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Brent Savage’s violet ice-cream, blueberry, vanilla cream and meringue

Recipe for violet ice-cream, blueberry, vanilla cream and meringue by Brent Savage for Gourmet Institute.
Violet ice-cream, blueberry, vanilla cream and meringue
8
2H
5H
7H

Ingredients

Violet ice-cream
Buckwheat and blueberry streusel
Vanilla cream

Method

1.For violet ice-cream, place milk and violets in a saucepan, bring to the boil, then set aside to infuse. Place sugar and guar gum in a saucepan, mix well, then add liquid glucose and 1½ tbsp water and bring to the boil, stirring constantly. Add cream, milk powder, violet essence and strained infused milk, then place over a bowl of ice and stir until chilled (10-15 minutes). Churn in an ice-cream machine, then freeze. Makes about 750ml.
2.Place blueberries and their juice and caster sugar in a heatproof bowl, weight with a plate, cover with plastic wrap and heat over a saucepan of barely simmering water until berries release all their juice (1 hour; you need 255ml). Strain through a fine sieve without pressing. Discard solids. Set aside 200ml juice for the gel and 55ml separately to make the meringue.
3.Preheat oven to 90C and lightly oil 3 oven trays and line with baking paper. Whisk powdered eggwhite, xanthan gum and the 55ml reserved blueberry juice in a bowl to combine and refrigerate to hydrate powders (1 hour). Place in an electric mixer and whisk until stiff peaks form (8-10 minutes). Place in a piping bag with a 5mm plain nozzle and pipe 35cm lengths onto the prepared trays, leaving 1cm space between each. Bake until meringue is completely dried, but uncoloured (3-4 hours, depending on the humidity; to test, remove a piece of meringue from oven for 5 minutes and if it cools crisp, it’s ready). Roll each stick gently to remove from baking paper, then cool until crisp, cut in half, then immediately store in a well-sealed bag. Makes about 36 x 35cm sticks. Meringue keeps frozen in a well-sealed bag for about a month.
4.Whisk remaining reserved blueberry juice and agar agar in a saucepan and bring to the boil for 1 minute. Transfer to a container and cool briefly (10-15 minutes), then refrigerate uncovered until set (30-40 minutes). Process in a blender to a smooth purée, then set aside.
5.For buckwheat and blueberry streusel, preheat oven to 160C. Beat butter and sugar in an electric mixer until very pale and sugar dissolves (3-5 minutes). Add flour, almond meal and a pinch of salt and fold until a dough forms. Place a third of the dough between 2 sheets of baking paper and roll out to 25cm x 30cm and 2mm thick. Repeat with remaining dough. Remove top sheets of baking paper, place dough on oven trays and bake until light golden and firm (10-15 minutes). Allow to cool, then blend in a food processor with blueberry powder to fine crumbs. Store in an airtight container. Makes about 1½ cups.
6.For vanilla cream, whisk sour cream, icing sugar and vanilla seeds in a bowl until soft peaks form. Gradually fold in cream and place in a piping bag with a 1.5cm plain nozzle.
7.To serve, pipe vanilla cream onto plates. Make a well in the cream using a spoon and fill each with 3 tsp blueberry gel. Spoon 2 tbsp blueberry streusel over one side, top with a quenelle of ice-cream, and garnish with meringue sticks and fresh blueberries.

Powdered eggwhite is available from cake-decorating suppliers. Agar agar, guar gum and buckwheat flour are available from health food shops. Crystalised violets and violet essence are available from The Essential Ingredient. Liquid glucose is available from supermarkets. Blueberry powder is available from supersprout.com.au.

Notes

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