Kuri Squash Bavarian with Ginger Crisps, Marjoram & Honey
What's up everyone? It’s November and it’s still beautiful and fairly warm.
This dish is a perfect representation of the colors of fall. The Red Kuri or Red Baby Hubard is probably one of my favorite of the squash family, it has a natural bright vibrant orange inside. I bought mine a few weeks ago and just left it on the pantry shelf in my kitchen.
Today we are going to make a Bavarian mousse. This is similar to a pastry cream but is thickened with a gelatin. There is something about the light creaminess of the dish that I love.
This is a two day process, so plan accordingly.
- 1 red Hubbard squash
- ¼ Cup bitter citrus honey
- 1 Cup water
- 3 tsp. gelatin
- 4 Tbsp. water(blooming gelatin)
- 3/8 cup heavy cream
- 3/8 cup of sugar
- 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
- Pinch of nutmeg
- 1 egg yolk
If you have ring molds give the inside a grease and line with parchment paper. Make sure the paper is higher than the ring mold. Save in the fridge for later on a sheet pan, the pan should be flat and lined with plastic wrap, this will help prevent leakage from the ring mold. Take your squash and cut it in half, remove seeds. Place in a deep baking dish or pyrex dish, flesh side up.
Drizzle the honey over the squash, then pour the cup of water into the baking dish. Cover with foil and bake for one hour at 400°F. Once it’s roasted check it with a fork, it needs to be soft.
The flesh needs to fall off the skin. If it comes off, let it cool down a bit. Then use a big metal spoon and scoop as much flesh out as possible; take the flesh, put it in a blender and add some of the cooking liquid to make a puree. You want the puree to be fairly thick so be careful how much water you add. I would pour maybe 1 cup of cooking liquid in. Do it increments.
Once it’s finished save ¼ of the puree for cooling the mixture later. Place remainder of mix on a double boiler (a bowl over a pot of water). Keep the fire on a low to medium heat. Add sugar, spices and egg yolk, mix and stir. Make sure the mix is at a constant 85°F. Bloom your gelatin for 10 minutes in 4 Tbsp. of cold water. Once ready add mix to puree and stir to dissolve gelatin. Once it’s all dissolved take it off the heat to cool down. Add the reserved puree to help cool down. Get your heavy cream and whip to stiff peak.
Now it’s time to finish this dish. Take one third of the cream and mix gently into the puree. Once mixed, fold in the remainder of the cream. Be very gentle with it as you don’t want to lose any air from the mix. Give it a taste. It’s yummy isn’t it, yea I know, I thought the same thing. Pour mix into lined ring molds and leave it to set in your fridge for twelve hours. After three hours wrap the pan with the molds so it doesn’t get a hard crust on top, try not to move the mold around while doing so.
