' deconstructed LEMON MERINGUE PIE .'

Deconstruction of a Lemon Meringue Pie - Lemon Curd , Crumbled short crust pastry , Toasted Meringue, Crumbled meringue , Lemon gelato , Lemon zest , Lemon sherbet and micro lemon balm leaves. 

                   Those that follow the blog or have browsed before may remember the deconstructed carrot cake. Lately this dish has attracted attention and raced up the most viewed in particular the states. Well I decided to release the second of my deconstructed desserts ' Lemon meringue pie'. In this dish I've pulled apart an old classic pie in a modernist fashion played with the elements of the recipe and presented the peoples favourite pie deconstructed. There are four lemon elements and two meringue elements, and there is the lemon balm leaves and of course the crumbled pie base. Lemon meringue is one one of my lovely wife Melanie's favourite dessert pies and she gave this dish a big thumbs up, with comments of incredible if I recall proudly.
                  The lemon gelato was the first prep and was started the night before by juicing some lemons and in a saucepan adding the juice and half that amount of sugar. This was gently brought to the simmer reducing by a third until thick and syrupy before being set aside to cool. In the meantime in a bowl I beat egg yolks and sugar until pale and creamy, to this I added some cream and milk and poured the mixture into a saucepan on low to medium heat stirring while cooking until the custard becomes thick and coats the back of the spoon. The custard was then removed from the heat and the lemon syrup was added gradually before pouring the mix into an airtight container. The mixture was allowed to cool before being placed into the freezer overnight, the next morning the the gelato was scooped onto a blender and processed until smooth before being poured back into the airtight container to be placed in the freezer for a further four hours.
                While this was freezing I let egg whites stand in a bowl at room temperature for half an hour before beating the egg whites with a little lemon essence, and cream of tartare on medium in an electric mixer until soft peak stage. Gradually I beat in some sugar tablespoon at a time on high to form stiff peak stage. I then spooned the meringue into a piping bag with a large star nozzle fitted and piped the meringue in strips onto a baking paper lined flat tray. The meringues were then placed into a 140 deg.c. oven and bake for 45-50 minutes until hard, dry and set. The oven was turned off and the meringues were left to harden in the oven with the door closed for around an hour before being removed and set aside to fully cool. Once cooled I broke some large pieces apart and toasted them and crumbled some more into a large crumb. The lemon curd was next and was made by placing butter, sugar, lemon rind and lemon juice in a heat proof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water avoiding the bowl from touching the water I cooked, stirring constantly for around five minutes dissolving all the sugar. The bowl was then removed from the heat whisking in beaten eggs the mixture was returned to the heat and cooked for a further 8 or so minutes until the curd coats the back of a spoon.
                 To make the sweet short crust pastry crumb I simply brought flour, butter and sugar together in a food processor to make a fine crumb. To this I added egg yolks and brought the dough together, this was then turned out on to a floured board and rolled out to 5mm thick and placed between baking paper and placed in the fridge for half an hour. The pastry was then removed and baked until golden before being crumbed fine. The lemon sherbet is a mix of caster sugar, lemon oil, and a little citric acid. This was placed in a coffee grinder and ground to a fine powder.

' THREE 'n' ONE DEGUSTATION .'

COURSE 1- Chilled mint pea soup , creme fraiche , wild rocket flower & fennel frond . COURSE 2- Seafood morsels (poached pipi, smoked tiger prawn, balsamic baby octopus, battered whitebait, crumbed soft shell crab) served on edible sand with fresh french tarragon. COURSE 3- Raspberry gelato, blueberry labna, fresh blueberries, dehydrated purple yam crumbs & pink tropical micro edible orchid in a vanilla tuile.

