Smoked Honey Goat Cheese...Smoked Honey Goat Cheese Crémeux with Caramelized Figs

An elegant avant-garde plated dessert featuring a velvety smoked honey and goat cheese crémeux, paired with caramelized fresh figs and a buttery pine nut sablé.

Ingredients

Cooking Instructions

1. 01

   For the Pine Nut Sablé: In a bowl, combine the ground pine nuts, flour, powdered sugar, and fleur de sel. Rub in 75g of cold cubed butter with your fingertips until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add one egg yolk and bring the dough together. Roll out between two sheets of parchment paper to 3mm thickness and chill for 30 minutes.

2. 02

   Preheat the oven to 170°C (340°F). Cut the chilled dough into four 8cm discs and bake on a lined tray for 12 minutes until light golden brown. Cool completely on a wire rack.

3. 03

   For the Crémeux: Bloom the gelatin sheets in cold water for 5-10 minutes. In a small saucepan, heat 100ml of heavy cream and the smoked honey until scalding. Whisk the remaining two egg yolks in a bowl, then slowly temper with the hot cream mixture. Return to the saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until it reaches 82°C (180°F) and coats the back of a spoon.

4. 04

   Remove the custard from heat, squeeze excess water from the gelatin, and stir it into the hot custard to dissolve. Whisk in the goat cheese until completely smooth. Pass through a fine chinois. Whip the remaining 100ml of heavy cream to soft peaks and gently fold into the cooled goat cheese custard. Pipe into silicone disc molds and freeze for at least 3 hours to set.

5. 05

   For the Caramelized Figs: Melt the remaining 20g of butter with the demerara sugar and the rosemary sprig in a sauté pan over medium-high heat. Place the halved figs cut-side down and sear for 2 minutes until beautifully caramelized and softened. Baste with the pan syrup, remove from heat, and discard the rosemary.

6. 06

   To Assemble: Unmold the frozen goat cheese crémeux discs and let them temper at room temperature for 15 minutes. Place a pine nut sablé in the center of each serving plate. Carefully top with a crémeux disc. Arrange four warm caramelized fig halves around the crémeux, drizzle with the remaining warm honey-butter syrup from the pan, and garnish elegantly with micro-herbs and toasted pine nuts.