Sugar High Friday - Flower Power

Or in my case, fruit and flower water power!
Yes, this months Sugar High Friday, hosted by Monisha at Coconut Chutney is themed around Flowers and Flower Waters. Whilst Springtime brings forth a surfeit of daffodils and tulips, we have to wait a few more weeks for the more 'edible' flowers. Primroses are starting to die off, as are violets, so these are no good to use now, especially as we had rain yesterday which resoundingly spoiled any yellow or purple stragglers.
My botany is not good enough to know whether or not bluebells would be OK to use because we have a surplus of them around these here parts.
Not to worry. As a compulsive buyer of unusual spices and flavourings, I have unopened bottles of both Rose and Orange Flower Water both crying out to be used.
As of last night I had no idea what I was going to make. I only knew one thing: I had a deadline I was going to miss if I didn't start thinking pretty hard about those flower waters.
I remembered seeing a beautifully fragile filo construction in Tessa Kiros' Falling Cloudberries. The frail layers of filo were cemented together with an orange scented sabayon and caramelised orange segments. Perfect! I pulled out the recipe and after looking lustfully at the picture for a while, got to work.
Stumbling step No.1. No oranges. OK. So, I'll use lemons instead and make a lemon sabayon. But who wants to eat segments of lemon? Hmm. Too late to run to the supermarket but I always knew that the bag of frozen fruits would come in handy one day.
I picked out the raspberries, black and redcurrants.
Kiros' recipe has four elements to it:
1. The Pastry Layers
2. An Orange Confit
3. An Orange Sabayon
4. An Orange Sauce
I realised that with the scant ingredients I had, the recipe would require some serious reworking. Using the book as a guide only I finally produced a Red Berries, Lemon and Orange Flower Deconstructed Mille Feuilles. Sounds pretty fancy but it was actually really simple. Remember, deconstructed is the key word here. It's the word chefs seem to use when they don't want to spend ages constructing a dish. Someone dropped the roast chicken on the floor and it smashed into 100 pieces? It's a deconstructed roast chicken. It's metro-cuisine you know.
But, back to the pudding in question. This is a dish that can be made in advance and assembled when your guests arrive. The confit is made first of all and then stirred into the Sabayon which is then chilled until you need to use it. The orange sauce can also be made in plenty of time, you can just gently reheat it when the assemblage is due, stirring through the frozen fruits to defrost them but ensuring they don't lose their shape. In an ideal world of course, fresh fruit is preferable. You could also omit the Sabayon element, making sweetened whipped cream instead but it won't have that ethereal, light as gossamer texture.
I have never used Orange Flower Water before and was thrilled to find that far from having that slightly soapy taste that Rosewater can have, it has an almost indefinable delicacy, like the scent of a rare flower dissolving on your tongue. It doesn't taste of oranges, far from it, but it does have a floral-citrus flavour. I will certainly be experimenting with it again.
It looks effective enough to be served at a dinner party but to me the real joy is when you break through the layers of crisp filo and the sabayon oozes dreamily over the spoon. The fruit sauce is a tart foil for the rich cream and the orange flower water permeates the whole dish with its floral delicacy.
If you want to try your hand at this, here's the recipe.
RED BERRIES, LEMON AND ORANGE WATER DECONSTRUCTED MILLE FEUILLES
Serves 4
Ingredients:
Pastry Layers:
8 Sheets Filo Pastry
50g Melted Butter
30g Caster Sugar
Some Honey
Lemon Confit:
Juice and Zest of 2 Lemons
30g Sugar

Fruit and Orange Water Sauce:
Juice of 2 Lemons
30g Sugar
10g Butter
Tablespoon Orange Flower Water
Tablespoon Limoncello or Brandy
Handful of Mixed Berries to finish
Sabayon:
300ml Double Cream
1 Whole Egg and 2 Egg Yolks
50g Caster Sugar
1 Tablespoon Orange Flower Water
METHOD:
To make the confit, heat together the lemon zest, juice and sugar, simmering until it has turned thick and jammy, about 7 minutes. Leave to one side.

To make the fruit sauce, heat together all the ingredients except the fruits, until it has reduced and is thickened, 8-10 minutes. Taste for sugar, extra alcohol, orange flower water etc.

To make the Sabayon, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water, until pale and thickened. This will take about 12-15 minutes of constant whisking.

Stir in the Orange Flower Water and 2 teaspoons of the Lemon Confit. If you have left the confit to set aside for a while, it may solidy slightly so you reheat it gently until it liquifies if this is the case.

Whisk the cream until it peaks softly and fold into the orange water/creamy egg mixture. Chill in the fridge, covered, until you are ready to use it.

Preheat the oven to 180c.

To make the filo layers, lay one sheet of filo pastry out on a large work surface (or small in our case), brush generously with butter and sprinkle over some of the sugar. Lay another sheet of the filo and repeat using four sheets. Brush the top sheet with more butter, cut into 5" x 3" rectangles and place on a baking sheet. You should get about 10-12 rectangles per sheet, depending on the size of the filo.

Drizzle over some of the honey and bake the sugared layers until golden and crisp, about 8 minutes.

Repeat with the other four sheets of filo pastry, ensuring to keep them covered under a tea towel until you are ready to use them as they are notoriously fragile.

When they are cooked, swiftly remove the small rectangles from the baking sheet and lay them out on a clean work surface so they don't stick together. Allow to cool. This takes no time at all.

Finally, assemble the pudding. Place a layer of filo pastry on a plate, dollop over some of the creamy sabayon and drizzle over some of the fruit sauce (after stirring through the fruits). Place another rectangle on top and repeat, using 3 or 4 of the filo rectangles, and finishing with the pastry. Dust lightly with icing sugar and if you have anymore sauce left, spoon some around the plate.

Serve and wait for the oohs and ahhs.

P.S. DON'T FORGET TO DIG OUT THE CHARCOAL FOR PAULS BIG BURGER BALLYHOO!