“Persistencia”

[Macadamia & Mushrooms]

• Equipment and utensils

  High-speed blender, nut milk bag & bowl, non-stick frying pan, measuring cups, measuring spoons, spatula, Microplane, lemon squeezer

• Thyme soil

  ¼ cup ground brown flax seeds
  1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves, minced
  ¼ teaspoon pink Himalayan salt
  ⅛ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
  ½ teaspoon extra virgin olive oil

• Macadamia cream

  1 cup macadamia nuts, soaked (4h) & rinsed
  2 cups of filtered water

• Macadamia "bechamel"

  1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  2 tablespoon shallots, finely minced
  2 tablespoon rice flour
  

  Macadamia cream (1 recipe)
  1 bay leaf
  

  2 pinch freshly ground nutmeg
  1 teaspoon nutritional yeast
  1 teaspoon oak smoked water (optional)
  Pinch of cayenne pepper
  

  1 - 2 tablespoons of lemon zest & juice
  Salt, to taste
  Fresh ground black pepper, to taste
  

  1 teaspoon truffle oil

• Crispy sage leaves

  ¼ cup sage leaves
  vegetable oil to fry

• Mushrooms sautéed

  Extra virgin olive oil
  Oyster mushrooms, sliced
  Mixed mushrooms of your choice (shiitake, enoki, nameko, chanterelle, etc.).
  Sherry vinegar

Preparation/method

For the thyme soil: in a small bowl, mix together ground brown flax seeds, thyme, salt, and black pepper until well combined. Add the oil and stir again. Dehydrated at 41ºC for 30 min (use the oven at a low temperature instead).

For the macadamia cream: in a high-speed blender, blend the macadamia nuts and the water until well-mixed and warm. Using a nut milk bag and a bowl, carefully pour the nut milk mixture through strain, squeezing out all of the liquid.

For the macadamia “bechamel”: Heat the oil in a medium nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat. Add minced shallots, and sweat the onions until soft and translucent. Reduce the heat to low and add the rice flour. Toss the flour into the shallots and frequently stir for 3 - 4 minutes. Make sure that the flour is not browning; if not, the sauce will have a darker colour, and you want to keep “white”. Add the warm macadamia milk and bay leaf, and frequently stir as the sauce thickens. Add nutmeg, nutritional yeast, smoked water (optional) and a pinch of cayenne pepper, and taste. Add lemon zest and juice, salt & pepper, and taste again.  Adjust as you need. Remove from heat. Add the truffle oil. 

For the crispy sage leaves: to make the crispy sage leaves, heat the oil over medium heat until hot and fry the sage leaves until crispy. Transfer to a plate lined with a paper towel. Sprinkle with salt.

Place a pan over high heat, add a drizzle of oil and add the oyster mushroom. Turn the heat down to medium-high and cook them for 2 - 3 minutes. Deglaze the pan with sherry vinegar. Season the mushrooms with salt. 

Serve the mushrooms with macadamia “bechamel”, thyme soil, crispy sage, and fresh herbs and drizzle the plate with extra virgin olive oil.