Matthew Kirkley’s biscuit, lily, mussel, pasta and orange dish

Ingredients
For the St Pierre Biscuit:

• 260g St Pierre scrap
• 13g salt
• 10g sugar
• 2 whole eggs
• 240g heavy cream
• 40g butter, melted

For the braised lily petals:

• 40g lily petals, straight shaped ones
• 80g orange juice, strained

For the green pasta dough:

• 270g AP flour
• 105g egg yolks
• 1 whole egg
• 5g EVO, fine
• 15g whole milk
• 16g chlorophyll (see below)

For the chlorophyll:

• 10 bunches of parsley
• Ice
• Water

For the saffron pasta dough:

• 270g AP flour
• 105g egg yolks
• 1 whole egg
• 5g EVO, fine
• 15g whole milk
• 1g saffron ground in a mortar and pestle

For the plain pasta dough:

• 270g AP flour
• 105g egg yolks
• 1 whole egg
• 5g EVO, fine
• 15g whole milk

For the chive butter:

• 250g chives, roughly chopped
• 450g butter, large dice, tempered

For the mussel jus:

• 2.2kg mussels, purged and cleaned
• 750g white wine
• 15g parsley stem
• 150g shallot, peeled, sliced thinly
• 60g garlic, unpeeled
• 3 bay leaves
• 8g black peppercorns
• 12g lemon zest, large peel

For the mussel veloute base:

• 100g shallot, peeled and diced finely
• 50g celery, diced finely
• 50g butter
• 300g reduced mussel jus (see above)
• 100g chicken stock
• 300g heavy cream

For the mussel lily veloute:

• 200g mussel veloute base (see above)
• 20g lily petals
• Orange juice from lily braise (see above)
• Salt

Method

For the St Pierre biscuit:

1. Chill the parts of a Robot Coupe as well as all ingredients before beginning.
2. In a chilled Robot Coupe, combine the St.Pierre scrap, sugar and salt and grind the fish to a fine paste. Take care that the resulting paste is smooth by checking between your fingers.
3. Pulse in the eggs until just combined.
4. Turn the Robot Coupe on low speed and slowly stream in the heavy cream until the mixture is fully homogenized.
5. Lastly, stream in the melted butter to homogenize.
6. Once mixed, transfer the mousse to a metal bowl over a large ice bath and stir until the mousse is very cold.
7. Once cold, pass the mousse through a medium grade tamis, taking care not to warm the mousse.
8. Pass the mousse through a very fine tamis, again taking care not to allow the mousse to warm.
9. Place the passed mousse over an ice bath and allow the mousse to chill fully before proceeding.
10. Once cold, spread 210g of the mousse into a 16cm square Japanese tray that has been lined with a sheet of stiff acetate. Smooth out the top of the mousse with a palette knife to create a perfectly level and smooth surface. The resulting height in the tray should be 2cm, check the height with a skewer. Add or subtract some mousse to create the correct height.
11. Once the tray has been filled properly, cover the top of the metal tray, then cook the mousse in a 100C steamer for 15 minutes.
12. Once cooked, remove the tray from the oven and allow the mousse to come to room temperature.
13. Place the tray into a cooler to fully chill and once totally cool, unmould the mousse from the tray and cut the biscuit to the desired dimensions.

For the green pasta dough:

1. In a large bowl, whisk the AP flour by itself to break up any lumps, then form a well in the center of the flour.
2. In a separate container, whisk together all remaining ingredients, then pour into the center of the well of flour.
3. Slowly incorporate the flour from the inside of the well, using a fork to aid in the process. This should be a slow process. Once thickened to a paste, incorporate the remaining flour by folding.
4. Continue to fold the dough until a ball is formed.
5. Once formed, knead the dough with the palm of your hand, slowly working the dough, for at least 15 minutes. The dough should feel springy and elastic if it is properly worked.
6. Once kneaded, wrap in plastic and allow to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.
7. Roll into sheets or place in the refrigerator until ready to use

