Recipe of “Multi-spherical pesto with smoked eel” by Mateu Casañas, Oriol Castro and Eduard Xatruch from Restaurant Disfrutar, Barcelona, Spain
INGREDIENTS FOR 4 PEOPLE
For the Parmesan water
100 g of Parmesan reggiano without rind
100 g of water
1. Cut the Parmesan into small pieces and grind the Parmesan in the blender until it is thin.
2. Boil the indicated water, add the ground Parmesan, stir and let infuse next to the fire for 40 min, stirring every 5 min.
3. Strain through a fine strainer and let it decant in a tall and narrow container for 24 hours in the fridge.
4. Remove the upper fat and save it for other dishes.
5. Save the Parmesan water (lower part) obtained in the refrigerator.
For the Parmesan cream
30 g of cream
20 g of milk
50 g of grated Parmesan cheese
Salt
1. Mix the milk and the cream and bring them to a boil.
2. Add the Parmesan cheese, mix and remove from the heat.
3. Let infuse for 20 min and strain.
4. Salt and save.
For the Basil Infused Oil
150 g of olive oil
75 g of fresh basil
1. Break the basil with the hands and put it in the oil.
2. Heat to 60ºC, remove from heat and keep at room temperature for 12 hours.
3. Strain and save.
For the Spherical Pesto Base
100 g of fresh basil leaves
3 g of garlic
12 g roasted pine nuts
12 g de of grated Reggiano Parmesan
50 g of infused basil oil (previous preparation)
150 g of water
30 g of parmesan water (previous preparation)
Salt
0,6 g de xanthan gum
2,4 g of calcium gluconolactate
1. Remove the central nerve of the garlic.
2. Mix all the ingredients in the Thermomix except the xanthan gum and the gluconolactate.
3. Grind the ingredients until you get a fine cream, strain and salt.
4. Add the gluconolactate to 200 g of the mixture. Mix and then add the xanthan gum.
5. Grind with the help of the electric whisk until no lumps remain.
6. Remove the air from the mixture with the help of the vacuum machine and save the mixture in the fridge.
For the Alginate Base
1000 g of water
5 g of sodium alginate
1. Dissolve the alginate in the water.
2. Grind in the blender until there are no lumps.
3. Save in the fridge for 24 hours.
For the “Worms” of Multi-Spherical Pesto
Spherical pesto base (previous preparation)
Alginate base (previous preparation)
1. With the help of a syringe, make pesto balls in the alginate bath of 0.4 cm in diameter. We need 20 balls per person.
2. Strain the pesto balls from the alginate bath and deposit them in a row in a long, narrow mould with a half-round shape of 0.3 cm wide. In this way, we will form a long and narrow “worm”, formed by 20 pesto balls in a row.
3. Let the balls curdle in the fridge for 30 min.
4. After this time, unmould carefully not to break the strip and save in the fridge.
For Textured Pistachio Oil
50 g virgin pistachio oil
1,5 g of monoglyceride
1. Combine 25 g of oil with the glyceride.
2. Heat at minimum speed and stirring until the glyceride has dissolved. Remove from heat and add the rest of the oil while stirring.
3. In a cold bain-marie, add the oil with glyceride little by little and without stirring, in order that the mixture is taking body and a texture similar to a cream butter.
4. Save in the fridge.
For the Iberian Bacon Oil
50 g of salt-cured Iberian bacon
10 g of water
15 g of soft olive oil
1. Chop the bacon.
2. Join the bacon with the water and the oil, and simmer until the water has completely evaporated and the bacon has released all its water.
3. Strain and save in the fridge.
For the Cured Iberian Bacon Sheets
1 piece of 50 g of salt-cured Iberian bacon
1. With the help of a knife, remove the skin and the excess of salt outside the bacon.
2. Cut the bacon into rectangles of 1×2 cm side and freeze.
3. Once frozen, cut with the slicing machine to obtain bacon slices of 0.1 cm thick.
4. We need 3 bacon sheets per person. Save in the fridge.
For the Smoked Eel Dice
1 piece of 70 g of smoked eel
1. Remove the skin and possible eel spines.
2. Cut 3 eel dice per person, 0.7 cm sideways. Save in the fridge.
Others
12 basil sprouts
12 roasted pine nuts
12 tender pistachios repelled
12 parmesan dice 0.3 cm side
Freshly ground black pepper
FINISH AND PREPARATION
1. Arrange the multi-spherical worms in rectangular plates, occupying the central part and making a slight zigzag with them.
2. Heat the Parmesan cream slightly, warm the bacon fat and heat the dishes with the multi-spherical in the salamander grill.
3. Spread 3 pistachios, 3 pine nuts, 3 Parmesan dice and 3 eel dice on the plate. On top of the eel lay a bacon sheet.
4. Sauce the base of the plate with a little cream of Parmesan and bacon fat.
5. Reheat in the salamander grill.
6. Finish by dressing the pistachios with a little textured pistachio oil, distributing 3 basil sprouts and dressing the whole with freshly ground black pepper.
