Recipes from professional Chef Tallyrand:

• Prawn and Cream Cheese Mille Feuille •

When money is more of a factor . . . . .
Not only has last week seen the American 4th of July celebrations come and go but it's also been a strange old week on the culinary front, and people it would seem also have more money than sense. Always eager to keep an eye on world culinary events I came across the following two gems:

• A man in the USA sold a French fry (chip) on Ebay for £120 apparently, what made this potato by product so special was that it was 7 inches long! He found it amongst his order of fries at a fast food joint
• Then a part of the National Salad Week, Chef Raymond Blanc, has a salad on the menu this week for a mere £600 per portion. All the worlds most expensive foods are included: from golden caviar to truffles to whitebait wrapped in goldleaf . . . and I bet there will be no end of takers too!

But this week's recipe however, is for something a little more affordable: prawn and cream cheese mille feuille. This recipe was requested by someone who signed herself "from a grateful lady! Janet". Well Janet, I hope this recipe will suit your taste and be close to what you have had previously

But what would my weekly recipe be without a little information about the dish or its ingredients? The name 'mille feuille" is a French term that means 'a thousand layers or leaves' it is normally applied to a sweet gateau made with puff pastry. So we are taking a little poetic licence here with it but still remaining with the overall theme. I prefer a lighter version, so rather than using puff pastry I have used phylo / filo pastry, but by all means use puff pastry if you wish, you will just need to increase the baking time. I have recommended 4 x sheets per parcel, but feel free to use more or less to suit you

Phylo pastry is Greek pastry that is very finely rolled and best bought pre-made. It can be made fresh but requires a lot of work. I have made it fresh only twice, and under the watchful eye of an old girlfriends mother, who needless to say was Greek. I had watched her make it and it was definitely a case of 'practice makes perfect', she had made it look at lot easier than it turned out to be. But if you have half a day to spare and want to give it a go, email me and I will happily send you a copy of the recipe.

Prawn and Cream Cheese Mille Feuille

Ingredients

phylo pastry sheets	16	pc
cooked prawns (defrosted)	1	cup
fetta	1/2	cup
cream cheese	1/2	cup
fresh basil, dill or fennel		sq

Method

Filling:

1. Place the cream cheese into a bowl or food processor and beat to soften up
2. Add the prawns and combine
3. Crumble in the fetta and combine lightly
4. Finely shred the basil leaves or finely chop the dill or fennel, add to taste: (approximately a small hand full of basil or two teaspoons of chopped dill / fennel)
5. Lightly combine and season to taste

Mille feuille:

1. Place four sheets of phylo pastry onto your workbench
2. Lightly brush with butter or olive oil
3. Place another sheet on top of each, repeat until you have 4 times four sheets
4. Place a good helping of the filling along the edge closest to you of each pastry square, leaving at least 3 cm clear at the sides
5. Lightly brush the edges with water, oil or butter
6. Fold the sides in to enclose the filling
7. Now roll up like a cigar, it may be left round or flattened if preferred (alternatively you may wish to make the mille feuille into squares etc)
8. Place on a baking sheet and bake for approximately 8 minutes in a pre-heated oven (200°C) until the pastry is golden brown
9. Remove from the oven and brush with beaten egg
10. Serve immediately
    

Chef's Tip:

Personally I would serve this with a Thai sweet chilli sauce, but you might prefer to drizzle with a flavoured oil, a fresh tomato sauce or try some Japanese soy sauce with a little wasaabi mixed in, etc. Just remember to take the cheese content into account, you want something that accompanies seafood well, but contains no fat

This recipe is another of those 'springboard' ideas, meaning you may wish to
alter and change things to suit your own taste

• Change the fetta to a tasty cheddar or camembert even
• Use just cream cheese
• Swap the prawns for crab meat or well drained tinned tuna or salmon
• Add other spices or herbs like garlic, chilli, spring onions, thyme, etc
• Add whole green peppercorns

Experiment and work with what best suits you

If you want to use up the remainder to make that great sweet treat, Baklava <click here>

Enjoy and bon appetit . . . . .

Published 07 July 2003