                I've created this plate for something different and makes a perfect way to showcase a few different tastings in the one presentation. In hindsight if I was to do another 3 n 1 in this style of entree, main, dessert then I would not use techniques that don't hold their integrity by the third tasting. For example ice creams, sorbet, foams etc. just don't hold form by the time the diner gets to the dessert. For this preparation I've listed the method below in order of courses and with out a specific timeline.              
  COURSE 1- To make the chilled pea soup I first placed sweet peas, sprigs of common mint and ginger mint with a few chunks of triple smoked ham into a saucepan with water and brought to a simmer until the peas were tender. I then strained the peas removing the ham and placed the peas and mint into a blender with a little of the cooking liquid. This was blended to a smooth pourable consistency and seasoning was added, the soup was then placed into the fridge to chill. To serve I poured the chilled soup into a shot glass and topped the soup with a small dollop of creme fraiche, a wild rocket flower and fennel frond.                                                                                                              
  COURSE 2- The edible sand was made by mixing together panko crumb, ground ikan bilis, seaweed,  fried onions, black salt, sea salt and panela in a bowl with some olive oil and nakame shiro miso paste. The pipi was poached in champaign, shallots and thyme sprigs in a small saucepan over a medium heat until the shell opened. The meat was then carefully prised from its shell before being served. To smoke the the prawn I first peeled, de-headed and de-veined the prawn. The prawn was then cold smoked with hickory chips for around 4-5 minutes until it became opaque and beginning to take on a caramelisation, its important not to over cook, the prawn must still have moisture or it becomes tough and chewy. The prawn was then placed into olive oil with lemon juice, crushed garlic and chopped italian parsley. The baby octopus were first washed and cleaned then placed into a marinating dish along with balsamic vinegar, minced garlic and chillies, oregano and parsley together with a little olive oil and this was covered and refrigerated overnight. The battered whitebait is simply whitebait fish washed and drained and rolled in seasoned flour before being shallow fried to golden and removed on to paper towel to drain. These were then seasoned with salt before being served. The crumbed soft shell claw came store bought and was oven baked to golden before being plated. The dish was garnished with fresh french tarragon and looking back now needs a sauce to accompany.                                      
  COURSE 3- To make the labna which is a greek cheese made from yoghurt I simply hung some greek yoghurt, crushed blueberries and a little salt in a cheese cloth wrap in the fridge for 3-4 days with a bowl placed to capture the whey drain off. The cheese was then ready to be used vibrant purple in colour, this could then be rolled into balls and placed in a jar of olive oil and sealed for later use if you chose to. The raspberry gelato was made by heating equal parts milk and cream to the boil, this was then removed from the heat. In a bowl I beat egg yolks and sugar to pale creamy consistency to this I added one third of the milk and cream mixing to incorporate this was then added back to the rest of the milk and cream and on a low to medium heat while stirring, was cooked until the custard coated the back of my spoon. The mix was then removed from the heat and allowed to cool, in the meanwhile I blended raspberries to a puree and added this to the cooling custard, this was then poured into a metal container and placed in the freezer for 10-12 hours, stirring with a fork every 2-3 hours. The tuile was made by first mixing up a batter made from sugar, egg whites, melted butter, flour and a vanilla extract. This was placed into the fridge for 4-5 hours before being spread with a silicon spatula on to a baking paper lined flat tray and placed into a 170 deg.c. oven for around 8-9 minutes, the tuile was removed just as it started to take colour. Working fast I placed the disc over a rolling pin to achieve the taco shape of the tuile. After about 30-40 seconds of being out of the oven the tuile hardens and remains that shape. The purple yam crumbs were made by grating purple yam and placing spread out onto lined trays and placed in a 75 deg.c. oven for around an hour. The crumbs are then removed and allowed to cool. This course was garnished with a pink tropical micro edible orchid from my garden.                                                        

' DRAGON-FRUIT & PASSIONFRUIT .' dessert

Dessert of Passionfruit Tartlet , panna cotta , gelato , fruit pulp & fruit leathers , Dragon-fruit Chiffon cakes , sorbet , fresh red and white fruit , Shortbread crumble , Chantilly cream and micro mint leaves. 

