Fraises au Campari

My favorite dishes to prepare are amuse bouches, appetizers, finger-food. I remember one of my long talked about birthday parties in Grenoble was an "apéritif dinatoire", where I presented just appetizers (and and mini-desserts) to my guests the whole evening. I love the detail that is required to make small things look very appetizing and make them very tasty too. So yesterday, when we were scheduled on different dishes for the school's public restaurant, in "production kitchen" as we call it, I traded a lamb saddle dish for an amuse bouche with Cathleen. Maybe not clever in terms of skills enhancement potential, but I tend to search as much fun and enjoyment in the school's kitchen as possible, now that there are so few days left. The amuse bouche I prepared together with Genny, a guest student in our class from Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island was Fraises au Campari, Strawberries with Campari. According to Chef Sebastien this recipe is a creation of Ferran Adria (the famous chef of El Bulli in Spain, leading the list of top 50 world's best restaurant published by the british magazine Restaurant).

It is a very easy recipe that does not require a lot of ingredients and time, but guaranteed will create an ahhh, ohhh, mmmmmh effect among your guests.

For 10 persons you need :

5 strawberries
0.1 l Campari
1 leaf gelatine (2 g)
10 small leaves of fresh mint
zestes of 1/4 untreated lemon
1 teaspoon wasabi
Toothpicks

Soak the gelatine leaf in cold water for a couple of minutes, until swollen.

Cut off a bit off the top of the strawberries, and "dig a hole" ideally with a small melon ball scooper . Then find a way to stabilize the strawberries vertically, either by placing them in sugar, or as we did, in plastic wrap over egg carton.

Heat the Campari a little bit and add the squeezed out gelatine leaf into it, stir until it has completely dissolved. Then pour the liquid into a small plastic bottle. Fill the holes in the strawberries  with the campari and let set in the fridge.

When the liquid has set, cut the strawberries in two. Decorate with finely grated lemon zest (ideally using a microplane), a small mint leave and a tiny bit of wasabi (ideally using a small piping bag). To find the right amount of wasabi, you should be able to recognize the wasabi taste, but it shouldn't paralyse your mouth, we ran some trial and error tests before... Add toothpicks.

Instead of Campari you could use Martini (the vermouth) or Cointreau, Grand Manier, etc. But I personally find the slight bitterness of the Campari is a very good complement to the strawberry taste.

Bon appétit !

Comments

[another regular reader]

Hm, one of the pictures shows raspberries... They probably lend themselves better to filling with the liquid, but you only mention strawberries. Did you try raspberries as well, but the result wasn't as satisfying as with strawberries?

[Ulla]

Hi, we have only used strawberries. Maybe the way we cut the top off and filled them makes them look like raspberries in the second picture. Also the bottom disappears under the plastic wrap to stabilize them. I would think that raspberries are not solid enough for this recipe...

[Katia]

Wow!!!!!!! Ist notiert und wird demnächst gemacht....wenn's nichts wird, weiss ich ja, wo ich schnell anrufen kann!!!
Kann ich auch alles mit ner Spritze und nicht den El Bulli Werkzeugen machen?

[Julio!]

Ulla là!! gutten, gutten appetite!! This is AweSOME!! excellent pictures by the way.............uhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, got to do make it!! Again, again, and again!! Muy rico!!

[Pille]

Very cool idea, if a bit fiddly. Like it!