AOC’S NEW YEARS GREETING – RECIPE OF DANISH DESSERT OF THE YEAR

Celebrating the end of a great year in manners, two star Michelin Restaurant AOC offers you this rare insight in their culinary DNA – the comprehensive recipe of Danish Dessert of The Year 2013.

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A main prize winner at the Danish Food Awards earlier this year was Restaurant AOC – Aarø & Co. in the dessert category for “Raw pickled pear filled with airy gel of camomile tea and thyme cloud, served with reduced cold camomile tea”.

4 times nominee, – now winner Star Chef Søren Selin accepted in the award along with his kitchen crew, thanking his team as well as Champion Sommelier and Restaurateur Christian Aarø for a great collaboration to be continued many years in the future.

The award-winning dish was originally nominated by food editor Søren Frank of Berlingske, who along with a host of critics, has praised the cuisine of Søren Selin since early 2013 when he took over the culinary responsibility of the 2-starred Michelin restaurant, situated in a vaulted cellar of an historic mansion in the heart of Copenhagen.

Celebrating the end of a great year in manners, Restaurant AOC offers you this rare insight into their culinary DNA – the comprehensive recipe of Danish Dessert of The Year 2013.

Happy New Year!

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RECIPE

“Raw pickled pear filled with airy gel of camomile tea and thyme cloud”

Fresh pear ribbons:

5 pcs Clara Friis pears

Cut the pears on a Japanese mandolin.

Cut the ribbons to 3,5 cm * 10 cm. Roll them.

Fresh pear cylinders:

5 pcs Clara Friis pears

Punch out in the same size as you rolled the pear ribbons.

Chamomile gele:

Ingredients:

300 g white chocolate

1,5 L milk

45 g dried chamomile

10 sheets gelatine

Make an infusion with the chamomile and milk at 40 degrees.

Strain the chamomile infusion. Melt the white chocolate. Add the infusion into the chocolate very slowly and make sure to make a perfect emulsion.

Chamomile cloud:

5 dL lemon juice

5 dL water

250 g sugar

30 g chamomile

20 sheets gelatine

Heat the lemon juice, water and sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Pack in vacuum and leave to rest for 24 hour.

Freeze half of the infusion to slush ice consistency. Heat the other half to 80 degrees and add the gelatine.

Whisk the two parts together and keep whisking until it foams up.

Keep in the fridge.

Pear Broken gel:

1 L Clara Friis pear juice

250 g homemade pear cider

12 g gellan

Boil all ingredients for 30 seconds, set a side until cold, blend smooth.

Thyme and thyme oil:

1 pt thyme

Rapeseed oil

Take a side the best leaves for decoration.

Blend the rest of the thyme with rapeseed oil. 1 part thyme to 1 part oil.

Keep blending until you get a dark green colour and taste of thyme.

Cold chamomile te:

1 dL lemon juice

1 dL water

50 g sugar

6 g chamomile

Heat the lemon juice, water and sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Pack in vacuum and leave to rest for 24 hours.

Mix the te, 1 part infusion to 1 part mineral water.

Serving:

1 pt Soft thyme

1 pt Thyme from Greenland

Thyme flowers

Put 5 rolled ribbons in each plate. Fill these half with chamomile gel and broken gel. Finish the ribbons with thyme oil.

Place the 3 pear cylinders next to the rolled ribbons. Break 3 pieces of chamomile cloud out and leave one on top and two on the sides of the ribbons.

Decorate every dessert with 10 of each leaves and five thyme flowers.

Finish the dessert table side with two spoons of chilled chamomile tea.

Et voilà!

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Food Photos by Signe Birck.