Raspberry and Orange Mille-feuille

Ingredients

Description

My husband Murray is a very healthy eater, and it’s rare he’ll indulge in dessert. But if I make a French mille-feuille, he’s likely to have two helpings as it is his favourite dessert treat. The two layers of crisp puff pastry are filled with a dreamy mixture of creamy custard. The top is then covered with fresh raspberries glazed with raspberry jam.

Make everything ahead but assemble within two hours of serving. Use your sharpest knife to slice the mille-feuille. If you make this when the autumn raspberries are not plentiful, top it with fresh apricots, halved and glazed with apricot jam.

Method

Halve the pastry and roll out into two neat strips around 40cm long and 12cm wide. Place on a baking tray. Allow to rest for 30minutes before baking, meanwhile preheating the oven to 200°C. Bake the pastry until crisp and golden brown (about 15minutes). Set aside.

To make the custard, heat the milk with the orange zest. When it reaches simmering point, remove from the heat and leave to infuse for 20minutes. Beat the yolks with the sugar until light and pale. Strain and whisk the milk into the beaten yolks then rinse the milk pan and return the mixture to the rinsed-out pan with the dissolved cornflour. Stir continually over very gentle heat until the mixture thickens. Strain and cool.

Beat the mascarpone until smooth then gently combine with the custard, along with the whipped cream.

To assemble, trim the edges of the pastry so they look sharp. Place one of the sheets on a long serving platter then pile the creamy custard mixture on top. Top with a second sheet of pastry.

Heat the jam with a few tablespoons of water then sieve it into a small bowl. Using a pastry brush, lightly spread some of the jam on top of the pastry.

Arrange the raspberries in neat rows on top of the pastry, then brush the rest of the jam over the raspberries to glaze. Slice and serve.

Serves 6 to 8

Categories

Desserts
Fruit

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