This was intended as a brief palate cleanser after two relatively heavy, meaty amuses. It's a frozen whipped lime meringue with some garnishes. I thought it served its function perfectly while also being delicious and unexpected.

Frozen, Whipped Lime Meringue
150g lime juice
110g lemongrass-infused water
40g sugar
4g salt
3.8g versawhip (1.25%)
2g xanthan gum (.66%)

Bring a couple hundred grams of water to a boil with a bunch of lemongrass, then turn off the heat and let steep for 20 minutes. Strain. Measure out 110g of this lemongrass stock and save the rest for other uses.

Combine all ingredients in a quart container and blend with an immersion blender to hydrate the additives. At this point, you can stop and hold the ingredients for up to a week.

Transfer everything to a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, and whisk until foam has reached maximum volume and glossiness, which will take quite a while, maybe ten minutes on medium-high speed. Transfer contents to a plastic piping bag and pipe shapes like Hershey's kisses on a Silpat on a sheet pan. Transfer to a freezer (or, preferably, a blast chiller) until fully frozen, about four hours in my crappy consumer freezer. Transfer to an airtight freeze-able container (an offset spatula is helpful), then use within two days.

To use, garnish with a bit of peanut, grated ginger, Thai chili, and Thai basil (I used cinnamon basil because I had it).

Posted by Barzelay on 2009/11/24 @ 19:57 | Comments (0) | Desserts, Food Additives, Lazy Bear, Veggies, Fruit, Grain, Cheese