Intxaursaltsa de Lombarda Mutante, by Elene Arzak

This dish was created by Elena Arzak, Spain's three-Michelin-starred chef, at Caterer's Chef Conference 2009.

 

 

**

 

INGREDIENTS** (Serves four)

 

For the broth

• 250ml water
• 10g sugar
• 65g red cabbage, sliced

 

For the liquidised red cabbage

• 100g red cabbage, sliced
• Water

 

For the walnut cream

• 500ml of whipping cream
• 1tsp ground cinnamon
• 250g walnuts, shelled
• 150g icing sugar

 

For the walnut cream bath

• 40ml water
• 100ml port
• 25g vegetable gel
• 2g cochinile

 

For the fried chestnuts

• 60g chestnuts
• Oil for frying
• Salt
• Nutmeg
• Ground star anise

 

To finish

• 40g demerara sugar
• Pinch of ground ginger
• 8 walnut halves
• Lemon juice

 

METHOD

 

For the red cabbage broth, boil the water and sugar together. Add the sliced cabbage and boil for a further two minutes. Strain the cabbage and set aside and keep the water.

 

To prepare the liquidised cabbage, blanch the cabbage in boiling water. Drain and blend in a liquidiser. Reserve 90ml of liquidised juice.

 

To make the walnut sauce, stew all the ingredients for 18 minutes in a saucepan over a gentle heat. Blend. Pour the mixture into rectangular moulds and freeze. When frozen, cut into small triangles. Keep in the freezer until needed. For the walnut bath, boil all the ingredients for two minutes. Take off the heat and fill a water syringe with the liquid then coat the frozen walnut triangles until the liquid forms a jellified red skin on their surface.

 

To prepare the fried chestnuts, peel and slice the chestnuts finely. Fry them in oil like potato crisps. Season lightly with spices.

 

For service, prepare the "soup" - combine 125ml broth, 50g liquidised red cabbage and 1tbs of demerara sugar. Arrange the "intxaursaltsa" triangles on the plate with chestnut crisps and sliced walnuts. Pour on the red cabbage soup. Adjust the soup's colour with a squeeze of lemon juice.