Blueberry and Lime Millefuille

   Our October 2012 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Suz of Serenely Full. Suz challenged us to not only tackle buttery and flaky puff pastry, but then take it step further and create a sinfully delicious Mille Feuille dessert with it! I was happy to learn that this month’s challenge is Mille-fuille because I’ve never actually made a real puff pastry myself – I only had an experience of making the soc called “quick puff pastry” which does not require laminating the dough a lot. My huscband was also very happy to learn that this month I’m gonna cook a mille-fuille – “napoleon” slice was his favourite dessert from the childhood! We even argued a bit because of it: I wanted to go creative with this challenge and he wanted to have a classic version of the cake!

   
   We reached a compromise: I made a classic French mille-fuilee instead of making traditional Russian Napoleon. For those who do not know the difference, let me explain: in Russia the slice is made with lots of thin layers of puff pastry and cream (which is usually not cream patisserie but more like a buttercream – a combination of butter and condensed milk) and is covered with crushed pieces of puff pastry (no icing – never!); the cake is left overnight in the fridge so that it becomes soft. Well, you see, that is what my husband always loved – and I wanted him to taste an original mille-fuille, French-style! So Ive made a custard-based cream and three layers of puff pastry and even an icing with strips of chocolate!

   One week later, however, I felt like doing something more. I remembered “Milena” – a beautiful slice by Pierre Herme consisting of raspberry jelly, dacquiouse biscuit, mint mousse and two layers of puff pastry. Taking it as an inspiration I decided to cook something similar – an idea of blueberry and lime ice cream mille-fuille came up! 

    Was it better than French millefuille or Russian napoleon? It was - just because it was different and it had more complicated textures and flavours: crispiness of puff pastry and softness of a sponge, sweetness of ice cream and sourness of jelly, zing of lime and freshness of blueberries. 

    Don't you like a fresh touch on a traditional dish?

Duo of Lime Pies

         As it gets colder in Kolkata some of the winter vegetables start to appear at street vendors. Our last visit to the market resulted in buying a huge bag of tangerines – big and flavourful, with a thin skin that cracks slightly as you push your fingers through it, impatient to reach the bright and juicy flesh… On getting home I realized that sweet limes that we had in the fridge looked too pale and unappealing in comparison with those tangerines. It was time to start a rescue campaign for the unlucky fruit. I decided to combine French and American classic dishes (lemon meringue and key lime pies) and to cook my sweet lime meringue pie. Only as I got my limes zested and juiced did I tell my husband about my intentions – and guess what? He felt enthusiastic about a lime pie but he actually wanted another kind of it – a simple traditional pie his mother used to cook. So, I had to make two pies (fortunately, there were lots of limes in the fridge); the first one went to the office while the second one stayed at home. In the long run, everyone was happy and the mission of saving the limes from being neglected was successfully complete!