@00651811 Assignment 1

Ingredients

Method

Tarragon Emulsion

1. Blend your tarragon with the oil in a food processor until the oil takes on a rich green colour.
2. Strain the mixture through a muslin cloth or fine strainer, taking care to avoid forcing particles of plant matter through.
3. Add your egg yolk to the food processor, with a splash of white wine vinegar. Set your food processor to a low speed, under 800 RPM, higher speeds can split the emulsion.
4. Pour the oil into the food processor, in a very thin constant stream. Continue pouring until the consistency is thick and glossy. Take care here as adding oil too quickly will split the emulsion.
5. Boil the kettle, and add a small amount of boiling water to your emulsion, until the mixture lightens considerably. This cooks out the eggs in the mixture ensuring it's safe to eat.
6. Add salt and lemon juice to taste, a small amount of castor sugar may also help lift the flavours.
7. Put your emulsion in a squeezy bottle, piping bag, or appropriate tub.

Cucumber Jelly

1. Coat a flat tray in a thin layer of oil, spray is perfect for this.
2. Blend your cucumbers.
3. Strain through muslin cloth or a fine strainer.
4. Season the resulting juice with salt.
5. Measure your juice and add 1g of vege gel per ml of juice.
6. Put your juice in a pan, on the stove, on a medium heat. Whisk well with a whisk until all lumps are gone, then allow to simmer and remove.
7. Holding a spoon over your tray, to stop the flow disturbing the oil coating, pour the juice onto your tray until 2/3mm thick, then move to the fridge to set.

Dressed Crab

1. Empty your crab meat out onto a flat metal tray, and press small peices against the tray with your finger tips, the goal is to check for any missed fragments of shell.
2. Add your crab to a mixing bowl, season to taste, white wine vinegar, crème fraîche and chopped chives.
3. Depending on how wet your mixture is, use a muslin cloth to squeeze out excess liquid, and double check seasoning.

To serve

1. Quenelle or Rocher your crab mixture onto a plate.
2. Apply a nice blob of emulsion.
3. Take your jelly from the fridge, cut with a circle cutter.
4. Using greaseproof paper, carefully transfer the jelly slices from the tray to the plate.

Ingredients

Method

Kombu Vinegar and Dill Oil

1. Steep your Kombu in the rice wine vinegar for as long as time allows.
2. Strain and decant into a spray bottle.
3. Blend the dill and the oil until the oil takes a rich green colour.
4. Strain the mixture through a muslin cloth or fine strainer, taking care to avoid forcing particles of plant matter through.

Roast Yeast Sauce

1. Preheat your oven to 180° celcius.
2. Crumble your yeast onto a tray lined with baking paper.
3. Cook for around 25 minutes, checking regularly, once the yeast is golden brown and dried out remove it and allow to cool.
4. While your yeast is roasting, lightly fry the garlic and shallots until soft.
5. Add the white wine, and simmer, reducing by half.
6. Add the fish and chicken stock and further reduce by half.
7. Add the double cream and saffron, then bring back to a simmer.
8. Blend the sauce, and slowly incorporate the yeast, regularly testing the flavour. It is likely you will not need to use all of it.
9. Finally season to taste with lemon juice and salt.

Deep Fried Mussels

1. Combine the flour, cornflour and sparkling liquid of your choice to make a light batter.
2. Season with salt, lemon juice and black pepper to taste.
3. Let your batter rest in the fridge, and set your fryer to 180° celcius and preheat your oven to 100° celcius.
4. Coat the mussels in batter and drop into the fryer, with care to avoid them sticking together.
5. Once golden brown and crispy remove from the fryer and place onto a tray lined with kitchen paper or a cloth to wick away excess oil.
6. Keep warm in the oven whilst you cook the scallops.

Pan Frying the Scallops

1. Make sure everything else is ready, sauce is hot, mussels are cooked, have bowls or high rimmed plates warming in the oven and you oil and oyster leaves to hand.
2. Prepare a tray lined with cloth, to soak up excess oil from the pan when you remove the scallops later, as well as a spoon.
3. Place a stainless steel pan on the highest possible heat. Non-stick pans may degrade and release harmful fumes at these temperatures.
4. Hold your hand over the pan, about half an inch from the surface, once you cannot bear to keep it there because of the heat add a decent amount of oil.
5. Allow the oil to come up to temperature, then place your scallops in a row, flattest side down, at the edge of your pan closest the handle.
6. Do not touch the scallops until the develop a dark crust around where they contact the pan, as they will stick and likely break apart. Once the scallops reach this point, turn the heat to low then carefully turn them onto their other side with your spoon.
7. Add a decent knob of softened butter, then, holding your spoon in your strong hand and the pan in the other, tilt the pan as so that the butter pools close to your main hand. Scoop up the foaming butter and pour over the scallops repeatedly for 30 second to a minute.
8. Add a tablespoon or so of lemon juice to the pan, and shake lightly to ensure the lemon juice and butter mixture coats all sides of each scallop, then pour onto your lined tray.

