Fondant Recipe - Great British Chefs

Nigel Mendham's fondant recipe is decidedly wintery, featuring cold weather ingredients like squash and chestnut. The choice of flavours is a shrewd one, as Potimarron squash has a distinct chestnutty quality so marries nicely with the ice cream.

Ingredients

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Chocolate fondant

125g of 70% dark chocolate
125g of unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing metal rings
3 egg yolks
3 eggs
62g of caster sugar
25g of plain flour, sieved

Chestnut ice cream

140g of chestnut purée, unsweetened
70g of milk
90g of double cream
110g of sugar
6 egg yolks
1 pinch of salt
lemon juice

Squash purée

1 potimarron squash
1/2 vanilla pod
4 tbsp of stock syrup

Pumpkin granola

100g of porridge oats
200g of pumpkin seeds
1 tsp poppy seeds
1g of mixed spice
1 tsp sesame seeds
40g of rice
105g of liquid glucose
105g of honey
4g of pumpkin seed oil
3g of rock salt

To serve

pumpkin seed oil
chestnuts, shaved

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Blender
Piping bag and nozzle
Sous vide bags
Metal rings
Sous vide equipment
Pacojet

First make the chestnut ice cream. Boil the milk, cream and chestnut purée in a pan with 85g of the sugar, making sure that the sugar dissolves

85g of sugar
70g of milk
90g of double cream
140g of chestnut purée, unsweetened

Whisk together egg yolks and the rest of the sugar. Temper the eggs with the cream. This is done by gradually pouring the warmed cream mixture into the eggs. Return to the pan and gently heat until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon, seasoning with salt and lemon juice if necessary

6 egg yolks
1 pinch of salt
lemon juice

Pass the custard through a sieve, check the seasoning and freeze (you can also use an ice cream maker - in which case, churn straight-away). Once frozen, churn in a Pacojet and store in the freezer until ready to serve

For the purée, peel the squash, remove the seeds and chop into small pieces. Add the squash pieces to a vac pac bag along with the syrup and vanilla. Seal and cook at 85°C for 1 hour

1 potimarron squash
1/2 vanilla pod
4 tbsp of stock syrup

Remove the squash from the bag and blend until smooth. Set aside until needed

Preheat the oven to 175°C/gas mark 4

To make the pumpkin granola, toast the oats in a pan until golden brown. Roast the pumpkin seeds, poppy seeds, mixed spice and sesame seeds in the oven for 5 minutes

100g of porridge oats
200g of pumpkin seeds
1 tsp poppy seeds
1g of mixed spice
1 tsp sesame seeds

Warm the liquid glucose, honey and pumpkin seed oil in a pan and puff the rice in a hot fryer

40g of rice
105g of liquid glucose
105g of honey
4g of pumpkin seed oil

Drain the puffed rice on some kitchen paper. When the glucose mixture starts to bubble, remove from the heat and add the roasted seeds, puffed rice and oats to the pan. Season with the salt, mix well and spread onto a lined baking tray. Allow to cool before crumbling into pieces

3g of rock salt

Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4

For the fondant, gently melt the chocolate and butter together in a bain marie. Then, whisk the egg yolks, whole eggs and sugar together until tripled in volume

125g of 70% dark chocolate
127g of unsalted butter
3 egg yolks
3 eggs
62g of caster sugar
25g of plain flour, sieved

Slowly fold the melted chocolate into the eggs and sugar, followed by the flour. Transfer the fondant mix into piping bags and grease the rings. Pipe 60g of the fondant mixture into each ring. Bake in the oven for 5 minutes - the centres should still be runny

To plate, arrange the chocolate fondants onto plates and lightly dust with icing sugar. Add a quenelle of the squash purée and chestnut ice cream alongside and scatter around some pumpkin granola. Top the ice cream with a few slices of shaved chestnut and drizzle some pumpkin oil onto the plate before serving

pumpkin seed oil
chestnuts, shaved

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Nigel Mendham

Nigel Mendham has proved himself to be as adaptable as he is talented, prospering in restaurants all over Britain and winning great acclaim for his deftly classical cuisine.

Dark chocolate fondant with chestnut and squash

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