Chocolate and chestnut winter still life

Preparation method

1. Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas 3.

2. For the grue tuiles, heat the caster sugar, butter, milk and liquid glucose in a large saucepan, stirring to dissolve all the ingredients.

3. Put the cocoa nibs into a large bowl and set aside.

4. When the sugar mixture has just boiled, pour directly onto the cocoa nibs. Mix well with a heatproof spatula and leave to cool for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

5. When the mixture is cold, weigh out 290g/10oz and place onto a silicone baking mat. Place another mat on top and roll out to a 30cm x19cm/12in x 7½in rectangle. Repeat for the rest of the tuile mixture.

6. To finish, place the mats and tuile mix onto a heavy baking tray in the oven and cook for seven minutes. Turn the trays around and cook for a further seven minutes.

7. Remove the tuiles from the oven and set aside to cool.

8. Cook briefly in the oven to soften and cut into strips 20cm/8in wide. Cut each strip into into triangles 4cm/1½in at the base. Reserve on a tray.

9. For the chocolate flame tuiles, heat the fondant icing and the glucose in a medium saucepan to 158C/316F (use a sugar thermometer).

10. Remove the pan from the heat and add the chopped chocolate. Mix well with a heatproof spatula and pour onto a silicone mat.

11. Place another silicone mat on top and roll the chocolate mixture out as thinly as possible. Cut into eight pieces before it sets.

12. Take one piece and warm between two silicone mats for about three minutes and roll as thinly as possible.

13. Reheat in oven for two minutes, then pull and cut into flame shapes.

14. For the palette leaf, preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Line a baking tray with a silicone baking mat.

15. Cream the butter and the icing sugar until light and fluffy.

16. Add one-third of the egg whites, mix until smooth, add half the sifted flour and mix until smooth. Repeat with the remaining egg white and flour. Stir in the sifted cocoa powder.

17. Place a leaf stencil onto the tray, and spread the mixture across the stencil to a thickness of 3mm/⅛in. Repeat until you have several leaves.

18. Bake in the oven for four minutes until the leaves start to turn a darker brown.

19. Remove from the oven, and with a palette knife drape the warm leaves over a rolling pin which will shape it slightly as it cools.

20. For the coffee anglaise, preheat the oven to 160C/325F/Gas 3.

21. Scatter the coffee beans on a baking tray and roast in the oven for 10 minutes. Then crush the beans lightly in a pestle and mortar.

22. In a large heavy-bottomed saucepan, bring the milk, roasted coffee beans and espresso just to the boil, take off the heat and leave to infuse for 30 minutes.

23. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the egg yolks and sugar until pale and fluffy.

24. Strain the infused milk through a very fine sieve onto the whisked egg yolks. Stir to combine, then pour the mixture back into a clean pan and bring to a gentle simmer, stirring all the time. The constant stirring is important to remove any small lumps. The temperature you need to reach here is 87C/188F for two minutes.

25. Pour into a china bowl, and cover the surface with clingfilm to prevent a skin forming.

26. For the chestnut parfait, break the marrons glacés into pieces, place in a bowl together with one tablespoon of the rum, and leave to marinate.

27. MIx the two chestnut purées together with the remaining rum. Set aside.

28. Next, make a sabayon. Beat the egg yolks in an electric mixer at high speed for 6-7 minutes, or until the yolks have tripled in volume.

29. In a deep saucepan, bring the chestnut syrup to a boil until it reaches 120C/248F (use a sugar thermometer). When the syrup is ready, beat the egg yolks on low speed, and trickle the boiling syrup onto the egg yolks, pouring between the sides of the bowl and the beaters. Be careful not to pour the syrup onto the beaters or it may splash on your hands. Mix well, then set the sabayon aside to cool.

30. Whip the cream to soft peaks in a mixing bowl.

31. In another large bowl, combine the chestnut purée and the marrons glacés, and then add the whipped cream. Mix lightly, then fold in the sabayon with a spatula.

32. Pour 45g/1¾oz of the parfait mixture into each of 10 of your larger rubber dome moulds – they should be three-quarters full.

33. Pour 15g/½ oz of the parfait mixture into each of the smaller dome moulds. This should fill them to the top. Place in the freezer while you make the meringues.

34. Preheat the oven to 100C/200F/Gas ½. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.

35. For the meringue feet, place a large saucepan half-full of boiling water on a gentle simmering heat. Sit a large metal bowl over, but not touching, the simmering water. With a hand-held mixer, whisk together the sugar and egg whites in the bowl for 3-5 minutes until it reaches 68C/154F. Remove the bowl from the heat and whisk on full speed for three minutes until the mixture has increased in volume, and is shiny and stiff.

36. Fold in the chopped pistachios and spoon the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a size 10 nozzle. Pipe 10 x 20g/½ oz mounds onto the lined tray. The mounds should be similar in shape to a choux bun. Pipe another 10 mounds that are half the size.

37. Cook in the oven for 1½-2 hours until the meringues have dried out completely inside. Set aside to cool slightly.

38. Take the parfait moulds out of the freezer, and gently press the meringues partway into the semi-frozen parfait, to create the ‘stem’ of the mushrooms. Return the moulds to the freezer until you are ready to serve.

39. For the chocolate sauce, place the cream in a medium saucepan and bring just to the boil over a medium heat.

40. Slowly melt the chocolate in a bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water (don’t let the bowl touch the water). Add the boiled cream to the chocolate and stir. Set aside to cool slightly.

41. To serve, turn out your frozen parfait mushrooms onto a clean board, dust the tops lightly with the cocoa powder and place one of each size on ten small plates.

42. Spoon the coffee anglaise and chocolate sauce around the mushrooms and garnish with the tuiles, palette leaves and nuts.

Over 2 hours preparation time

Over 2 hours cooking time

Serves 10