A.M.B.R.A.

What captured my imagination was the amber colour of Birra Moretti La Rossa and Grand Cru. I wanted to create a dish in which every ingredient would recall this colour, while the scent of yeast, typical and persistent in both beers, would aggregate the different tastes. Birra Moretti La Rossa is perfectly matched with the marshmallows, giving them structure and taste. Birra Moretti Grand Cru, on the other hand, is part of the marinade of the apple spheres: it gives them crunchiness and mitigates the tart note of the rhubarb. All this is perfected by the caramel and the salted toasted peanuts.

A.M.B.R.A. - Animelle, marshmallow, birra, rabarbaro, arachidi

Recipe for 4 people

INGREDIENTS
600 g of sweetbread
2 Granny Smith apples
200 g of rhubarb juice (made from 600-700 g of fresh rhubarb)
1000 ml of Birra Moretti La Rossa
100 ml of Birra Moretti Grand Cru
120 g of dark brown sugar
100 g of egg whites
10 g of brewer’s yeast
20 g of salted peanuts
25 g of raspberry juice
100 g of butter
25 g of glucose
mint leaves
Cervia salt

METHOD
for the sweetbread 

Clean the sweetbread in iced water and eliminate the blood, then form four medallions of about 130 g each. Blanch them in a slightly acid and salted water for a minute, then cool in iced water. Cook the sweetbread in a pan with some foamy butter and salt lightly.

for the rhubarb scented apple
Cut the apple into six slices of the same size, peel them and perfect them slightly. Put them in a vacuum pack with the rhubarb juice. Keep at 4°C for 4 days (this is the necessary time to activate the osmosis and for the apple to get a “glassy” texture).

for the caramel
After four days of marinating, drain the rhubarb scented apples. Pour all the liquid in a saucepan, add the glucose and raspberry juice and boil the mixture until you obtain a caramel.

for the beer scented apple
Using a corer, make some small spheres of apple and follow the same indications given for the rhubarb scented apples but this time using the Birra Moretti Grand Cru.

for the marshmallow
Put the egg white and the brewer’s yeast in the planetary and whip the ingredients. Pour the Birra Moretti La Rossa and the brown sugar in a casserole and bring the resulting syrup to 110°C. Pour the syrup immediately on the whipped egg whites, let the planetary mix until the beer meringue will be cold. Place it inside four Silpat cylinders (8 cm wide), cover with cling film and steam cook for 15 minutes at 90°C. Remove from the moulds, break the marshmallows with your hands and toast with a torch.

for the serving
Form some drops of cold caramel on the plate, place the sweetbread medallion cut into two thin slices, season with the crushed peanuts. Place the apple slices cut into lozenges and the beer scented apple spheres. Finish with the warm marshmallow and a few mint leaves.

Also by Michele Cella: Croque & Beer