A “Mille-Feuille” for 1,000 Followers!

Hi everyone!

Happy Saturday, and happy milestone to me! Today is a big day for Stovetop Story, as I’m celebrating over a 1,000 followers! I can’t thank you all enough and I’m so proud of what this tiny project has turned into. Though it’s not much on the scale of the whole internet, I thought only my family would read my blog when I started out… So I’m super happy to share all of my recipes with as many of you lovely visitors as possible! And since it’s a great step forward, I decided to celebrate with a special post and a little treat: a heirloom tomato “mille-feuille”, with a deliciously creamy basil pesto!

“A what?”, you ask? Well, when my brother heard the news, and that I wanted to post a celebratory recipe, he immediately asked me: “Why don’t you make a mille-feuille?” And my head almost exploded with ideas. A “mille-feuille” (literally a “thousand sheets”) for 1,000 followers? Seems pretty fitting indeed! But then I thought about making this classic French pastry and got tired just thinking about all of the steps. In case you don’t know what it is, a “mille-feuille” is basically layers and layers of crispy, caramelized, puff pastry dough separated by delicious layers of flavored cream and sometimes fresh fruit. Basically, only good stuff! But since I like everything homemade, the time required to make that crispy, caramelized, puff pastry dough got the best of me, and I backed out of the idea. I did, however, come up with this instead:

Good stuff too if you ask me! Full of colors and flavors, it’s a very festive starter for a fancier meal. My take on this “mille-feuille”, includes layers of heirloom tomatoes, creamy basil pesto, and thin parmesan crisps for the extra crunch. It’s so delicious I think I’ll just celebrate the news over and over again through this recipe. As always, bon appétit!

– Julie

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I apologize in advance for the imprecision of this recipe, as I literally did everything freely in my kitchen without any measurements involved…

Total time: 30 minutes

Ingredients for the Tomato Mille-Feuille: for 3 servings

• 3 heirloom tomatoes (greens, red, and yellow for extra prettiness)
• some Creamy Basil Pesto (recipe below)
• sea salt and freshly ground pepper
• extra grated parmesan (for the crisps)

(Approximate) Ingredients for the Creamy Basil Pesto: for 3 servings (or more)

• 3 handfuls of fresh basil leaves
• 2 handfuls of almonds
• 1 handful of grated parmesan cheese
• juice from about 1/4 lemon
• about 1/3 cup of water
• about 2-3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp of fresh ricotta
• sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 380°F.
2. Meanwhile, make the Creamy Basil Pesto. In a food processor, add the almonds, and pulse until you get a powder, like almond meal. Then, add the parmesan, the basil leaves, the olive oil, the lemon juice, the ricotta, some of the water and salt and pepper. Pulse until the mix is smooth. You can add more water to make it thinner but I like to keep some texture.
3. Make thin disks of grated parmesan on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake them in the oven for 5 minutes (pay attention, as it can burn really quickly!), and let them cool until they become crispy.
4. Slice the tomatoes as thinly as possible.
5. To plate, start with some creamy pesto, add some slices of tomatoes of every color, separate some of them with some pesto, and others with parmesan crisps, and keep layering until you get a full tomato back in shape. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, fresh basil leaves, and shaved parmesan. Enjoy!

Temps total: 30 minutes

Ingrédients pour le Mille-Feuille de Tomates Anciennes: pour 3 personnes

• 3 tomates anciennes (verte, rouge et jaune pour faire joli)
• du pesto crémeux de basilic (recette ci-dessous)
• sel de mer et poivre fraichement moulu
• du parmesan râpé (pour les feuilles de parmesan)

Ingrédients (approximatifs) pour le Pesto Crémeux de Basilic: pour 3 (ou plus)

• 3 poignées de feuilles de basilic
• 2 poignées d’amandes
• 1 poignée de copeaux de parmesan
• jus d’1/4 de citron (à peu près)
• environ 1/3 cup d’eau
• environ 2-3 c.s d’huile d’olive
• 1 c.c de ricotta fraiche
• sel de mer et poivre fraichement moulu

Etapes:

1. Préchauffez votre four à 200°C.
2. Pendant ce temps, préparez le pesto crémeux de Basilic. Mettez les amandes dans le bol d’un robot, et mixez jusqu’à obtenir une fine poudre. Ajoutez ensuite le parmesan, les feuilles de basilic, l’huile d’olive, le jus de citron, la ricotta, un peu d’eau, du sel et du poivre. Mélangez jusqu’à obtenir une texture crémeuse et homogène, mais pas trop liquide (ajoutez en revanche de l’eau si elle est trop épaisse).
3. Faites des disques fins de parmesan râpé sur une plaque de cuisson recouverte de papier sulfurisé, et mettez la au four pendant 5 minutes (faites attention car ça brule vite!). Laissez ensuite les disques refroidir et durcir quelques minutes.
4. Tranchez les tomates très finement.
5. Pour servir, commencez avec du pesto, puis ajoutez des tranches de tomates de toutes les couleurs, en les séparant avec du pesto ou des feuilles de parmesan. Continuez à empiler les tranches jusqu’à recréer une tomate. Agrémentez de sel et poivre, et de quelques feuilles de basilic et copeaux de parmesan supplémentaires. Bon appétit!

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