Wine Jelly, White Chocolate and Caviar Verrine

Directions

1. Wine Jelly, White Chocolate and Caviar Verrine
2. Place six wine glasses or 8 small glasses in the deep freezer for 15 minutes.
3. Soak the gelatine leaves in a small bowl of cold water for 3 minutes. {Alternatively, follow the instructions on your pack of gelatine leaves. You can also use gelatine powder, adjust the required amount according to the volume of liquid you’re using}.
4. Open the champagne/wine, pour 150 ml into a pan, and reseal the bottle with a wine cork. {This is where things could have gone really wrong for me as my cork broke. Thankfully, I had some Ikea wine corks to hand when I finally extracted the fragments of a once-whole cork!}
5. Add the sugar and creme de cassis/cassis cordial to the champagne/wine and gently heat, stirring until the sugar has dissolved (without letting it boil or even get too hot). Remove from the heat.
6. Squeeze the excess water from the gelatine leaves and add to the mixture, whisking continuously until dissolved. Pour into a jug. Pour around 50 ml into each glass, and slowly and gently top with champagne/wine, trying to minimize the frothing. Return the glasses to the freezer for 20 minutes, then transfer to the fridge and leave overnight before serving.
7. {I used two shapes of glasses. One formed nice bubbles as soon as they came out of the freezer (Ellipse-shaped glasses). The others didn’t (Tumblers). Because I’d read the trails and travails of those who had gone before me, I knew that there was still time for things to go ‘right’.}
8. And ‘right’ they did! I kept nudging them a bit 'til I went to bed, just giving the glasses a little shake and truly, the next morning, they all had bubbles in them. It was interesting to note though that the jelly in the Ellipse glasses formed differently (individual bubbles) from those in the tumblers (bubble chains). You can check out photos on my blog!

1. White Chocolate Shavings
2. When Heston pairs his white chocolate with beluga, he suggests making round discs of chocolate. To quote: ‘… the sensation of these sweets is heightened if you place the chocolate and caviar disc on the tongue, close your mouth and leave to melt. As the chocolate melts, the caviar flavour comes through gradually. You will be amazed by the pleasure of the changing flavours and sensations’. I preferred to make shavings of mine because I wanted melt-in-your-mouth to go with the jelly.
3. Melt chocolate in a bain marie {safer than scorching and ruining it in the microwave!}
4. Once melted, spread on a silicone mat (or a cold, stone surface.)
5. Refrigerate it at this point…if its on a mat.
6. When cold, use a sharp knife to draw out/shave into curls.You can also cut out disks and other shapes.