Le Gavroche chez moi (part 2)

Following our excellent main course of veal (see below),  I was worried that dessert would be a let down.  Surely I couldn't pull off TWO Michel Roux recipes in one day?! 

Preparation for dessert had started much earlier that day.  It is made up of four separate parts: Rhubarb Compote, Orange sabayon, Strawberry cordial/syrup, and pepper tuiles.  The tuiles were a disaster though, so it became a dessert of three parts.  I should also add that the saboyon is kirsch flavoured in the book, but I chose to go crazy and change it to orange...

I started with the sabayon as this was the most complex part, and it also needed time to set.  For the sabayon, you will need:

1 egg

1 egg yolk

60g caster sugar

1 leaf gelatine

juice of one orange

300ml whipping cream

Start by cutting up your gelatine and soaking it in a couple of tablespoons of cold water.  Meanwhile, whisk up the eggs and sugar until they are pale and fluffy. (Michel Roux suggests this takes 10 minutes, but he must be thinking everyone whisks by hand - I do not: my best friend the electric whisk does this for me!)

Drain the gelatine and add a little of the orange juice in place of the water.  As with the mango bavarois recipe a couple of weeks ago, I put the bowl over a pan of simmering water to heat and melt the gelatine. 

Mix the gelatine into the whisked egg and sugar; then add the remaining orange juice and whisk for in.

Finally, lightly whip the cream and fold in.

I used a small square dish to refrigerate the sabyon which measures about 14cm x 14cm x 4cm, and it was surprisingly quick to set.  Maybe just over an hour or so.

Rhubarb Compote

This is effectively stewed rhubarb, but you use a sweet white wine such as Sauternes to cook the rhubarb in.  For two people, I used 300g of rhubarb, which sounds a lot, but you lose a lot of liquid when the rhubarb is drained.

Heat up 250ml of sweet white wine with 75g of caster sugar and a drop of vanilla extract.  Meanwhile cut the rhubarb into 4cm sections.  Once the sugar has dissolved add the rhubarb and cook at a simmer for 3 to 5 minutes.  You want the rhubarb to be soft, but still have some form left.  Drain the rhubarb - you can save the liquid as a fruit cordial to mix with lemonade, sparkling water, or wine.

Once the rhubarb had cooled, I got my serving plates out and filled up small rings with the rhubarb.  I then put these into the fridge (with the rings still around them)

Strawberry Cordial/Syrup

I ended up making this a completely different way to suggested as the method in the cookbook didn't really give me the results I wanted.

I hulled and quarted 200g strawberries and then put them into a small saucepan with a drizzle of water and 50g of caster sugar.   I then covered them and cooked them on a very low heat until the strawberries were soft and I had a good amount of liquid in the pan.  I drained the liquid through a sieve and to get the most out of the strawberries, I left them in the sieve with a piece of clingfilm over the top and stood a jar on them.

Putting the whole thing together

Everything is stacked together just as you are about to serve.  Remove the plated rhubarb from the fridge and take off the moulds.  Then quenelle some of the sabayon using two dessertspoons and place on top of the rhubarb.  Spoon round the cordial.  As mentioned, I was missing the pepper tuiles, so I lightly lightly toasted some almonds and put those on top instead.

The Bastin Verdict

I couldn't believe how well this went down with Mr B.  He thinks the only desserts in the world which should exist are those containing chocolate, or those which are served with huge amounts of custard.  It was a light dessert, and the sabayon was to die for.  Really.  It was smooth and fluffy and held the air in it so well.  The rhubarb was sweet with the right amount of tartness.  And finally, when plated, everything was brightly coloured and spring-like!

After reading this cookbook and being so inspired (and in awe!) I suggested to Mr B that it would be nice to go to the restaurant in question.  Low and behold, we now have a table booked for my birthday at the end of May.  I thought this was very keen booking from Mr B, but it turns out that we couldn't get a table for the Saturday night we wanted, even though it is three months away!  Yikes.  This is a popular restaurant.  And I can't wait!  Never have I wanted to be a year older so much!