The Edinburgh Reporter March 2019

18 FOOD The Edinburgh Reporter
Recipe Feature
Speaking with Virginie Brouard
CHEF Director, Paul Tamburrini
has over 30 years’ experience in
the industry, and he now runs
Bistro Deluxe by Paul Tamburrini
at Macdonald Holyrood Hotel
in Edinburgh. With uniquely
sourced Scottish ingredients and
fresh local produce, Paul offers
a repertoire of French classics
influenced by his passion for
exceptional dishes and the
Master Chefs with whom he has
trained. Here he begins his new
recipe column for readers of
The Edinburgh Reporter to try at
home.
KEY LIME PIE SERVES 8
For the lime meringue;
120g Free range egg whites (4
eggs-approx)
120g Caster sugar
120g Icing Sugar, sifted
Zest of one unwaxed lemon
Plus a little extra to serve
FOR THE LIME CURD;
150G Caster sugar
1.5g Agar Agar
150g free range eggs
150ml freshly squeezed lime
juice
200g cold unsalted French
butter cubed, plus extra for
greasing
FOR THE RYE BISCUIT;
200G RYE FLOUR
100G Unsalted French butter
100g caster sugar
300g cocoa butter, melted
MAKE THE LIME MERINGUE
Line 2 baking trays with baking
parchment paper. Place the egg
whites in a spotlessly clean,
grease-free bowl and whisk until
its light and frothy, then add the
caster sugar a little at a time, until
its incorporated, continuing to
whisk until still peaks. Fold in
the icing sugar and spread the
meringue mixture over the lined
trays until its 5mm thick, then
scatter the lime zest over the top.
Dehydrate in a low
oven about 45c-60c until crisp,
about 45 minutes. Then turn off
the oven and leave the meringue
overnight to dry.
MAKE THE CURD;
Mix the caster sugar and agar
agar together in a mixing bowl.
Place the eggs and lime juice in
a medium pan, add the caster
sugar and agar agar and slowly
bring to the boil over a low heat,
whisking continuously to ensure
the mixture doesn’t catch on
the bottom of the pan, until the
flakes have dissolved. As soon
as it reaches the boiling point,
remove the pan from the heat and
add the cold dicedFrench butter
a piece at a time, emulsifying the
mixture with a stick blender. Pass
the curd through a fine sieve into
a heat proof container, cover the
surface, of the curd with a piece
of cling film, leave to cool.
FREEZE THE LIME CURD.
Grease the moulds and line a
baking tray with baking paper.
When the curd is cool, transfer
it into a piping bag fitted with a
medium nozzle and pipe 80g per
greased
mould. Place the filled mousse
in the freezer then, once the curd
Make your own Key Lime Pie at home
is frozen solid (3 hours approx.)
pop out the moulds & re freeze,
get ready to start dipping them.
MAKE THE RYE BISCUIT;
Pre-heat the oven to 160c/300f/
Gas mark 2 and line a baking
sheet with baking paper. Mix the
flour, butter and sugar together in
a bowl to form a crumbly dough,
then scatter the dough onto a
lined baking sheet. Bake for 25
minutes until it’s golden brown.
Remove from the oven and allow
to cool slightly & then transfer
into the food processor or blender
and pulse until you have a fine
mixture. Add the
melted cocoa butter and
continue blending until to form a
smooth liquid biscuit mix. Pour
the biscuit mixture into a sauce
pan and keep it warm. Ideally
around 40c, whisk it regularly to
ensure the mixture is emulsified.
Line another baking sheet with
parchment paper. Remove the
curds from the freezer and dip
them, one by one into the liquid
biscuit mix, making sure they are
completely covered.
Allow any excess mixture to run
off, dip them in the mixture again.
Return the coated lime curds
to the freezer for 10 minutes to
harden.
SERVE- transfer the lime curds
to the fridge for at least one hour
before serving. The biscuit shell
will remain hard while the curd
will become soft and oozy. Dress
with shards of meringue and
grated lime zest
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Editor: Phyllis Stephen
editor@theedinburghreporter.
co.uk
07791 406 498
by Juliet Lawrence Wilson
VIRGINIE BROUARD, owner of La
P’tite Folie and Le Di-Vin tells us
about her iconic Edinburgh establishments
and inspiring charity
work. Virginie Brouard, French
born, Mother of three and Owner
of both Le Di-Vin Wine Bar and
La P’tite Folie French restaurant
situated in the West End area of
Edinburgh.
Virginie, your restaurant
and wine bar are both iconic
Edinburgh institutions and have
fabulous food and wine, how do
you maintain your standards of
cuisine and service?
Thank you. We always try to
listen to our customers and
work with them to create a nice
place to enjoy your favourite
wine, small plates and tapas.
We encourage feedback from
our customers and receive a
lot through our social media
channels etc. We also have a very
close working team throughout
the wine bar and restaurant, some
who have been with us for many
years. It is so important for me
to look after them and work as a
team together but also to change
with the times and we have a lot
of new exciting projects coming
up that I am excited to share with
you all when we can.
How did you come to be in the
restaurant business?
I arrived in Edinburgh in
1991 aged 19, with £90 in my
pocket. I gave up University
in France and came to live in
Edinburgh. I started working in
Pierre Victoire (Famous French
Bistrot) as a Waitress and after 5
years there an opportunity came
up that I couldn’t turn down and I
bought Frederick Street, my first
ever restaurant in 1996. Milan my
first son was just 5 months old
at the time. In 2003, I opened the
second branch (Randolph Place).
Both places were successful.
Then, in 2008, I opened the Wine
Bar, with my second son, Pierre
aged 6 months!
Your sommelier Luke is quite a
character, what does he bring to
Le Di-Vin?
He certainly is! Luke brings
so much to the wine bar. He
has an amazing background as
Virginie in her bar in Edinburgh’s West End
PHOTO | Derek Anderson Photography
a Sommelier and he has such
amazing knowledge and love
for wine, it is just incredible. He
is very good with people and
everyone takes a liking to him
that meets him. He always goes
out of his way to let customers
taste and try the wine to ensure
that they find something that
they love. He is currently very
busy working on our latest wine
list which will be out in April so
we are very excited about that.
Together with Barbara, the restaurant
Manageress who works very
closely with Luke, both are very
motivated to get the business
working well and both of them
are doing a
great job
You do some interesting things,
oysters and raclette! Any future
ideas?
Yes, everyone loves our oyster
evenings and our raclette! They
always go down so well. We
always try to do something a bit
different and what the customers
want too. We have some very
exciting food and drink plans for
2019 but it is top secret just now.
We will let you know more when
we can!
And lastly I'd love you to tell me
about your charity work and
connection with Ethiopia.
Because the Businesses are
successful, I decided to start
Humanitarian work which is how
I began travelling to Ethiopia to
volunteer there.
I started my work in Ethiopia by
sponsoring a feeding program for
orphans and very poor children.
In the last year, I have managed
to get renowned Mary's Meals to
start feeding school children in
Ethiopia.
This new collaboration with
Mary’s Meals will benefit
thousands of children and
initially we will be working with 3
or 4 local schools before hopefully
helping even more. My main aim
this year through the charity
work is to raise enough money for
a water well for the children.
I now work very closely together
with Mary’s Meals. We now feed
12 schools, nearly 8000 children
per day and more is planned for
2019. Ethiopia will always be very
close to my heart.