For the chlorophyll:

1. Cut off parsley at top of bunch, and place in blender with enough water and ice to turn. Blend for at least 5 minutes, adding ice if necessary to keep cold.
2. Transfer to a chinois lined with linen (the one already died green from previous processes) atop a receptacle. Press the linen to extract as much liquid as possible.
3. Once dry, discard the solids and transfer the liquid to a bowl.
4. Atop a double boiler, with the water at a very light simmer, place the bowl with the liquid. Stirring frequently, bring the liquid to 61°C (you will be able to see the particles begin to separate from the liquid). Immediately remove the bowl and place atop an ice bath, as well as adding ice directly into the liquid.
5. Once cold, pour into a perforated pan, atop a larger hotel pan, lined with several layers of food handling paper. Once relatively dry, repeat the process to dry further.
6. Scrape off the green particles from the paper and reserve. If done correctly, the water left in the hotel pan should be clear, not cloudy.

For the saffron pasta dough:

1. Combine the milk and saffron, then allow the saffron to steep for 30 minutes.
2. Once steeped, strain the mixture through a chinois and discard the saffron solids.
3. In a large bowl, whisk the AP flour by itself to break up any lumps, then form a well in the center of the flour.
4. In a separate container, whisk together all remaining ingredients, then pour into the center of the well of flour.
5. Slowly incorporate the flour from the inside of the well, using a fork to aid in the process. This should be a slow process. Once thickened to a paste, incorporate the remaining flour by folding. Continue to fold the dough until a ball is formed.
6. Once formed, knead the dough with the palm of your hand, slowly working the dough, for at least 15 minutes. The dough should feel springy and elastic if it is properly worked.
7. Once kneaded, wrap in plastic and allow to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.
8. Roll into sheets or place in the refrigerator until ready to use.

For the plain pasta dough:

1. In a large bowl, whisk the AP flour by itself to break up any lumps, then form a well in the center of the flour.
2. In a separate container, whisk together all remaining ingredients, then pour into the center of the well of flour.
3. Slowly incorporate the flour from the inside of the well, using a fork to aid in the process. This should be a slow process. Once thickened to a paste, incorporate the remaining flour by folding. Continue to fold the dough until a ball is formed.
4. Once formed, knead the dough with the palm of your hand, slowly working the dough, for at least 15 minutes. The dough should feel springy and elastic if it is properly worked.
5. Once kneaded, wrap in plastic and allow to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.
6. Roll into sheets or place in the refrigerator until ready to use.

For the plaid pasta assembly:

1. Using a pasta rolling machine, roll out each pasta dough (green, saffron and plain) separately to the #2 setting, folding the pasta dough as you go to increase the dough’s elasticity.
2. Once rolled, cut each dough type to approx. 14cm length pieces, then taper off the other two sides to form rectangles that are all the same size length with all 4 types.
3. Attach a 2mm spaghetti cutter to the pasta machine, and roll each pasta type through separately to attain strands of each type, taking care to feed the pasta doughs through evenly, so that the strands are all 14cm long. Cover the strands with a lightly damp towel to prevent them from drying.
4. Place a sheet of acetate on top of the work surface, then begin to match up the strands, alternating the different colored pastas to create the desired pattern, against one another atop of the acetate. Take care to line each strand up against the next evenly, and without any waves. The strands must be stick straight. Continue to line the strands up row by row, until you come to a shape similar to the original dough size from which the strands were cut, about 12 to 13 strands of each color.
5. Once formed, place another sheet of acetate atop of the strands, and using a rolling pin, press the pasta strands together in an even fashion to form a block of striped pasta dough.
6. Carefully remove the acetate sheets from either side using a palette knife, then run the striped dough through the pasta machine at the #5 setting. If the pasta begins to separate, push them gently back together before the next run. Continue to run the pasta through, bringing the setting number down each time by 1 number setting until you reach the setting of #1.
7. Once at the #1 setting, place the pasta again atop of a sheet of acetate and measure the width of the pasta sheet. To create the plaid pattern, take the striped sheet and turn the ruler so it now measures length, and cut the pasta to the measurement of the width. Do this again with the next section of the pasta sheet.
8. Using a mister, lightly spray the top of both sides of the cut pasta sections, then turn one sheet 90 degrees, and lay the pasta atop of the other pasta, wet side to wet side.
9. Gently smooth the two pieces together with your hands and taper the sides so that neither sheet has overhang over the other. This should give you a plaid appearing square piece of pasta as a result. Repeat this process with the remaining pieces of the original striped sheet as many times as possible.
10. Once fused together, run the plaid square through the pasta machine at #1.7 a final time to ensure that the pasta is homogenous, then finally to the #1 setting.

