The Little Paris Kitchen (25 page)

Divide the mousse between the glasses and chill for at least an hour. Serve chilled, sprinkled with cocoa nibs. The mousse is best eaten the same day and should not be kept for more than 2 days (due to the raw egg whites).

Preparation time: 45 minutes
Resting time: 2 hours (including the pastry cream)
Cooking time: 35 minutes

Don't be put off by the length of this recipe. It's really quite simple, as it uses ready-made puff pastry and everything can be prepared in advance. In fact, the fillings are best made beforehand to give them time to chill in the fridge. All that's left to do before serving is the assembly.

MAKES 4

For the apple compote:
6 dessert apples, peeled and roughly chopped • 1 tbsp Calvados • 2 tbsp sugar, or more to taste • 1 gelatin sheet (0.07 oz)
*

• 3–4 tbsp confectioners' sugar • 8 oz ready-made puff pastry • 2 tbsp butter, melted • 4 tbsp caraway seeds • 1½ cups chilled
Crème Pâtissière
(
page 274
)

TO MAKE THE COMPOTE:
Cook the apples, Calvados, and sugar in a covered pan on a medium heat for 10 minutes or until the apples are soft. Whizz to a smooth purée in a blender, then taste and add more sugar if needed (don't make it too sweet as the pastry cream is quite sweet). Soak the gelatin in cold water for 10 minutes or until soft. Drain and squeeze out the excess water, then dissolve in the warm apple purée. Refrigerate until cold (it will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week).

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Dust your rolling pin and work surface with confectioners' sugar. Roll out the pastry to a 12-by-8-inch rectangle ¼ inch thick. Brush with melted butter, dust with confectioners' sugar, and sprinkle with caraway seeds. Dust with 3–4 tablespoons confectioners' sugar a second time and cut into twelve 4-by-2-inch rectangles. Lay the rectangles on the prepared baking sheet and place in the fridge. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Bake the pastry for 20 minutes or until golden, then transfer to a wire rack until cold.

Put the pastry cream and compote into two separate piping bags fitted with small plain nozzles. Start by piping two blobs of pastry cream onto an individual serving plate and sticking a pastry rectangle on top. Pipe two lines of compote on the pastry, then gently place another rectangle over the compote. Pipe two lines of pastry cream on the second rectangle and top with a third rectangle. Repeat to make four millefeuilles altogether. Serve immediately.

*
For a vegetarian version, instead of the gelatin use ½ teaspoon agar powder. Add the powder to the apple purée in a pan and boil for 5 minutes, stirring continuously.

•
Chocolate
Crème Pâtissière
(
page 274
). Replace the caraway seeds with chopped hazelnuts.

•
Top the pastry cream with fresh berries. Replace the apple compote with another layer of pastry cream and berries.

Preparation time: 1 hour
Resting time: 2 hours (including pastry cream)
Cooking time: 1 hour

Paris, as beautiful as it is, has about the same amount of cold, wet, and gray days as London, although my Parisian friends would hotly dispute this. On those days, curling up on the couch with a steaming bowl of something sweetly spiced is my remedy for the miserable weather. Both spices and sweetness in this recipe can be adapted to your taste, and the sauce can be kept in the fridge for a day or two, ready to be gently reheated when you want it (whisk in a dash of milk if it's become too thick).

SERVES 6

• 6 dessert apples • 6 cinnamon sticks

For the sweet
béchamel
sauce:
2 tbsp butter • ¼ cup all-purpose flour • 2 cups milk, lukewarm • ½ vanilla pod (cut widthwise) • 4 tbsp sugar • finely grated zest of ¼ orange • ¼ tsp ground ginger • ½ tsp ground cinnamon • a pinch of nutmeg • 1 clove

Preheat the oven to 300°F. Core each apple and place a cinammon stick in each core. Wrap each apple tightly in parchment paper or aluminum foil and tie with kitchen string. Bake for 15–20 minutes or until the apples are soft but not collapsing.

