Recipe: Chef Boiled egg and soldiers, by Martin Blunos
Serves four
4 egg cups, teaspoons and side plates
4 cut eggshells, washed, rinsed and dried
Couple of squares of dark chocolate
Blowtorch
Soldiers
110g rice flour
110g plain flour
100g unsalted butter
100g caster sugar
1 medium egg
Ground cinnamon
Icing sugar for dusting
Egg yolk
I large ripe mango
Egg white
150ml double cream
2dsp crème fraîche
1dsp icing sugar
½tsp vanilla extract
Sieve the flours and salt into a bowl, cube the butter and rub in until you've created a breadcrumb-like texture. Mix in the sugar, then lightly beat the egg and mix in with the dry ingredients to form a stiff paste. Wrap this in film and rest in the fridge for at least 45 minutes before using.
Line a baking or loaf tin with baking parchment, then roll out the mix to a thickness of 3/4cm and lay inside, making sure to press down evenly and dust with a little cinnamon and sugar. Bake this at 160°C for about 15-20 minutes
or until golden. If necessary, press down once during cooking to keep the shape compact. Remove from oven and tin, then cut while still hot into soldiers,
before cooling on a wire rack.
Sprinkle a good pinch of cinnamon over the soldiers then use a tea strainer to dust with icing sugar. Next take a standard blowtorch and carefully caramelise the dusted tops of the soldiers until golden. Be careful not to burn them too much, as you are trying to achieve the appearance of toasted bread! Then finally leave them to cool completely.
For the egg yolk, peel and destone the mango, then roughly chop one third and set aside in a small bowl. Whizz the remainder in a liquidiser until smooth
and creamy, then taste and adjust with either a little lemon juice or a touch of sugar to sweeten.
For the egg white, place the cream into a large mixing bowl along with the sugar and vanilla.
Whisk the mixture to soft peaks, ensuring you keep it creamy and smooth, before gently mixing in the crème fraîche.
To assemble the dish, grate or finely chop the dark chocolate until it resembles black pepper, then spoon a little onto each of four small plates. Place an equal amount of granulated sugar immediately next to it, then stack three of the toasted soldiers slightly off centre on the plate, alongside the chocolate and sugar.
Finally, divide the chopped mango mixture between the four cut egg shells, spoon the cream mixture on top of this, slightly overfilling each shell, then level off using the back of a small knife. Stand the eggs in their cups and arrange on the
already dressed plates along alongside the teaspoon. Then spoon a yolk-sized amount of the creamy mango purée into the centre of each egg. And there you have it! Boiled egg and soldiers as a dessert.
Recipe by Martin Blunos from Take 3. Read the review here
Photography by Nick Smith