Tapas: 1385 Polenta Spherical-I Gnocchi 2007

This is another "easy" tapa recipe and it only takes two days to make!

Evening, Service Day - 2:

Since this is a reverse spherification dish, I whizzed up the alginate bath the night before and popped it in the 'fridge to give it a chance to completely hydrate and lose any air bubbles.

Morning, Service Day - 1:

I made the polenta spherical-I base. There's nothing much to this, just bring the water to a boil, add the cornmeal and cook for a few minutes. Dissolve the calcium gloconolactate. Then add the butter and parmigiano and stir until it's smooth. Off heat I added the salt and EVOO, scraped the mixture into a little plastic container and popped it into the 'fridge.

After washing up it was time for the "Parmesan water". A big bunch of parmigiano and a little boiling water. Then stir. And stir. Stir some more. Eventually the cheese  forms a smooth paste. Then it gets set aside to infuse for an hour.

Then I strained it through a superbag and popped it into the refrigerator with the polenta base and alginate for a couple hours. There's a slab of Parmesan sludge in the bottom of the pan. If anyone knows a use for that stuff I'd be glad to hear it. Seems a waste...

After everything was well chilled I scraped the polenta base into a piping bag. Having no idea how big a #13 tip is, I used a tip about 1 cm in diameter since the picture showed the gnocchi as about twice as long as they are in diameter and they're supposed to be 2 cm long.

I squeezed the polenta base into the alginate, then lifted out the polenta ropes, rinsed 'em in plain water, and sliced them into "gnocchi".

Those got dropped into the Parmesan water for a 24 hour trip to the chill chest.

Afternoon, Service Day

Milk Skins. Again. What the heck is the deal with milk skins? Anyway, same as before. A liter of milk, 70° C, 15 minutes, repeat. Someday I'll be good at this. Or maybe learn to avoid recipes that call for FARKING MILK SKINS.

Then I made the saffron cream. I toasted a big pinch of saffron (0.2 grams to be exact) in a pan, then ground it to a powder in a mortar. I combined it with a little cream and set the mixture aside to infuse.

Parmesan cream was just as easy - a little grated Parmesan into some hot cream.

The coffee powder was even easier since I make it every day. Just let the grinder run longer than usual and it's done.

Service!

All the stuff!

Since everything had been refrigerated I warmed all the bits up in the microwave and popped a couple soup plates into the oven to warm up. From there it's easy:

Tiny "gnocchi"

Milk Skins

Saffron Cream

Parmesan Cream and Capers

The Toasted Hazelnut Oil

And Coffee Powder

How it tastes: Good. Sort of weird - The polenta and Parmesan sort of taste like cheese corn and the coffee adds an odd twist. I'm not sure what the toasted Hazelnut oil added. I have a hunch this was a "transition" dish that moved the meal between two tapas sequences.

Equipment and Ingredients

The Books: El Bulli 2005-2011 - Yes, freakin' expensive. Check with your local library - they may well be "in the system" and available to be reserved.

Immersion blender
Super bag
Sodium Alginate
Calcium Gluconolactate

A scale that measures in grams