Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 3 gelatine leaves
- 3 1/2 pounds (1.6 kg) peas
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) heavy cream
- Fine salt
- Freshly ground pepper
- Small container watercress
- 4 eggs
- 1 bunch chives
- 7 tablespoons (100 ml) olive oil
- Small container purple shiso
- Fleur de sel (sea salt)
- 4 slices from a sourdough loaf
- Borage and other edible flowers (TFG addition)
Instructions
- Soak the gelatine in cold water.
- Shell the peas. Put half of them in a juicer, make juice.
- Take 1 ¼ cups (300 ml) of this juice, season it, and heat one-third of it. Add the gelatine, mix, and add the remaining juice. Pass it through a chinois, and pour the jelly into four shallow plates, to a thickness of 1/8-inch (2-mm).
- Cook the rest of the peas à l’anglaise in a large pan of boiling salted water. When they are al dente, remove half of them and refresh them in cold water, then set them aside. Leave the other half to cook longer, to make a purée, and drain them well.
- When heated, the pea juice becomes clearer and turns slightly brown, which is why you only heat one-third of it to melt the gelatine.
- Make the pea purée:
- Place the peas that cooked longer in a food processor; add the cream little by little, plus a tablespoonful of crushed ice. Blend for a few minutes to obtain a very smooth purée. Season to taste with salt and pepper, sieve, and set aside. Dilute the purée with a little water if it is too thick.
- Cut the watercress at the base, using scissors, and wash it in a large volume of water. Dry it out gently on paper towels and set aside.
- Cook the eggs:
- Soft-boil the eggs by plunging them into a saucepan of water at 150°F (64°C). Cook for 40 minutes over a low heat, checking the water temperature with a thermometer.
- Make the chive oil:
- Coarsely chop the chives and blend them with the olive oil in a blender, or with a hand blender, then pass the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve.
- Take the peas out of their thin skin and season them with chive oil, salt, and pepper.
- Skinning the peas is a long, painstaking process, but it’s essential to get perfect results!
- To serve:
- Lay a tablespoonful of purée in the middle of each plate, then arrange the skinned, seasoned peas carefully around it. Add the watercress in the form of a nest, then place 5 shiso leaves in a star shape.
- At the last moment, gently place the hot soft-boiled egg on top of the purée and season it with a pinch of fleur de sel and pepper. Finish by garnishing the top with a head of shiso and pouring a fine ring of chive oil all around the plate.
- Serve a slice of toast coated with chive oil to accompany this dish. TFD OPTIONAL ADDITION: GARNISH WITH BORAGE AND OTHER EDIBLE FLOWERS.
- This recipe was originally published in “My Best Guy Savoy” (Éditions Alain Ducasse).
- Prep Time: 0 hours
- Cook Time: 0 hours
- Category: Recipes
