Be original, show off your dish !
This recipe is from French chef Pierre Gagnaire. He is the head chef and owner of the eponymous Pierre Gagnaire restaurant at 6 rue Balzac in Paris. Gagnaire is an iconoclastic chef at the forefront of the fusion cuisine movement. Beginning his career in St. Etiennne where he won three Michelin Stars, Gagnaire tore at the conventions of classic French cooking by introducing jarring juxtapositions of flavours, tastes, textures, and ingredients. On his website, Gagnaire gives his mission statement as the wish to run a restaurant which is 'facing tomorrow but respectful of yesterday' ("tourné vers demain mais soucieux d'hier").
Ingredients
For the mint syrup
125 g sugar ¼ liter of water
15 whole fresh mint leaves
5 chopped mint leaves
2 tablespoons of Get 27 (a liquor with mint )
For the chlorophyll of arugula
400 g fresh arugula, cleaned, ready to use
1.5 liters of spring water
For the financiers
100 g whole eggs (2 small eggs or 1 1/2)
100 g sugar
80 g soft butter
100 g of liquid crème fraîche
100 g white almond powder
30 g flour
To serve
80 g fresh arugula, ready to use Icing sugar Vanilla ice cream
Preparation
1 : mint syrup Boil the sugar and water in a pan. Remove the pan from the heat, add the whole mint leaves, hermetically seal the pan and leave to infuse until completely cooled. Filter it and add the chopped mint and the Get 27. Keep cool.
2 : chlorophyll of arugula Mix the arugula with the cold spring water. Press through a cloth to extract the maximum amount of green liquid (the inside of the cloth must be completely dry). Heat the obtained green juice by stirring with a spatula until a green crust forms on the surface. Gently collect it with a skimmer, place it on a clean cloth placed on a bed of crushed ice.The Chlorophyll has a very strong green color with a very powerful taste.
3 : the financier Roquette Preheat the oven to 130 ° C (th.4-5). Whisk the eggs and sugar until the mixture turns white. Stir in the butter. Mix 30 gram of the chlorophyll of arugula with the cream and pour over the eggs, spread it well. Combine the almond powder and flour and mix it. Pour into Financiers molds or the shape of your choice and bake for 12 to 15 minutes.
Dressage Place a base of mint syrup in soup plates. Sprinkle some icing sugar over the rest of the arugula and ribute it on the plates, place the financiers on the arugula and put on top a portion of vanilla ice cream.