Serves 4
Ingredients
Quick Puff Pastry
- 250g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
- 250g unsalted butter, diced
Caramelised Onion
- 6 golden shallots, peeled and finely sliced
- 50g unsalted butter
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp port
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Goats Cheese Mousse
- 300g soft goats cheese
- 200ml creme fraiche
- zest of 1 lemon
- salt
To Serve
- 40g Blue Stilton, crumbled
- 80g roasted walnuts
- 8 chives, finely chopped
- thinly sliced green apple
- 8 red grapes, thinly sliced
- 8 green grapes, thinly sliced
- celery heart leaves
Steps
- Preheat oven to 220C.
- For the Quick Puff Pastry, place flour and 50g butter into a food processor and process until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add 120ml iced water and pulse until dough comes together in a ball, or add ½ teaspoon water at a time until a ball forms.
- Press dough into a disc and wrap in cling wrap. Place the dough along with the remaining 200g butter into the freezer for 10 minutes.
- Dust a clean work surface with flour. Unwrap dough and roll out into a rectangle 5mm thick. Grate 100g of the cold butter over the dough. Fold 1/3 of the rectangle inwards and fold the remaining 1/3 over the first fold to make 3 layers of dough. Turn the dough 90 degrees and roll out into a rectangle again, repeating the folding and turning once more. Wrap in cling film and place into the freezer for 10 minutes.
- Roll pastry out as above and grate remaining butter over dough. Fold as above, turn 90 degrees, roll and fold again. Wrap in cling film and freeze for 10 minutes.
- Dust the bench with flour. Remove the dough from the freezer, unwrap and roll out to a thickness of 3mm. Transfer dough to a lined tray and place into the freezer until firm.
- Once dough is cold, cut into eight 5cm x 10cm rectangular pieces. Carefully lift the dough onto a baking tray lined with baking paper. Cover with a sheet of baking paper and another baking tray to keep pastry flat.
- Cook in the oven for 10 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 180C and bake for a further 8-10 minutes, removing the top tray and baking paper for the last 2-3 minutes or until golden.
- Remove from the oven and carefully transfer the cooked pastry to a tray and place into freezer to chill. Remove from the freezer and set aside in an airtight container until ready to assemble and serve.
- For the Caramelised Onion, place shallots, butter and oil into a medium non stick saucepan over a medium heat. Cook, stirring, until soft and caramelised. Add the port and stir to deglaze the pan. Add sugar and salt and continue to cook for 1 minute. Stir in the vinegar then remove from the heat. Season to taste and set aside at room temperature.
- For the Goats Cheese Mousse, place the ingredients into a bowl and process with a stick blender until fully combined. Season with salt to taste. Set aside in a piping bag in the fridge.
- To serve, pipe 6 pillows of the Goats Cheese Mousse onto each plate, in a 5cm x 10cm rectangle. Top with the Caramelised Onion, crumbled Blue Stilton, chives, crumbled walnuts, sliced apple, sliced grapes and the celery heart leaves. Cover with a piece of pastry. Repeat filling layer as before, top with a piece of pastry and finish with a layer of filling.
