Coming off of the tasting menu, I didn't have time to do anything fancy, but I did want to throw two creations into the ring. First off is my Banana Clove Canolli.
Process one half of a ripe banana with one whole egg. Spread thinly on a silpat and bake at 200 F until no longer tacky, but before it crisps. Mine took about 90 minutes. Shape your tuile around a dowel lined with parchment. Bake until crisp - about 2 more hours in my case.
Warm one can of coconut cream and add 1 T. of freshly ground cloves. Bring to a simmer and remove from heat, covered. Steep for at least 2 hours - I steeped overnight. Make a 4:1 white chocolate ganache using the coconut milk. Let rest until it starts to firm, then pipe into the shell.
How did it taste? This pairing is not quite as daring as others, but I also chose the easy path by making a dessert. The banana was subtle, yet lingering and deep. The clove, on the other hand, was at first over powered by the white chocolate, but then remained the lasting taste in my mouth. If doing this again, I would work the ganache into a mousse to lighten it up (I was out of cream).
On a side note, the banana crisps by themselves were outstanding once crisp, and make super plating decorations. They were very easy to shape with a great texture, and not overly banana-ey by themselves.
As I said, I copped out by making a dessert, so I took a bonus stab at this challenge - Banana Martini with Clove "Olives."
Using Tito's handmade vodka (gluten free) I mushed the other half of the banana and let it steep overnight. I then did a gelatin filtration process to remove the solids resulting in the clear vodka again. And finally a simple clove infused coconut milk, formed into spheres and dropped into the martini.
The result looked like vodka but tasted like banana soup. It was very sweet, with no taste of vodka whatsoever. The melting coconut and clove gave a nice undertone to the second and third sips. Although it didn't taste like vodka, it still had a kick -- the vodka made my head numb and the clove made my tongue numb. This could be a dangerous drink!
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6 comments:
Nice Rob. Much more creative than the route I took for that round of TGRWT.
The vodka is fascinating. How did you make "olives" from the coconut milk?
The olives were simple. Just heat coconut milk - I used light milk in this case for a better mouthfeel as they melted. Then add cloves and steep for a couple of hours. Freeze in sphere molds and then combine the two halves and refreeze. You can see I didn't spend much time on my seam, and I wanted to add something red to imitate a pimento olive, but it was still a good martini.
Would you mind explaining how you used gelatin filtration with alcohol? I'm intrigued because alcohol doesn't freeze under normal conditions. But, knowing this info would certainly help me out -- I'm a bartender who does a number of infusions. It'd be great if I could use gelatin filtration rather spending time using coffee filters or dense napkins. And it'd be a much cleaner product.
Thanks
A bartender!...then you're in luck! Read this topic:
http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=117579
and from ideas in food: The reason gelatin can clarify broths is do to its long cross linking polymer
molecule which allows for a three dimensional filter; this was proven with an
aerogel: the freezing causes a synersis in the weak gel which allows for the
cold filtration to occur
My hands-on, non-scientific answer is that the gelatin grabs onto the solids, leaving only the liquid and micros. I've used it a few times and you'll quickly learn which items need multiple run throughs, and which items need stronger gelatin.
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