The dish came at me from several angles simultaneously.
Late one night arranging pureed fruits, powders, and shortbread on a plate my sous chef came by and smeared the shortbread across the sauces and said heres my contribution. Funny and potentially beautiful. We took from that lesson as if the shortbread walked across the plate and took with it, flavors.
While we were planning the sea urchin ice cream, our final goal was to create a romantic idea of what the ocean bed actually looks and tastes like through a lens looking down on the life of the sea urchin.
Ingredients
Sea Urchin Ice Cream
140 g premium sea urchin
580 g heavy cream
360 g milk
200 g sugar
200 g egg yolk
5 g locust bean gum
1 g salt
Black Sesame Sponge Cake
5 yolks
2 whole egg
40 g confectioner’s sugar
105 g cake flour
55 g black sesame paste (50 g black sesame seeds toasted, 10 g squid ink, just enough water to puree, strain through fine chinoise)
Paper coffee cups.
Sour apple gel
100 g green apple puree
100 g sugar
100 g h2o
4 g agar
3 g citric acid
10 g white balsamic vinegar
Konbocha gel(seaweed tea)
110 g water
55 g sugar
5 g salt
25 g piece of blanched kombu
10 g nori
2 g agar
Pink tip sedum
Soaked in caper brine
Furikake
Puffed short grain rice
Sugared egg yolks baked dry and ground
Ground and dehydrated ham
White sesame seeds
Black sesame seeds
Ground nori
Sea salt
Garnish
Pink tip sedum
Emerald crystal lettuce blooms
Cranberry hibiscus
Mashualeaves
Micro basil
Sea samphire
Bronze fennel
Micro nasturtium
Marine Phytoplankton
Method
Sea Urchin Ice Cream
Cream the yolks and sugar in a blender while bringing cream and milk to 71°C on a stove. Whisk in the locust bean gum to the dairy and remove from heat. With the blender on a medium spin, very slowly add the hot milk cream combination tempering the custard as it spins. Add the uni and blend on medium high add a pinch of salt, strain, chill, and churn.
Black Sesame Sponge Cake
Process all the ingredients in the blender and strain and pour in the ISI cream whipper with 3 charges and refrigerate for a few hours. punch a few holes in the base of each paper cup, (5) and a few on the bottom sides of the cup (7). shake very well the whipper and fill 1/3 of the cup. Cook for 35 second in the microwave and keep the cup upside down until cool. The steam will continue to bakethecake.
Sour apple gel
Juice your green apples, strain and incorporate the citric acid, sugar, and water.Bring to 71°C add agar and whisk for 30 seconds. passthrougha chinoise into a shallow pan. refrigerate one hour to set. blend. add vinegar while blending. Adjust the viscosity with water or vinegar if needed. Remove air bubbles in an open bowl placed in the Vacuum chamber machine on high. Repeat if necessary.
Konbocha gel(seaweed tea)
Bring the water to 80°C and add the blanched kombu. Whisk in the agar and turn off heat. steep 3 minutes. strain the water into a blender with nori, sugar and salt. blend on low. do not pulverize the seaweed, just spin it in the warm bath to release its flavors. Strain and allow to set. After the agar has set, puree smooth and adjust consistency if needed with water.
Furikake
Mix ingredients together to create a salty sweet umami rich texture and flavor.
To serve
With a 6 inch round stencil dust themarine phytoplankton evenly across the exposed surface. smear a round of the sesame cake across the plankton to produce the void. Plate and seaweed and apple gels, furikake, sedums, and garnish evenly around but only on top of the phytoplankton. Cut a small round of sesame sponge to hold a ball of ice cream. Plate and serve.
Find out more atculinaryvegetableinstitute.com.
Image©Michelle Demuth-Bibb