Strawberry Millefeuille – a Most Sophisticated Sweet

No meal is complete without a treat, especially on a barge cruise. From deliciously decadent chocolate confections to buttery-rich profiteroles paired with homemade vanilla ice-cream, the divine desserts served by the gourmet chefs on the canals are definitely worth the splurge.

Luckily for you, gentle reader, the Barge Ladies have obtained an exclusive recipe for a most delicate and delectable dessert.  Enjoy this privileged peek into the cultured kitchen and creative mind of a French barge chef!

With a background ranging from 5-star hotels to private catering, Chef Martin Valovic on the barge Meanderer brings a passion to the kitchen that is quite evident — and absolutely delicious!  Guests, as seen here,  are always invited into his kitchen for informal cooking presentations, recipe shares, and foodie chats, and his menus are uniformly praised by passengers who are lucky enough to enjoy his gourmet cuisine. With a focus and commitment to the perfect balance of artistry, texture, and detail, Chef Martin’s marvelous desserts are the perfect finish to his multi-course meals.

The Barge Ladies are thrilled to exclusively offer Chef Martin’s recipe for Strawberry and White Chocolate millefeuille, his take on a traditional “sophisticated sweet” made with light layers of puff pastry, white chocolate, rich cream, and fresh fruit.  Chef Martin makes all the components from scratch, and uses strawberries sourced from a local garden in the Upper Loire for the headiest of aromas and flavors, destined to dazzle even the most seasoned of palates!

Strawberry and White Chocolate Millefeuille

Serves 6

Ingredients:

• plain flour for dusting
• 3 tbsp caster sugar
• 300ml double cream
• 1 vanilla pod
• 300g strawberries
• 50g white chocolate
• basil leaves

Puff Pastry Ingredients:

• 200g plain flour
• 200g cold butter

Tuile Ingredients:

• 2 egg whites
• 85g plain flour
• 100g sugar

Strawberry sorbet Ingredients:

• 500g fresh strawberries
• 125g icing sugar

Method:

For sorbet:

1. Crush and sieve the fruit, then stir in the icing sugar
2. Pour into an ice cream machine. Churn the mixture and freeze

For the tuile:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4
2. Mix all the ingredients together to form a smooth paste
3. Spread the paste onto a piece of baking parchment and bake in the oven for five minutes or until golden
4. Remove from the oven and while still warm, shape biscuits into desired shape

For puff pastry:

1. Put the flour and a pinch of salt in the food processor. Turn it on and steadily pour in 150ml of water. When the dough comes together, cover it in cling film and chill for 20 minutes
2. Lightly flour your surface and roll the dough into a 25cm circle. Put the butter in between two pieces of baking parchment and soften it by tapping it with a rolling pin. Cut the butter in half and repeat the process until the butter is pliable but still cold. Reshape to the size roughly of a postcard
3. Put the butter in the centre of the pastry and fold over the right and left sides of the circle, overlapping in the middle. Press the dough with your rolling pin to make it longer and then lightly mark into thirds. Fold the bottom third up to cover the middle third and the top third down. Seal the dough gently by pressing down on the edges with your rolling pin. Give the dough a quarter turn
4. Roll the dough out to a long rectangle (roughly 18 x 38cm), keeping the edges square and the sides straight. Mark the dough into thirds again, fold the bottom third up and the top third down. Seal the edges and give the dough a quarter turn. Repeat one more time, cover and chill for 20 mins
5. Repeat step four twice more, chilling each time. Chill for one hour before using
6. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. On a lightly floured surface scattered with a little sugar, roll out the pastry to a rectangle slightly larger than 28 x 30cm. Line a large baking sheet with baking parchment and scatter with more sugar. Use the rolling pin to lift the pastry onto the baking parchment
7. Scatter more caster sugar over the pastry and cover with another sheet of baking parchment. Lay another heavy baking sheet (or a baking sheet weighed down with an empty ceramic oven dish if yours aren’t heavy) on top and bake for 15-20 mins until the pastry is golden and crisp, then set aside to cool
8. To make the filling, tip the cream into a bowl with 3 tbsp of sugar, and the vanilla seeds. Lightly whisk until the cream just hold its shape and set aside. Hull and quarter the strawberries and set a few aside for the salad, then cut the rest into 3 or 4 chunks. Finely shred the basil, then fold through the cream with the chopped strawberries and lemon zest, then chill until needed
9. When the pastry has cooled completely trim the edges to form a neat 28 x 30cm rectangle. Cut into 3 equal rectangles – to get them precisely the same size, cut one then lay it on the rest of the pastry and use it as a guide to the next rectangle, then repeat
10. To assemble the millefeuille, lay down one rectangle of pastry, add half of the cream and strawberry mix and flatten with the back of a spoon. Place the second pastry layer on top and gently press down. Finely grate over half the white chocolate and top with the remaining cream mix. Place the final layer of pastry on and press down gently so that the filling just starts to bulge over the edges
11. Use a palette knife to smooth the filling along the sides so that it is level with the edges of pastry and fills any gaps. Add a smear of filling across cut pastry edges to help the grated chocolate to stick. Grate chocolate on top. The easiest way to get grated chocolate to stick to the sides is to help it on with a palette knife. Mix the reserved strawberries and the small basil leaves to make a simple salad
12. To serve, carefully slice the millefeuille into 6 equal pieces. As you slice, hold the millefeuille together by placing a finger at either side of the blade. Place a piece of millefeuille to the side of each plate. Spoon a small pile of strawberry salad on the opposite side of the plate and serve with sorbet and tuile