Chocolate Mille Feuille

I was reading The Bathers Pavilion cook book by Serge Danserau and felt like chocolate and saw this beautiful looking dessert called the 'Mille Feuille' I googled it and it's a French term meaning 'Thousands of Leaves'. So I gave it a shot, took me a couple of tries to get it right

Ingredients:

Chocolate Sheet-

150g – 70% Dark Chocolate Coverture

Vanilla Pastry Cream-

1 – Vanilla Pod Split and Scraped
4 – Egg Yolks
110g – Caster Sugar
45g – Cornflour
35g – Unsalted Butter
500ml – Milk

Hazelnut Mousse-

Vanilla Pastry Cream (from above)
60g – Unsalted Butter (room temperature)
30g – Hazelnut Paste or Nutella
Icing Sugar to Dust

Method:

1. Melt chocolate in a bain-marie until chocolate reaches 45c and no higher. Remove from the heat and pour half the chocolate over a clean and cold kitchen surface (most preferably marble), spread around with palate knife until chocolate has thicken. Quickly combine the chocolate with the melted chocolate and mix, check the temperature and make sure it is 26C. Spread chocolate on the acetate as thinly as possible and evenly. Once chocolate has set, heat knife with hot running water and wipe off any water, slowly cut through the chocolate to 10x10cm squares. Re-heat the knife and wipe off any excess chocolate on the knife/water, repeat stage until you have enough chocolate squares.

2. To make the vanilla pastry cream, first place the milk and vanilla bean in a saucepan with the pod and bring it up to the boil. Beat egg yolks and sugar in a bowl until light and fluffy, then beat in with the cornflour until it is smoothe. Pour 1/3 of the hot milk mixture to the eggs while whisking thoroughly preventing it from curdling the eggs. Pour the rest of the mixture while whisking and continue cooking until it has thicken. Pour in a shallow container to cool rapidly and place in the fridge until it has cooled down. Use an imersion blender to rid of the lumps and make it more silky.

3. For the hazelnut mousse, whisk in the soft butter with the vanilla pastry cream until smoothe, and then add in the hazel nut paste. Whisk until mixture is smoothe and combined.

4. To assemble, pipe a small dollop of the hazelnut mousse on the middle of the plate and place a sheet of chocolate on top and press down (this will help it to stay still on the plate). Pipe small dollops over the chocolate and place a second layer and repeat step until there are 3 layers of chocolates and 2 layers of mousse. Dust with icing sugar and serve cold.

Notes:

Tempering Chocolate – when tempering chocolate it is crucial that the temperatures are exactly right, this can be used by thermometers (Laser is best) do not over heat the chocolate as it will burn, chocolate should be melted from 30-45c and no higher (depending which kind). A slab of marble is recommended when tempering chocolate with the table method.

Acetate – can be found in art shops and is very useful when used correctly with chocolates, it creates a shine on the surface of the chocolate and smoothness. It also helps to mould and shape the chocolate.

.rEy.