Endive with coffee paste and cookie butter

Endibia con Pasta de Café y Mantequilla de Galleta
Astrance
Chef: Pascal Barbot
Country: Francia
City: 75016 París
Address: 4, rue Beethoven
(+33) 0140508440

This is one of the strangest dishes you will find in today’s impressive creative arena. It breaks from the mold to such an extent that its very creator, Pascal Barbot, one of the boldest and most lucid minds in the culinary world, is unsure of its place on the menu. It is impossible to place with certainty—it could be categorized as a sweet starter or a salty dessert, even as a precursor to dessert. While this immense value of transcending these concepts (something that characterizes the chef) has merit, what is truly amazing is the level of perfection attained by this madness—it creates boundless pleasure with novel flavors contrasted in perfect harmony. It has bitterness, sweetness, acidity and numerous sapid aromas. It also combines various textures: the endive is tender, evanescent from its long caramelization, while it retains a trace of its natural crunch; the butter takes the shape of a granulated cookie in a sauce; and the coffee paste reaches a precarious, ethereal volume. And the presentation of the elements, separated into three distinct spaces, makes a game out of the protagonists where the diner must experiment and decide whether to eat the endive first by itself or whether it is enhanced by one element or the other; or where these elements disappear between bites of the vegetable. Depending on whether we go from here to there or from there to here, the experiences will dance to different, always brilliant rhythms of originality. How great is Barbot!



The Recipe



Ingredients

Speculoos butter:

  • 500g flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking soda
  • 1/2 tablespoon powdered cinnamon
  • 3 cloves
  • 300g brown sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 400g softened butter
  • salt

Endive:

  • 4 quality endives
  • 20g butter
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 8 thin slices of lemon
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 2 cloves
  • 1 sprig thyme
  • 2dl beer

Coffee paste:

  • 100g coffee
  • 50g sugar
  • 1g agar agar
  • 1 teaspoon praline

Method
Speculoos butter:

In a bowl, shape the flour into a fountain. Add all of the ingredients and mix slowly until fully combined. Allow to rest overnight in the refrigerator to “ripen” the dough. The following day, slowly cook the dough in a pot, stirring continuously for 20 minutes. Strain.

Endive:

In a pan, melt the butter. Add the sugar and the endives, halved with the flat side down. Toss in the spices, lemon slices, thyme and beer, then cook slowly for 1 hour, watching the caramelization at the end of the cooking time.

Coffee paste:

In a pot, combine the coffee, sugar, praline and agar-agar, cook for 5 minutes and set aside. Run through a mixer if necessary to give it a velvety texture. Serve.