More Than Sweet

plated dessert

Paris-Brest in the springtime

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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

Spiced hibiscus apple tart with hazelnut ice cream and brown butter crumble

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Spiced hibiscus apple tart, hazelnut gelato and brown butter crumble
Spiced hibiscus apple tart with hazelnut gelato and brown butter crumble

Hazelnut gelato

650ml whole milk
65ml heavy cream
65g skimmed milk powder
60g sugar
80g liquid glucose
4g ice cream stabiliser
100g roasted hazelnut paste
Pinch of salt

Mix stabiliser with 15g sugar, set aside. Add 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. Mix with hazelnut paste and emulsify using an immersion blender, season with a pinch of salt and churn in an ice cream maker.

Brown butter crumble

50g browned butter, cooled
50g all purpose flour
30g sugar
15g hazelnut flour

Rub browned butter, flour, sugar and hazelnut flour together until the texture is like wet sand. Spread into a thin layer on a baking tray lined with parchment and bake at 175C for 30 minutes. Cool completely and store in an airtight container.

Hazelnut pâte sucrée

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

Cream together butter and confectioners sugar. Beat in the egg, then gently stir in flour, hazelnut 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 calisson tart rings with the dough. 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.

Vanilla cremeux

330g heavy cream 
60g sugar
1 gelatin sheets 
1 vanilla bean
70g egg yolks 
1/2 tsp. salt

Rehydrate the gelatin in cold water for 10 minutes.

Heat heavy cream in a saucepan over medium heat.

Split the vanilla bean and scrape out the seeds, mix with a tbsp. of the sugar and use a knife to rub the vanilla and sugar together. Mix the vanilla sugar with the remaining sugar and egg yolks in the bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk until very pale and and airy. Remove the hot cream from the heat, remove gelatin and squeeze to remove excess water before stirring into the cream. Slowly pour the cream into the egg mixture, transfer back into the saucepan and cook on low heat until thickened and the mixture reaches 82C on an instant read thermometer. Pour the cremeux into a bowl, cover with clingfilm and chill for at least 4 hours.

Vanilla caramel

125g sugar
125ml heavy cream
1/2 empty vanilla bean, leftover from cremeux
Pinch of salt

Bring the cream to a boil, remove from heat and add the vanilla bean. Leave to infuse for at least 30 minutes.

Add sugar to a small saucepan and caramelise until it is a dark amber color. Remove the vanilla bean, then pour in half the warm cream while stirring vigorously. Add the remaining cream and whisk to a golden caramel sauce, season with a pinch of salt. Remove from heat and pour into a jar. Leave to cool to room temperature.

Spiced hibiscus syrup

300ml water 
Juice of 1/2 lemon 
75g sugar
15g dried hibiscus flowers 
1/2 empty vanilla bean 
2 cinnamon sticks 
1 5cm piece of liquorice root 
5g whole green cardamom 
5g fennel seeds
5g cloves 
5g star anise 
2g black peppercorns
1 Tbsp. Rosewater
50ml spiced rum 

Add the water, sugar, hibiscus flowers, lemon juice and spices into a large saucepan and bring to a boil to dissolve the sugar. Boil for 5 minutes, then remove from heat and leave to infuse for an hour. Pour through a sieve, discard the spices before adding rosewater and spiced rum. Cool completely in the fridge.

To assemble and serve

9 apples
Thyme

Pipe a thin layer of vanilla caramel in the bottom of each tart shell and pipe the cremeux on top of the vanilla caramel. Thinly slice the apples. Cut 90 larger leaves and 78 slightly smaller leaves from the apple slices and brush with cold hibiscus syrup. Place the larger leaves along the edge of the tart shells and the smaller leaves on top in the centre. Garnish with thyme leaves and serve with a quenelle of hazelnut gelato on top of a spoonful of brown butter crumble.

Sloe & Sour Cherry Apple Tart with Blueberry Coriander Sorbet

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Blueberry coriander sorbet

Makes 1 liter

500g wild blueberries
200g water 
200g sugar
80g glucose
20g lemon juice
2g stabiliser or locust bean gum
1/2 tsp. finely ground, toasted coriander seeds  
Pinch of salt 

Mix 20g of sugar with stabiliser and set aside. Add blueberries, water, 180g sugar, glucose and lemon juice to a pot. Warm up to 35C, add stabiliser mix and bring the sorbet mixture up to 82C. Remove from heat, season with a pinch of salt and blend with an immersion blender. Strain through a sieve, transfer to a bowl and rest overnight in the fridge. Blend a second time with an immersion blender and churn in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.

