Burnt goat’s curd cheese with apple purée and salted caramel by Jean-Didier Gouges

Jean-Didier Gouges

Jean-Didier Gouges

7th August 2018
Jean-Didier Gouges

Burnt goat’s curd cheese with apple purée and salted caramel by Jean-Didier Gouges

Burnt goat’s curd cheese with apple purée and salted caramel by Jean-Didier Gouges

Ingredients

  • 150g soft matured goat’s cheese, sliced into 12 pieces
  • 3 green apples, cut into spheres with a melon baller
  • 2 black figs, sliced into 6 pieces
  • 1 handful black olives, pitted
  • sourdough bread cut into cubes
  • chopped rosemary
  • dill
  • edible flowers, optional
  • For the salted caramel:
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon of golden syrup
  • 100ml double cream
  • 15g butter
  • 1 tablespoon water

Method

1. For the black olive powder, wash the black olives and pre-heat the oven to 120 degrees centigrade. Place them on parchment paper on a baking tray and cook in the oven for approximately 40 minutes until hard and dry. Once cool, use a blender to blitz the dry olives into a fine powder and set aside.
2. To create the salted caramel, place the brown sugar, golden syrup and water into a small pan and simmer. When melted, add the butter and double cream with a pinch of sea salt. Fold everything together until smooth before putting aside.
3. Cut the remaining apple from the core into small pieces and sprinkle with sugar. Cook in a pan until soft, then blitz together in a blender to make a purée.
4. Mix the sourdough bread cubes with olive oil, chopped rosemary and salt and pepper and toast in a pan until the oil is soaked up and the cubes are crunchy like croutons.
5. Preheat the grill. Remove the goat’s cheese from the fridge and dust with a little icing sugar. When the grill is hot enough, place the cheese underneath it and heat until it is has browned a warm golden colour.
6. Remove the apple balls from the lemon water. Plate the burnt cheese, apple balls, fig pieces, a handful of croutons and the dill together with the edible flowers, if you are using them. Dot the apple purée and salted caramel either side of the cheese to taste.

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