Apricot / Thyme / Basil

apricot parfait with white portwine / thyme-pistachio financier / honeycomb / basil cremeux / tuile

Tuile

100 g wheat flour

100 g icing sugar

100 g egg white

100 g butter

The recipe is from Pauli Lehrbuch der Küche. Mix all the ingrediets into a spreadable dough. To get nice forms use a stencil when you spread the mass on the baking sheet. Bake at 180 celsius for 3-4 minutes. If you want to form the tuiles, do it right after taking the tray from the oven.

Making pistachio paste for the financiers

Pistachio Financier

50 g pistachio paste

50 g sugar

50 g butter

65 g eggs

25 g cake flour

3 g fresh thyme

I used a recipe from Mastering the art and craft: Baking and Pastry of the Culinary Institute of America. But I had to do some changes to make the recipe okay for me.

Financiers going to the oven

A ready thyme-pistachio financier

For the honeycomb you need a thermometer

Honeycomb

35 g honey

70 g glucose

200 g sugar

30 g water

10 g baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)

I got this recipe when I was doing a practicum in Restaurant Savoy in Helsinki. Thermometer is very important. Mix honey, sugar, glucose and water in a pot. Cook until it reaches 158 celsius and immediately move from the stove. If the sirup is let cook any longer the honeycomb will taste burned. Mix the baking soda into the sirup. Work quickly. Pour the mixture into a mold and let cool down and harden.

Honeycomb cooling down in a silicone mold

This is why it's called honeycomb

Apricot parfait

French meringue

80 g egg white

pinch of salt

125 g sugar

Pâte à bombe

80 g egg yolk

75 ml cold water

100 g caster sugar

300 g apricot purée (250g fresh apricots, 50g sugar)

150 ml double cream

3 cl white port wine

This recipe is a very good basic recipe for parfaits. The original recipe I got in the cooking school and it calls for ripe bananas. Because bananas are somewhat sweeter than apricots I added some sugar to the apricot purée. The alcohol can be left out or replaced with something else.

Basil cremeux

85 ml basil juice

50 g sugar

55 g eggs

45 g egg yolk

1 g gelatin

50 g butter

Thyme-pistachio financier with basil cremeux