Savory kale meringue

The kale coulis or puree

1 big	kale (800 grams cleaned leaves)
2	shallots
250 grams	vegetable broth

This will be the base for the meringue and the flan. Start by picking the leaves from one big kale. Then cut along the vein to remove it. In total you’ll need around 800 grams of cleaned leaves. Once that’s done bring a big pot of water to a boil and season it with a generous amount of salt. Then blanch all the kale for around 2 to 3 minutes. This might seem short, but like I said this is a base and otherwise the coulis will turn brown. Now cool the kale down in ice water. I only have one big pot, so I just added a big amount of ice cubes to cool it down. Works great as well. Then transfer the blanched kale on a colander and let it drain for at least 15 minutes. You don’t want any blanching water. Meanwhile cut the shallots in half and clean them. Now chop them. Then add a drizzle of oil to a hot pan and glaze the shallots on a low heat. Add some salt for seasoning and to help softening the shallots. Once softened add the vegetable broth and turn off the heat. Then transfer the kale into a blender and also add the shallots & broth. Blend this till completely smooth. This can take a couple of minutes. After that pass it through a fine sieve. Using a ladle will make this a lot easier. The result is a base coulis, but it’s already delicious like this.

The kale meringue

200 grams	kale coulis
30 grams	dark ponzu
60 grams	egg white powder (albumina)
70 grams	icing sugar

Pour the coulis into a measuring jar together with the dark ponzu, the egg white powder and the icing sugar. Now blend this till smooth. Make sure there are no more lumps because those will not dissolve later on. Then pour the mixture into a mixing bowl and start beating it till stiff peaks have formed. This really takes some time, so don’t be surprised if it needs to mix 5 to 10 minutes. Once it’s a stiff meringue transfer it into a piping bag that’s fitted with a small round nozzle. Then pipe small equal meringues on a silicon sheet. Now sprinkle some flaky salt on top and let the meringue dry at 70 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes. After that turn down the temperature to 50 degrees Celsius and let them dry for at least 5 hours. Then you only need to shave a little bit of the top off to make them stand level. Keep them dry and covered for later.

Recipe used in kale meringue amuse