TO MAKE THE SAUCE:
Melt the butter in a large pan over a medium heat. Add the flour and beat hard until you have a smooth paste. Take off the heat and leave to cool for 2 minutes, then gradually add the milk, whisking constantly.

Split the vanilla pod in half lengthwise and scrape out the grains. Place the pan back over a medium heat and add the pod and grains, the sugar, orange zest, and spices. Simmer gently for about 10 minutes, whisking frequently to make sure the sauce doesn't burn on the bottom of the pan. (If the sauce becomes too thick, whisk in a little more milk.) When the sauce is ready, remove the vanilla pod and clove before pouring the sauce into a jug.

Unwrap the apples and stand them upright on individual plates to serve. Let each person take out their cinnamon stick before pouring a generous helping of sauce over the apple.

Preparation time: 15 minutes Baking time: 15
–
20 minutes

On my first trip to Paris, I ordered a
crème brûlée
and it tasted awful. In my virtually nonexistent French, I tried in vain to complain to the waiter that it tasted burned, only for him to retort that it was
crème brûlée
and meant to be burned. Fortunately now my French is good enough to explain that
crème brûlée
is a rich custard topped with a hard caramel, not a burned caramel.

The classic
crème brûlée
is just cream, egg yolks, sugar, and vanilla, but I use a combination of cream and milk, which makes a rich custard without the heaviness of using only cream. In summer, I often put a small handful of raspberries or blueberries (or a few halved strawberries) into the bottom of each ramekin before completely submerging them in the custard.

SERVES 6

• 1¼ cups heavy cream • scant 1 cup milk • 1 vanilla pod • 6 egg yolks • ½ cup sugar

For the caramel topping:
2 tbsp superfine sugar • 2 tbsp raw cane sugar

Pour the cream and milk into a pan. Split the vanilla pod in half lengthwise and scrape out the grains. Add the pod and grains to the cream and milk. Bring to a boil, turn off the heat, and remove the pod from the pan.

Combine the egg yolks with the sugar in a bowl, then slowly pour in the hot cream, whisking continuously. Do not overwhisk as you want to avoid creating too many bubbles.

If you have time, pour the custard into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight. This gives the vanilla more time to flavor the cream and milk.

Preheat the oven to 225°F. Divide the custard between six wide, shallow ramekins and place in a roasting pan. Pour cold water into the pan to come halfway up the ramekins. Bake for 30–40 minutes or until the custard is set around the edges but still slightly wobbly in the middle. Remove the ramekins from the water and set aside until cooled to room temperature. Cover the ramekins with plastic wrap (don't let it touch the custard) and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight.

WHEN READY TO SERVE, MAKE THE CARAMEL TOPPING:
Uncover the ramekins and check to see if condensation has collected on the custards. If it has, gently place paper towels on the surface to soak up the moisture. Mix the two types of sugar together and sprinkle a nice even layer of sugar over each custard. Do this by holding the spoon at least 12 inches away from the ramekin—sprinkling from a height is the best way to create an even layer of sugar.

Place the ramekins on a metal tray. For best results, use a handheld blowtorch and hold it 4–5 inches away from the sugar. Move the flame slowly around the sugar, maintaining a slow and even motion. Stop torching just before the desired degree of caramelization is reached, as the sugar will continue to cook for a few seconds after the flame has been removed.

If you don't have a blowtorch, take a large metal spoon and hold it in a gas flame until very hot (it will turn blue, almost black in color). Place the spoon on the sugar and move it around so that the heat of the spoon caramelizes the sugar.

The key is to add dry ingredients or just a teaspoon or two of liquid flavoring (e.g., almond extract, orange flower water, rose water) to the cream and milk before bringing to a boil—any more liquid and there's a risk of the custard not setting. Here are some ideas
.

•
1 teaspoon dried lavender (strain it out before combining the cream and milk with the egg yolks and sugar)

•
finely grated zest of 1 orange or lemon

•
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon and ¼ teaspoon ground ginger