Tons of morels (about 3 oz per person!) sauteed in very flavorful brown butter, served with these really awesome little brown butter "pebbles," orecchiette, microplaned Marcona almond, lemon juice, chives, and no-fat brown butter sauce. UPDATE: I forgot to mention that the orechiette was a second-night addition which made the course more substantive and well-rounded, and also helped absorb and round out the sauce.

The sauce was made by simmering intense brown butter solids in water, leaving to steep overnight, then straining and clarifying. I used agar clarification to clarify, which works pretty well. Then I reduced that brown butter water a bit, added a touch of milk, thickened it slightly, and added salt.

I've used brown butter solids three or four times in the last several months, and each time I've used the same butterfat for browning the milk solids. As a result, that butterfat had become SO nutty and had such an intense depth of flavor far beyond any normal beurre noisette. So I used that brown butterfat to saute the morels. I also made brown butter "pebbles." They are awesome! The texture changes from the outside in. On the outside is a dry, powdery coating. Just inside that is a crunchy layer. Then on the inside is the moist paste. I got this technique from pastry chef Ron Mendoza (his blog, one spoon quenelle, is fantastic), though my understanding is that his "pebbles" are sauteed in a nonstick pan rather than baked, and usually have something else holding them together (white chocolate or graham cracker crumbs are the two examples I've seen so far). I tried sauteeing but for me it resulted in some flat sides and required constant tending. Would have taken forever to make them in any bulk.

Brown Butter Pebbles
250g brown butter fat, strained of solids, warm
~75g tapioca maltodextrin
5g salt, finely ground

For the brown butter pebbles, you mix the warm, liquid brown butterfat with tapioca maltodextrin as if making a powder (and season with the salt). When you start adding maltodextrin, you'll reach a point where the butter and malto forms a paste, and if you keep adding it, eventually it'll form a powder, as chefs often do. But between those two points (paste and powder), the paste will reach a point where you can easily roll it into balls that will hold together but won't stick too much to your hands. Too little malto and it'll stick to your hands too much. Too much malto and the balls won't hold together. The proportions listed here are estimates. You can only get it right by feel. Form the little balls (about half an inch in diameter), then put them on a piece of parchment paper on a sheet pan, without them touching other balls. Toast for maybe three to five minutes at 375F. Let them cool completely then hold them in an airtight container until you want to use them.

Posted by Barzelay on 2010/04/07 @ 2:06 | Comments (0) | Food Additives, Lazy Bear, Sauces, Condiments, Veggies, Fruit, Grain, Cheese