Chewy Beets, Beetroot and Juniper Gel with Sourdough Crumb - Chef Recipe by Connor Bishop

Ingredients

4-6 beetroot
200g beetroot juice
4 juniper berries
3g agar
100g sugar
15g sugar
Sourdough

Manjari and paperbark ganache:

150g Manjari 64% chocolate
160g cream
10g paperbark

Beetroot mousse:

1 beetroot
100g milk
30g cream
60g icing sugar
60g yoghurt
6g gelatin powder
24g water
30g water
150g cream

Method

Peel and melon ball the beetroot, you want 4 per serve. Juice the leftover beetroot trim, until you get 200 grams.

Bring beetroot juice, 100 grams of sugar and juniper berries to a simmer and dissolve the sugar. Allow to cool.

When chilled, vac pack the melon-balled beetroot with the stock and sous vide at 90 C for 2 hours. Once sous vide, strain the melon-balled beetroot and reserve the stock for later.

Put the beetroot in a dehydrator overnight at 65 C.

Weigh out 200 grams of beetroot stock, saving the remainder to rehydrate the beetroot before serving. Add the agar to 15 grams of sugar and mix well.

Bring beetroot stock to a simmer and slowly add the agar and sugar mix, while whisking. Bring to a boil, then chill in the fridge to set.

Meanwhile, once the beetroot is dehydrated, add the remaining stock to them and reserve in the fridge. When the beetroot stock is set, put into a blender and blitz until nice and smooth; put into a piping bag and refrigerate.

Crumble the sourdough and put in the oven on a low heat to dry out. Once dry and crispy, store in an airtight container.

Manjari and paperbark ganache:

Lightly burn the paperbark over fire. Bring cream to a scald and then add the paperbark.

Allow to infuse for 30 minutes. Bring to a scald again and strain the cream over the chocolate. Allow to sit for 1 minute, then with a spatula, mix the centre of the mass in circles and allow the cream to fold in gently and evenly melt the chocolate.

Place in a piping bag and refrigerate.

Beetroot mousse:

Peel and finely dice the beetroot, add to a pot with the milk and cream. Cook on low until the beetroot is tender.

Lightly blitz with an immersion blender and then pass through a sieve. Cool the beetroot-infused milk and cream mix over an ice bath.

When cool, mix gelatin with 24 grams of cold water and mix to dissolve. Allow to hydrate for 5 minutes, then bring the other lot of water to a simmer and pour over gelatin and mix to dissolve.

Add gelatin mix to the beetroot milk mix and whisk, add icing sugar and yoghurt and whisk to incorporate.

Whip the cream to medium peaks and fold into beetroot mix. Put into a piping bag and refrigerate.

To plate:

Pipe Manjari ganache into the centre of a plate, about the size of a 50-cent coin.

Warm a teaspoon under warm water and with the back of the spoon, push down into the centre of the ganache. Top with 4 rehydrated chewy beets.

Pipe a ring of beetroot mousse around the ganache and then pipe on top to hide the beets. Cover the mousse with sourdough crumble.

Put 7 dots of beetroot and juniper gel on top of the sourdough.

Optional garnish:

Add a wood sorrel leaf to each of the beetroot gel dots.