Breaded Green Asparagus with Hot Lemon and Parmesan Gelatin

By corlear

Ingredients

• For the lemon juice reduction:
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp glucose
• For the basic syrup:
• 1/4 cup water
• 3 tbsp sugar
• For the hot water gelatin:
• 11/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup basic syrup (see previous step)
• pinch powdered agar-agar
• For the breaded asparagus:
• 12 green asparagus (2 cups)
• 1 baguette, oven-ready and frozen
• For the basil oil:
• 4 oz fresh basil
• 1/2 cup sunflower oil
• salt
• For the grated parmesan:
• 4 oz Reggiano parmesan
• 1 microplane grater
• To finish:
• 0.4 º olive oil
• salt

Details

Servings 4

Preparation

Step 1

For the lemon juice reduction:
1. Reduce the lemon with the sugar and glucose.
2. Simmer until it reduces by half. Remove from the heat, cool and place in a pipette.

For the basic syrup:
1. Mix the ingredients together and bring to the boil.
2. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.

For the hot water gelatin:
1. Mix the syrup, water and powdered agar-agar together.
2. Stirring continuously, bring to the boil over a medium heat. Remove from the heat and whisk.
3. Set in a dish that is at least 2/3" deep. Leave to set in the fridge for around 3 hours.
4. Cut the gelatin into ¾ x ¾ " squares and use a 1/5" scoop to remove a ball from the center of the top of the gelatin, without reaching the bottom.

For the breaded asparagus:
1. Cut the baguette into squares, remove the crust and make rectangles that are 1¾" long and 2" wide.
2. Use a meat slicer to cut 12 bread slices, which should be 1/10" thick. The slices should measure 2 x 1 x 1/20".
3. Cut the asparagus into 2" long pieces from the tip and peel.
4. Wrap each asparagus in a slice of bread, leaving the tips pointing out.

For the basil oil:
1. Pull the basil leaves off the stalks and blanch in boiling water.
2. Freshen in iced water. Drain.
3. Blend with the oil in a food processor. Press the mixture through a sieve.

For the grated parmesan:
1. Use the microplane grater to grate the parmesan with long swipes, so that you get long, thin threads.

Final Steps & Preparation:
1. Brown the breaded asparagus in a little oil in a non-stick frying pan and season with salt. Turn them over in the frying pan so that the bread is crunchy on all the sides.
2. Heat the gelatin cubes in the salamandra.
3. Use the asparagus to make a lattice in the center of the dish. Place 3 cubes of hot gelatin around the asparagus and fill each cube with two drops of lemon reduction.
4. Cover the cubes with the grated parmesan.
5. Drizzle basil oil over the asparagus tips.