Serves one
Ingredients
Chicken Liver Parfait
100g finely sliced shallots
3g minced garlic
15g sprigs of thyme, tied with string
150g dry Madeira
150g ruby port
75g white port
50g brandy
18g table salt
400g chicken livers (trimmed weight)
240g eggs
300g unsalted butter, melted
Mandarin jelly
45g leaf gelatin
500g mandarin purée
80g glucose
0.4g mandarin oil
1.5g paprika extract
Method
Chicken liver parfait
Place the shallots, garlic and thyme in a saucepan with the Madeira, ruby port, white port and brandy. Set aside to marinate for 24 hours.
Heat the marinated mixture until nearly all the liquid has evaporated, stirring regularly to prevent the shallots and garlic from burning. Remove from the heat and discard the thyme.
Preheat the oven to 100°C. Fill a bain-marie with 5cm water and place in the oven.
Preheat a water bath to 50°C.
Sprinkle the table salt over the livers and put them in a sous-vide bag. Put the eggs and the alcohol reduction in a second sous-vide bag, and the butter in a third. Seal all the bags under full pressure, then place in the water bath for 20 minutes. Remove the bags from the water bath.
Combine the eggs, alcohol reduction and meat in a Thermomix and blend until smooth at 50°C. Slowly blitz in the butter and blend until smooth. Pass the mix through a fine sieve using the back of a small ladle.
Pour into a terrine dish and place in the bain-marie and cover the bain marie with aluminum foil. Cook the parfait until the temperature in the centre reaches 64°C.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Refrigerate for 24 hours before serving.
Mandarin jelly
Place the gelatin in cold water to soften.
Gently heat the mandarin purée and glucose in a pan to combine.
Add the softened gelatin and stir well until dissolved.
Remove from the heat and add the mandarin oil and paprika extract and stir well.
Pass the mix through a fine sieve and reserve in the fridge until required.
To make the fruits
Using a spoon, fill dome moulds with parfait, ensuring there is enough pressure to create a completely smooth surface. Level off the tops so that they are flat and cover with Clingfilm. Gently press the Clingfilm directly onto the surface of the parfait. Place in the freezer until completely frozen.
Gently de-mould the parfait domes. Place on a board with the flat sides facing upwards. Very briefly run the flame of a blow torch over the flat side, being careful to only just melt the surface of the parfait. Join two halves together and compress using a square of Clingfilm. Wrap well in Clingfilm and place back in the freezer until required.
Gently push a wooden cocktail stick into the middle of the rounded surface and re-wrap until all the parfaits are complete.
Gently melt the mandarin jelly in a saucepan and allow to cool to room temperature. Remove the Clingfilm and dip each ball of parfait into the jelly and stand the sticks into a piece of Oasis covered in Clingfilm. Place in the fridge for a minute then repeat the dipping process.
Dip a total of three times, then gently remove the cocktail stick and place the balls onto a tray covered in Clingfilm. Place a lid over the tray and leave In the fridge to defrost for at least 6 hours.
Once defrosted, gently push the top of the ball using your thumb to create the shape of a mandarin. Place a stalk and leaf in the top centre of the indent to complete the fruit.
Located in Heathrow’s Terminal 2, this new venture from Heston Blumenthal is without the finedining hubub of his other restaurants, and prides itself on being ‘fun and familiar’, as Heston said.’The demands of an airport outlet are quite different from our other restaurants,’ he explains. ‘Some guests will have very little time to spend with us and others, in transit or with longer check-ins, will have time to linger. The restaurant will of course cater to both’.
British culinary staples, like fish and chips and burgers will be on the menu, but they will deliver great quality produce that is the result of extensive research. For a quick bite, done with panache, The PerfectionistCafé is the one for you.
Heathrow Terminal 2
Greater London TW6
UK
+44 (0) 844 335 1801