Steemit Iron Chef 2017 #03: Beetroot Tart with Beetroot Sphere, Beetroot Logs and Goat Cheese

A beetroot tart, a beetroot sphere, beetroot logs and a mound of goat cheese.

For Week 3 of @progressivechef's Steemit Iron Chef, I chose to use different techniques to make the various components of the dish. Of note, I wanted to encapsulate beets in its liquid form. To do this, I used molecular gastronomy to create the beetroot sphere.

First, here's a photo of some of the tiny beets I used for plating. Like last week, I'm very lucky to have fresh produce from my friend Jean. They're just beautiful!!!

Merci, Jean, encore une fois!

See that beet bubble below? Pop in your mouth and enjoy the burst of flavorful beet juice! This now leads us to molecular gastronomy. Using the frozen reverse spherification technique, I encapsulated seasoned beet juice. The recipe is listed below but I will not go into too much detail here as there's a lot to it. However, please leave me a comment if you're interested in learning more.

It starts with the sodium alginate bath.

Then the beet juice is seasoned and mixed with calcium lactate and xanthan gum. The mixture is poured into hemisphere molds then put in the freezer.

The frozen hemispheres are then dropped into the sodium alginate bath. The calcium lactate in the beet mixture reacts with the sodium alginate to form a skin. The spheres are left in the bath only for a few minutes to gel. The longer the spheres are left in the bath, the thicker the skin. Ideally, you'll want a thin delicate skin and a liquid-y interior. This is definitely one great method for encapsulating liquid!

In the photo below, I had just dropped the frozen beet hemispheres into the sodium alginate bath. The sphere is gently swirled in the bath so that a skin is formed on the entire outer surface.

This is what it looks like when you slice into the sphere.

And now for the beet tart ...

For the crust, I made a savory dough.

Below is a photo showing the plated dish, waiting for the beet topping.

For the beet topping, I roasted huge beets. Once roasted, I cooked them in a balsamic vinegar syrup.

The balsamic vinegar-infused beets then go on top of the tart crust.

Now the goat cheese mound ... soften and pipe onto plate.

Lastly for the beetroot logs, boil (or roast) beets then use an apple corer to extract logs.
See the two different log colors? The bright yellow one is from a huge boiled golden beet. The striped orange one, surprisingly, is a chiogga beet. Yes, it's the magenta-and-white striped beet that changes to a totally different color after boiling. Strange, huh!

So here I deliver my entry for Steemit Iron Chef Week #3. Beetroot Tart with Beetroot Sphere, Beetroot Logs and Goat Cheese. Signed and dated. Voila!

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Beetroot Tart with Beetroot Sphere, Beetroot Logs and Goat Cheese

Ingredients

Beetroot Sphere (make a day in advance)

7.5 g sodium alginate
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1500 g cold distilled water
215 g beet juice
20 g lemon juice
2.35 g calcium lactate
0.35 xanthan gum

Beetroot Tart

Savory Crust

1 stick butter (8 tablespoons)
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup almond flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
1/4 cup water

Beet Topping

2 large beets
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
Salt

Goat Cheese Mound

4 oz goat cheese
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon chives, chopped (optional)

Beetroot Logs

Large beets

Directions

For the beetroot sphere (make a day in advance):

Sodium alginate bath

Combine sodium alginate and sugar.
Pour the distilled water in a high-speed blender. Turn blender on. When a vortex is formed, gradually add the sodium alginate mixture into the vortex. Continue to blend for ~2 minutes. Pour into a container and cover. Store the sodium alginate bath in the fridge overnight to allow the bubbles to rise to the surface and pop.

Beet mixture

Combine beet and lemon juices in a bowl. Add the calcium lactate and xantan gum. Use an immersion blender to combine all ingredients (approximately 2 minutes). Let sit for 30 minutes. Skim bubbles that have risen to the surface. Pour into small hemisphere mold. Freeze overnight.

Make spheres

Heat sodium alginate bath until it reaches 125^oF. In a separate bowl, pour water. This is the water bath.
Drop a frozen beet hemiphere into the sodium alginate bath. Gently swirl in the bath for ~2 minutes. As the skin forms, the beet hemispheres will transform to spheres.
Take the spheres from the sodium alginate bath and slowly lower into the water bath.
The beet root spheres' skin is permeable so do not leave them in the water bath as it will water down your sphere. Serve immediately. If spheres will not be served immediately, transfer them into a liquid or juice (can be the same flavor liquid) that would infuse the right flavors into the sphere.

For the beet tart

Beet topping

Wash beets and cut off ends. Boil or roast beets until tender. If roasting, bake in 375^oF for 40 minutes or until tender.

If serving as rounds, cut beet slices with a cookie cutter.
Combine balsamic vinegar, sugar and salt in a pan. Cook over low heat until sugar and salt dissolve. Put beets on balsamic vinegar mixture and continue to cook on low heat for 2 minutes. Turn beets over to cook the other side for another 2 minutes.

Savory crust

Cut butter into big chunks. Make sure butter is cold.

Place the dry ingredients in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse the mixture until combined.
Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Drizzle cold water onto the mixture while the food processor is running. Start with 1 tablespoon then add more as needed until the mixture forms a ball. There is no need to use up all the water if the dough has already formed a ball.

Put the dough on a floured surface. Roll until it is 1/4 inch think. If serving as rounds, use a cookie cutter (same as the size used for the beets) to cut out the shapes. Wrap dough with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight.

Preheat oven to 375^oF. Place dough on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake until golden (approximately 20 - 25 minutes). Let cool.

Goat Cheese Mounds

Soften goat cheese in the microwave for a few seconds, just enough to soften it. Add milk and chives. If mixture is too thick for piping, add more milk. Put in piping bag.

Beetroot Logs

Boil or roast beets until tender. If roasting, see Beet Tart section above. Pass an apple corer through the beets to form logs.
Note: Beets will discolor so make the logs just before serving.

Assembly

Lay crust on plate. Top with beet rounds.
Pipe goat cheese onto the plate.
For the spheres, since they have liquid inside, serve them on a spoon or leaf (as in photos) for ease of scooping and popping in the mouth.
Lay beetroot logs on the plate.
Garnish as desired.

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Thanks to @progressivechef for putting together Steemit Iron Chef. It's a wonderful opportunity to meet some of the greatest 'food creators'. Everyone has been supportive ... simply amazing and fun all around!

I will try to incorporate more molecular gastronomy techniques in future posts. Below are links to my previous posts on the subject. If you're interested in learning more about it, please indicate in the comments section.
Molecular Mixology with Chef Zachary
Strawberry Coulis Spheres - Part 1
Strawberry Coulis Spheres - Part 2

Thanks for visiting my post! Happy cooking and eating!