Moletwa’s Citrus High Tea Treat

Citrus Gel

113g freshly squeezed lemon juice
113g freshly squeezed orange juice
113g freshly squeezed grapefruit juice
80g Sugar
8g Agar Agar

Method:

1. Mix sugar + Agar Agar together and
set aside
2. Heat citrus juices in a saucepan
3. Add sugar + agar agar
4. Whisk till mix comes to a boil & remove once boiling
5. Pour mix in a container and set in fridge to set
6. Once mix has set, blend till smooth
7.  Place a small amount of gel in a piping bag and set aside
8. Mix the rest of the gel with the poached grapefruit segments and set aside in a bowl

Vanilla & White Chocolate Mousse

500g Clover cream UHT
100g glucose
100g water
3tsp gelatine powder +  50g Cold water (to bloom in)
375g white couverture chocolate
Vanilla pod

Chocolate dip

200g white couverture chocolate
20g grape seed oil
Yellow  or orange oil based food colouring
Lemon leaves + stems

Method:

1. Hydrate the gelatine powder with the 50g of cold water and set aside
2. Using a whisk attachment, whisk the clover UHT cream to soft to medium peaks (try keep the cream cold to avoid splitting)
3. In a saucepan, bring to the boil, the glucose, water and vanilla seeds scraped as well as the pod for extra flavour
4. Once mix is boiling, remove from heat, and place bloomed gelatine to melt. Stir till all is dissolved. At this stage remove the whole vanilla pod
5. Pour the hot mixture over the chocolate and vigorously mix to melt the chocolate.Once the chocolate is melted, gently fold it into the cream in three parts, using a spatula.
6. Place the mousse into sphere silicone moulds and place in freezer till the mousse is frozen solid
7. Before the mousse freezes completely and is at a stage of being just set, use a tablespoon to scoop out the middle and place the citrus gel and grapefruit mix in the middle of each half sphere (make sure the spheres are levelled). Then continue to freeze solid
8. For the chocolate dip, melt the white couverture chocolate with the grape seed oil. Once melted mix till combined and add yellow or Orange colouring until desired colour is achieved. Then cool the dip to about 30°C
9. Stick the two frozen half spheres together by gently heating the top of them (using a blow torch) and sticking them together, making sure they are flush against each other.
10. Using a skewer dip the spheres into the cooled chocolate dip, of which should immediately form a shell around the sphere. Stick a lemon leaf with a stem at the top of the sphere. Then set aside in the fridge

Vanilla sable cookie

100g Caster Sugar
Pinch of  Salt
450g Salted Clover butter(soft)
60g Icing Sugar
2 Egg Yolks
2 tsp Vanilla extract
600g Cake Flour
1/4 tsp Royal Baking Powder

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 170°C
2. Using a paddle attachment, place caster sugar, icing sugar, salt and butter in a mixer and cream till pale
3. Add yolks and vanilla extract into butter mixture and mix to combine
4. Sift in cake flour and total baking powder into the mixture and slowly mix till combined
5. Roll out the sable dough between two sheets of baking paper until dough is 2-3cm thick. Place rolled out dough into the fridge to rest for 20-30mins
6. Cut rested dough into rectangles (5cm width x 20cm length)
7. Place rectangles on a silpat mat on a baking tray or tray lined with baking paper. Bake for 15-20mins or until the edge of the cookies are golden brown along the edges
8.  Set cookies aside to cool

Assembly

Assemble dish by placing a sable cookie on a plate and pipe gel on cookie to stick spheres onto. Decorate the plate with more gel, fresh lemons and lemon leaves.

Tip: using powder food colouring to make the spheres look more realistic to an orange or lemon (whichever citrus you have decided on)