Chef Michael Wignall of Gidleigh Park shares his recipe for Bilberry, meringue, Granny Smith sorbet and salted granola.
Michael Wignall’s Bilberry, meringue, Granny Smith sorbet and salted granola
Serves 6
Ingredients
- Apple Sorbet
- 300g apple, skins only
- 200g sugar
- 50g glucose
- 500g water
- 9g sorbet stabiliser
- 1 lemon juiced
- Bilberry Juice and Jelly
- 1kg Bilberries
- 60g icing sugar
- 2.4g agar agar
- Meringue
- 190g egg white
- 190g caster sugar
- 150g icing sugar
- Salted Granola
- 200g oats
- 100g pumpkin seeds
- 200g macadamia nuts
- 50g pine nuts
- 5g salt
- 60g honey
- 20g maple syrup
- Apple Gel
- 6 Granny Smith apples
- agar agar
- To plate
- 50g freeze-dried yoghurt
- 100g bilberries
- 100g bilberries, dried
- apple marigold, for garnish
Method
- To make the apple sorbet
Blitz all of the ingredients together in a blender until smooth and transfer to a Pacojet container. Place in the freezer to freeze solid and blitz in the Pacojet just before serving - For the bilberry
Preheat a steam oven to 100°C
Mix together the bilberries and sugar. Vacuum seal and steam in the oven for 30 minutes.
Cut open the bag and tip the contents into a sieve set over a measuring jug - For the jelly
Boil 200ml of the juice with the agar agar for 1 minute, pour onto a tray at a thickness of 0.3mm and leave to set in the fridge. Cut out with a 8cm diameter ring and transfer onto baking parchment to store - To make the meringues
Preheat the oven to 150°C/gas mark 2
Whisk the egg whites and caster sugar to soft peaks then gradually add the icing sugar. Mix for a further 10 minutes until very stiff then transfer to a piping bag
Line a flat tray with parchment paper and pipe the meringue into domes approximately 6cm in diameter. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes - 1 hour until crispy then leave to cool. Turn the oven up to 170°C/gas mark 4
Once cool, turn the meringues upside down and very carefully scoop out the middle so you are left with a basket. Reserve - To make the salted granola
Bake the dry ingredients together for 10 minutes then mix in the rest of the ingredients and bake for a further 10 minutes until golden brown. Leave to cool then chop into small pieces and reserve - To make the apple gel
Juice the apples and weigh the juice. For every 100ml of juice use 1.1g of agar agar, mix together and bring to the boil. Pour into a tray to set and transfer to the fridge. When completely set, blitz in a blender until smooth and pass through a fine sieve - To serve
Place a circle of jelly on the bottom of each plate. Scatter over the crumble, bilberries and freeze-dried yoghurt and pipe around dots of the gel. Place a meringue basket on top and fill with more crumble and gel. Add a scoop of apple sorbet and garnish with the apple marigold