Burnt Goat’s Curd Cheese with Apple Purée and Salted Caramel by The Petersham Restaurant

Serves

4

Prep Time

60 mins

Cooking Time

10 mins

Ingredients

For the salad

• 150g soft, matured goat’s cheese, sliced into 12 pieces
• 3 green apples cut into spheres with a melon baller
• 2 black figs sliced into 6 pieces
• 1 handful of black olives, pitted
• sourdough bread cut into cubes
• chopped rosemary
• dill
• edible flowers, optional

For the salted caramel

• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp golden syrup
• 100ml double cream
• 15g butter
• 1 tbsp water

Method

• For the black olive powder, wash the black olives and pre-heat the oven to 120 degrees centigrade. Place them on parchment paper on a baking tray and cook in the oven for approximately 40 minutes until hard and dry. Once cool, use a blender to blitz the dry olives into a fine powder and set aside
• To create the salted caramel, place the brown sugar, golden syrup and water into a small pan and simmer. When melted, add the butter and double cream with a pinch of sea salt. Fold everything together until smooth before putting aside.
• Create your apple spheres using the melon baller and place in lemon water to prevent discolouring.
• Cut the remaining apple from the core into small pieces and sprinkle with sugar. Cook in a pan until soft, then blitz together in a blender to make a purée.
• Mix the sourdough bread cubes with olive oil, chopped rosemary and salt and pepper and toast in a pan until the oil is soaked up and the cubes are crunchy like croutons.
• Preheat the grill. Remove the goat’s cheese from the fridge and dust with a little icing sugar. When the grill is hot enough, place the cheese underneath it and heat until it is has browned a warm golden colour.
• Remove the apple balls from the lemon water. Plate the burnt cheese, apple balls, fig pieces, black olive powder, a handful of croutons and the dill together with the edible flowers, if you are using them. Dot the apple purée and salted caramel either side of the cheese to taste.