INGREDIENTS
For the asparagus:
- British asparagus spears, 2 per portion
- Almond oil, decanted into a small squeezy bottle
For the almond & garlic cream:
- 110g blanched flaked almonds
- 50g white bread (crusts cut off)
- 175ml almond milk
- 100ml ice cold mineral water
- 1 ½ garlic cloves
- 100ml olive oil
- Pedro Ximenez vinegar or other good quality sherry vinegar to taste
- Salt to taste
For the almond puree:
- 150g flaked almonds
- 100g salted butter
- 375ml almond milk
- 50ml Amaretto
- Salt to taste
For the smoked vinegar gel:
-
400ml smoked vinegar
-
50ml honey
-
50ml water
-
7g agar agar powder
For the chive oil:
-
125g chives
-
125g veg oil
For the garnish:
-
Smoked almonds, crushed lightly to form small fragments
-
Black truffle oil, decanted into a small squeezy bottle
- Fresh black truffle (optional)
- Herb flowers such as chive, wild garlic or three cornered leek (optional)
EQUIPMENT
- Food processor
- 3 x small squeezy bottles
- Muslin cloth
- Fine sieve
- Piping bag
METHOD
Prepare the asparagus:
Prepare an ice bath by adding ice and water to a bowl.
Snap the wood from the base of your asparagus, then cook in boiling salted water for around 4 minutes. Plunge into the ice water for 1 minute to halt the cooking process, pat dry and set to one side.
Brush the asparagus in almond oil and season with sea salt and pepper before slicing into small (around 1cm thick) rounds.
Key note: the water should be highly seasoned and taste like sea water.
Make the almond & garlic cream:
In a bowl, pour boiling water over flaked almonds and leave to cool to room temperature before passing off the water.
Soak the white bread in the almond milk for 8-10 minutes. Then in a strong food processor place bread, drained almonds, garlic cloves and olive oil.
Fill a jug with ice cold water. Blitz the bread and almond milk mixture while slowly adding ice water until desired consistency (coating the back of a spoon.)
Pass through a fine sieve and refrigerate. When ready to serve, take the sauce out of the fridge to come up to just below room temperature and season with salt and sherry vinegar to taste.
Make the almond puree:
Melt the salted butter in a pan, then add the almonds and cook until golden and the butter has deepened to a rich brown.
Drain the almonds, reserving the butter. Clean the pan and then add the almonds back to it, heat on a medium heat and then deglaze with the Disaronno. Bring down to a simmer and slowly reduce to a syrup consistency.
Add the almond milk, bring to the boil, remove from the heat, cling film and leave to infuse for half an hour.
Once infused, blend in the food processer until smooth, then season to taste and pass through a sieve using a spatula.
Make the smoked vinegar gel:
Add all ingredients into a heavy bottomed sauce pan, then bring to the boil and simmer for 4 minutes while continually whisking.
Pour the mixture into a heatproof container and allow to cool until set. Place in the fridge and set for a further 30 minutes.
Place the set jelly into a food processor and blend until smooth. Place into a squeezy bottle.
Make the chive oil:
Place the chives and oil into a food processor, then blitz on full power to combine.
Once the blended mixture is a bright green colour, pass it through a sieve lined with muslin cloth.
Put the sieved oil into a piping bag and hang it up. The oil will float to top leaving any excess water at the bottom. Release any water and put the oil in a small squeezy bottle for when you are ready to plate up the dish.
Assemble the plate:
Arrange the sliced asparagus in a circle around the plate. On alternate slices put a dot of the smoked vinegar gel and then a dot of almond puree.
On top of the almond pure place a small piece of the crushed smoked almond. On the smoked vinegar, place a small disc of fresh black truffle.
Fill the centre of the asparagus ring with the almond cream, then season the cream with evenly spaced small dots of the 3 different oils (almond, chive, black truffle)
Garnish the outer circle of asparagus with herbs and flowers (at this time of year I like to use chives and three cornered leek flowers.)
To finish add the freshly sliced black truffle!
After a sell-out event last summer, we're returning to Woven on Saturday 31st May to host what promises to be another extraordinarily good lunch. This year we're joined by Aktar Islam who will bring his Opheem magic to Coworth Park. Get your ticket now.
