Recipe: Cherry Millefeuille with Candied Parma Ham and Pistachios

It’s taken over a year but I’ve finally got my hands on this Cherry Millefeuille with Candied Parma Ham and Pistachios recipe. I enjoyed this amazing dessert, this time last year at a Parma Ham cooking class. It’s amazing how versatile Parma Ham is, and do’t worry, this recipe is super easy to make. Enjoy x 

Ingredients

115g icing sugar, plus extra for dusting

250g shop-bought puff pastry

460g jar of cherries in Kirsch

½ tsp balsamic vinegar

for the Chantilly cream

165ml double cream

25g icing sugar

1 vanilla pod, seeds only ( or alternatively 2 drops of vanilla extract)

For the candied Parma ham

4 slices of Parma ham

3 tbsp maple syrup

For the pistachios

50g shelled pistachios

100ml stock syrup

Method

• Line a large baking tray with greaseproof paper. Dust the work surface with lots of icing sugar and roll out the pastry to a rectangle just larger than 27 x 30cm, trimming the edges straight. Roll the pastry to as thin as you can get it, without stretching the pastry.
• Cut out 18 rectangles about 9cm long and 5cm wide and place them on the prepared baking tray. Sprinkle with lots of icing sugar and put in the fridge for 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 200C
• Remove the pastry from the fridge, place a second baking sheet on top of the pastry and bake in the oven for five minutes, then remove from the oven and sprinkle the pastry with more icing sugar. Return to the oven and bake for a further five minutes, or until the pastry turns golden-brown. Remove from the oven and set aside.
• For the Chantilly cream, put the cream, icing sugar and vanilla in a large bowl and whip until medium-stiff peaks form when the whisk is removed from the bowl. Spoon the cream into a piping bag and chill until ready to use.
• Drain the cherries and add the liquid to a small saucepan, bring to the boil and simmer until thick and syrupy. Add a splash of balsamic vinegar and allow to cool.
• Place the Parma ham on a parchment lined baking sheet and brush all over with the maple syrup. Grill for 3-4 minutes until crisp and golden. Turn the ham over, brush with a little more syrup and grill once more. Leave on a wire rack to crisp.
• Heat the pistachios and stock syrup in a sauté pan, stirring continuously until the nuts have formed a crystallised sugar coating. Allow to cool.
• Pipe a small blob of cream in the centre of the plate and place one of the pastry thins on top to secure. Pipe blobs of cream over the pastry and put the cherries between the cream, scatter over a few pistachios then put another pastry thin on top and repeat with one more layer. Sprinkle the top layer with more icing sugar and repeat until all the pastry and cream is used up.
• Top with shards of candied Parma ham.
• Scatter around the pistachios and drizzle with the reduced cherry balsamic syrup.