Blood Orange Soufflés with Caramelised Rum-Walnut Raisins

1. Preparing the Blood Orange Soufflés

• Rinse one orange under hot water and grate off a fine layer of peel. Peel all oranges with a sharp knife so that the white outer membrane is also removed and cut segments from between the inner membranes, saving the juice.
• In a saucepan, reduce orange segments and juice to 200 ml. Transfer to a very small saucepan, add orange peel and cream and bring to a boil (pan should have about a 1 litre capacity; if it’s too large, too much liquid will evaporate). Remove hot liquid from heat and stir in semolina. Then simmer over very low heat for 4 minutes while stirring constantly until the mixture thickens. Remove from heat and let cool.
• Soak raisins in rum. Cut walnuts into quarters. Rinse grapes and cut in half – if necessary, remove seeds using tweezers or a small knife. Cut orange into segments as described above. In a small saucepan, boil sugar in 2 tablespoons water without stirring until it caramelizes and turns golden brown. Add walnuts, blood orange, juice, grapes, raisins and rum and simmer over low heat until the caramel has dissolved. Remove from heat.
• Preheat oven to 140°C (Convection 130°C). Place a deep baking sheet in the oven on the centre rack and pour in 1.5 litres boiling water. Separate eggs. Add egg yolks to the orange mixture one at a time. Whisk egg whites and sugar in the MaxxiMUM mixing bowl until it turns stiff using the wire whisk attachment. Stir one-third of the egg whites into the orange mixture and then fold in the rest.
• Butter soufflé moulds and fill them with orange mixture. Carefully place moulds in the hot bain-marie inside the oven and let them set for 20 to 25 minutes. Remove the blood orange soufflés from the oven, reverse them from the moulds and serve immediately.

Tip:

Although our blood orange soufflés are wonderfully light and airy, they still don’t collapse immediately and can even be reversed onto plates.

2. Preparing the Lavender-Honey Mousse

• First prepare the vanilla sauce: Cut vanilla bean in half lengthwise and scrape out the pulp with the back of a knife. In a small saucepan, combine pulp, bean, 250 ml milk and 250 ml cream and bring to a boil.
• In a metal bowl, beat 5 egg yolks and 80 g sugar until creamy using a wire whisk. Add boiling milk to the egg yolks while stirring constantly, then place on top of a suitable saucepan containing a little boiling water. Gently heat while stirring constantly until the mixture starts to thicken, then transfer immediately to a cold bowl.
• For the lavender mousse, soak gelatine leaves in cold water. Rinse citrus fruits under hot water and dry. Grate off a fine layer of peel from the orange and lemon to obtain 2 teaspoons of each. Using the MaxxiMUM Citrus Press, squeeze juice from lemon and orange to obtain 2 tablespoons lemon juice and 100 ml orange juice – if the yield is much more or much less, adapt the amounts accordingly.
• In a saucepan, combine lemon and orange juice, lavender honey and lavender flowers and bring to a boil. Remove from heat, add gelatine and dissolve. Let it cool for about 10 minutes. Stir in crème fraîche, 250 ml vanilla sauce, Limoncello and grated citrus peel. Refrigerate, stirring occasionally.
• As soon as the mousse begins to gel, beat the cream in the MaxxiMUM mixing bowl until stiff using the wire whisk attachment, then fold it into the mousse. Transfer the mousse into a bowl and refrigerate it for several hours.
• Sprinkle with lavender flowers and arrange vanilla sauce onto the plates. Also goes with rum-walnut raisins from the orange soufflés or fresh fruits such as mangos, strawberries or apricots.