Sous Vide Rice Pudding & Rhubarb | Recipe by sousvidetools.com

Sous Vide Rice pudding and rhubarb with ginger crumble

COOK TIME: 2 Hours
PREP TIME: 8 Hours
DIFFICULTY: Medium
SERVES: 6

Ingredients

60g of pudding rice
425ml of milk
140ml of double cream
30g of sugar
1 vanilla pod

Rhubarb sorbet

500g of rhubarb, washed and roughly chopped
50g of glucose
150g of sugar
200g of water
50g of sorbet stabiliser

Rhubarb gel and batons

500g of rhubarb
180g of sugar
250ml of water
5g of agar agar

Ginger crumble

125g of butter
125g of dark brown sugar
150g of porridge oats
100g of self-raising flour
1 tsp ground ginger
1 pinch of mixed spice
2 knobs of stem ginger, finely grated

1 handful of baby red chard

Equipment

EQUIPMENT

Blender
Ice-cream Machine
Sous Vide Water Bath
Vacuum Bags
Chamber Vacuum Sealer
Piping Bag
Food Processor

Method

Recipe courtesy of Nigel Mendham from www.greatbritishchefs.com

METHOD

For the sorbet, lay the chopped rhubarb on a flat tray and place in the freezer for at least 4 hours or until frozen solid.
After this time, place the glucose, sugar and water in a small saucepan over a medium heat. Simmer until the sugar has completely dissolved, then take the pan off the heat and leave to cool.
Place the frozen rhubarb in a blender, pour over the cool syrup and purée. Press through a fine sieve into a bowl, then add the stabiliser and stir well. Churn in an ice cream machine, then place in the freezer until required.
Preheat the water bath to a temperature of 61⁰C.
To prepare the rhubarb gel, strip off the outer layers of the rhubarb stalks with a knife. Reserve the inner stalks to make the rhubarb batons and combine the outer peelings with the water and the sugar in a saucepan over a medium heat. Cook, simmering gently, until the sugar has dissolved, then take the pan off the heat and leave to cool completely.
Pour the cool syrup through a fine sieve to remove the rhubarb peelings. Discard the peelings and measure out 500ml of syrup into a clean saucepan. Place the pan over a medium heat and set the rest of the syrup aside until needed.
When the rhubarb syrup reaches the boil, add the agar agar and whisk for 2 minutes, keeping the mixture at a gentle simmer. After this time, empty the saucepan into a deep baking tray and leave to set for 20 minutes.
To make the rhubarb batons, slice the inner stalks into pieces 12cm in length. Neatly arrange the pieces inside vacuum bags. Ensure that the pieces are evenly spaced as this will help them hold their shape. You will need to use at least two vacuum bags to fit all the batons. Add an equal amount of the reserved rhubarb syrup to each bag, then vacuum in a chamber sealer. Cook the bags in the water bath for 10 minutes.
To finish the rhubarb gel, break the set gel into pieces and place in a blender. Pulse until smooth, then spoon into a piping bag and set aside until required.
Once cooked, take the rhubarb batons out of the water bath. Immediately submerge the vacuum bags in a bowl of iced water and leave to cool.
Unseal the bags and tip away the syrup. Slice the batons into 4cm pieces, cutting diagonally across the stalks. Chill the fridge until needed.
For the crumble, warm the butter and sugar together in a small saucepan over a gentle heat. Meanwhile, quickly blitz the porridge oats in a food processor to make a coarse powder, then place in a bowl with the self-raising flour, ground ginger and mixed spice and mix well.
Once melted, add the butter and sugar mixture to the dry ingredients, stirring to combine. Mix in the grated ginger, then tip the contents of the bowl onto a large sheet of baking paper. Cover with another sheet of baking paper and flatten with a rolling pin to a thickness of 1cm. Peel off the top layer of baking paper, place the flattened crumble mixture on a baking tray and bake in the oven until golden brown. This should take approximately 20-25 minutes.
To make the rice pudding, combine the rice, milk, cream, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl over a saucepan of barely simmering water and cook until the rice is soft and creamy. This will take 20-30 minutes. Stir regularly during cooking and ensure that the water is not in contact the base of the bowl at any time.
Remove the vanilla pod, then tip the rice pudding into a clean bowl. Stretch a layer of cling film over the bowl – this will stop the pudding forming a skin – and leave to set until required.
Take the crumble sheet out of the oven and allow to cool slightly, then snap into chunks and place in a food processor. Pulse until fine and crumbly, then store in an airtight container until needed.
To serve, dot each plate with rhubarb gel, then add a few quenelles of set rice pudding and some rhubarb batons and sprinkle over some of the ginger crumble. With the remaining crumble, make a small mound in the centre of each plate and add a quenelle of rhubarb sorbet on top. Finish the dessert with a garnish of baby red chard leaves.