                    This is a little fruit demonstration uses just 2 fruits as apposed to the two 16 fruit medley posts earlier on. But in this I have demonstrated 3 or more preparations for each fruit varying the textures and visuals in each to keep the diner from straying. Both these fruit grow in my backyard and the passionfruit  used for this dessert is backyard harvested, frozen from last season. About 5 or 6 years ago, quite a large tea tree on the side of our property snapped in half during a summer storm. The bottom half of the tree plays host to some staghorns and fortunately the tree kept growing and from that day on the tree was not only host to staghorns but a rouge panama gold passionfruit vine. Never knowing the origin of the vine or even where the vines root system is, to be able to water it. The vine continued to grow and engulf the tea tree giving us seasons of gold large full fruit. That is until a year or so ago the vine died off and now we may get the odd fruit here and there. So the pulp used for this dessert was he last harvest from the mysterious panama gold vine. Our dragon fruit cactus were grown and reared from seed about 8 years ago, they've recently been transplanted outdoors from out of the green house they haven't given us any fruit just yet, so the red and white varieties you see on this plate have been store bought.    

                    The preparations for this dish are listed below in order of method.                                            
  Passionfruit Tartlet :- First in a food processor I brought flour, butter and sugar together to form a fine crumb, to this I added egg yolks and chilled water processing to a dough of which I turned out on to a floured work bench and rolled out to about 3-4 mm thick. I then placed the pastry disc between two sheets of baking paper and placed into the fridge for 30 minutes. While this is in the fridge I made a custard of egg yolks, sugar and cream, this was simmered while whisking until the sugar dissolves and the mixture coated the back of a spoon. I then added to this passionfruit pulp mixing to incorporate. The pastry was then removed from the fridge and circles were cut out using an upturned glass, the pastry was then used to line the inserts of a greased muffin tin. The filling was then poured into the pastry liners and the tarts were baked at170 deg. c. for about 20-25 minutes before being allowed to cool.                      
  Passionfruit Panna cotta :- I brought milk, sugar, passionfruit juice and agar agar whisking to dissolve the agar and sugar this was then poured into a greased tubing with a stopper on the end and placed in the fridge to set before being un-molded and sliced in portions to serve.
  Passionfruit Gelato :- In a saucepan I brought milk, cream, eggs and sugar to the simmer for about 15 minutes whisking to dissolve the sugar, the custard was allowed to cool before adding passionfruit juice and mixing to incorporate. This was then poured into a glass bowl and placed in the freezer for about 8 hours, forking the gelato every 2-3 hours to churn it.
  Passionfruit Leathers :- Simply passionfruit juice and sugar reduced over a low to medium heat then poured onto a baking paper lined tray and placed in a 100 deg.c. oven to dry for around 3-4 hours.
  Dragon-fruit Chiffon :- In a bowl I beat egg yolks and caster sugar until pale and fluffy before adding dragon-fruit pulp, corn oil and vanilla essence and mixed to incorporate. To this I gradually added some self raising flour and a little corn flour, lightly mixing in. In a separate bowl I beat egg whites, caster sugar and cream of tartar until fluffy and thick. I then gently folded the dragon-fruit mix into the egg whites and poured into a muffin tin lined with cup cake inserts and baked at 170 deg.c for 10 minutes, before turning the oven down to 150 deg.c. and baking for a further 20 minutes.
  Dragon-fruit sorbet :- In a saucepan I brought water, sugar and glucose to the boil reducing to a simmer, whisking until all the sugar has dissolved. Removed from the heat and allowed to cool before adding lemon juice and dragon-fruit puree mixing to incorporate. In a separate bowl I whisked egg whites lightly and added this to the sorbet mixture before pouring into a glass container and freezing for about 3-4 hours, forking the mix every hour for a silky finish.
  Shortbread crumble :- Simply pulverised macadamia nut shortbread with toasted sesame seeds and mixed with a little olive oil.
  Chantilly cream :- Whipped thickened cream, icing sugar and vanilla extract.