Plate a little elegance and impress your guests with this deceptively simple lunch dish from Rosa Matto.

Recipe Rosa Matto | Photograph Brendan Homan | Styling Natalie Homan

Millefeuille
serves 6 

1 sheet Careme pastry
1 egg yolk, beaten
6 white salad onions, sliced
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for the pears
250g grapes
200ml white wine vinegar
100ml water
1 tbsp KI Ligurian honey, plus extra
6 small pears
Adelaide Hills walnuts, toasted in a hot oven
500g Robe Dairy fromage blanc, whipped lightly
celery leaves

Cut the pastry into 12 pieces, 6.5 x 12cm each. Brush the tops of 6 of them with egg yolk and bake at 200C until puffed and golden. Set aside. 

Cook onions in the olive oil over a low heat until soft, collapsed and golden. Season. 

Take the grapes off their stems. Cook in the vinegar, water and honey until soft. Remove the grapes from cooking syrup, cut in half and set aside. Reserve the syrup to make the dressing. 

Take two of the pears, peel and cut into pieces. Cook in the syrup until soft. Puree until smooth. Taste and season. 

Peel the rest of the pears and slice into 1cm slices. Brush with olive oil and sear in a frying pan until golden on each side. 

When the pastry is cold, cut the pieces in half horizontally, to split each piece into two layers. You will need one and a half for each serving (you will have some left over). On the bottom pastry, pipe on some cheese. Layer with the onion, caramelised pear slices, grapes, walnuts, celery leaves and drizzle with dressing. Top with another layer of pastry and repeat the filling. Assemble just before serving. 

 

This recipe first appeared in the September 2019 issue of SALIFE magazine.