Print Listing Inspiration About Recipes

Sabot de Blanchette, Prickly Pear Sorbet, Passado Meringue

sabot de blanchette
prickly pear sorbet
passado meringue
rose & orange blossom sauce
cassia pepper
abbae de queiles

There’s something inherently pretentious about cheese courses. Maybe it’s the fact that committing to a cheese platter often means renouncing a real dessert. Maybe it’s that by opting for one, you’re suggesting that not only will you be able to appreciate the subtle differences between the cheeses and enjoy the synergy they create on the plate with whatever elements the chef paired them with. Maybe it’s because cheese courses are old people food.

Needless to say, I haven’t met many cheese platters I’ve liked. The concept is great; it’s pretentious, after all. But its most of its declensions are downright archaic in presentation and flavor pairings. It’s as if any cheese is better with walnuts and a fanned pear. But when you think about it, a stilton really tastes nothing like a chèvre. Why are we dressing them up the same?

Although the cheese doesn’t appear to be the focus of this course (and this is most certainly the weak point of this presentation), it has directly inspired each of the flavor pairings. The cheese in question is a local goat brie called Sabot de Blanchette. It has three distinct phases: the sharp, astringent rind with subtle floral notes (described by the makers as “fleuri,” which is really just a nice French euphemism for mold growing on the mold), a buttery, smooth outer layer, and a firm, mildly goaty core. As of late I seem to have something of a fetish for sprinkling crushed dried Chinese roses on everything, it came to me as a natural pairing with the rind. I’d also purchased a fantastic orange blossom water that worked beautifully with the roses. Still exploring the floral side of the cheese and seeking some kind of sweetness to balance the astringency, I reached for prickly pear, which echoed the rose’s vibrant color. Passado chilies play off of the goatiness and provide textural contrast in the form of a pavlova. Cassia, pepper, and Spanish olive oil ground the plate by lending it savory notes and by acting a a sauce and powder for stronger visual impact.

After the last posts’ mini chemistry class, I’ll spare the details on this one. The sorbet is very light, slightly tart, and perhaps reminiscent of watermelon and strawberries. It’s a fruit a grew up with, so this is a sorbet I’ve wanted to make for a while, just waiting for the right occasion to pop up. Migoya’s sorbet syrup is the base of most of my recipes, and the recipe follows; the idea is to have a universal syrup for sorbets that can be adjusted to the fruit in question by adjusting the amounts of fruit pulp, syrup, and water.

To prepare the pulp, remove both ends of the prickly pear. Cut down on the length to peel off the skin, being careful not to touch the spines. Process in a food mill or high-speed blender and strain through a chinois.

To prepare the syrup, combine 10% of the sugar with the stabilizer to promote better dispersion. Heat the water, remaining sugar, and glucose to 40 °C / 140 °F and stream in the sugar/stabilizer blend, mixing constantly. Continue heating to 85 °C / 185 °F, then remove from the heat. Chill in an ice bath.

Combine the pulp, syrup, and water and mature for at least 2 hours before churning.

All meringues are basically made with a 1:1:1 ratio of egg white to sugar to confectioner’s sugar, by weight. This one has passado as the main flavor instead of the common vanilla varation. To make passado paste, steam your chiles for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Remove the stems and seeds, then mince into a paste. Beat the whites. Once they reach medium peaks, slowly add in the sugar. The bubble grain will be finer, and the texture will be slightly stiffer. Once the mixture reaches medium-stiff peaks, fold in the confectioner’s sugar and passado paste. Dry at 200 °F in a tall parchment-lined ring mold. Pipe small meringues directly onto a silpat with a plain tip.

Prepare the sauce by flavoring the glucose syrup to taste. Dilute with water until a desirable consistency is reached.

Grind the peppers into a fine powder. Grate in cassia to taste.

Cut a right angle out of a sheet of paper to use as a stencil. Place it in the bottom right corner of the dish and place the powder over it in a rough rectangular shape, sprinkling less powder the further you move from the angle. Place a small round passado meringue over it. Draw a line of dots of the rose sauce down the center of the dish. Place the tall meringue on the other side of the dots. Place a thick slice of Sabot de Blanchette in the top right corner. Drizzle oil around the meringue, and crush rose petals over it. Spoon a quenelle of sorbet over the meringue and serve immediately.

© jonathan khouzam 2008/2009