Glazed beets and apples, by René Redzepi

René Redzepi is the man to watch, the Danish chef who was voted third best in the world in the latest top 50 rankings, and who wowed our Chef Conference last year.

GLAZED BEETS AND APPLES

INGREDIENTS
(Serves four)

Sauce

• 2kg big beets
• 20g fresh or dried woodruff
• 1 star anise
• 15g chicken glace
• Apple vinegar to season

Smoked marrow

• 200g marrow from veal bones
• 1 litre water
• 70g salt
• 100g woodchips

Garnish

• 4 medium-sized long beets
• 1 big round beet
• 4 green acidic apples
• 60ml water
• 50g butter
• 2 twigs of thyme
• 8 leaves of sorrel

METHOD

To make the sauce, peel and juice the big beets, add the woodruff and star anise and reduce to a quarter. Season with the chicken glace, apple vinegar and strain.

For the smoked marrow, soak the bone marrow in iced water for 48 hours, changing the water at least twice a day. Mix together salt and water and heat to make a brine. When cooled down, soak the marrow for another 48 hours. Smoke lightly in a smoker with the woodchips and some hay. Cut slices approximately 0.5cm thick, then cut them out with a round cutter. Melt all the remaining marrow, then pass it through a strainer.

For the garnish, boil the long beets for 35 minutes until tender, strain off and peel them before they cool down, and cut into discs 1cm thick. Slice the apples 1cm thick and cut them out with a round cutter so they are the same size as the beets. Heat the water and whisk in the butter to emulsify, add the thyme and cook the apples at a low heat for around two minutes.

Slice the big beet finely on a meat slicer and cut out three discs per person with a round cutter twice the size of the beets and apples. Cut the sorrel to the same size and let it sit in cold water for five minutes.

TO SERVE

Heat and glaze the beets in the sauce and plate them with the apples, sorrel leaves and the raw discs of beets. Heat the marrow slowly in the oven and add to the plate, split the warm beet sauce with the melted marrow and sauce the plate.