To Serve

1. Place 3 scallops, the side with the most colour facing upwards on each plate.
2. Top with the deep fried mussels.
3. Spray your oyser leaves with a fine coating of the kombu vinegar until it looks reminiscent of morning dew.
4. Put your sauce in a jug, add a generous amount of dill oil, then vigorously stir with a whisk or fork to disperse the droplets of oil.
5. Pour a layer of sauce, place the oyster leaves and serve.

Ingredients

Method

Choux Pastry

1. Put the water and butter in a large pan, on a high heat and boil until the butter is melted.
2. Add the flour, and mix with a wooden spoon or paddle until there's no lumps.
3. Drop to a low/medium heat and continue to cook the choux paste, mixing constantly. Stop when the mix no longer sticks the the pan and stays together in a glossy, smooth batter.
4. Allow the mix to cool to room temperature, with cling film stuck to any surfaces exposed to the air to avoid a skin forming.
5. Preheat your oven to 180° Celsius
6. Transfer the paste to a mixer with a paddle attachment or mixing bowl. Mix at a medium speed, or as fast as you can manage, whilst adding the beaten eggs in a slow stream. You will likely not need all of the eggs, stop when the mixture is fairly maleable but holds soft peaks.
7. Put you mix into a piping bag, with a 1-1.5cm round tip nozzle.
8. Pipe 2 inch fingers of dough around an inch apart onto a tray lined with baking paper. You may use your finger, dipped in water, to pat down any peaks or irregularities to ensure uniform eclairs.
9. Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown, then transfer to a cooling rack.

Lemon Gel

1. Mix your sugar and agar together roughly, this prevent lumps of agar forming.
2. Put the lemon juice on the stove on a medium heat and immediately whisk in the sugar/agar mixture.
3. Bring the mix to the boil, then transfer to the fridge to set.
4. Once set, blend the jelly until smooth. If your gel is persistently grainy then add small amounts of water whilst blending until a smooth texture is aquired.
5. Pass through a fine mesh seive and store in a squeexy bottle or piping bag.

Lemon Creme

1. Put the cream into a bowl, adding icing sugar to taste, and mix until fluffly and aerated.
2. Add the lemon curd and mix until fully whipped.
3. Transfer to a piping bag with a nozzle of your choice, I prefer a petal nozzle with a middle indent.

To Serve

1. Cut the top horizontal edge of the eclairs off with a sharp serrated knife, leaving a flat bathtub shape.
2. Fill the eclair with lemon curd, and pipe on your lemon creme.
3. Decorate with small dots of lemon gel. Take care, it's rather tart!
4. FInally crush freeze dried raspberries in your fingers and sprinkle over the top, place lemon balm, and sprinkle lightly with icing sugar.

Ingredients

Method

Gooseberry Fool

1. Preheat your oven to 180° celcius.
2. Add your gooseberries and sugar to a pan and cook on a medium heat, stirring well, until you're left with a thick compote that should not run at all.
3. Semi-whip your cream, until fluffy and aerated, then add 1/3rd of your compote and fully whip.
4. Put the remaining compote and gooseberry cream into seperate piping bags and store in the fridge.
5. Cut a two inch thick strip off puff pastry, coat your work surface heavily in icing sugar, then roll your pastry strip width ways as thin as you can, liberally apply icing sugar to the top and bottom as required. Transfer the strip to a baking paper lined tray/
6. Do this for each strip, then bake in the oven until golden brown, usually 8-12 minutes.
7. Before the caramelised pastry cools, use a metal ring to cut circles out of each sheet. Store in an airtight container.

Redcurrant Sauce

1. Cook the redcurrants and sugar on a low heat until all the juices are released.
2. Store in the fridge.

Elderflower Sorbet

1. Combine all the ingredients and bring to the boil on a high heat.
2. Put the mix in your ice cream churner and wait.
3. If you don't have a churner, store in the freezer, and mix vigorously every 20 minutes until thoroughly frozen.

To Serve

1. Use a spoon to pour redcurrant sauce in a circle around your plate or bowl.
2. Put a small amount of gooseberry cream to one side of your plate or bowl, then the first puff pastry disc.
3. Circle the outer part of the disc with inch tall pillars of the cream, and fill the center with the compote, add another disc and repeat, then top with compote.
4. Take a scoop of sorbet and place opposite the fool.