Fruit

Mille-Feuille Filled with Strawberry Mousse

Preparation time 30 Min

Setting time minimum 2 hours in the fridge

Will serve 2 – 3 people

Ingredients

Millefeuille
• Few sheets of filo pastry
• 50g of melted butter
• Cocoa powder

Italian Meringue
• 1 egg white
• 70 g of caster sugar
• 1.5 tbs of water

Mousse
• 300 g of strawberries, or 200 ml of strawberry purée
• 125 ml of whipping cream
• ½ lemon
• 2 large sheets of gelatine (Waitrose)

Recipe

Millefeuille
Cut 9 sheets of filo pastry of the following size: 15 cm by 5 cm. Make 3 layers of 3 sheets each. Brush abundantly each sheet with butter and sprinkle with cocoa powder. Bake in a 190 C oven for a few minutes. When baked, set aside.

Mousse

Soak the gelatine’s sheet in cold water. Clean the strawberries and remove the stokes. Blend them to a purée. Strain it through a fine mesh sieve to remove the seeds.
Make an Italian meringue by first whisking the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Then, make a syrup by bringing sugar and water quickly to the boil and boil it until it reaches a temperature of 120C. When the sugar has reached the right temperature, slowly pour it into the egg whites whilst keeping mixing with an electric whisker until the mixture is cold. The egg white will then be firm and shiny.
Whisk the cream till it forms soft peaks.
Warm up ½ a lemon juice, a couple tbs of the strawberry sauce and 2 tbsp of water. When this liquid is warm, wring out the gelatine sheets and add to the mixture. Stir and make sure the gelatine has completely dissolved. Once the strawberry mixture has cooled down, add the rest of the strawberry purée and gently fold in the Italian meringue into the strawberry puree. Put about a third of the whipped egg white into the batter, and mix it in to ‘temper’ the batter, which will make it easier to mix in the rest of the egg white. Then add the whipped cream in the same fashion. This should be done in a very gentle way to ensure that the mixture stays light and fluffy.

Assembling
Sprinkle some cocoa powder on the plate. Lay one filo pastry layer onto a plate. Spread the mousse with a piping bag or with a spoon on each filo pastry layer. Drizzle some hot chocolate sauce and serve.

Strawberry Tiramisu

Will serve 4

Ingredients:

150 g of ladies finger biscuits
500 g of strawberries
2 eggs
250 g of Mascarpone
2 * 50g of sugar
50 g of grated dark chocolate

First make a light syrup by combining 50 g of sugar with 100 ml of water and bring to boil. Simmer for 5 minutes.
Wash all the strawberries. Take 125 g of strawberries and whizz it to a sauce. Strain the sauce through a fine mesh sieve to remove the little seeds. Add it to the syrup and mix well.
Separate the yolk from the white from the eggs. Mix the remaining sugar to the egg yolk and beat with an electrical whisk until the mixture is a pale mousse.
In a separate bowl, stir the mascarpone to a smooth texture. Make sure there are no lumps. Add the egg yolk mixture to it.
Beat the egg whites till they form soft peaks and gently fold them into the mascarpone mixture.
Slice the remaining strawberries.
You can choose 4 single glasses or a rectangular shaped dish to layer the Tiramisu.
Dip the biscuits briefly into the strawberry syrup. Lay the biscuits into the dish of your choice followed by a layer of mascarpone mixture few strawberries and a layer of grated chocolate. Repeat the whole process till you have no ingredients left. The last layer should be made of mascarpone mixture and grated chocolate.
Leave to set in the fridge for at least 5 hours.

Cherry Clafouti

Preparation time 15 min

Cooking time 25 min

Will serve 6 people

Ingredients: 350 g of cherries
100 g of spelt flour
75 g of Demerara sugar (keep some for dusting the clafouti before serving)
4 eggs
250 ml of buttermilk

Wash the cherries. Destone them using a cherry pitter.
Warm up the oven to 180 °C.
Beat the eggs, add the sugar. Mix until smooth. Sieve the flour and add it gradually to the mixture – if too thick gradually beat in some buttermilk to get a smooth liquid with the consistency of double cream. Make sure there aren’t any lumps. Continue in this manner until all ingredients are used. Butter a tin. Pour the batter over the cherries until just covered (you may not need to use all the batter) and bake for between 30 and 40 minutes, or until puffed, golden, and set. Let it rest for ten minutes (it will sink slightly), then dust with Demerara sugar and serve warm, straight from the dish or wait and eat cold.