Cold tomato gazpacho with peach sorbet, lemon verbena cannellini cream and herbs

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This stunning vegan starter is served with a cannellini bean cream flavoured with lemon verbena, creating a fragrant counterpart to the fresh tomato and nectarine gazpacho. Hidden below the cloud is also a tangy peach sorbet, diced carrot and celery. Make sure you plan your timings well for this dish as a few of the elements require long infusing, churning or soaking time.

First published in 2016

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Lemon verbena cannellini cream

  • 250g of cannellini beans
  • 1l almond milk, reduced to 500ml
  • 35g of cornflour, mixed with water to form a loose paste
  • 200g of dried lemon verbena
  • salt
  • olive oil

Peach sorbet

  • 200g of peach, ripe, skinned, destoned and cut into pieces
  • 100g of sugar
  • 200g of red wine vinegar

Gazpacho

  • 210g of vine tomatoes, ripe
  • 90g of yellow nectarine, destoned and peeled
  • 20g of white wine vinegar
  • salt
  • extra virgin olive oil

To serve

  • 100g of carrots, diced
  • 100g of celery, diced
  • 50g of mint
  • 50g of lemon balm
  • 100g of dill
  • 100g of cornflowers, petals separated

Equipment

  • Pressure cooker
  • Sugar thermometer
  • Blender
  • Ice cream maker
  • Siphon bottle or cream whipper
  • N2O cartridge 2

Method

1
To begin, prepare the cannellini beans for the foam. Soak the beans for 12 hours in cold water
  • 250g of cannellini beans
2
To make the sorbet, warm the sugar in a saucepan with a little water and bring to 120°C (soft ball). Delgaze with the vinegar and slowly reduce to a syrup. Cool the resulting gastrique in a blast chiller
  • 100g of sugar
  • 200g of red wine vinegar
3
Add the gastrique to a blender with the peach flesh and blitz until smooth. Pass through a fine sieve into an ice cream maker and churn until set
  • 200g of peach, ripe, skinned, destoned and cut into pieces
4
When the cannellini beans are hydrated, cook in a pressure cooker with plenty of water for 14 minutes, then drain and blend with 340g of the cooking water to a smooth purée
5
To prepare the other elements ofthe cannellini cream, bring the reduced almond milk to the boil and mix with the cornflour paste. Add the lemon verbena and leave to infuse for a couple of hours
  • 200g of dried lemon verbena
  • 1l almond milk, reduced to 500ml
  • 35g of cornflour, mixed with water to form a loose paste
6
Meanwhile, make the gazpacho. Add all of the ingredients to a blender, blitz until smooth and season to taste. If it's a little lumpy, pass through a fine sieve
  • salt
  • 210g of vine tomatoes, ripe
  • 90g of yellow nectarine, destoned and peeled
  • 20g of white wine vinegar
  • extra virgin olive oil
7
Pass the infused verbena cream through a fine sieve and emulsify using a hand blender with the cannellini purée. Pour into a syphon and charge with 2 N20 charges
8
To serve, place a spoonful of diced carrot and celery on each plate. Add a scoop of sorbet and place a shot of the almond foam on top
  • 100g of celery, diced
  • 100g of carrots, diced
9
Pour the gazpacho around the cream, garnish with a selection of herbs and serve
  • 100g of cornflowers, petals separated
  • 50g of mint
  • 50g of lemon balm
  • 100g of dill
First published in 2016

After discovering a passion for the macrobiotic diet, Sauro Ricci is now the head chef at Europe’s first ever Michelin-starred vegetarian restaurant.

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