- 2 kg fresh beetroot
- 50 ml olive oil
- 1 vanilla pod, seeds only
- 300 ml fresh apple juice
- 300 ml beetroot juice
- good sea salt or Himalayan rock salt
- 100 ml sherry vinegar
- 50 g mascarpone
- 2 lemons, juice only
- 2 g Xantana (xanthum gum)
- 2 ripe avocados
- 100 ml water
- 100 g sugar
- 2 limes, juice and zest
- 2 leaves gelatin, soaked in cold water
- 200 ml Belvedere vodka
Chilled Beetroot Gazpacho, Vodka Jelly, Avacado Sorbet - Aiden Byrne
Chilled Beetroot Gazpacho, Vodka Jelly, Avacado Sorbet - Aiden Byrne
Like most chefs, AIDEN BYRNE is a very busy man – father to three young children, running three restaurants, and completing a second cookbook which he hopes will be out next year. Aiden has used Thermomix in all his kitchens for many years both professionally and at home. “Our Thermomix TM31’s are indispensible, they are in constant use and are in constant demand by all the staff. I have chosen this recipe to showcase what Thermomix can do because I couldn’t make it without the Thermomix.”
This dish stays on the menu at The Church Green for the majority of the summer and even into the autumn – it makes a great appetizer served in shot glasses or a lovely starter served in martini glasses. Serves 4 as a starter. As it was a beautiful day Aidan set up a table in his lovely kitchen garden and made the recipe there. All the staff look after this garden and it is a source of fresh herbs, fruit and vegetables for the restaurant.
Ingredients
Method
BEETROOT GARNISH:
Wrap half the beetroot in foil. Bake 1½ hours at 160°C on a tray lined with rock salt. Leave 10 minutes to sweat in the foil. Peel, then use a small pastry cutter to cut 24 diamonds for the garnish – store these in the olive oil with the vanilla seeds. Chop the rest up into chunks.
GAZPACHO:
Peel the raw beetroot, chop into fairly small pieces and place in the Thermomix (TM) bowl with the cooked beetroot chunks, apple and beetroot juices. Blend 5 minutes/Speed 10. Pass through a fine sieve into a bowl (set over ice) only by tapping the sieve. Season with salt until it’s almost at the point where you feel you can’t put any more in and then add the vinegar. Add mascarpone and juice of one lemon to balance the flavours. Pass again through a fine sieve and stir in the Xantana to give the soup ‘mouth feel’; refrigerate until the consistency of single cream.
AVOCADO GARNISH:
Peel the avocados and again using the same cutter, cut 16 diamond shapes. Coat in a bit of lemon juice to prevent oxidization and set aside.
AVOCADO SORBET:
Boil water and sugar then blend with remaining avocado flesh in the TM bowl until smooth. Add lime juice and zest plus juice of one lemon. Churn in an ice-cream machine or freeze in a shallow box; when frozen cut into chunks and place in the TM bowl and turn gradually to Speed 9, stirring with the TM spatula through the hole in the TM lid until smooth, then insert the Butterfly Whisk and whisk on Speed 4 to make the mixture light and creamy. Place in a piping bag and keep chilled so it remains softly frozen but still pipe-able.
VODKA JELLY:
Heat 2 Tbsp water in a small pan, add the softened gelatin and a small amount of the vodka, dissolve the gelatin then slowly, off the heat, add the remaining vodka. Pass half through a fine sieve into the base of 4 martini glasses and the rest onto a small tray and set in the refrigerator for a couple of hours – it will go cloudy. When the jelly on the tray is set, cut out some diamond shaped garnishes.
TO SERVE:
Check the seasoning of the soup, pipe avocado sorbet onto the vodka jelly in the martini glasses, gently pour in the soup, add all the garnishes, dress with a few baby beetroot leaves.
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