Sylvestre Wahid’s “Variation Around the Beet”

Serves 4

Ingredients

For the Brioche Pastry:

• 417g t45 flour
• 10g salt
• 50g sugar
• 12g trimoline
• 278g egg
• 200g butter
• 25g yeast
• 250g butter for turning

For the Multicolored Beet Tartlet:

• 1 large yellow beetroot
• 1 large white beetroot
• 1 large red beetroot
• 1 large Chioggia beetroot

For the Brioche Beetroot:

• 1 bunch mini yellow beetroots
• Brioche pastry (above)
• 3 slices of black truffle per beetroot

For the Beet Vinaigrette:

• 3 red beets
• Olive oil seasoning
• Barolo vinegar
• Truffle oil
• Chopped truffle

For the Truffle Cream:

• 1 cup of mascarpone
• 1 tbsp of raw cream
• Chopped truffle
• Truffle oil
• Yellow lemon juice
• Salt
• Pepper

For the Foie Gras:

• 4 slices of raw foie gras, each weighing 45g
• Red beetroot leaves
• Grated horseradish

For Garnish:

• Purple shiso
• Green shiso
• Thought flower
• Beet sprout
• Red chard shoot

Method

For the Brioche Pastry Dough:

1. Combine the flour, salt, sugar, trimoline, eggs and yeast.
2. Mix until the dough begins to peel of the walls of the mixing bowl.
3. Add the 200g of butter and knead until the mixture reaches 24°C.
4. Remove the dough from the bowl, and put it aside to prove for 1 hour at room temperature, then fold it once.
5. Store in a cold place for 12 hours.
6. Roll out the dough, and make 3 simple turns with the remaining 250g of butter

For the Multicolored Beet Tartlet:

1. Wash the multicolored beets, season with salt and wrap in aluminium foil.
2. Cook the covered beets on a plate in the oven at 180°C for 90 minutes.
3. Leave the beets to cool.
4. Slice the beets in a ham slicer on “5”, then cut out pistoles with an 8mm diameter plain pastry cutter.
5. Separate the colors into bowls, and marinate each color with some barolo vinegar, Ardoino oil and chopped truffle.
6. Cook a four 50mm diameter circles of brioche dough at 160°C for 8 minutes.
7. Assemble the tartlets with the beetroot pistoles by setting alternate colors on top of the brioche round.

For the Brioche Beetroot:

1. Wash the mini beetroots.
2. In a casserole, arrange the mini beets straight in coarse salt, then cover with coarse salt.
3. Cook covered in the oven at 180°C for 1 hour.
4. Lightly scrape the beets with paper to remove the thin skin of the beetroot without damaging it.
5. Cut each beet into three parts lengthwise, and introduce a slice of truffle between each.
6. Roll out the brioche dough, arrange the beets and mold them in a circle of 50mm diameter 50mm.
7. Leave the dough to rise in a temperate place and then bake at 160°C for 15 min.

For the Vinaigrette:

1. Juice the 3 red beets in a juicer.
2. Recover the flesh of the beets from the juicer and then dry them in the oven at 85°C for 3h.
3. Place the dried beetroot flesh in a thermomix to obtain a powder.
4.  Make the vinaigrette with the beet juice, truffle oil, olive oil and barolo vinegar.

For the Truffle Cream:

1. Whip the raw cream with the mascarpone.
2. Season with the minced truffle, lemon juice, salt and pepper.
3. Correct the seasoning with fleur de sel, freshly ground pepper and a dash of truffle oil if necessary.

For the Foie Gras:

1. Blanch the beet leaves.
2. Spread on sheets of paper and break the ribs with a rolling pin.
3. Wrap the slices of foie gras in the chard leaf and cook in a steam oven at 90°C for 8 min.
4. Season with horseradish, fleur de sel and pepper mignonette.

To Serve

1. Season the beet shoots with olive oil and fleur de sel.
2. Arrange the beet tartlet, brioche beetroot and foie gras on the plate. Decorate with some thought flowers, purple shiso, green shiso and fried red chard leaves.
3. Finish with the vinaigrette and truffle cream.

Note: fleur de sel refers to salt smoked over alder of British Columbia

Recipe Courtesy of Sylvestre Wahid at Restaurant Sylvestre Wahid  in Paris.
Sylvestre Wahid Chef Feature.