Butternut squash velouté, pearl barley cracker, parmesan crémeux and Iberian ham

Serves 4-5 as a starter Starters and mains

Advertisement

Method

To make the smoked squash velouté, cut the butternut directly down the middle. Remove the seeds and discard. Cut each half into five long pieces, season and dress in olive oil. Roll in foil, making sure there are no holes. Cook in the oven at 180C/350F/ Gas 4 for 35 minutes, until soft.

Heat the Big Green Egg or barbecue and soak the applewood smoking chips in water. When the barbecue reaches 120C/248F, add the chips to the coals, place the squash on the rack and smoke for 20 minutes. Finely slice the onion and garlic and sweat in a little oil. Lightly season. Add the stock and bring to the boil. Scrape the flesh from the smoked squash and add to the stock with the saffron. Bring to the boil and simmer for 3 minutes. Add the beurre noisette and crème fraîche. Whizz in a blender until smooth. Pass through a fine sieve. Season with some salt and sherry vinegar.

To make the crushed butternut squash, peel the squash, cut down the middle and remove the seeds. Chop the squash roughly into 2cm cubes. Season with salt and beurre noisette. Place one layer in a boilable vacuum pack bag. Steam at 100C/212F for 30 minutes until soft. Strain off through a sieve and retain the liquor. Place the liquor into a saucepan and reduce to a thick emulsion. Chop the squash until very fine. Place in a bowl and beat in a small amount of the butter emulsion along with parmesan and a couple of twists of black pepper. Mix together and season with salt.

To make the barley cracker, place the barley along with 400ml of water into a pan and bring to the boil. Simmer for around 15 minutes, or until the barley is soft. It should still be quite wet at this point. Place half in a blender and blend for 10 seconds until it is lightly puréed. Pour back into the pan with the rest of the barley and bring back to the boil, stirring constantly. It should be the consistency of thick wallpaper paste. Spread the mixture, still warm, onto a baking mat in an even 3mm thickness.

Dry in an oven at 70C/158F/ Gas 1 for 2 hours. When dry, fry in a small pan of oil at 210C/410F. Drain well and season. Break into 5-6cm long shards and store.

To make the sherry vinegar jelly, put all the ingredients into a pan. Bring to the boil, whisking constantly. Lightly spray a 9cm x 10cm baking tray with oil and then pour the jelly into it. Allow to set. Cut into 1cm dice.

To make the parmesan crémeux, bring the milk and cream to the boil. Add the gelatine and parmesan and lightly season. Blend and pass through a fine sieve. Allow to set. Whip, then place in a piping bag. Set aside in the fridge until required.

For the pumpkin seeds, toast the seeds in a small amount of oil in a pan. Season and drain on kitchen paper. Lightly dust with vinegar powder.

To serve, pipe five dots of crémeux on the cracker. Place five sherry vinegar jellies in between and five pumpkin seeds on top of each dot of crémeux, and grate chestnut over the top using a microplane. Place 1mm strips of Iberian ham and some sorrel leaves on top. Warm the crushed butternut and the velouté, then place a large quenelle of crushed butternut in the bowl. Place the prepared cracker on top and pour the velouté around the cracker in front of your guests.