- 4
Ingredients
- For the cucumber soup:
- 1.5 lb cucumber (1 lb when peeled)
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 cup 0.4º olive oil
- 1 tsp mint, diced
- 1 tsp sherry vinegar
- 3 oz salt
- For the yogurt croquant:
- 4 oz fondant
- 3 tbsp glucose
- 1/4 cup Isomalt
- 13/4 oz powdered yogurt
- To finish:
- 12 baby cucumbers in flower (approx. 11/4").
- pinch curry powder
- pinch powdered vinegar
- 1 tbsp virgin olive oil
Preparation
Step 1
For the cucumber soup:
1. Peel the cucumbers. Cut them in half lengthwise and remove the seeds.
2. Add a generous amount of salt and leave to stand for 1.30 hours. Wash in a generous amount of cold water.
3. Blend all the ingredients together, except for the oil, in a food processor until you get a thin purée. Season with salt.
4. Strain through a colander, pressing with the back of a spoon to get some of the pulp.
5. Emulsify the soup obtained with the oil in a blender.
6. Strain to get a thin soup.
For the yogurt croquant:
1. Heat the fondant and glucose in a pan. Stir until the ingredients have completely dissolved and add the Isomalt. Heat the mixture over a medium heat to 325ºF. Remove from the heat.
2. Leave to cool to 275ºF, add the powdered yogurt and stir until it is blended in (it will burn if you add it at 325ºF).
3. Spread the mixture over a piece of greaseproof paper and leave to cool.
4. Grind in a food processor until you get a fine powder.
5. Place a stencil with 1½" circles on top of a baking tray with a Silpat liner.
6. Place the yogurt croquant in a fine sieve and sieve over the stencil until you have an even layer of croquant.
7. Remove the stencil carefully, leaving 1½" circles. Put the baking tray at 345ºF for 1 minute. The croquant has to melt and make compact yogurt croquant circles without any holes and around 1/10" thick.
8. Leave to cool and keep in a hermetically-sealed dish until you are ready to use them.
Final Steps & Preparation:
1. Fill ¾ of the glasses with the soup and leave to stand in the fridge for 4 h. The soup will divide into two parts. The upper part will consist of the pulp and the lower of liquid.
2. Use a blow torch to heat the surface of the glass and place a yogurt croquant circle so that it sticks to the surface.
3. Place 3 baby cucumbers on the yogurt croquant and dress with the curry powder, the vinegar powder and the virgin olive oil.