Ripe strawberries go beautifully with basil, mellowed by a light and creamy fromage frais mousse.
Ingredients
For the strawberry ice cream:
• 350g of Boiron strawberry purée
• 80ml of milk
• 2 egg yolks
• 10g of trimoline
• 50g of xylitol
• 8g of glycerine
For the strawberry tuille:
• 40g of freeze-dried strawberries
• 50g of caster sugar
• 40ml of glucose syrup
• 5g of butter
For the basil gel:
• 75g of basil leaves
• 75ml of stock syrup
• 3g of ultratex
For the fromage frais mousse:
• 48g of fromage frais
• 100g of sugar
• 1 pinch of salt
• 3 egg yolks
• 10ml of UHT whipping cream
• 0.25g of gelatine
For the strawberry soup:
• 400g of strawberries
• 10g of sugar
• 0.5g of black pepper
• 22ml of water
For the strawberry jelly;
• 0.5g of agar agar
• 0.5g of sugar
• 1g of gelatine
To plate:
• 1 handful of basil leaves
• 28 whole almonds
Method
1 For the strawberry ice cream, mix the yolks, xylitol and trimoline together. Put the milk and 200g of Boiron purée into a suitable sized pan and bring to the boil. Pour onto the egg mix while whisking. Return to a clean pan and cook to 76°C to make the base custard. Cool over ice. Mix in the remaining 150g of Boiron purée and glycerin. Put into an ice cream maker to churn.
2 When frozen, churn and allow to firm up slightly. Place into a piping bag with a 1 ½ cm diameter nozzle and pipe long tubes on a frozen board. Cut into 2 ½ cm pieces when frozen. Store in freezer until required.
3 To make the strawberry tuille, cook the caster sugar and glucose in a pan to 150°C. Then stir in the butter and pour onto a silicone baking mat and leave to cool.
4 Blitz together the strawberries and caramel, and dust thinly on a baking mat. Melt in a warm oven. This tuille will burn easily so cover with silicone paper when in the oven. Roll out between 2 sheets of greaseproof paper when cooked.
5 For the basil gel, blanch the basil in boiling salted water, then chill in iced water. Squeeze out all the excess liquid and put into a blender with the stock syrup, then blitz and pass through a sieve. Weigh out 65g of the gel and whisk in the Ultratex. Leave to rest for 10 minutes and re-whisk.
6 To make the fromage frais mousse, soak the gelatine in cold water. Dissolve the sugar in a small pan with a little water and cook to 121°C. When the syrup reaches 118°C start whisking the egg yolks with an electric whisk.
7 Pour the syrup over the egg yolks whilst whisking. Whisk until cold. Warm 4ml of the UHT Cream in a small pan, drain the gelatine, add to the cream and mix thoroughly. Put the fromage frais into a bowl and beat. Add the cream to the fromage frais. Weigh out 5g of the bombe mix and add to the above. Season with a pinch of salt. Lightly whisk the rest of the cream to form a soft peak, then put into a piping bag.
10ml of UHT whipping cream.
8 To make the strawberry soup, cut the strawberries into quarters, add the sugar and marinade for 10 minutes. Place into a suitable sized pan and add the water. Clingfilm the pan and place on the stove and bring to the boil. Cook until the strawberries start to collapse. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Pass through a fine sieve; do not push through, allow to fall through naturally. Taste, adding extra sugar and black pepper if needed, depending on the ripeness of the strawberries.
9 For the strawberry jelly, mix the agar agar and sugar together. Soak the agar agar in quarter of the soup for 20 minutes. Soak the gelatine in cold water. Place the soup with the agar agar on the stove and bring to a rapid boil for 3 seconds. Remove from the stove. Add the drained gelatine and mix thoroughly. Set in a suitable tray or mould.
10 To serve, cool 4 plates in a fridge or freezer. Crush some of the tuille and sprinkle around the centre of the plate. Pipe varying sized dots of fromage frais mousse and basil gel around the centre of the plate. Place approximately 9 wild strawberries in random places – on and in between the fromage frais and basil gel.
11 With a teaspoon, take small nuggets of the strawberry jelly and place randomly around the plate. Repeat with peeled halves of green almonds and basil leaves. When ready to serve, put seven pieces of the piped ice cream around and on the garnish.
Recipe courtesy of Adam Simmonds