"The people who give you their food give you their heart" - Cesar Chavez


Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Andy's Strawberry Millefeuille

My good friend Andy is a huge fan of the Top Chef show. So as you can imagine, he was really excited when he got to go to the Top Chef's, Anita Lo's, restaurant, Annisa. He got to have the special Chef's tasting menu with 7 courses! For the dessert course he had a strawberry millefeuille with ricotta, pink peppercorns and a balsamic reduction. I did some research on this dessert and it turns out Annisa doesn't even have a pastry chef, Anita Lo does it all herself! I also learned that "Mille-Feuille" is French for "a thousand leaves." I guess that is where the
Last Sunday evening I had Andy and Yihsin over for dinner and they had constructed their own version of the strawberry millefeuille in Andy's kitchen. He adapted his strawberry millefeuille from this recipe from Anito Lo in Self magazine. It was so delicious that even though Andy and Yihsin brought a full plate of them over, I had them all that night! They had delicious layers of buttery phyllo with a creamy ricotta filling and a touch of lemon and layers of strawberries. This was a wonderful wonderful dessert!
Andy's Strawberry Millefeuille
(Adapted from Anita Lo's millefeuille)

Ingredients:
4 sheets phyllo dough, thawed according to package directions

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, divided
4 teaspoons sugar, divided
1 1/2 cups ricotta

1/4 cup sugar
Zest of 2 lemons
Fresh lemon juice
Strawberries, sliced

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 325°. Phyllo: Brush a large, shallow baking sheet with some butter and lay 1 phyllo sheet on top. (Cover remaining phyllo with a damp cloth.) Brush phyllo with butter and sprinkle on 1 tsp sugar. Layer another phyllo sheet on top and press down. Repeat layering until you use all sheets, ending with 1 tsp sugar on top. Cut phyllo stack into 32 equal squares. Bake until squares are golden brown and crisp, 15 to 17 minutes.
2. Mix ricotta, sugar, lemon zest and a pinch of salt; add lemon juice to taste.
3. Place a dab of ricotta mix on a plate. Top with 1 phyllo square, 1 tbsp ricotta and fig slices. Repeat for a total of 4 layers.

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