minutes. Drizzle in the chocolate mixture while whisking on low speed until fully incorporated.

Sieve together salt, flour and cocoa and fold into the chocolate mixture until only just combined. Fold in chopped praline and transfer the dough to a cake pan lined with buttered tinfoil. Bake at 175C for app. 25 minutes, until center of the cake is 96C. Cool to room temperature.