Sloe & Sour Cherry Apple Tart

Makes eight 5cm tarts

Almond biscuit

85g almond flour
80g of melted butter
75g sugar
20g confectioners sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
20g egg yolk
20g egg white
40g cake flour 
1 tsp. baking powder
95g egg whites
15g sugar

Preheat oven to 160C. 

Sieve together flour and baking powder, set aside. 

Whisk together almond flour, sugar, icing sugar, salt, egg yolk and 20g egg white. Drizzle in melted butter while whisking, then gently fold in the flour. 

Whip 95g egg whites with the remaining sugar to a stiff, glossy meringue. Fold 1/3 of the meringue into the batter, then gently fold in the remaining meringue. 

Pour the batter onto a baking tray lined with parchment and spread out to about 1/2cm thickness. 

Bake the biscuit in the middle of the oven for 25 minutes, until sponge springs back when touched. Leave to cool at room temperature. 

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 eight 5,5cm 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.

Almond namelaka

150g Valrhona almond inspiration
1/2 gelatin leaf
85g whole milk
170g heavy cream
Pinch of salt

Add almond inspiration chocolate to a heat proof bowl and melt chocolate over a water bath.

Soak the gelatin leaf in cold water for 10 minutes. Bring the milk to a boil, squeeze excess water from the gelatin leaf and add to the warm milk. Remove from heat and pour over the melted chocolate. Emulsify using an immersion blender and pour in the cold cream while blending. Transfer to the fridge to set.

To assemble and serve

100ml strongly brewed white petal tea
8 apples
150ml sour cherry juice
Sloe gin syrup (Bring 75ml water and 25g sugar to a boil, cook over medium heat until sugar is dissolved, remove from heat and stir in 50ml sloe gin. Cool completely.)

Slice apples 2mm thick then cut out small leaves. Add half the apple leaves to the sour cherry juice and the other half to the sloe gin syrup. Leave to macerate for 15 minutes in the fridge.

Cut out 8 circles of cake that fit in the cooled tart rings. Brush with white petal tea and pipe almond namelaka on top. Alternate sour cherry and sloe gin macerated apple leaves on top and serve with quenelles of blueberry coriander sorbet.

Walnut tart with lemon burnt honey caramel and pear sorbet

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PEAR SORBET

500g pears, peeled and cored
200g water 
220g sugar
20g dextrose  
15g glucose
20g lemon juice
2g stabiliser or locust bean gum 
Pinch of salt 

Mix 20g of sugar with stabiliser and set aside. 

Add pears and water to a blender and blend until a fine purée. Transfer to a heavy bottomed pot with sugar, dextrose, glucose and lemon juice. Warm the liquid to 35C, add stabiliser mix and bring the sorbet mixture up to 82C. Remove from heat, season with a pinch of salt and blend with an immersion blender. Transfer to a bowl and leave overnight in the fridge.

Churn in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.

Walnut tart with lemon & burnt honey caramel

Makes six 10cm tarts

Pâte à foncer

250g all purpose flour
1 Tbsp. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
125g butter, diced and slightly softened
50g egg yolk
40g ice cold water

Add flour, sugar, and salt to the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse almond meal. Add the egg yolks and ice water and pulse just until a dough begins to form. Gather the dough into a ball, flatten into a disc, wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Roll out the dough and line six 10cm fluted tart tins (or one 25cm fluted tart tin) with the dough. Refrigerate the pastry for at least an hour.

Line the pastry with tin foil and weigh down with dried beans, blind bake for 8 minutes at 180C, remove tin foil and weight and bake for another 7 minutes. Meanwhile make the filling.

Walnut filling

125g salted butter
100g brown sugar
75g honey
3 Tbsp. heavy cream
Zest of 1 large lemon
1 tsp. salt
360g walnuts

Add honey to a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Reduce heat to low and cook until honey is a deep caramel color, about 4-5 minutes. Add butter and brown sugar and cook over low heat until the sugar is dissolved. Increase the heat and bring to a rolling boil, remove from heat and stir in heavy cream, lemon zest, salt and walnuts. Immediately pour in the filling to the baked tart shells and bake for 10 minutes, or until the caramel filling is bubbly and gooey. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

Garnish with fresh thyme leaves and serve with pear sorbet.

White nectarine tart with raspberry & rose harissa jam and salty white chocolate olive oil namelaka, white peach & tarragon sorbet

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Serves 6

WHITE PEACH & TARRAGON SORBET

500g ripe apricots, pitted and coarsely chopped 
30g tarragon
75g sugar
15g glucose
125g water 

200g water 
170g sugar
20g dextrose  
20g lemon juice
2g stabiliser or locust bean gum 
Pinch of salt 

Add peaches, tarragon, 75g sugar, 15g glucose and 125g water to a saucepan and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and let the peaches simmer for 20 minutes, covered. Remove tarragon stalks, blend to a fine purée, then sieve and add to a clean pot with remaining water, 150g sugar, dextrose and lemon juice. Mix 20g of sugar with stabiliser and set aside. 

