Various textures of pumpkin in sugar crystals

Boris Chapon | 1/30/23

Boris Chapon proposes an expert dish based on a single product. The chef from Lou Bi presents his recipe for a pumpkin in a crystalline sugar soufflé.

for 8 people

Preparation time: 2 h

Cooking time: 1 h 30

Puffed sugar spheres

300 g isomalt
Orange coloring

Pumpkin ice cream

250 g pumpkin
80 g butter
30 g flour
500 g milk
62 g milk powder
100 g sugar
10 g glucose

Clementine espuma

1 l clementine juice
4 gelatine leaves
300 g liquid cream
115 g sugar

Pan-fried pumpkin

200 g pumpkin
2 tbsp. olive oil
3 tbsp. sugar

Chouchous with pumpkin seeds

333 g pumpkin seeds
133 g sugar
Cocoa butter

Plain tiles

50 g butter
50 g sugar
2 egg whites
50 g flour
Green coloring

Crumble

50 g melted butter
50 g sugar
50 g flour
50 g almond powder
2 clementines

1 - Prepare the puffed-sugar spheres: melt the isomalt in a saucepan with the coloring agent. Once all the isomalt grains have dissolved and the mixture is boiling, pour it onto a silicone sheet. Leave to cool slightly for a few seconds, without touching it. Using sugar gloves (optional, but you can get burnt without them), work the dough until, with a chisel, you've cut off a piece the size of a large cherry. Roll the piece into a ball in the palm of your hands. Make a hole with your finger and attach the sugar ball to the metal tube at the end of the sugar pump. Gently blow out the sugar sphere by gently pulling the tip. Separate the ball from the pump using a chisel. Repeat the operation 8 times, working the sugar under a heat lamp.

2 - Prepare the pumpkin ice cream: peel and dice the pumpkin and sweat it in the butter. Dust with flour. Make a syrup with the milk, milk powder, sugar and glucose. Heat over low heat. Pour over the pumpkin and blend. Pour into an ice-cream maker or turbine.

3 - Prepare the clementine espuma: reduce the clementine juice by half in a saucepan over low heat. Add the cream and sugar, and bring the mixture to the boil. Add the gelatine, softened in a bowl of cold water. Pour into a siphon with 2 gas cartridges.

4 - Prepare the pan-fried pumpkin: cut a brunoise of pumpkin. Sauté quickly in olive oil, with a little sugar.

5 - Prepare the chouchous: heat the sugar and 5.5 cl water to 110°C, then add the pumpkin seeds. Cook over a low heat until colored, then add the cocoa butter. Cool on a cold surface.

6 - Prepare the plain tiles: mix the egg whites and sugar, add the flour, melted butter and coloring. Roll out the dough on a silicone sheet and cut into pumpkin leaf shapes. Preheat the oven to 160°C (th. 5-6), place in the oven and cook for 6 min. Give them a slight curve when you remove them from the oven.

7 - Prepare the crumble: mix all the ingredients and bake at 160°C until golden-brown.

8 - To serve: fill the spheres with puffed sugar in the following order: 1 teaspoon of chouchous, then half the espuma, finishing with the pan-fried pumpkin and a few segments of clementine. Place the ice cream on top of the crumble, next to the sphere, and place the tiles on top of the spheres.