Can’t live without…

PHOTOS: Dirk Pieters | PRODUCTION: Abigail Donnelly AND Hannah Lewry 

Verjuice, 70% dark chocolate, vanilla paste – only a few years ago, they weren’t on our shopping lists because they weren’t yet freely available in this country. Abigail Donnelly selects five ingredients that have come into fashion in the last decade.

1. ORANGE BLOSSOM WATER

Orange-blossom marshmallows with candied orange rind

4 T powdered gelatine
1 cup warm water
3 cups caster sugar
1 cups glucose syrup
2/3 cup water, extra
1 t orange blossom water
2 cups icing sugar
1/3 cup cornflour

Place the gelatine and warm water in the bowl of an electric whisker. Mix well to combine and set aside. Place the caster sugar, glucose syrup and extra water in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to the boil and cook without stirring for 5-6 minutes. With the mixer running at high speed, gradually add the hot syrup to the gelatine mixture. Add the orange blossom water and beat for 10 minutes or until thick and fluffy.

Line a baking tray with grease-proof paper. Combine the icing sugar and cornflour in a bowl and generously sprinkle the surface of the lined baking trays with half the amount of icing sugar mixture. Spoon out big dollops of marshmallow onto the lined baking trays, dust the marshmallows with the remaining icing sugar mixture and leave to set in the fridge overnight.

Candied orange rind

6 oranges, cut into quarters
1 cup water
1½ cups sugar

Use a sharp knife to remove the flesh from the quartered oranges. Place the rind quarters in a large bowl of boiling water and leave to soak for 10 minutes. After soaking, use a teaspoon to scrape out the pith, taking care not to tear the rind. Place a saucepan over a high heat. Add the water and sugar and bring to the boil to create a syrup.

Once boiling, add the orange peels and leave to simmer for about 40 minutes until almost transparent and glossy. Remove the peel pieces from the syrup and place them on a silicone mat before they start to crystallize. Leave to cool. Stack the soft fluffy marshmallows and candied orange in layers and dust them with icing sugar before serving.

2. SCALLOPS

Opaque seared scallops with fresh lime and Spanish green tomatoes

2 T olive oil
8 large, plump scallops
1 Mediterranean gherkin
2 Spanish green tomatoes, diced
1 lime, sliced into thin wedges
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to season

Place a large non-stick pan over a high heat and add the olive oil. Once the oil is hot, add the scallops and quickly sear them on each side for about 3 minutes until golden and juicy. Remove the scallops from the pan and place each one on a separate plate. Using a vegetable peeler, shave long ribbons from the Mediterranean gherkin and arrange a strand on top of some of the scallops. Top the remaining scallops with the diced Spanish green tomatoes and serve with wedges of fresh lime. Season to taste.

3. VERJUICE

Bronze verjuice-and-litchi jelly glaciers

3 gelatine leaves
½ cup verjuice
2 cups litchi juice

Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water until soft and then drain the excess water. Place a saucepan over a medium to high heat and add the verjuice and litchi juice. Once warm, add the soaked gelatine leaves, stirring until dissolved. Leave the jelly mixture to simmer for about 5 minutes, remove from the heat and pour into a rectangular jelly mould.

Place the jelly in the fridge to set overnight. Once set, run a palate knife around the edges of the mould, place the bottom of the mould in warm water for about 30 seconds, then flip it over and decant the jelly. Cut the jelly into squares with a sharp knife and serve.

4. 70% DARK CHOCOLATE

Place 300 g of dark chocolate in a heat-proof glass bowl. Place the bowl over a saucepan containing a little simmering water to melt. Once the chocolate is glossy and luxuriously thick, spoon it into a piping bag and use it to create decorative images or words on dessert plates.

5. VANILLA PASTE

Sugared glass gems with fragrant vanilla centres

2 cups sugar
vanilla paste

Place a saucepan over high heat, add the sugar and leave it to melt without stirring. Once dissolved to form a caramel sugar, remove the saucepan from the heat and carefully spoon the sugar into half-ball silicone moulds and leave to set. Once completely set, pop the sugared glass halves out of the moulds and fill half of them with ¼ t vanilla paste. Then cover each one with another sugared glass half to create sugar balls with vanilla centres.

Create a beautiful visual impact by serving the gems with panna cotta.