Cookbook Challenge Week 10

Theme: Cool

Menu: Summer Berry Parfait

It was a bit too ambitious of me to make three layered parfait for this week’s cookbook challenge, especially considering the fact that this is my first experience making a parfait. All in all, I do loooovee the result. As Neil Perry stated in his book, Good Food takes time.

Recipe (from Neil Perry:Good Food)

Ingredients:

Coulis

• 300g raspberries
• 100ml sugar syrup (see Note)

Raspberry Parfait

• 150g raspberries
• 2tbsp sugar syrup
• 80ml milk
• 55g caster sugar
• 3 egg yolks
• 170 ml cream (whipping)

Vanilla Parfait

• 80ml milk, with 1/4 vanilla bean, scraped and infused in the milk
• 55g caster sugar
• 3 egg yolks
• 170ml cream (whipping)

Strawberry Parfait

• 250g strawberries
• 2tbsp sugar syrup
• 80ml milk
• 55g caster sugar
• 3 egg yolks
• 170ml cream (whipping)

assorted fresh berries

icing sugar (optional)

Method:

1. To make the coulis, simply blend the berries with the sugar syrup, strain and set aside.
2. To make the raspberry parfait, blend the raspberries with the sugar syrup and strain. Whisk the milk, sugar and egg yolks together in a bowl over boiling water,until the temperature when tested with a pastry thermometer reaches 84C. Place the bowl over ice to cool completely. Whip the cream until soft peaks form, then gently fold the cream, followed by the raspberry syrup mixture, into the egg yolk mixture. Divide the parfait mixture among eight 200ml serving glasses. Place the glasses on a tray and freeze.
3. When the raspberry parfait is completely frozen, you can start with the vanilla. Use the same method as for the raspberry, omitting the pureed berries and sugar syrup, and discarding the vanilla bean before adding the milk. Pour the vanilla parfait over the top of the frozen raspberry parfait, and freeze as before.
4. When the vanilla parfait is frozen, make the strawberry parfait using exactly the same method as for the raspberry parfait. Pour the strawberry parfait over the vanilla layer and freeze (there should be about 5mm of space left at the top of each glass). When ready to serve, remove the parfaits from the freezer, drizzle with coulis, sprinkle with berries and dust with icing sugar, if desired.

Note: Sugar syrup is made simply by bringing 2 parts water to 1 part caster sugar to the boil together. Simmer until the sugar has completely dissolved, and set aside to cool

Serves 8