Mozzarella Balloons Recipe

The mozzarella balloons will definitely surprise your diners. When they first see them, they have no idea of what a white balloon is doing on their plate. After a few minutes of staring at them, they will finally decide to puncture one of the mozzarella balloons with a fork or knife and they’ll get surprised one more time by a puff of roasted garlic air.

I believe the creator of the mozzarella balloon is Thomas Keller from the French Laundry. The best thing is that they are very easy to make as long as you have an ISI Whip or other N2O cream whipper.

Ingredients for Mozzarella Balloons

- 200 g Fresh Mozzarella (4 servings)

- 10 roasted garlic cloves

- balsamic vinegar reduction

- 12 peeled pearl tomatoes

- thinly sliced basil

- olive oil

- salt and pepper

- olive oil powder

Preparation

If the garlic cloves are not already roasted, wrapped them in aluminum foil with a few drops of olive oil and place them in the oven for 25 min at 200 ˚C (400 ˚F). Smash them and place them in the ISI Whip featured with the straight nozzle and charge it.

If the pearl tomatoes are not peeled yet, remove the stem and carefully make a couple of cuts to the skin originating from the end where you removed the stem. Place them in boiling water for 10 to 15 seconds and transfer them to a recipient with ice cold water. Wait for a couple of minutes and then you should be able to peel the skin very easily.

Boil 3 or 4 cups of water and set it aside in a container in which you can immerse the mozzarella pieces for each balloon without touching each other.  Cut the mozzarella in pieces of 50 g (usually about half a mozzarella ball). Place them in the hot water to get them really soft and pliable. It may take about 5 to 10 minutes.

You are now ready to make the mozzarella balloons. Remove one piece of hot mozzarella from the hot water; it should be hot and pliable, like bubble gum. Knead it for 30 seconds to cool it down a little and then put it over the ISI Whip straight nozzle. Make sure the cheese is in one solid piece and does not have fold lines that are not completely fused together.  Hold it tightly around the tip of the nose with your thumb and index fingers around it. Slowly start inflating it until desired size. Tight the bottom by squeezing the mozzarella with your two fingers as you slide the balloon out of the nozzle. Make sure the balloons don’t touch each other or they will stick.

Look carefully while inflating and stop if one section of the balloon is getting too translucent. If it breaks, don’t worry; just compact the mozzarella and place it in hot water again.

Place three peeled pearl tomatoes on each plate. Season with olive oil, fresh pepper, salt and top with finely sliced basil. Set one mozzarella balloon next to the tomatoes, add salt and drizzle with balsamic vinegar reduction.

Finally, add a spoon of olive oil powder. The olive oil powder is a perfect complement to this dish. Don't skip this step!