Millefeuille

Wow! It’s been a hell of a long time and I am finally back on the bloggingsphere. Gosh I missed it soo much! 2013 was a milestone. A very difficult year for everyone, but within every difficulty we encounter, there is beauty, happiness and splendid moments.

I was recently having a conversation with my mum about food and my affection with it. I divided people into two categories: those that appreciate food and have an emotional relationship with it (i.e. me) and those that see food purely as satiating physiological needs. Thankfully I know very few people of the second category, why I say thankfully is because I cannot understand how people that have the opportunity to love food and see the art and expressionism that can be carried through it, don’t. I recently watched a movie with Angelina Jolie called Crossing Roads – an exceptional film highlighting the poverty in the world. This movie made me reflect how food can be the cause of war; the developed world wastes 1/3 of the food purchased a year and the developing world is rationed food, where nothing goes wasted. When I see films like this, I simply cannot understand how people who have the opportunity to love food, choose to see it as nothing but petrol, something they need to make their body function. And this is where wastage occurs. No gourmand would ever let food go to waste, just watch an exceptional chef or read a book on them, one of their pet hates is food wastage. So in order to get rid of this disparity between the developed world and the developing world when it comes to food and wastage, the solution is simple, educate people to love food – Jamie Oliver style.

Anyway enough of professing my love for food, back to the crux of this blog post – the Millefeuille. My brother recently celebrated his 20^th birthday and I made this as his birthday cake. I got this recipe from the November issue of the Gourmet Traveller. The crème pâtissière is the perfect thickness and texture, so that when you cut the millefeuille the slice doesn’t fall apart. I used carême puff pastry, which was absolutely beautiful. I have been through the process of making my own homemade puff pastry before and thought that the time-consuming process was frankly not worth it. If you are after a delectable dessert for a special occasion, I highly recommend this millefeuille. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1.2 kg butter puff pastry (or three 375gm sheets of carême puff pastry – can be bought from Leo’s and specialty IGAs)

For scattering: caster sugar

To serve: raspberries, icing sugar

Crème pâtissière

450 gm milk

Scraped seeds of ½ vanilla bean

115 gm caster sugar

110 gm egg yolk (about 5 yolks)

20 gm cornflour

20 gm plain flour

500 gm thickened cream

10 gm titanium-strength gelatine leaves (about 2 leaves; softened in cold water for 3-5 minutes)

Method:

Roll out puff pastry on a lightly floured surface to a 24cm x 40cm rectangle. Cut pastry into two 24cm x 15cm pieces and one 24cm x 10cm piece, wrap each separately in plastic wrap and refrigerate to rest (30 minutes). Roll out each of the large pastry pieces to a 3mm-thick, 40cm x 20cm rectangle, trim edges, wrap separately in plastic wrap and refrigerate to rest (40 minutes)

Scatter caster sugar generously over work surface, place the small piece of pastry on top, then sprinkle it generously with more sugar. Roll out pastry to a 2mm-thick 45cm x 20cm rectangle, flipping pastry and adding more sugar as you roll. Trim edges, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate to rest (40 minutes).

Preheat oven to 210C. Place a piece of unsugared pastry on an oven tray lined with baking paper. Place a 3cm-high cork in each corner of the tray, place a wire rack on top of corks and transfer to oven. Reduce oven to 190C and bake, turning pastry occasionally, until just puffed and golden (20-30 minutes), then set aside to cool. Preheat oven to 210C and repeat with remaining piece of unsugared pastry.

Preheat oven to 210C. Place sugared pastry on an oven tray lined with baking paper and transfer to oven. Reduce oven to 180C and bake until puffed and light golden (10-15 minutes). Remove from oven, carefully place a piece of baking paper on top, then place another oven tray op top, gently press to flatten and flip over. Remove original tray and baking paper, return to oven and bake until light golden (15-25 minutes). Remove from oven, carefully place a piece of baking paper on top, top with an oven tray, gently press to flatten and return to oven, with oven trays sandwiching pastry, until the pastry is caramelised (5-10 minutes; flipping as necessary to ensure an even colour; take care and use oven mitts). Remove from oven, remove trays and set pastry aside to cool.

For crème pâtissière, bring milk, vanilla seeds and half the sugar to the simmer in a saucepan over medium heat, then set aside to infuse (1 hour). Whisk yolks and remaining sugar in a bowl until creamy, add cornflour and sieved flour and whisk until smooth. Heat milk mixture over medium-high heat until just before simmering, then add to yolk mixture, whisking continuously. Pour mixture into a clean pan over medium heat and bring to the boil, stirring continuously, then reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 3 minutes. Pass through a fine sieve into a bowl, cover directly with plastic wrap to prevent a skin forming and refrigerate until chilled and firm (4 hours to overnight).

Place a quarter of the crème pâtissière in a large bowl. Warm cup thickened cream in a small saucepan over medium heat until simmering. Squeeze excess water from gelatine and add to warmed cream, stirring to dissolve. Transfer to the quarter of crème pâtissière and whisk to combine. Fold in remaining crème pâtissière, then whisk remaining thickened cream in an electric mixer to firm peaks and gently fold into crème pâtissière. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a 1.5cm plain nozzle and refrigerate until chilled (45 minutes).

Trim each piece of pastry with a serrated knife to 30cm x 14cm and set aside.

Dot a board or serving platter with a little cream mixture (this keeps the pastry in place) and top with a sheet of unsugared pastry. Pipe rows of cream mixture on top to cover, then cut edges cleanly with a paring knife. Top with caramelised pastry and cover with cream.

Top with remaining sheet of unsugared pastry and refrigerate to set the cream (30-40 minutes). Top with raspberries, dust with icing sugar and serve with raspberry coulis.