Recipe: Sea Buckthorn and Beetroot Flødeboller

the appetizer:

Noma: Time and Place in Nordic Cuisine by René Redzepi includes recipes like Sea Buckthorn and Beetroot Flødeboller; Musk Ox and Fresh Young Garlic, Milk Skin and Caramelized Garlic; and Beetroot and Aromatic Seeds, Red Gooseberries and Dewberries.

Sea Buckthorn and
Beetroot Flødeboller

Flødeboller are a very traditional sweet in Denmark, consisting of a very sweet meringue covered with chocolate. They are often served for birthdays or other celebrations.

140g beetroot (beet) juice
119g sugar
72g glucose
15g egg white powder

4g pectin
181 g sugar
165g beetroot (beet) juice
40g glucose
1g citric acid

120g plain (all-purpose) flour
4g malt flour
65g sugar
Pinch of salt
100g butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
18g egg yolks

200g couverture chocolate
20g powdered cocoa butter

230g water
145g sugar
85g glucose
265g sea buckthorn juice
35g egg white powder
2 sheets gelatine

Beetroot meringue

Measure out 95g of the beetroot juice, bring to the boil in a pan and cool. In another pan, heat the remaining beetroot juice, 112g of the sugar and all the glucose until it forms a caramel at 117 degrees C (242 degrees F). Add the remaining sugar and the egg white powder to the cold beetroot juice and whisk with the caramel to make an Italian meringue.

Beetroot gel

Mix the pectin with 16g sugar. Add the beetroot juice to the glucose in a pan and dissolve the remaining 165g sugar into the mixture. Add the the pectin and sugar mixture and cook until the temperature reaches 106 degrees C (223 degrees F), then add the acid. Pour into containers, cool in the refrigerator and cut into 2-mm dice.

Malt biscuits (cookies)

In a large bowl, slowly incorporate the flour, malt flour, sugar and salt into the butter until well mixed. Add the egg yolks and mix to a dough with a spatula. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C (340 degrees F) and grease a baking tray. Roll out the dough on a floured suface and cut into 2-cm rounds. Bake for 10 minutes.

Chocolate glaze

Melt the chocolate and cocoa butter in a double boiler and bring the temperature up to 50 degrees C (120 degrees F). Temper it to 27 degrees C (80 degrees F) and take it back up to 30 degrees C (86 degrees F). Tempering a larger quantity of chocolate than stated in the recipe will make the job a lot easier.

Sea buckthorn meringue

Put 65g of the water, 120g of the sugar and all the glucose in a pan and heat to 121 degrees C (250 degrees F) to make a syrup. Heat the sea buckthorn juice in a pan and cook until reduced to 65g, then cool. Put the remaining water and sugar with the egg white powder in a large bowl and whisk to soft peaks. Whisk in the syrup to make an Italian meringue. Bloom the gelatine and add to the mixture while still warm. Finally, add the reduced sea buckthorn juice.

Assembly

When the biscuits have baked and cooled, place them a few centimetres apart on a perforated tray. For the beet version, fold the gel into the beetroot meringue, fill a piping (pastry) bag, pipe a little on each biscuit and refrigerate. For the sea buckthorn version, follow the same procedure with the sea buckthorn but without adding gels. When cold, cover the flødeboller with the chocolate mixture and cool in the refrigerator until serving.