O ovo coconut froth, eggnog ice cream and crunchy mini-coconuts

by Chef/owner Helena Rizzo, Mani (São Paulo, Brazil)

'The Egg' has been on our menu for many years now, almost since we opened. It is a visual trick with a chicken egg, a frozen version of a quindim – a traditional Brazilian dessert made from sugar, eggs and coconut. The 'yolk' of the egg is an eggnog ice cream, and the 'white' is a coconut foam. It is one our patrons favourite desserts.

Serves 6 people

Coconut froth

• 1 sheet of colourless gelatin
• 120 g (4 oz) of condensed milk
• 95 g (3 oz) of coconut milk
• 105 ml (3.5 fl oz) of milk

Bloom the gelatin in 500 ml (17 fl oz) of iced water. Let it sit. Pour the condensed milk, the coconut milk and the milk into a large cooking pot. Stir with a hand blender and cook until it comes to a boil. Drain the boomed gelatin and dissolve it in the mix inside the pot. Chill the mix in a cold water bath. Fill a small cream whipper with the mix, close it and add 3 charges of N2O (whipper-specific cartridges).

Eggnog ice cream

• 80 g (3 oz) of pasteurized egg yolks
• 80 g (3 oz) of sugar
• 80 ml (3 fl oz) of water
• 3 g (0.1 oz) of orange liqueur

Pour the yolks, the sugar and the water into a medium-size cooking pot. Stir with a hand blender and cook at a low heat. Keep stirring. Take the mix out of the heat when the yolk cream reaches 83°C (181°F). Chill it in a cold water bath. Drain the mix in a chinois, add the orange liqueur and blend it in an ice cream maker.

Syrup

• 80 ml (3 fl oz) of water
• 80 g (3 oz) of sugar

Dissolve the sugar in the water and let it come to a boil in a large cooking pan. Take it out of the heat, pour it in a bowl with a lid and let it sit in the refrigerator. (The amount of syrup may vary. The yield can be increased or decreased as long as the following proportion is observed: 1 part of water for 1 part of sugar.)

Crunchy mini coconuts

• 80 g (3 oz) of the previously prepared syrup
• 100 g (3.5 oz) of dehydrated coconuts cut into 5 mm (0.1 inch) cubes

Cook the syrup at a low heat – do not let it come to a boil. Add the coconut cubes. Increase the heat and stir fast and carefully until the coconut cubes become dry and caramelized. Spread the coconut cubes over a clean dry surface and let them chill. Store them with silica gel packs in a sealed container.

Plating Spread 1 teaspoon of crunchy coconuts at the bottom of a soup plate, as a foundation. Gently place 1 scoop of eggnog ice cream on top of the coconut foundation. Use the cream whipper to fill in the area immediately surrounding the ice cream scoop, creating the shape of a fried egg.