Simple Strawberry Mille-Feuille

Listener 5/11/2011

Lauraine Jacobs

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Ratings: 5.0 / 5 FROM 1

Serves 6

Mille-feuille is served cold, so it’s essential the pastry is made with butter. Puff pastry is in my repertoire of recipes, but I no longer need to make it because I can buy Paneton’s frozen pre-rolled butter flaky puff pastry from my supermarket or by mail order from Sabato. In Dunedin, Jim Byars at the Highgate Shop sells his stunning puff pastry on Fridays. It is also stocked in Christchurch at Mercato.

Ingredients

3 sheets	Butter puff pastry, 30cm x 12cm
300 ml	Whipped cream
1 punnet	Strawberries
85 g	Redcurrant jelly
½ cup	Strawberry jam

Directions

If using a block of puff pastry, roll it out to size, place on baking sheets and allow to rest for 30 minutes. (If the pastry is pre-rolled, omit this step.) Prick the surface all over with a fork.
Preheat the oven to 200 degC. Bake the pastry until golden and crisp – around 15 minutes. Set aside.
Whip the cream until lightly stiff. Hull the strawberries then slice the fruit in half. Gently heat the redcurrant jelly in a small saucepan until the jelly melts.
To assemble the mille-feuille, take a sharp knife and trim the edges off the pastry sheets to make them sharp. Place the first sheet on a serving platter. Spread with several tablespoonfuls of jam, then top with half the cream. Spread the second sheet with more jam, then place gently on top of the first sheet. Spread with the remaining cream and top with the last pastry sheet. Decorate the top with halved strawberries, then use a pastry brush to paint redcurrant glaze over the strawberries. It doesn’t matter if a little drizzles down.
To serve, cut into slices with a sharp knife.