Ingredients

FOR THE LEMON CURD:

• 3 medium eggs (around 50g each)
• 150g sugar
• 100g lemon juice
• a touch of vanilla extract (optional)
• zest of two lemons
• 150g cold butter
• salt for seasoning

FOR THE STRAWBERRY COULIS:

• 100g of strawberries
• 20g sugar
• 20g water
• salt for seasoning
• lemon juice for seasoning

FOR THE SHORTBREAD CRUBLE:

• 100g of shortbread (or petit-beurre biscuits)

FOR THE CHANTILLY:

• 350g of cold 35% fat heavy cream
• 50g granulated or powdered sugar

Tools:

• Whisk
• Spoon
• Small pot
• Immersion blender
• Tall and thin container (usually comes with the immersion blender)
• Mixer
• Blender
• 2 Pipping bags
• Squeeze bottle

Execution:

FOR THE LEMON CURD:

• Put the eggs, sugar, salt, lemon juice, vanilla extract and lemon zest in pot over low heat and mix constantly until the mixture thickens.
• Pass through a sieve and transfer into the tall and think container.
• Cut the cold butter into cubes and add them to the mix.
• Blend everything using the immersion blender until everything is well incorporated and smooth.
• Transfer into another container, wrap it with the plastic wrap touching the cream to prevent oxydation and into the fridge it goes for at least an hour to cool down and thicken.

FOR THE STRAWBERRY COULIS:

• Put the strawberries in the tall and thin container and blend them until fully liquidized.
• Add the sugar and water in a small pot and boil until all the sugar is dissolved. This is called a simple syrup.
• Transfer the simple syrup in a container.
• Gradually add salt, lemon juice and simple syrop to the strawberry juice until it comes to the desired taste. We aim for a strong, natural strawberry taste. The amount of salt, lemon juice and simple syrop you add will depend on the ripeness of your strawberries.
• Optionally pass the coulis through a sieve, save in a container, wrap it and transfer to the fridge until it’s time to use.

FOR THE SHORTBREAD CRUBLE:

• Using your hands or a blender break the shortbread or biscuits down to the desired consistency.

FOR THE CHANTILLY:

• Put the cold cream and sugar in the blender and start mixing at a low speed. When all the sugar has been dissolved, slightly increase the speed until you reach the desired consistency. We aim for a smooth and not too stiff texture.

Platting:

• Put the plate in the fridge for 30 mins or in the freezer for 10 mins.
• Transfer the lemon curd and chantilly in piping bags and the strawberry coulis in the squeeze bottle.
• Make assymetric dots of different sizes following a half moon patter.
• Spread the shortbread crumble over the exterior of the half moon as in the photograph above.
• Optionally add some mint leaves to have an extra color on the plate, if you intend on taking a picture of your creation to impress your Instagram followers.

Theory, Tips:

• If you don’t have a mixer or skipped the gym, you can whip the chantilly by hand with a whisk.
• If you don’t have an immersion blender for the lemond curd, you could do the whole process with a wisk instead: take the cream of the heat, pass through a sieve, transfer into a container, add the cold butter and mix.
• We need the plate to be cold so that the chantilly won’t start breaking down like mine did.
• For the strawberry coulis, if you add too much simple syrup the taste will start being like bad strawberry ice cream. We don’t want that.

Acknowledgements:

• Lemon curd recipe kindly borrowed from here.