Pumpkin and muscovado toffee ravioli with apple and mascarpone mousse, cardamom ice-cream – by Anthony Flinn
Ingredients (makes 12-16)
For pumpkin ravioli
1 small pumpkin
250g stock syrup
For muscovado toffee
100g muscovado sugar
100g double cream
Splash of water
For the apple and mascarpone mousse
200g cream
60g sugar
3 egg yolks
150g apple purée
125g mascarpone
1 leaf of gelatine, soaked
For the ice-cream
250g cream
250g milk
25g glucose
135g sugar
6 yolks
20 split green cardamom pods
For the pumpkin seed caramel
200g fondant
100g Isomalt (a low-calorie sugar-based sugar substitute)
100g glucose
50g fried, green pumpkin seeds
For the pumpkin air
All the pumpkin trimmings
2g lecithin
250g stock syrup
Green pumpkin seed oil
Puffed green pumpkin seeds
7cm discs of pain d'epices
Spiced breadcrumbs
Method
For the ravioli, peel and remove the seeds from the pumpkin. Cut into long, thin slices, about 1mm thick. Bring the stock syrup to the boil and blanch the slices of pumpkin for about 10 seconds. Lay them on a piece of rolled-out clingfilm. Take a 7cm cutter and cut out discs. Remove the excess around the edges and lay clingfilm over the top. Store in the fridge.
For the toffee, melt the sugar and water together and boil until 140°C. Boil the cream for two minutes (to increase fat content). Once the sugar starts to caramelise, whisk the cream in a little at a time. Chill until cold, then whip the mix until thick (like whipped cream). Store in a piping bag.
For the mousse, bring the cream to the boil. Whisk the egg yolks and the sugar until white, then pour the cream over the sugar and eggs while whisking. Add the gelatine and apple puree and chill. Once cold, whisk in the mascarpone and continue whisking until it's the consistency of whipped cream, then pipe into tubes and freeze.
For the ice-cream, chop the cardamom pods in half and place in the milk. Bring to the boil and leave to infuse for at least six hours. Re-boil the milk with the cream. In a mixing bowl, whisk the yolks, sugar and glucose until white. Strain the milk mixture over the yolks and whisk. Chill the mixture and churn.
To make the pumpkin seed caramel, boil the fondant, Isomalt and glucose together until 160°C. Add fried pumpkin seeds, roll between two mats and leave for one minute. Remove the top mat and pull off long shards of caramel. Store in an air-tight container.
For the air, blanch all the trimmings in the stock syrup. Blitz and hang in muslin. Blitz with the lecithin.
To assemble the dish, dip the pain d'epices in the pumpkin air, pipe a dot of the toffee in the middle of the disc and lay the pumpkin disc over the top and seal at the edges. Cut the apple mousse into 2-4cm lengths and roll them in the crumbs. Place on the plate, finish with the ice-cream, pumpkin seeds and oil. Place the pulled caramel on top of the ice-cream. Aerate the pumpkin air, spoon the froth over and around the plate and serve.
created by Anthony Flinn, chef-proprietor, Flinn's, Leeds
