Milk & Honey
Serves: 4

Chef’s note: The concept for this dish is based on all the components being made from local milk from South Coast Dairy and honey from Chef Tom Chiumento’s hives. Caveau make all these components from scratch, but we’ve simplified the recipe for cooking at home. You can substitute any of the components with store-bought variations, if you prefer.

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To make the milk ice cream – place 750ml of the milk, the sugar and vanilla bean into a saucepan over a low heat and reduce by one quarter. In a separate bowl, combine the remaining milk, condensed milk, glucose, and gelatin. Slowly pour in the hot mixture, whisking to combine. Chill overnight in the freezer before churning in an ice cream machine.

To make the milk shards – place all the ingredients into a heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat to 90°C and hold for 1 minute. Pass through a sieve into a container and refrigerate for 3-4 hours. Once cooled, mix on high in a blender for 1 minute until the mixture is smooth. Spread a very thin layer onto a lined baking tray, then dehydrate in an oven on its lowest setting for 4-6 hours, or until crisp. If you have a dehydrator, you can use this instead of an oven.

To make the honey tuile – preheat an oven to 200°C. Combine all the ingredients together to form a ball, then refrigerate for 1 hour. Using your hands, roll the mixture into 4 balls and place on a silicon baking mat. Bake until the balls have melted into circles and darkened. While still malleable, work quickly to roll each tuile around the handle of a wooden spoon, then leave to set. Once set, gently pull the tuile from the wooden spoon and set aside.

To make the milk foam – in a small pot over a medium heat, bring the glucose, sugar, and milk to 80°C and whisk to dissolve the sugar. Whisk in the gelatin, then cool to room temperature. In a mixing bowl, lightly whip the egg white into soft peaks, then fold together with the glucose mixture. Pour into a cream siphon and charge with the N2O. Leave in a cool place for 1 hour to set.

For the honey cake – melt the butter, sugar and honey together in a saucepan over a low heat. Whisk the egg until light and frothy then, whisking continuously, slowly incorporate the butter mixture. Fold in the flour, then place in a shallow container and microwave on high for 2 minutes.

To serve – blitz the honeycomb to a powder in a spice grinder or food processor. Tear the honey cake into small pieces and pile onto a plate. Siphon the milk foam into each honey tuile and place on top of the cake. Add a scoop of milk ice cream, then break the milk shard into pieces and scatter on top. Garnish with edible flowers and honeycomb powder.