Easy Rhubarb Millefeuille for the Great British Rhubarb Recipe Round-Up

The Great British Rhubarb Recipe Round Up Linky Party opened on Saturday and is proving very popular.  I'm not quite sure why we have such an affection for these acidic pink stems.  I can only imagine that it is because they are the first 'fruit' of the year and a harbinger of spring.


There is a local rhubarb connection here in the south west of Scotland as James Mounsey, a Scot who had been the doctor to Tsar Peter III, fled for his life back to Dumfriesshire when the Tsar was assassinated. He brought rhubarb seeds with him and from these he successfully grew fields of high quality rhubarb.  The house he fled to is only about half a mile from where I live, so it is perhaps, not so surprising that our rhubarb is prolific and that our plants must be nearly 50 years old.


I thought a lot about the recipe I would make for The Great British Rhubarb Recipe Round-Up, I changed my mind several times. I wanted to make something impressive, that didn't need a huge amount of rhubarb and that was easy enough for anyone to make, here is what I came up with:


Easy Rhubarb Millefeuille
Serves 4

125g filo pastry (half a 250g pack)
50g butter, melted
125g caster sugar
6 to 8 slim stems of rhubarb
200ml thick and creamy vanilla custard (I got mine at M&S)
150ml double cream
tablespoon of icing sugar, sifted

1. Lay a sheet of filo pastry on to a baking sheet covered with baking paper, brush with melted butter and sprinkle over a little caster sugar.  Cover with another 3 sheets of filo, each brushed with butter and sprinkled with sugar, press down.
2. Cut into even rectangles, you will need 12 rectangles in total (3 for each portion)
3. Bake at 160C for 8-10 minutes until golden brown, leave on the tray for a few minutes, then transfer to a cooling tray until cold.
4. Measure the length of the pastry rectangles, then cut your rhubarb into lengths to match.  You will need 24 lengths of rhubarb (6 for each portion). Place the rhubarb into a baking dish and sprinkle over the remaining sugar (75g), roast the rhubarb in the oven at 160C for around 12 minutes or until you can easily pierce the stalks with a knife but before the rhubarb starts to disintegrate. Remove and leave to cool. 
5. Whip the double cream and until very thick and stiff, fold in the custard and load the mixture into a piping bag with a large star nozzle (Wilton 1M).
6. Place the pastry rectangles onto the serving plates, pipe cream in three rows, place three stalks of rhubarb on top, then place another pastry on top and repeat the cream and rhubarb.  Top with the final pastry rectangle and dust with icing sugar.

I hope you will join me and Karen from Lavender and Lovage by sharing your rhubarb recipes and enjoying the inspiration of the great entries we have already received.

Labels: cream, custard, filo pastry, Lavender and Lovage, Millefeuille, rhubarb, The Great British Rhubarb Recipe Round-Up

posted by Janice @ 19:53 17 Comments

Chocolate Dipped Cannoli

I was thrown a little by the theme for this month's 'We should Cocoa', (the blogger challenge run by Choclette at Chocolate Log Blog and Chele at Chocolate Teapot) it's Chocolate and Cheese!  I've been mulling this over since it was announced, trying to think what I could make.  Then I remembered the ricotta and chocolate filled cannoli that my SIL used to bring to us from a Sicilian Bakery in Edinburgh.
I did a bit of research online, but decided that, rather than making the biscuit shells, I would use filo pastry.  I bought the pastry and then it occurred to me that I had no idea what I would use to create the tubes...but you will see that I did manage to come up with something.

Chocolate Dipped Cannoli




So here is my solution for making the cannoli tubes, rolled up aluminium foil! Roll the circle round the foil with the butter side out and bake in the oven for about 10 minutes until the tubes are golden brown. Leave to cool then carefully remove the foil.


Mix the ricotta, 25g of the chocolate, the Amaretto and the sugar.  Fill a disposable piping bag without a nozzle and snip off the end. Fill from both ends with the cheese mixture.


Melt the rest of chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water and dip the end of the cannoli into the melted chocolate.  Place onto a plate covered with baking paper and place in the fridge for about an hour until the chocolate and filling are set. Dust with icing sugar.



I was really pleased with the way the Cannoli turned out, they were totally delicious, the crunch of the filo and the soft sweetness of the ricotta mixture with a hit of dark chocolate.  These ones were a little on the big size, so I may try and make some smaller ones in future.

Labels: amaretto, cannoli, Cinnamon, dark chocolate, dessert, filo pastry, ricotta, We should Cocoa

posted by Janice @ 20:24 23 Comments