Michael Wignall complements a stunning aerated elderflower parfait with strawberry gel and glaze, a smattering of wild strawberries and more unusual additions of olive oil jam and a zingy elderflower sherbet.
For the elderflower oil, place the elderflowers and rapeseed oil into a vacuum bag and seal. Cook for 40 minutes. Leave to cool then pass through muslin cloth and chill
Place 200g of the mixture into a mixer bowl with the sugar and fondant. Whisk on a high speed until thick and fluffy
67g of sugar
20g of fondant
6
Whip the cream to stiff peaks and fold into the elderflower mix in two stages. Mix 120g of the final mix with 20g of the elderflower oil and transfer to the vacuum lock box
255g of cream
7
Place into the vacuum chamber and vacuum until it has increased 5 times in size. Transfer to the freezer for 4 hours
8
To make the olive oil jam, boil the glucose and trimoline and add to a blender. Allow to cool, then slowly blend in the yolks, followed by the olive oil. Season to taste with salt
To make the sablé Breton, sift the flour with the baking powder. Whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until pale and fluffy then slowly add the butter until fully incorporated
For the gel, bring the strawberry juice to the boil with the agar, boil for 1 minute then transfer to a container until set. When fully set, blitz in a blender until smooth and pass through a fine sieve
To make the elderflower sherbet, mix together all of the dry ingredients then slowly drizzle in 40g of elderflower oil, whisking all the time until a powder is formed
15g of icing sugar
1g of bicarbonate of soda
30g of Isomalt sugar
30g of absorbit
1g of citric acid
15
Blend together the clotted cream, milk and pro espuma and pass through a sieve into a gas canister. Charge with one charge and give it a good shake
200g of clotted cream
200g of milk
20g of pro espuma
16
Squirt small irregular dots of the mixture into liquid nitrogen. When frozen, pass into a container and store in the freezer
17
To plate, cut the parfait into portions and place one piece in the middle of each plate. Dot the strawberry and olive oil gels around, glaze the wild strawberries in the strawberry glaze and arrange on plates alongside the raisins
Michael Wignall could have been a professional BMX biker. It was a fortunate day for foodies everywhere when he decided instead to work under legendary Northern chef Paul Heathcote.
