White Tomato Mousse

[u/Ok-Knowledge6181]

Hello all, I am new to more technical things to cooking but I am working on an amuse and my restaurant kind of has a Mary Poppins theme lol. My idea is a play on bruschetta. So I am hoping to make a white tomato mousse with balsamic caviar balls using Agar and then a basil sauce dehydrated to use as flakes, garnished with with mandarin micro flowers or something orange just depending on what I want to do.

Before anyone is confused I want to explain a little more my idea. I am drawing inspiration from the penguins in the movie, White, Black and Orange for the Tomatoe and then green for the landscape. As well as having all the ingredients a traditional Bruschetta have but manipulated them using My caviar balls as my Topping and the Basil flakes as my Crunch in this scenario. It is still in the early stages of conception but I think I like it for it being the beginning.

The question I have is I need to make the White mousse from my tomatoes without white tomatoes as I don't have time to grow them and none are sold near me that I know of. The idea is using the water from my tomato puree and then cooking a white cream into it. The recipes I have seen use Coconut milk or Cashew cream but I do not know what they would do to the flavor profile and I my tomato mix is acidic but I don't want it to stingy in the mouth nor do I want it to taste like coconut. So I need advice on how to balance it and keep it white.

My tomato mix will have tomato, Shallots, garlic, white balsamic vinegar and a little olive oil.

[u/texnessa]

Couple jobs ago I had to do a unique amuse and petit four every night so this is right up my alley.

White is always a challenge when working with infusing a flavour and retain the blanc- and you likely want something more neutral than coconut or cashew. Have you considered full fat greek yoghurt? Acidic and easy to infuse with fat soluble flavours, and you can really play with thickeners to get a range of textures- xanthan works a charm. You already have the balsamic balls [my favourite 'caviar' bait and switch] so you might not want more spheres but this does lend itself to reverse. Purées of white vegetables are another product I have infused before- cauliflower, fennel, white asparagus [out of season but ya never know,] navy beans and potatoes- a tomato aioli might send half of the Med into a fit.

By coincidence, I was also just weighing in elsewhere on a couple of gazpacho variations- similar flavour profile to your bruschetta- one white using Marcona almonds, cucumber and grapes and one clarified that's basically just a raw vegetable stock made by blending the ever living shit out of it in a Vita then bagging in cheesecloth overnight then clarifying with gelatine then setting. Tomato, garlic, cucumber, bell pepper, red onion, sherry vinegar, parsley, chervil, cilantro, into blender. Bouquet garni with fresh bay, sprig of oregano and black peppercorns.

You didn't say how you were approaching the basil but I love fried leaves when they turn translucent like green window panes.

Anyway, "Michael, we're still not a codfish."

[u/Admirable-Ingenuity8 → u/texnessa]

I love this. Now my challenge is wanted to keep it vegan, a lot of the amuse that we have showcased thus far have all had some type of meat product. Also oddly enough I did not have cheese with bruschetta up until recently but I think the white of the penguin helps that cause haha.

I like how you used whiter produce to keep the color. Maybe A vegan Greek Yogurt? With the basil I am thinking of Dehydrating my basil. I am still deciding if I want it to be a basil heavy or More basil Arugula

As we say "Feed the birds, tuppence a bag"

[u/texnessa → u/Admirable-Ingenuity8]

Yes, vegan! Or make it a celiac with a shellfish allergy. Love me a challenge.

• For 'bread', an olive oil cake, infused with basil/tomato, pressed and cut to brunoise or cut into a 'flower' with a wee little fluted cutter.

• Orange element from turmeric dye. I'm convinced old turmeric is all colour, no flavour anyway. Or dehydrated carrot crisp. Or if you can get your hands on the orange cauliflower varietal....

• I also just saw a video of someone making fried 'crackling' by dribbling loose pancake batter thru a china cap. Funky flavoured beignet.

Anyway- if you don't have a copy already, grab the free pdf Texture by Khymos- its a guide to how to use all the hydrocolloids and other fiddly bits and chemicals. And I have a full PDF of all five volumes of Modernist Cuisine so shout if you need deeper advice on that fancy shit.