Bear Essentials Mandarin Slider Cigar with Lavender Meringue and Coconut - Chef Recipe by Shawn Sheather

Ingredients

Mandarin Slider Jelly:

2 bottles of Bear Essentials Mandarin Sliders
4 tsp powdered gelatin
Juice from 2 squeezed mandarins

Lavender Meringue:

2 large egg whites
1/2 cup caster sugar
Pinch of salt
Pinch of cream of tartar
1 1/ tsp dried lavender flower

Chocolate Cigar:

175g Dark Chocolate

Gold Leaf:

5-8g

Toasted Coconut Shards:

50g large shaved coconut shards

Coconut Cream:

50g Coconut Cream
1 tsp of icing sugar

Method

Mandarin Slider Jelly:

Pour 150mL of Bear Essentials Mandarin Slider into a bowl, add the gelatin (or Agar-agar for a vegan alternative, check quantity) and whisk, this helps prevent lumps from forming.

Once whisked, set the mix aside for 3-5 minutes, then re-whisk and add the entire liquid, including the fresh mandarin juice.

Using a cloth, add a small about of vegetable oil to the inside of the metal cannoli cylinders, place them inside a tray to be filled up with jelly.

Once all the Bear Essentials Mandarin Sliders liquid and fresh juice have been well mixed with the gelatin, pour into the container holding the metal cannoli cylinders, making sure they are fully submerged.

Allow the jelly to set in the fridge, this may take 3-4 hours.

Once set, you can remove the metal cannoli cylinders, now filled with the slider jelly.

With the surrounding or the leftover jelly, set aside, it's great as a snack or in Summer cocktails, remember it still has an alcohol content.

Simply apply pressure and gravity and the jelly should slide out, store in the fridge.

Lavender Meringues:

Pre-heat oven to 110 C. Line a flat tray with a silicone cooking mat.

Pick the leaves away from the stalk of each lavender head, place in a food processor with the caster sugar, pulse till lavender is infused with the sugar. Hint: you will see the lavender pieces, that's okay.

Using an electric whisk, whisk the egg whites until foamy, add cream of tartar and salt, beat on high until firm peaks form.

Gradually add the lavender sugar, continually whisking on medium speed until the whites are stiff but not dry.

Using a spatula, spread out the meringue onto the Silicone sheet, keep it thin.

Bake the meringue until its dry and almost crisp, about 90 minutes. Cool on baking sheet, then break it into shards.

Chocolate Cigar:

Using a double boiler carefully melt the chocolate to temper it, around 30-32 C.

Wrap your cannoli metal cylinders with baking paper.

Roll the mould in the softened chocolate, and set in the fridge until hard, you might have to do several layers to reach a stable chocolate casing.

Once set and the desired thickness is reached, remove the metal cannoli cylinders, and then twist the baking paper away from the inside of the mould. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Toasted Coconut Shards:

Place on a clean tray and toast under a grill. Grill till coloured or toasted.

Let cool and transfer to an airtight container. (Hint, remember with coconut, the oil levels will continue to colour once you have removed it from your grill).

Coconut Cream:

Separate the oil from the solid coconut cream, place it in a bowl, add sugar and whisk until stable.

If you want a fully whipped cream, keep whisking, in this recipe I have just stabilised the cream.

Plating:

Create your design with the coconut cream, add your toasted coconut.

As quickly and cleanly as you can transfer your preset jelly into the chocolate mould, place artistically on your plate.

Place your broken lavender shards at random.

Using a palette knife place the gold leaf in your desired location.

Equipment

Metal Cannoli cylinders (tubes).
Silicone Cooking Mat.

Credits: AGFG Resident Chef, Shawn Sheather

Photo Credits: AGFG Resident Chef, Shawn Sheather