Sunchoke Ice Cream, Candied, and Fried with Spiced Genoise, Valrhona Dulcey Crémeux, and Cocoa Nibs

METHOD:

For the Sunchoke Ice Cream:

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. In vacuum bags, combine sunchokes and milk and vacuum seal. Place bags in boiling water and cook until sunchokes are tender. Empty bags into a bowl and purée with immersion blender. Strain mixture through a chinois, scale 1.25 kilograms sunchoke milk, and discard solids. In a large pot, combine sunchoke milk, brown sugar, glucose, and dextrose and bring to boil. Temper mixture into yolks, return mixture to pot, and heat to 182ºF to185ºF. Strain into a blender with milk powder, and blend until dissolved. Add xanthan gum and blend on high 1 minute. Blend in cream and salt. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Process in ice cream machine according to manufacturer’s instructions.

Dulcey Crémeux:

In a bowl, whisk together sugar and yolks until pale. In a medium pot, bring milk to a boil, remove from heat and stir in gelatin. Temper hot milk into yolk mixture, return to pot, and cook anglaise to 182ºF to185ºF, adding salt. Strain into bowl with Dulcey, stirring to combine. Cool mixture to 100 ºF. Gently fold in whipped cream. Refrigerate 4 hours and scrape into a piping bag with a petal tip.

For the Pear Genoise:

Heat oven to 325ºF. In a stand mixer fitted with a whisk, whip eggs and brown sugar to full volume. Pour pear purée in a medium bowl and gently fold in the egg foam. Fold in cake flour and pour onto a lined half sheet tray. Bake 15 minutes, turning tray halfway through. Remove from oven, cool, and cut into circles 3 inches in diameter.

For the Candied Sunchokes:

In a saucepan, combine all ingredients, bring to boil, and lower to simmer. Cook until sunchokes are translucent and a viscous, dark-brown syrup forms.

To Assemble and Serve:

Plate Pear Genoise and pipe Dulcey Crémeux in organic ribbons to the left. Place 3 pieces Candied Sunchoke on top of the Dulcey Crémeux, along with a generous sprinkle of cocoa nibs and sunchoke chips. Spoon a quenelle of Sunchoke Ice Cream on right side of the Pear Genoise.