The Dinner Party History Blog

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Chowing Down Through History

Monday 13 August 2012

Roast Beef and Chocolate

So, it seems that my blueberry cheesecake pots are getting a little passe. Time to move on, methinks....

How does a full-on Roast Beef Dinner sound, if I offered you Gordon Ramsay's 4-minute chocolate mousse, with a coffee "caviar" twist for dessert?

Thought you'd be interested!

Those little spheres are pure dark-roast coffee. Looks and tastes great!. The whole thing took about 20 minutes to make, but (especially with the "caviar") looked like I had spent the whole of the previous day in preparation.

Making the spheres is easier than you might think. First, prepare an ice bath, and, using oil (not olive oil) that you have chilled in the fridge overnight, create a bath of oil (using a metal pan or bowl helps keep it cold). Ice on the outside, oil on the inside.
Next, mix your warm, VERY strong coffee with some powered gelatine, until the gelatine has dissolved:
Then, let it cool a little, but not set. Because THEN comes the cool bit! Take a dropper/pipette (I actually used a marinade injector) and drop two or three drops at a time into the oil:
The cold oil (hence the ice bath) causes the gelatine to solidify. The liquid itself (because of this law of physics) forms a sphere as it sinks to the bottom. These are your coffee "caviar" or "pearls of coffeeness" :

The kitchen paper soaks up the cold oil, leaving little balls of coffee wonderfulness. Once chilled in the fridge for a short while, just before serving, squirt some whipped cream on the top of your mousse and place a handful of the "caviar" on the top. Each mouthful is a combination of the richness of the chocolate mousse, combined with tiny explosions of strong coffee as you bite into the little spheres ... Who needs molecular gastronomy...?

Oh , I nearly forgot... the Roast Beef was courtesy of St Jamie of Oliver. This meant cleaning out the fridge of celery, carrots, fresh thyme, onions, and just about anything else I could find to make an alter onto which the beef was reverently lain. Two hours (and a bit) in the oven and the flavours were immense ... again, there's no secret - its easy!