Deconstructed Lemon Meringue Pie - Chef Recipe by Richard Brown.

Ingredients

White chocolate sorbet:

1 leaf titanium strength gelatin
500mL milk
40g caster sugar
220g white chocolate buttons

White chocolate soil:

75g powdered Maltodextrin
35g white chocolate

Lemon curd:

1 leaf titanium strength gelatin
110mL freshly squeezed lemon juice
120g caster sugar
3 egg yolks
150g diced cold butter

Sable crumb:

120g diced cold butter
60g caster sugar
130g plain flour
15g rice flour

Passionfruit gel:

200mL passionfruit juice, seeds removed
125g caster sugar
125mL water
2g agar powder

Italian meringue:

200g caster sugar
200mL water
4 egg whites
Zest of a lemon

Garnish:

60g fresh blueberries
60g fresh raspberries
Edible flowers, preferably violas

Method

White chocolate sorbet:

Bloom gelatin in a small amount of cold water.

Simmer milk and sugar together in a saucepan. Take off heat and add white chocolate and stir with a spatula until fully dissolved.
Squeeze excess water from gelatin and add to chocolate mixture. Pass through a fine sieve and cool to room temperature.

Place mixture into an ice cream churn and churn until frozen. Store in the freezer.

White chocolate soil:

Place Maltodextrin into a blender.

Melt white chocolate in a bowl over a double boiler.

Stream melted chocolate into Maltodextrin while blender is running.

Remove and store for later use.

Lemon curd:

Bloom gelatin in cold water.

Place sugar, eggs and lemon juice into a large mixing bowl and cook over a pan of water, whisking continuously until a sabayon has been formed.

Add butter a little at a time and whisk into sabayon until fully incorporated.

Squeeze excess water from gelatin and add to curd. Whisk until fully incorporated.

Cool curd in refrigerator.

Whip cream to soft peaks and fold into curd. Place in a piping bag with a medium-sized round nozzle.

Store in refrigerator until required.

Sable crumb:

Pre-heat oven to 170 C.

Place all ingredients in a mixing bowl and rub together between fingers until a sandy crumble mixture is achieved.
Place on a silpat-lined baking tray and bake until lightly browned.

Blend in a food processor until ‘sand’ has been achieved.

Store in an airtight container.

Passionfruit gel:

Bring all ingredients to a boil on medium heat while whisking until mixture thickens slightly.

Cool mixture in refrigerator.

Transfer to a blender and purée until smooth, about 20-30 seconds.

Transfer gel to a squeezy bottle until required.

Italian meringue:

Combine sugar and water in a saucepan. Bring to 121 C.

While sugar syrup is heating, whip egg whites in a standing mixer on a high speed to soft peaks.

Zest lemon over egg whites.

Stream in sugar syrup on high speed to cook out egg whites. Continue to beat meringue until stiff peaks form and it is glossy. Cool to room temperature.

Transfer a quarter of the mixture in a thin layer to a silpat-lined baking tray.

Dry in a low oven (80 C) for about 2-4 hours until dry and crisp.

To plate:

Pipe three rounds of meringue onto a plate to form a triangle, blowtorch lightly to colour. Do not burn!

Pipe three dots of passionfruit gel between the meringue in a triangular formation.

Place a spoonful of the sable crumb in the centre of the plate.

Dust plate with white chocolate snow.

Add sorbet to pastry crumb in centre of the plate.

Place shards of meringue on either side of the sorbet.

Garnish with fresh fruit and flowers.