Red Pepper Gazpacho with Goat Cheese Sorbet
This is a Franken-recipe inspired by two of the greatest chefs in the world: Heston Blumenthal and Thomas Keller.
Months ago when I first looked through Keller’s Under Pressure, a book completely about cooking sous vide, I noticed a recipe for goat cheese sorbet. The sorbet was part of a fresh berry soup but I was enticed by it’s savory potential and bookmarked the recipe in my memory so it could resurface at a later, more appropriate time.
Recently, while reading through Blumenthal’s epic Big Fat Duck Cookbook, I had an intense desire to try his red cabbage gazpacho. A refreshing but rich cold soup made with raw red cabbage, Blumenthal’s gazpacho was incredibly flavor and easy to make. I immediately thought, “what other vegetables could be used to make a raw gazpacho?” The obvious answer, to me, was red peppers.
The result was a refreshing and colorful cold soup. The red pepper gazpacho has a vibrant flavor punctuated with fresh capsicum aromas. The sorbet is both rich and cleansing. The final element of the dish is a spoonful of chopped, roasted pistachios, which add texture and little explosions of saltiness.
Red Pepper Gazpacho:
- 1 egg yolk
- 50 g balsamic vinegar
- 200 g vegetable oil
- 50 g extra virgin olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Kosher salt, to taste
Juice cleaned, seeded red peppers to yield 450 g juice. Add the bread to the juice and allow to soak in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
To make the balsamic vinegar mayonnaise combine the egg yolk and vinegar. Slowly whisk in the oil to create and emulsion or blend in the oil using a stick blender or food processor. Adjust seasoning.
Strain the red pepper juice through a fine mesh strainer or chinois, pressing on the bread to extract all the liquid. Combine the juice and 40 g mayonnaise in a blender. Blend until smooth and adjust seasoning with kosher salt.
Goat Cheese Sorbet:
- 100 g water
- 75 g sugar
- 50 g powdered glucose*
- 25 g lemon juice
- 1 log goat cheese (about 300 g)
Bring the water, sugar, and glucose (*if you don’t have or can’t find powdered glucose, substitute with 30 g sugar) in a small saucepan and heat over low heat. Add the lemon juice as it heats (Keller instructs to add the lemon juice when the water reaches 122° F). Bring to a boil for 1 minute. Chill thoroughly.
Combine the cooled syrup in a blender with the goat cheese. Blend for 1 minute or until well combined and very smooth. Freeze in an ice cream freezer according to manufacturer’s instructions. After freezing, transfer to a pre-chilled container and place layer of plastic wrap directly on top of the sorbet. Freeze thoroughly.
To Assemble and Serve:
- Roasted, chopped pistachios
- Goat cheese sorbet, scooped or quennelled
- Red pepper gazpacho
Place a spoonful of chopped pistachios into the center of a well chilled bowl. Lay a portion of goat cheese gazpacho on top of the pistachios. Pour the chilled gazpacho over the garnishes at the table.
These stunning photographs were taken by Mike Boehmer.
Mike is a Chicago-based photographer and a regular contributor to The Windy Pixel. Please visit www.mikeboehmer.com for more fantastic photography!
2 comments
Looks very good and delicious, will definetely try when warmer days arrive …
Hey Garrett, looks like a beautiful and delicious dish! I wrote recently about using cabbage’s pH-indicating qualities to make a color-changing soup: http://www.tastymolecules.com/2010/02/cabbage-color/. Could be an interesting twist on Heston’s original recipe.
Leave a Comment