This week my co-host Lazaro @ Lazaro Cooks! and I are very excited to announce a new 2011 5 Star Makeover. This new 5 Star Makeover will be different from the last year's event, as it will not be a competition, but rather a cooking group, with participating bloggers sharing ideas and creating gourmet makeovers of selected classic dishes or flavor combinations. This month our theme is "Bacon & Eggs", a trendy flavor combination in fine dining restaurants right now. We will be publishing our posts throughout this week, and then will post a final roundup on Friday. The participants in our new 5 Star Makeover group include:
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For my "Bacon & Eggs" dish I decided to put together a very playful dish of smoked paprika egg mousse, piquillo pepper gelée, and bacon fried croutons assembled together in a rubix cube. The flavors of these three different components blend in perfectly with the smoky flavors of the egg mousse, sweetness and just a little touch of spice from the piquillo pepper gelée, and wonderful satisfying saltiness of the bacon fried croutons.
To make this rubix cube, you will need two molds with small squares or mini ice cube trays. I purchased these ice cube trays at Amazon.com which worked just perfectly. Alternatively, you can form different shapes, layer the components on top of one another, or even serve them separately on one plate if you wish.
smoked paprika egg mousse
2 hard-boiled eggs, cooled, chopped
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
Salt to taste
1/4 cup chicken stock
1 teaspoon gelatin
1/3 cup whipped cream
piquillo pepper gelée
1/4 red wine vinegar
1/4 sweet white wine or mirin
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup roasted piquillo peppers, seeded, skinned, chopped
1 teaspoon gelatin
bacon fried croutons
1- or 2- day old French or Italian style bread
1 cup diced bacon (I used Mangalitsa bacon from MarxFoods)
Directions:
smoked paprika egg mousse
Place the eggs, paprika, and salt into a food processor and blend into a paste. Taste to make sure there's enough salt.
Heat stock and gelatin in a small saucepan, stirring, until the gelatin is dissolved. Cool.
Whip the cream to high peaks. Fold in stock and then the egg mixture. Place evenly into a mold with small squares. Smooth the tops. Refrigerate for at least a few hours until set or overnight.
piquillo pepper gelée
Combine red wine vinegar, mirin, honey, sugar, and piquillo peppers in a food processor, mix until very smooth. Strain. Pour into a saucepan, add gelatin, and bring to simmer slowly, stirring. Simmer until the gelatin is dissolved. Cool. Pour carefully into each square of the mold. Refrigerate for at least a few hours until set or overnight.
bacon fried croutons
Remove the crust from the bread and slice into little squares to match the squares of the mold used for the egg mousse and piquillo pepper gelée (I used approximately 1 cup of small croutons).
Place bacon in a skillet and heat it slowly allowing for the fat to melt (do not let the bacon crisp). Add the bread pieces and mix well to let the bread absorb the bacon fat. Fry until croutons are crispy on all sides.
to assemble:
To assemble one rubix cube, stack the 9 egg mousse cubes, 9 piquillo pepper gelée cubes, and 9 bacon croutons alternating, in three rows and three columns forming a rubix cube.
