Recipe of the month

RASPBERRY AND LEMON VERBENA RELIGIEUSE

RED CRUNCH

• Raw “unrefined” sugar 110 g
• Hazelnut powder 20 g
• Butter 80 g
• Flour 80 g
• Intense royal red colouring 0.6 g

Place all ingredients into a mixing bowl and mix to form a homogeneous dough. Roll out to 2 mm thick on dough machine. Cut 30 mm diameter discs.

CHOUX PASTRY

• Milk 180 g
• Water 70 g
• Invert sugar 10 g
• Salt 5 g
• Butter 110 g
• Flour 150 g
• Eggs 200 g

Boil milk, water with invert sugar, salt and butter. Add sifted flour and dry out on low heat. Place into mixing bowl and leave to cool with paddle attachment. Gradually add eggs before piping small choux onto crunch discs with a straight tip. Heat oven to 220°C before baking at 200 C for 10 minutes, 180°C for 5 minutes, 175°C for 5 minutes.

FONDANT GLAZE

• Cocoa butter 37 g
• Glucose 13 g
• Fondant 250 g
• Intense royal red colouring 0.5 g

Melt cocoa butter and once warm add glucose and gradually incorporate the mixture into fondant without going over 37°C. Add colouring and glaze choux.

PINK CHOUX PASTRY SPONGE

• Milk 43 g
• Butter 50 g
• Flour 80 g
• Egg yolks 85 g
• Egg 55 g
• Milk 100 g
• Egg whites 125 g
• Caster sugar 60 g
• Cream of tartar 3 g
• Baking powder 3 g
• Intense royal red 0.06 g

Heat 43 g milk with butter. Add flour off the heat and dry out on low heat for 1 minute. Add yolks and 100 g milk. Whip whites with sugar and before folding into previous mass. Finish with cream of tartar, baking powder and colouring. Spread onto a slight greased silicon mat: 300 g per tray between thin rulers. Bake at 180 C for 3-4 minutes. Out of the oven wrap with cling film and cool. Cut 14 x 3 cm bands and mine 6 cm rings with a sheet of acetate.

RASPBERRY COULIS

• Raspberries 150 g
• Caster sugar 15 g
• Pectin NH 2 g
• Caster sugar 10 g

Cook fruit with 15 g sugar before reducing to evaporate the water. Blend and add pectin mixed with 10 g remaining sugar and cook for 5 minutes, blend again and set aside. Pour into 3 cm diameter moulds and 1.5 cm high.

VERBENA CRÈME ANGLAISE JELLY

Crème anglaise jelly

• Cream 35% fat 270 g
• Dried lemon verbena (or fresh in summer) 5 g
• Egg yolks 50 g
• Caster sugar 50 g
• Gelatin mass (200 Bloom) 24 g

Whipped cream

• Anglaise jelly 250 g
• Mascarpone 170 g

Boil cream and infuse verbena. Cook infusion with yolks and sugar to 82°C (crème anglaise). Pour onto gelatin mass and cool quickly before whipping with mascarpone in mixer. Pipe into rings with pink sponge around edges and place raspberry insert in centre.

SHORTBREAD

• Flour 260 g
• Raw “unrefined” sugar 65 g
• Butter 120 g
• Egg white 10 g
• Water 10 g
• Intense royal red colouring (for red dough) 1 g

Mix flour with sugar and butter. Add white and water before dividing dough and colouring a part with red. Roll out doughs to 3.5 mm thick and cut 7 cm diameter discs with the plain dough. Cut a flower in the centre and the same flower in the red dough. Place a red flower into the plain dough disc centre. Refrigerate to dry out overnight before baking at 160°C. Also bake plain flowers.

ASSEMBLY AND FINSIHING

Fill choux with verbena cream, and place a frozen raspberry coulis insert. Place the two sides of the petit gâteau of shortbread and assembly on the side. Stick choux with verbena cream and decorate with fresh verbena if possible.