Earl Grey Ice Cream, Chocolate & Honey

Ingredients

Chocolate crumb

100g good quality dark chocolate
20g cocoa
10ml extra virgin olive oil
5g egg whites
Pinch salt

Earl Grey ice cream

300g milk
200g cream
50g condensed milk
85g sugar
3/4 tbsp earl grey tea leaves

PX prunes

300 ml Pedro Ximenez
50 ml water
50 g castor sugar
1tsp vanilla paste

Chocolate ganache

100g milk
100g cream
50g powdered glucose
50g sugar
2 yolks
250g vahlrona manjari chocolate
200g cream whipped to soft peaks

Honey jelly

125g honey
125ml water
2½ leaves of gelatin soaked in cold water

Method

Chocolate crumb

Blitz chocolate and cocoa to a fine crumb in a food processor. Whisk together oil, egg whites and salt.

Add this to the chocolate mix, and pulse briefly achieve a fine crumb.

Earl Grey ice cream

To make the ice cream, bring all ingredients apart from the tea to 80 degress C in a pot over a moderate heat.

Add the tea leaves, remove from the heat and leave to infuse for 10 minutes. Pass through a fine sieve, leave to cool in the fridge for at least 12 hours. Churn in an ice cream machine.

PX prunes

Bring the syrup to a gentle simmer then add 200g prunes. Turn the heat down to very low and cook gently for around 30 minutes, until the syrup is reduced and sticky and the prunes are plump and juicy.

Chocolate ganache

Bring the milk, cream and glucose to a boil over a moderate heat. Meanwhile whisk the yolks and sugar in a bowl to form a sabayon. Pour the boiling mixture into the egg mix, whisking quickly to incorporate. Put back into the pot and cook out over a low heat until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

Pour this mixture over the chocolate then mix with a spoon to combine. Leave to cool to room temperature for around 30 minutes. After this, fold in the whipped cream, pour into a container and allow to set in the fridge.

Honey Jelly

Caramelise the honey in a small pot over a medium heat. After it begins to smell like a caramel, add the water to arrest the cooking, taking care as the honey may spit. Bring back up to the boil, add the gelatin and melt. Pour through a fine sieve into a small tray lined wth clingfilm. Leave in the fridge to set.

Once set cut into small cubes, around ½ cm.

Chocolate cigarettes

Melt 120g good quality dark chocolate in a small bowl set over a small pot of gently simmering water. Once melted, spread thinly with a palette knife on a small metal tray. Leave the chocolate to set for 5-10 minutes in the fridge. Remove from fridge, using a scraper, push the scraper against the chocolate, it should curl and form the shape of cigarettes.

If the chocolate is breaking apart, it is too cold and will have to warm to room temperature a little more. If it comes off the tray, but doesn’t curl up, it is too warm and will need to go back into the fridge to cool. Once you have formed the cigarettes, leave to set in the fridge for 10 minutes. Using the scraper, gently push the cigarettes in the opposite direction to which you scraped them, to break them free of the tray. Store in the fridge.

To assemble

Arrange six serving bowls. Spoon two large tablespoons of the chocolate crumb into the bottom of the bowls, in a line across the plate.

At either side of the line of chocolate crumb, using a teaspoon dipped into hot water, form quenelles of chocolate ganache, dipping the spoon back into the hot water before each one.

Put a prune next to each quenelle of chocolate (2 per plate). Arrange 4-5 pieces of honey jelly around the other garnishes. Finally, using a dessert spoon,
dipped in hot water, form the Earl Grey ice cream into large quenelles, one per plate.

Garnish with 4-5 chocolate cigarettes on top of the ice cream.

Recipe provided by Cutler & Co. Dining Room