Rhubarb And Marzipan Millefeuille With Strawberry Soup

by Chef Jamie Kennedy

Introduction by James Chatto:
With his namesake restaurant, wine bar, catering company and now a new restaurant at the Gardiner Museum, Jamie Kennedy is one of the country’s busiest and best known chefs. Local, seasonal ingredients inspire his cooking. “In May,” he suggests, “take a walk in the woods. On the wind you may catch the pungent aroma of wild leeks as their leaves are bruised underfoot. Down by the creek you can see trout jumping and fiddleheads slowly unfurling on the banks. Inspect your own perennial garden and see one of the harbingers of spring: rhubarb. Here is a dessert that is born of the inspiration of spring and includes some of spring’s best bounty.”

Jamie serves this with home-made sour cream ice cream but good quality vanilla ice cream works well. Marzipan is available at some supermarkets in the baking section.

Filling:
12 oz (375 g) rhubarb, cut into pieces
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup cake crumbs (from a pound cake is fine)
Strawberry Soup:
4 cups strawberries
1/2 cup granulated sugar

Pastry:
8 oz (250 g) puff pastry (homemade or purchased)
5 oz (150 g) marzipan
1 egg, beaten
Garnish:
12 mint sprigs

Combine rhubarb and sugar and let sit for 2 hours.

Lift rhubarb pieces from bowl to separate from the liquid in the bowl. Combine drained rhubarb with cake crumbs and reserve.

Wash, hull and quarter strawberries into a bowl. Sprinkle with sugar and let sit for 1 hour.

Transfer to a saucepan and bring to boil on medium high heat. Skim foam from top of the soup and cook for 10 minutes on low heat.

Transfer soup to a strainer lined with cheesecloth placed over a bowl. Let sit for 2 hours or overnight refrigerated until there is plenty of juice in the bowl. Squeeze gently to remove remaining juice.

Preheat oven to 325 F.

Divide puff pastry in half and roll each half into 12 x 5-inch rectangles. Cut each rectangle into 3 equal rectangles, so you have a total of 6 pieces of pastry.

Divide the marzipan in half and roll out each half using icing sugar as a dusting agent. Cut into 6 slightly smaller rectangles to fit inside puff pastry.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place one rectangle of pastry on the baking sheet. Place a rectangle of marzipan on the pastry. Mound the rhubarb and cake crumb mixture onto marzipan.

Place a second rectangle of marzipan over the rhubarb mixture then place a second rectangle of pastry over the marzipan. Pinch closed all around the perimeter. Brush a beaten egg over the surface of the pastry.

Sprinkle extra sugar on top.

Bake for 50 minutes or until pastry is golden and crisp. Cool for 1 hour before serving.
Ladle 2 tbsp soup into each of 6 soup plates. Place a slice of the millefeuille in the centre of each soup and one scoop of ice cream beside each slice of millefeuille.

Scatter mint leaves randomly over each dessert.