To make the ricotta – place a pot over a medium heat. Add the milk, cream and salt and slowly bring up to 90°C or to just before boiling point. Remove from the heat and immediately stir in the lemon juice – the milk will split. Allow to rest for 15 minutes then gently ladle the cheese curds into a ricotta basket sitting over a bucket to drain. Allow to chill and solidify in the fridge – (preferably overnight).
For the chilli salt – use a blender or mortar and pestle to combine all the ingredients into a fine powder. To make the mint sauce – place all the ingredients apart from the olive oil into a high speed blender. Blend to form a fine puree – while the blender is running, slowly add the olive oil so the mix combines and emulsifies into a smooth sauce.
To finish – preheat a deep fryer, or a large pot of vegetable oil to 180°C. Meanwhile, arrange the shaved fennel and mint on to 6 plates or a large platter. Fry the brussel sprouts in batches for 2-3 minutes until golden brown. Drain on some kitchen paper then and toss in a bowl with some chilli salt. Arrange the warm brussel sprouts over the fennel and mint then drizzle with some mint sauce. Dollop around some of ricotta then finish with some finely grated parmigiano reggiano.
2 fennel bulbs, shaved finely
1 bunch of mint leaves
24 brussel sprouts, trimmed and halved
parmigiano reggiano, finely grated
vegetable oil for frying
house made ricotta
1L unhomogenised full cream milk
300ml single cream
10g salt
40ml lemon juice
mint sauce
2 garlic cloves
2 eschallots peeled
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 pinch ground white pepper
25ml red wine vinegar
3 teaspoons Dijon mustard
10ml Mexican hot sauce (such as Cholula)
1 bunch of mint leaves
1 bunch of flat leaf parsley leaves
125ml extra virgin olive oil
chilli salt
75g sea salt flakes
40g caster sugar
1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
1 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano
½ teaspoon Spanish smoked paprika
¼ teaspoon smoked chipotle powder
50g fried shallots
10g fried garlic