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Post by Chris Holland

Our Chef Director Chris Holland worked as Head Chef at the prestigious Alderley Edge hotel before joining us. He has a passion for using the best produce and never compromises on quality. Author of our best selling book Sous Vide The Art of Precision Cooking, Chris is a expert on the sous vide technique.During the later part of my school days at Wardle High School Rochdale I always wanted to be a chef . I knew from the very start that my path to work was never going to be academic it was always going to be something practical and hands on.

As a young boy growing up I was inspired to cook with my Grandma who was and still is an inspiration to me . I have memories of helping make the cakes that she always had made for visitors and family alike . She made the most amazing cakes and I loved nothing more than eating the sweet raw cake batter straight from the bowl . We used to fight over who got to lick the bowl/spoon after the cakes were made. My grandma’s philosophy for cooking even on a shoe string budget was always to use fresh and seasonal ingredients either home grown or bought from the market.

School was somewhat of a drag for me as I was itching to learn to become a chef.

I started at Hopwood Hall college as a chef and instantly fell in love with it .To me it was the only real time I excelled in something and this inspired me to really get my head down and put in the hard work. College was the first time I really excelled in something and gave me the opportunity to laugh at the teachers who said I would never make something of my life!!!!

During the three years at college I also took on a part time position in a local hotel working the bar and restaurant first and then the kitchen. These were great days and gave me the opportunity to see how the industry ticks. I learnt a lot from those days both good and bad !! But I have to say I was itching to work only in the kitchen but it was a good insight into the catering world .

After completing college I moved away from Rochdale for a full time roll at one of Cheshire’s most talked about Hotel restaurants The Stanneylands Hotel. This was the school of hard knocks for me as I quickly realised that although excelling at college meant nothing in “The Real World”.

I loved every minute of the 18 hour days 6 days a week on minimum wage . Although difficult I feel that without this grounding I wouldn’t have achieved what I have today. After 18 months of hard graft I left Stanneylands and went with the Head chef to open a fine dining restaurant at Mere Golf and Country Club. The opportunity to work alongside Matthew Barrett was too good to turn down. I learnt so much from the ex-Ritz chef and working in a much slower paced role helped me develop a much better understanding of how to organise and run a kitchen. We were a very small team and teamwork was and still is the only way to go for me.

After 2 years at Mere I got the opportunity to go into The Alderley Edge Hotel as Junior Souschef. The Early days at the Edge were all about learning new styles of cuising which is invaluable in any role as a chef. I got the opportunity to grow and learn all aspects of every section which was inspiring . I was offered the opportunity at the age of 29 (2004) to take the role of head chef. For me this was when I really started to develop my own style of food.

After 9 years at the top winning Cheshire restaurant of the year , Chef of the Year and appearing on GBM amongst many highlights including cooking for many celebrities and famous people I decided to move on into development with Sousvidetools.

The main inspiration for this was to train and educate people . I always had a great passion for education but could never really see myself at a college . The job is super rewarding and I am proud to say we have become the leading light in sous-vide education in the UK . This is something I am very proud of . Food is my biggest passion and this is what keeps me interested the most . I love to travel and try out other countries cuisines. I am constantly inspired by ingredients and the pursuit of getting the best out of them without destroying their natural flavour .It is super important to me to continue to try and be at the forefront of the food scene this is what inspire me and the team to keep driving forward .

Technology is now widely used in the industry and I am super proud to say we have been a big part of spreading that message.

I am very lucky to be in the position I am and the drive to constantly improve our training and links to the next generation of young budding hospitality chefs.

TI feel that my experience over the last 25 years really enables me to get close and educate the “next generation” of chefs .

The industry which I love is really struggling to bring through new recruits and if I can help that process I will be immensely proud.

The food seen in the Uk has improved dramatically over the last ten years and I feel this will continue with the correct education. What happens next only fate will tell us...

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