Warm up to 35C, add stabiliser mix and warm the sorbet mix to 82C. Remove from heat, season with a pinch of salt and blend with an immersion blender. Transfer to a bowl and leave overnight in the fridge.

Churn in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.

WHITE NECTARINE TART

Raspberry rose harissa jam

1000g raspberries, fresh or frozen
650g granulated sugar
1 lemon, juiced
1-1 1/2 Tbsp. rose harissa, to taste
1/2 tsp. salt, or to taste

Place raspberries, sugar and lemon juice in a heavy bottomed saucepan. Slowly bring to a boil, stirring all the time so the raspberries doesn’t stick to the bottom. Boil for 4-5 minutes while stirring throughout, add rose harissa and salt to taste. Pour the jam into sterilised jars and seal with sterilised lids. Turn the jars upside down and leave for at least 30 minutes. Keep opened jars in the fridge for up to a few weeks, unopened jars can keep for months.

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. 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.

Salty white chocolate olive oil namelaka

(adapted from Valrhona)

250g white chocolate
150g whole milk
300g heavy cream
100g fruity olive oil
2 gelatine sheets (3,4g)
3/4 tsp. salt

Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water for 10 minutes.

Bring the milk to the boil, squeeze excessive water from the gelatine sheets, then add the warm milk.

Melt the white chocolate over a water bath and slowly pour the warm mixture over the chocolate stirring continuously with a spatula to emulsify.
Drizzle in olive oil while emulsifying with an immersion blender until perfectly smooth.

Add the cold cream then blend again, season to taste with salt.

Leave to set in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.

To assemble and serve

6 ripe, but firm white nectarines
Optional: Toasted coriander olive oil crumb for plating the sorbet

Pipe a layer of raspberry rose harissa jam in the bottom of each tart shell, then pipe salty white chocolate olive oil namelaka on top. Slice the nectarines in 2mm slices and arrange in a rose pattern on each tart.

Arrange a nectarine tart on each plate with a quenelle of white peach and tarragon sorbet and olive oil crumb, if using. Serve immediately.


Blackberry tart with chamomile and lemon thyme

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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.

Lemon verbena panna cotta with roasted apple sorbet and jasmine-maple apple blossoms

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Lemon verbena panna cotta

Serves 6

500ml heavy cream
25g lemon verbena leaves
3 gelatine leaves (or 1 Tbsp. gelatine powder dissolved in 4 Tbsp. cold water)
45g granulated sugar

Bring heavy cream to just below boiling, add lemon verbena leaves and remove from heat. Leave the cream to infuse for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile soak the gelatine leaves in cold water, then set aside. Sieve off the verbena leaves and discard. Add the sugar to the heavy cream, reheat and stir in gelatine until completely dissolved. Pour the warm mixture into a bowl and chill in the fridge for at least 3-4 hours.

Whip with a hand mixer until a light, airy cream. Pour into a piping bag and store in the fridge until ready to serve.

Roasted apple sorbet

500g apples, cored and cut into quarters  
75g sugar

200g water 
170g sugar
20g dextrose  
15g glucose
20g lemon juice
2g stabiliser or locust bean gum 
Pinch of salt 

Preheat oven to 200C. Mix apples with sugar and roast in the oven for 30 minutes, tossing halfway through. Blend the apples and put through a mesh sieve to remove any larger bits of peel.

Mix 20g of sugar with stabiliser and set aside. Meanwhile caramelise 150g of the sugar in a heavy-bottomed pot. Add the warm purée, water, dextrose, glucose and lemon juice to the caramel.

Warm the liquid to 35C, add stabiliser and warm the sorbet mixture mix to 82C. Remove from heat, season with a pinch of salt and blend with an immersion blender. Transfer to a bowl and leave overnight in the fridge.

Churn in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.

Maple-jasmine apple blossoms

4 Tbsp. strongly brewed jasmine tea
3 Tbsp. maple syrup
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. lemon juice
6 apples

Mix jasmine tea, maple syrup, lemon juice and salt, season to taste. Slice the apples rather thinly on a mandolin slicer and use flower cutters in different sizes to cut apple blossoms. Macerate in the syrup for 30 minutes.

To assemble and serve

Coriander crumble

Pipe a half moon shape of lemon verbena panna cotta on each plate. Artfully arrange apple blossoms on top, place a small spoon of coriander crumble on the plate and finish with a quenelle of roasted apple sorbet. Serve immediately.