Vegetable field with malt soil and herbs, 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.

 

VEGETABLE FIELD WITH MALT SOIL AND HERBS

 

INGREDIENTS
(Serves four)

 

Vegetables (may vary throughout the season)

 

4 orange carrots
4 yellow carrots
4 radishes
4 black, green and red radishes
1 Jerusalem artichoke
1 baby celeriac
4 baby leeks
4 baby parsley roots
60ml water
50g butter

 

Purée

 

80g peeled potatoes
5g butter
15ml cream
25ml water
Horseradish juice

 

Malt soil: Day 1

 

350g flour
85g malt flour
50g hazelnut flour
25g sugar
75g beer

 

Malt soil: Day 2

 

40g flour
20g malt flour
50g hazelnut flour
4g salt
75g melted butter
Herbs: 12 leaves from the tops of the carrots4 leaves from the tops of the parsley roots
Vegetables

 

METHOD

Peel the carrots, leaving 1cm of the tops behind. Cut them in half so you keep top and bottom separately. Scrape the radishes and the leeks free of dirt and cut them in half, as the carrots. Scrape the celeriac and the artichoke and quarter them. Blanch all the vegetables in salted water until tender. Heat the water and whisk in all the butter to form an emulsion.

 

To make the purée, boil the potatoes and crush with a fork. Add the rest of the ingredients while still warm.

 

To make the malt soil, mix all the ingredients from day 1 and dry for five hours at 80°C, then discard all the big, dry lumps. Mix day 2 ingredients separately and add to the first batch. Work the batch for a few minutes and make sure it is completely homogeneous, without any lumps of raw dough.

 

TO SERVE

Heat the vegetables in the butter emulsion and heat the purée in a pot by itself, seasoning it with a bit of horseradish juice. Plate a small spoonful on a stone and add all the vegetables to look as if they are sticking up from the ground. Sprinkle the malt soil on top and add the picked and rinsed herbs on top of that.