Make The Palomar's tahini ice cream
This luscious dessert from vaunted restaurant The Palomar is the perfect combination of sweet and savoury, served with cardamom crème anglaise, fig brûlée and filo tuile
Serves 8
Preparation time 10 mins
Cooking time 60 mins
Ingredients
- 250ml whipping cream
- 250ml double cream
- 100g egg yolks (6–7 eggs)
- 110g date syrup
- 110g honey
- 375ml tahini paste
For the cardamom crème anglaise
- 200ml milk
- 50ml double cream
- 50g granulated sugar
- 2 cardamom pods, bruised
- 50g egg yolks (3–4 eggs)
For the filo tuile
- 2 standard-sized sheets of filo pastry
- 25g butter, melted
- 1 tsp granulated sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp demerara sugar
For the fig brûlée
- 6 figs
- 3 tbsp granulated sugar
Method
- To make the tahini ice cream, place both the creams in a saucepan and bring to a simmer, then remove from the heat. Place the egg yolks in a bowl and slowly add one third of the simmering cream while whisking constantly, being careful not to cook the yolks.
- When your cream and yolks are almost at the same temperature, gradually add the egg yolk back to the saucepan, again while constantly whisking. Next, whisk in the date syrup and honey, then the tahini paste.
- Transfer the mixture to a lidded freezer-proof container and leave in the freezer overnight. The ice cream can be kept in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- To make the cardamom crème anglaise, place the milk, cream, sugar and cardamom pods in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Place the yolks in a bowl and slowly add one-third of the simmering cream while constantly whisking, then gradually add the egg yolk back to the saucepan, again whisking constantly.
- Heat the mixture, stirring constantly, until it reaches a temperature of 84°C.
- Pass the custard through a fine sieve into a bowl, then to stop the cooking process, dip the bowl in a second bowl of iced water.
- To make the filo tuile, preheat your oven to 200°C. Lay one sheet of filo on a baking sheet and brush it with one third of the melted butter using a pastry brush, then sprinkle with half the granulated sugar and cinnamon. Lay the second filo sheet on top (tap it a bit to make the sheets stick together) and repeat. Fold the filo sheets in half so that you have 4 layers of filo, which means you have one edge that holds all the sheets together.
- Spread the rest of the butter over the top filo sheet and scatter with the demerara sugar.
- Cut the stacked sheets into 8 evenly sized pieces and bake for 10–12 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
- Make the fig brûlée just before assembling your dish. Cut the figs into quarters, sprinkle the sugar evenly over the cut side of the figs and then grill under a high heat in the oven, being careful not to burn them.
- To assemble the dish, spoon the cardamom crème anglaise in a circle on 8 plates and crumble some of the tuile in the centre (this is to stop the ice cream from moving). Scoop a quenelle of the tahini ice cream (by passing between two spoons) on top, place 3 fig quarters on each plate and decorate with the filo tuile.
The Palomar Cookbook is published by Mitchell Beazley (£25); thepalomar.co.uk