For the chive butter:

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, then blanch the chive pieces for 3 minutes, or until they are totally tender.
2. Once blanched, immediately shock the chive pieces in ice water.
3. Once cold, wring out any excess liquid from the chives and place them in a Robot Coupe.
4. Pulse the chives in the Robot Coupe to break up the chives, then add the butter and blend the two together until the butter becomes bright green.
5. Once blended, place the butter in a plastic container and allow the butter to rest in the cooler overnight.
6. Once rested, place the desired amount of chive butter into a saucepot and bring the butter up to 80°C while whisking, allow the mixture to stand at 80°C while whisking for about 3 minutes, then remove the pot from the heat.
7. Once cooked, strain the chive butter through a chinois without pressing on the solids that are caught in the chinois.
8. Blend the strained chive butter with a hand blender and season with salt to taste.
9. Transfer the butter to a plastic container, place a lid on the container, and hold the butter in a 64°C oven for service.

For the mussel jus:

1. Place a rondeau over high heat and allow the pan to get very hot.
2. Combine all ingredients in one container and drop all of them into the hot rondeau. Immediately cover with a lid and cook the mussels until all the mussels have opened and have released all of their liquid.
3. Once cooked, strain off the mussel liquid through a chinois, and transfer the mixture to a clean saucepot.
4. Reduce the mussel liquid rapidly by 40%, then strain the liquid again and cool down over an ice bath.
5. Reserve for the mussel volute base.

For the mussel volute base:

1. In a saucepot, sweat the shallot, garlic and celery without color in the whole butter until tender.
2. Once sweated, add the mussel jus and bring to a simmer.
3. Add the chicken stock and heavy cream and bring to a simmer again whisking constantly.
4. Once at a simmer, cook for 1 hour, being sure to not let the bottom scorch.
5. Once cooked, strain through a chinois and cool quickly.
6. Reserve for mussel lily veloute.

For the mussel lily volute:

1. Combine the veloute base and lily petals in a saucepot and place the pot on the stove.
2. Allow the base to come to a light simmer, then transfer the liquid to Vitaprep mixer.
3. Blend the mixture on high speed until the petals have been incorporated.
4. Strain the liquid through a chinois into a clean saucepot, then season the sauce with the orange juice and salt to taste.
5. Froth the sauce with a hand blender to serve.

Plating 

To serve each plate:

• 3 St.Pierre Biscuits, cut to 2cm cubes, reheated w/ butter @68C for 8 minutes
• 3 Chives, blanched for 30 seconds
• 3 Plaid Pasta Sheets, cut to 2cm width
• 3 Mussels, cooked at 100°C steam in sousvide bag, 3 minutes, shocked, debearded
• 6 Lily Petal Braises, cut to fit cleaned mussels ~4cm, on bias, on stem side
• 6 Lily Petals, leafy petals, turned to arc shape ~5-6cm length
• 6 Lily Stamen, cut to ~3cm
• Orange Zest, pith removed, 2.5cm length, fine julienne
• Lily Petal, 2.5cm length, fine julienne
• Chive, 2.5cm length, fine julienne
• 3 dots Chive Butter
• Mussel Lily Veloute

Recipe courtesy of Matthew Kirkley.

Matthew Kirkley Chef Feature