Cream Of Parmesan Reggiano With A Veil Of 6 Assorted Wild And Cultivated Basil Varieties And Pine Nuts
Quique Dacosta Restaurante
Chef: Quique Dacosta
Country: España
City: 03700 Dénia
Address: Las Marinas, km. 3.
(+34) 965784179quiquedacosta@quiquedacosta.es
We said it in the last edition of this guidebook: Quique Dacosta is conquering the world of the chef’s hats. One year later we must specify: he’s no longer conquering, he’s now officially established as a central figure.
In 2005 he has created a personal, distinctive style that places him among the very best worldwide with his experimental but solid cuisine and already numerous masterpieces : Guggenheim Bilbao; Cold spider crab soup with fennel and aerated aloe vera; Barnacles with hollowed zucchini, little spider crab juice, and licorice leaves; Foie gras with corn, corn sprouts and duck stock; Carneroli rice honeyed with aloe vera… as well as this astonishing triumph that transgresses the universality of the parmesano-reggiano, gastronomic patrimony of world cuisine.
Why transgress, you may ask? Because it embodies the notion of transmogrifying the consistency of such celebrated cheese, while at the same time preserving its flavorful identity. In place of the crystallized cheese, a delicate, evanescent cream of parmesano-reggiano and soymilk is offered that bursts in the mouth with such sublime flavor that it leaves a surprising and wonderful sensation. After the initial visual effect of the green, organic veil of 6 basils that arrive as if they had been planted in an aromatic garden of delicacies, the flavorful impact of the cheese envelops the palate. Ever inspired by the past, magical touches are then added to this superbly elegant revolution of Parmesan and basil: apple brunoise, toasted pine nuts, bread slices… harmony.
Gracious brilliance.
The Recipe
Cream of Parmesan Reggiano and soymilk
Ingredients
- 200 g Parmesan Reggiano reserve, 3 years
- 500 g soymilk
- 1 gelatin leaf
Method
We chop the Parmesan very fresh and place it in a blender. While heating the milk to 85ºC, we add the cheese to a low blender speed over the course of 5 minutes.
We pass it to a pastry bag and refrigerate. The product only lasts a single day. The creaminess and the magic unctuosity that the cheese attains in this mixture with the soymilk diminish 50% within 24 hours.
The plate should contain no more than 40 g of the mixture. It is imperative that the proportions are correct because although it is a second course on the menu and considered a salad, if we exceed ourselves with too much cream of parmesan it will saturate the palate, so a previous analysis must be made before serving.
For the velvety basil veil
Ingredients
- 350 g liquidized chard (leaves only, no stems). Scald in boiling water for 10 seconds then refreshed in cold, unsalted water.
- 300 g mineral water.
- 3.4 g agar
- 2 gelatin leaves
- Icing salt
Method
We heat the mineral water then add in the agar and the gelatin leaves. We then remove it from the heat and when it cools to 64ºC, we mix in the liquidized, cold chard. Smoothing it out on a large tray so that we end up with a 2 mm high sheet.
We then cut it with a steel pasta cutter into pieces 10 cm in diameter and keep it cold until just before coating it with the cheese and soymilk mixture.
In addition
Ingredients
- Zest of one ripe lemon (to aromatize the cheese once on the plate and before positioning the veil)
- 6 raw pine nuts, to be placed on top of the veil.
- 6 varieties of basil in different states. Seeds, sprouts, leaves, shoots, flowers and micro-vegetables.
- Extra virgin arbequina olive oil
- 6 cubes of granny Smith apple, of ½ x ½ cm.
- Salt flakes.
Method
All positioned carefully on the velvet veil of basil and chard.