This lush dessert brings together unusual ingredients with a savoury element, a combination that inspired me to add it to the menu at Risette Restaurant. This is not something you commonly find on restaurant menus and, most importantly, it adds a savoury element to the whole dish. I tend to use an unusual ingredient in most dishes – for example, I’ve added a parsley ice cream with the millefeuille at the moment.
Despite combining several elements, the recipe is not overly complicated to prepare at home if you’re an experienced baker. The ice-cream can also be prepared separately and served on its own.
For the short-crust pastry you will need 250g flour; 180g butter; 4g salt; 5g sugar; 20g yolks; 50g milk. Mix dry ingredients and rub in the cubed butter, add yolks and milk and mix just until combined. Chill.
For the date purée you will need 111g medjool dates, pitted; 30g water; 9g lemon juice. Boil everything for 5 mins, strain and blend until very fine. Pass through a drum sieve to remove skin. Chill.
For the yogurt pastry cream you will need: 225g milk; 25g cream; 45g sugar; 45g yolks; 12g flour; 12g corn flour; 25g butter; 4g gelatine, bloomed; 15g mascarpone; 10g yogurt powder; 25g Greek yogurt; 42g cocoa butter. Boil milk, cream, yogurt powder and butter. Whisk into the yolks, flour, cornflour and sugar.
Put back on the heat and bring to a boil for 1 minute while constantly mixing. Take off the heat, add gelatine, cocoa butter and Greek yogurt and blend until smooth. Put in a container and cover with clingfilm, touching the cream to prevent a skin from forming. Chill. When completely chilled whisk in a planetary mixer and add the mascarpone. Continue whisking until you get a light and pipeable cream. Put into a piping bag fitted with a St.Honoré piping tube or,alternatively, cut the tip of the piping bag with a scissors at around 45 degree angle.
For the dried meringue you will need 200g whites; 75g icing sugar; 150g sugar. Whip whites on low speed and add sugar slowly. When meringue reaches stiff peaks fold in the icing sugar. Spread on a baking sheet or use a chablon to make your desired shape. Dry at 70° Celsius.
For the sesame ice cream (recipe by Albert Adria) you will need 607g milk; 165g cream; 40g milk powder; 82g dextrose; 50g sugar; 43g glucose powder; 6g stabiliser; 56g black sesame paste. Mix everything apart of the paste and bring to a boil, blend in the paste and chill overnight. Churn in an ice cream machine.
Method: Line a 7cm tart ring with the short crust pastry and bake blind until golden brown at 160 degrees. Fill the tart three-fourths of the way with the date purée. Level the tart with the yogurt pastry cream and smooth the top with a palette knife. Pipe the yogurt cream in straight lines, dust some sesame powder on top and decorate with the dried meringue. Serve with sesame seed ice cream.
David Tanti is co-owner and pastry chef at Risette Restaurant. This is his 20th year in the industry and it’s been 12 years since he crossed over to the pastry side around 12 years ago. He believes that the constant research for new recipes and techniques is a must in order to stay motivated in this line of work, which is one of the reasons the menus at Risette change so often.
