Hare extract with melon molasses, spring onions and garlic crystals

Extracto de liebre con melaza de melón, cebolletas y cristal de ajo
Las Rejas
Chef: Manolo de la Osa
Country: España
City: 16660 Las Pedroñeras
Address: Borreros, 49
(+34) 967161089

The ingeniousness and excellence that have made Manolo de la Osa a sensation in 2004 are probably insufficiently addressed in this section. No one dish notably stands out, though there are five or six that deserve the highest marks. The cockles and trout roe with cauliflower cream reinforced with sea urchins and impregnated with anis fragrance regales us with a “10” in sauce within a sea of sensations. The goat cheese and green tomato soup with basil, mint and lemon thyme is capable of competing with the most liquid, refreshing and aromatic broth you can imagine. The raw prawn with amazing honey-olive oil emulsion, Manchego bun and thyme, rosemary and marjoram sorbet exceeds the complexity appreciable by human beings, gourmet as they may be. The Torta de La Serena cheese with small anis-flavored leeks, caviar, pineapple and asparagus sprouts is an absolutely exquisite rainbow of flavors. The Iberico pork cheek with licorice and winter savory is a further testament that places this chef from La Mancha at the world’s aromatic pinnacle. And we could go on, and on, and on… but we can’t leave out the hare extract with melon jam and onion sprinkled with cocoa beans and pepper—the cream of the crop.

Yes sir, it is an extract, or better said an essence of hare with a sharp game flavor that is as wild as the animal, with aromas of wild herbs, rustic aromas of vine shoots and smoke and the texture of a junket. It is a paté for the 21st century, the same in different form: a sip-ful of hare with the texture of a creamy junket, adorned with cocoa beans, melon cubes, pine nuts, garlic crystals, melon molasses… an indescribable orgy of elements in a magical juxtaposition of qualities.



The Recipe



Ingredients
FOR THE HARE ESSENCE

  • 500cl ewe’s milk
  • Sage
  • Fresh thyme
  • 350g fresh hare
  • 1 onion
  • 6 shallots, chopped
  • Toasted vine shoots
  • Port
  • Smoked salt
  • 1 head of garlic, split

GARNISH

  • Cocoa beans
  • Sweet melon cubes
  • Pine nuts
  • Hare juice reduction
  • Candied garlic

FOR THE MOLASSES

  • 4 spring onions
  • 150g melon
  • Salt
  • 80g glucose
  • 20cl olive oil
  • Saffron

Method

For the hare essence, keep the hare’s blood, de-bone the animal and place the meat in a bowl. Next add sage, fresh flowering thyme, the onion, shallots, vine shoots, port, smoked salt, the head of garlic, and finally the ewe’s milk.
Marinate for 24 hours; then vacuum seal the hare with the previously extracted blood and place in a Roner for 12 hours at 50ºC.
Once this time has passed, strain the infusion and run through a Thermomix to make a homogenous and oxygenated mixture. The temperature should not exceed 10ºC to facilitate curdling and serving.

The garnish of the “junket” consists of small pieces of crystallized garlic, cocoa beans, melon cubes cut from the sweetest part of the fruit, pine nuts and the hare juice reduction. These components enhance the flavor of the game junket.

For the molasses, first, roast the spring onions with olive oil and salt. Meanwhile, sauté the melon cubes with the glucose and saffron; then add the roasted onions. Simmer for 1 hour, then puree.
Strain the mixture and reduce to the texture of molasses.

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