Mint and chocolate

Mint and chocolate by Juan Pablo Colubri

News
In our last interview with Juan Pablo Colubri, talking about Christmas, Juan told us that one of the most beloved ingredients in the pastry in the United States is mint in combination with chocolate. Today he is sharing with us the recipe for his take on this classic flavour combination, that is quite popular among the British people.

Chocolate sablee base

90g     Sugar
144g     Soft flour
50g     Cacao Barry Extra Brut Cocoa powder
1g           Bicarbonate of soda
2g           Salt
135g     Butter

Method

Cream the butter and sugar together.
Add the rest of the ingredients and bring the mixture to form a dough.
Roll the mixture in between two sheets of silicon paper and bake at 180°C for 7 minutes or until semi cooked.
Cut the dough using a 3.5 cm ring cutter and finish baking until cooked.

Chocolate cremeux


300g    whipping cream
50g    Yolks
27g    Caster sugar
120g    Cacao Barry Alto El Sol chocolate
72g    Cacao Barry Alunga chocolate

Method

Make an anglaise with the cream, sugar and egg yolks.
Melt the chocolates together and then incorporate the anglaise gradually until it is all mixed together.
Then blitz it with a stick blender to make sure it is smooth and there are no lumps left.
Then pass it through a fine chinoise.


Mint bavaroise

150g     Milk
160g    whipping cream
30g    Caster sugar
54g    Yolks
60g    Picked mint
4g    Gelatine
150g    Semi whipped cream

Method

Blanch the mint in the milk.
Squeeze off the excess milk and refresh in ice water.
Dry off the mint and put to one side, re scale the blanched milk to 150g.
Make an anglaise with the blanched milk, cream, yolks and sugar.
once the anglaise is cooked add the gelatin, strain the mix into a container and cling film to tough and allow it to cool down.
Blitz the mint with the crème anglaise.

To assemble the Mint chocolate

Using a Silikomart Stone Professional Silicon Mould, fill 30g of the chocolate cremeux.
Allow this to semi set before putting on the mint bavaroise. Finish with a disc of chocolate sable base.
Set this in the freezer before de-moulding.

Mint ice cream

415g    Semi skimmed milk
99g    Whipping cream
24g    Milk powder
12g    Dextrose
12g    Trimoline
84g    Caster sugar
3g    Super neutrose
60g    picked mint

Method

Blanch the mint with the milk for about 20 seconds
 Squeeze the mint from the milk and refresh with ice-water.
Dry the mint from the water, at the same time re-scale the milk.
Heat the liquids to 40°C and add the dry ingredient and the Trimoline, bring the mix up to 80°C.
Strain the mix into a container and cling film to tough and allow it to cool down.
Once cool add Blanched mint and blitz with the hand blender and put the base in the paco containers.


Chocolate dentill

125g     Butter
125g      Icing Sugar
125g     Demerara Sugar
125g     Orange juice
62.5g     Flour
30g     Cacao Barry Extra Brute Cocoa powder

Method

Melt the butter and mix with all the dry ingredients.
Lastly add the orange juice.
Leave the mix to rest over night before spreading thinly on a silpat mat.
Bake at 170°C for 8-10 minutes or until cooked.
Break into small shards to serve.

Mint gel

Part 1, Syrup
150g    Sugar
50g    Dextrose
400g    Water

Method

Heat all together.
Allow to cool completely before using for part 2

Part 2, Gel

100g    Blanched and refreshed mint
5g    Agar
15g    Caster sugar
500ml    Syrup

Method

Blitz the mint in the thermo mix gradually adding in the cold syrup to make a green liquid.
Bring this to the boil and rain in the agar and sugar mixture and cook it out for 4 minutes.
Pour it into a container and rapidly cool it down in the freezer.
Once it is set blitz it to a puree and pass it through a fine chinoise.


White chocolate mousse

88g    whipping cream
125g    Cacao Barry Zephyr white chocolate
150g     Double cream

Method

Melt the chocolate.
Heat the whipping cream up to the simmer and emulsify with the white chocolate in 3 stages.
Pour into a shallow tray and cling film to touch and allow it to cool down before semi whipping the double cream and folding it through the ganache.
Set in the fridge before using.

To finish

Place the cake in the center of the plate and dress on the top with temper dark chocolate circle 6.5 cm, home made Aero chocolate, mint gel, white chocolate mousse, mint cress and chocolate dentill. Serve with two small quenelles of the mint ice cream.