No classic brûlée & Nogroni
Recipe, Food-Styling: Mattia Risaliti Styling, Photo: Oliver Schwarzwald
From dessert to appetizer.
A classic pairing of a special kind. On the one hand "Negroni", one of the most famous pre-dinner classics on the other hand the good old Crème Brûlée . Negroni becomes Nogroni with a double dose of non-alcoholic vermouth. The crème becomes a savory appetizer. In the Nogroni, Undone's white Vermouth No.8 highlights the floral notes of the Momontaro gin. Pure, the alcohol-free gin seems a bit perfumed, but in the mix it plays to its strength. Tart notes are brought by a shot of Palermo Bitter. This is listed as a non-alcoholic vermouth, but I find it also has a neat slant towards bitter / Amaro. In non-alcoholic versions of classic bitter cocktails, I think it's very important to dose the bitters well. In these drinks, the alcoholic burn is missing, which covers heavy and bitter portions well, i.e. burns away. That's why I often find a 1:1 copy without alcohol to be incomplete. It tries to imitate something that does not need to be imitated.
I like abstaining from alcohol, who needs it, but the taste should remain in balance. And that's what it does here.
The nogroni is accompanied by a savory crème brûlée. Fennel gives the cream an exciting note. It gets heartily salty with anchovies and capers. If you don't like anchovies, you can leave them out. But a pinch of salt or a little more capers should not be missing. In addition to bitterness, the drink also brings sweetness, which must be absorbed. Be brave, go for the anchovies, it's worth it. Cheers, Sober Buddies.
Fennel crème brûlée
Preparation time: 30 minutes plus 1 hour infusion!
Cooking time: 25 minutes, plus cooling
Suitable for: 6
Ingredients
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
3 fennel
140ml whole milk
6 large egg yolks
90g sugar
4 anchovies
1 teaspoon capers
1 orange squeezed
Dry roast the fennel seeds in a hot pan until fragrant. Slowly heat the milk in a saucepan with the toasted fennel seeds to below boiling point. Remove from heat and let steep for 1 hour. Provide a 1-liter roasting dish or 6 x 150-ml ramekins in a roasting pan.
Cut the fennel 2.5 into large pieces. Boil the fennel in a pot of salted water until tender. Transfer to a blender and blend the fennel to a homogeneous puree.
Preheat the oven to 140 degrees/gas 1 and reheat the milk. In the meantime, whisk the egg yolks and 60 g of sugar in a large bowl until homogeneous. Stir the fennel puree into the hot milk. Remove the saucepan from the heat and drizzle the fennel-milk mixture into the egg mixture, stirring constantly until everything is well blended.
Strain the mixture through a fine sieve, removing the fennel seeds. Now pour the mixture into the baking dish or divide it among the ramekins. Fill the roasting dish halfway with boiling water.
Bake for about 20-25 minutes, until the mixture is slightly firm. Shake the dish gently to test. Remove from oven and let cool completely. Chill until ready to serve.
Thinly slice remaining fennel. Mix with the finely chopped capers and anchovies, mix. Toss with the juice of the orange and set aside.
For the brûlée, sprinkle the remaining 30 g of sugar over the pudding, swirl over the surface with a burner until the sugar is caramelized. Then garnish with the fennel salad.
Food-Styling: Mattia Risaliti Styling, Photo: Oliver Schwarzwald
The drink
4.5 cl non-alcoholic gin Momotaro
2cl non-alcoholic vermouth Undone No.8
2cl non-alcoholic Palermo Rosso
Peel of an untreated orange
Add all ingredients to a mixing glass.Fill mixing glass completely with ice stir for about 30 seconds. Prepare a glass/tumbler with ice cubes. Strain the cocktail into the glass. Twist orange peel over the drink to release the essential oil and then garnish with it.
Styling, Photo: Oliver Schwarzwald