Strawberry, Pistachio and Orange Blossom Entremet (La Fleur d’Orient)

Place the soft butter and icing sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix at low speed. Add the ground almonds, vanilla powder and fleur de sel and mix again.

Add the beaten egg and mix with a spatula this time (it will be easier than with the stand mixer).

Finish with the flour and mix with the stand mixer until you get a smooth ball of dough. Do not overwork the pastry. Bring the dough together to form a ball without insisting.

Wrap the dough in cling film, flattening it into a rectangle. Refrigerate overnight.

The next day, roll out the dough to 2–3 mm thickness with a rolling pin. Cut out circles of 7 cm (2.8 in) in diameter (but this will depend on your mould).

Set aside in the freezer for about ten minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 160°C / 325°F.

Bake for approximately 25 minutes then leave to cool on a wire rack. Personally, once the dough is rolled out and cut into circles, I prefer to leave it to dry out overnight in the fridge. This way, the pastry won’t move during baking.

To achieve that distinctive (and very pretty) grid pattern on the sweet pastry, I place my small pastry circles on a silpain mat, cover with a second silpain mat (for a two-sided grid pattern) and place a baking tray on top for a little weight.

Rehydrate the gelatine in cold water.

Place the white chocolate in a bowl and melt in the microwave.

In a small saucepan, heat the milk.

Off the heat, add the rehydrated gelatine and mix with a spatula.

Pour one-third of the milk over the white chocolate and mix to create an emulsion. Then add a second third, then a third, to obtain a smooth, homogeneous mixture.

Add the cold cream and pistachio paste, blend with a hand blender.

Cover with cling film in contact and leave to set in the fridge for a minimum of 8 hours.

Once the cream has set, pipe it into an insert mould (I used a cylindrical mould and poured 15 g (0.5 oz) of cream). Place in the freezer. If the namelaka needs to go through a freezing step (as here), you must first leave the cream to set in the fridge before placing it in the freezer.

Wash the strawberries then cut into pieces and heat in a saucepan.

When the strawberries become hot, add the sugar and NH pectin (well combined beforehand). Bring to the boil while whisking and maintain the boil for one minute.

Off the heat, add a squeeze of lemon juice and blend the mixture to obtain a compote. A few small pieces of strawberry may remain.

Leave to cool then pour over the namelaka insert (I also poured 15 g (0.5 oz) of compote). Set aside in the freezer.

Preheat the oven to 170°C / 340°F.

Melt the butter and leave to cool.

In a bowl, mix the pre-sifted powders (icing sugar, pistachio powder and cornflour).

Add the ground almonds, the 5 g (0.2 oz) of egg yolk, the pistachio paste and egg whites (1) and mix with a whisk.

Whip the remaining egg whites (2) with the sugar.

Fold the meringue into the previous mixture then add the melted butter.

Pour the batter into a 22 cm (8.7 in) diameter ring and bake for 15 to 20 minutes.

Once out of the oven, leave the biscuit to cool on a wire rack. Cut the biscuit to obtain a disc the same diameter as the insert.

Rehydrate the gelatine in the water.

Heat the milk with half the sugar.

In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the remaining sugar.

Pour the hot milk onto the yolk-sugar mixture, mix well and return everything to a low heat.

Cook to 83°C / 181°F, stirring constantly with a spatula. Take care not to let the cream boil.

Off the heat, add the rehydrated gelatine and the orange blossom water. Leave to cool. You can pass this crème anglaise through a fine-mesh sieve or blend it with a hand blender to remove any lumps. Whisk the full-fat double cream but don’t over-whip it — it should be lightly aerated.

When the crème anglaise has cooled to 30°C / 86°F, fold in the whipped cream gently and set aside.

Unmould the inserts (strawberry compote and pistachio namelaka cream).

Fill the rose-shaped moulds with Bavarian mousse up to three-quarters full. Run a spatula up along the sides of the mould for a clean finish. If the cream is too liquid, place in the freezer for 5 to 10 minutes before moving to the next step.

Insert an insert (pistachio side against the mousse) then a disc of pistachio biscuit. Press very gently.

Smooth with a small spatula, cover with cling film and set aside in the freezer overnight.

Melt the white chocolate and cocoa butter in a bain-marie or microwave. Mix with a spatula.

Filter then pour the mixture into the reservoir of your spray gun (ideally use a smaller container than the reservoir, such as a jam jar, which you place inside the large reservoir).

Remove the small entremets from the freezer, unmould carefully and place on a wire rack. Make sure to protect your work surface well. Personally, I stopped spraying inside my dishwasher as it still left marks after washing. And now we have a new dishwasher so let’s take care of it. I use whatever I have to hand to protect the work surface (cardboard, packaging, a plastic bag or baking parchment…) Spray the velvet effect on top from a distance of 30–40 cm (15.7 in).

Add a few small drops of neutral glaze here and there to evoke morning dew 🙂

Using a small offset spatula, carefully place each entremet on a disc of sweet pastry, taking care to centre it well.

Leave to thaw for 2–3 hours in the refrigerator before serving.