Aww yiss! April brings a trip to Tokyo, and hopefully with it a trip to Takazawa, one of the hottest modernist French/Japanese restaurants in the city.
What better way to get in the mood for the trip than trying to copy one of their surgically precise signature dishes with my clumsy ambitious yet unskilled hands?
I’ll be honest, this is the third attempt, and it’s still a crude homage to the (as yet untasted) original. But hey, given I’m making this up as I go along it’s as good as it is likely to get.
It’s a ratatouille, in micro Terrine form. Simple yeah?
Start by preparing 1/4 inch wide batons, ideally six inches long (1/2 inch shorter than the size of the Terrine, trust me) of a huge bunch of vegetables. In this attempt there are blanched carrots, purple and yellow heritage carrots, asparagus and baby corn; dashi marinated red peppers; sautéed purple sweet potatoes and courgettes
All these elements will be surrounded by cooked red cabbage which will line the mould. Take the heart out of the cabbage (if it’s large you can halve it but you’re aiming for large pieces of cabbage to line the mould in one piece) and boil for 15 mins or so in hot water and cider vinegar (if you like magic tricks, cook in plain salted water, watch it turn blue, then add vinegar and get the purple colour back, abracadabra!)
Cook/marinade each vegetable and arrange ready to stack into the Terrine mould. The blanching, marinating and sautéing provides a nice contrast of textures and flavours.
The magic glue that holds the whole thing together is tomato juice with gelatine. I was trying to keep this vegetarian so used agar instead (unfortunately agar doesn’t play well with acidic juices – like tomato – hence the two failed attempts. Solved by using enough agar to set a patio).
Juice enough tomatoes to yield 500ml, and add 10g of agar powder. Bring to a high simmer (essential to activate the agar) and set aside to cool a little.
Line the Terrine mould with a leaf of red cabbage (you’ll need to trim the veins to keep the cabbage as thin as possible) then add some tomato agar solution to give the first layer something to stick to.
The Terrine mould is U shaped, so use the dashi marinated red pepper as the first layer. Add another layer of tomato juice, then pick four different vegetables to layer in, make sure to vary different colours and textures for both taste and visual effect). Push down and try and keep them as straight as possible (er, unlike my attempt) and keep building, adding a layer of tomato agar between each layer of vegetables. Leave to set and voila!
You’ll need a super sharp knife to cut it without it falling apart (another prior fail) but when sliced into 1/4 inch slices you get a fork full of Provence in your gob in one go!
Real life food Tetris.
Restaurant link here http://www.takazawa-y.co.jp
Recipe guideline from the awesome StarChefs site https://www.starchefs.com/cook/savory/technique/ratatouille-terrine
Unfortunately most vegetables are not perfect 1/4 inch wide, 6 inch long, Terrine friendly morsels so it takes a fair bit of precise chopping. Don’t worry about wasting all the leftover peelings and odd cuts – chuck them all into a roasting pan and make your own vegetarian Demi-glacé! Recipe here from the AMAZING chefsteps site…
http://chefsteps.com/activities/umami-bomb-vegetarian-demi-glace
Roast for 45-60 minutes at 150deg centigrade, shuffling occasionally.
Ah, that’s not a misty eyed romanticised homage to the offcuts, it’s my phone camera misting up. Oh well. Now add 2litres of water and continue to roast for another 30 minutes.
Strain the veg off (thanks lads, you’ve done your job) and reduce the stock by half. Use an immersion blender to blend in a small amount of salt and xanthan gum and my o my, you have a ridiculous rich, umami heavy Demi glacé to do with what you want.
Two for the price of one, zero waste!
500fires 