Celery & caviar tartelette

Celery base

• First juice the celery in a juice centrifuge. I use a slow juicer to keep the optimal flavor & color. To make the juice a touch greener I also juiced the spinach and added it to the celery juice.
• It may not seem like a lot of juice, but for the color it really makes a difference. Then also add the juice from half a lime. This will prevent the juice from turning brown. Mix the celery base well.

Celery tartelettes

• First cut the celeriac in half and clean it. Then cut it in even small cubes. In total you need 150 grams of cubes.
• Now transfer them into a pan and also add the celery base. Bring this to a boil and reduce it till the total weight is 200 grams.
• Then transfer it into a measuring cub or a blender. Add the isomalt sugar, the lime juice, the egg white, the glucose and the salt. Now blend this till smooth.
• Because it has been heated for so long the color has faded, to fix this I added a couple leaves of parsley, but spinach is also fine. Blend it till smooth to restore the color.
• Then spread it on a silicon sheet using a stencil. Click here for more info. Now remove the stencil and dry them at 95 °C for 2.5 hours.
• Once they are completely dry transfer them one by one on bottom of the tartelette mold and heat them up at the same temperature for a minute or three. Then use the top to press down the disc and shape the tartelettes.
• After that let them cool down completely and keep them dry and covered for later.
• Now a little trick, these tartelettes can turn soft quite fast once filled. Especially with a moist filling. To delay this process I cut some spinach leaves with the cutter from the mold and added a drizzle of oil. Now make sure everything is covered and place them between the tartelette mold. Let this dry at 95 °C as well for around 1 to 2 hours. This will be the bottom layer when plating the tartelette and it makes a real difference for the texture.

• Mix the egg white with the yoghurt, the sushi vinegar, the salt, the zest from a quarter of a lime and the neutral oil.
• Blend this till it’s fully emulsified. Then transfer it into a piping bottle and let it set in your fridge for at least one hour.

The celery base

• First juice the celery in a juice centrifuge. I use a slow juicer to keep the optimal flavor & color. To make the juice a touch greener I also juiced the spinach and added it to the celery juice. It may not seem like a lot of juice, but for the color it really makes a difference.
• Then also add the juice from half a lime. This will prevent the juice from turning brown. Mix the celery base well.

The celery gel

• Weigh the celery base and also add the white wine vinegar, the sugar, the salt and the agar powder.
• Then cut the galangal in thin slices and do the same with the lemongrass. Add both to the pan with the lime leaf and then while stirring bring this to a boil on a high heat.
• Once it has properly boiled directly pour it into a bowl and cool it down as fast as possible to prevent the color from chancing.
• After that transfer it into a blender and blend it till smooth.
• To make the gel nice and clear I vacuumed it 100% to remove all the small air bubbles that formed while blending. This will also intensify the color. 

• Take a couple stalks of celery and trim the sides. Then cut them in thin strings. Now cut those strings in small cubes.
• Bring a pan with salted water to a boil and blanch the cubes for around 20 to 30 seconds so they still have a nice bite. Directly cool them down in ice water for around 2 minutes.
• Once drained season it with the celery gel and some olive oil. Mix it well and then keep it in your fridge for later.

• Place the dried spinach leaf on the bottom and pipe some yoghurt cream on top. Now fill it completely with the celery salad and pipe some small gel dots on there.
• Then add a big dot of caviar. I use Oscietra caviar. As a final step decorate it with some Zallotti blossom and serve it as soon as possible.