Winter vegetables cooked in a sugar crust
Fish in a salt crust—maybe you’ve heard of it before. Last year, I took a class at school where we had to create a fine-dining menu inspired by five world cuisines. We were given one cooking workshop, a list of ingredients, and a week to make it happen. While I was standing there cooking, it was always a very educational yet highly stressful experience. That’s why I always organized a dress rehearsal for my menu on the weekend. The bag of salt we had in the basement was sacrificed in the name of science. This way, I could test the salt-crusted mackerel from my Basque-inspired menu in advance and tweak it based on an unbiased opinion. Everything seemed under control until late that evening, when my preparations took an unexpected turn as I took the fish out of the oven. The contents of my “bag of salt” turned out to be sugar. The result was a perfectly cooked fish with a remarkably sweet note. Despite the surprising effect, I decided to stick with the savory version for my official menu. By then, I’d already lost my heart to a new idea. That evening, I added a new item to my bucket list: “seasonal vegetables cooked in a sugar crust.”
The Recipe
Ingredients: (serves about 3 people)
- 1 turnip
- 3 carrots
- 2 heads of chicory
- 1 lemon
- 35 g ginger
- 4 star anise pods
- 5 g basil
- 300 g sugar
- 1 egg white
Preparation: (20 min. prep time + 20 min. baking time)
- Wash the vegetables; you don't need to peel them.
- Cut the turnip and carrots into small pieces and cut the fennel in half. Slice the ginger and lemon.
- Spread them out in a baking dish and add the star anise and basil.
- Mix the sugar and egg whites until they form a smooth mixture. Spread it evenly over the vegetables.
- Bake in the oven at 180°C for 20 minutes.
Enjoy your meal!
Would you rather not cook yourself this Christmas?
I started offering catering services this year, and you can order a Christmas menu that I'll prepare entirely myself. You can find more informationhere.
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