Ingredients
Berry crème pâtissière
Berry syrup
Method
Berry crème pâtissière
1.Bring milk with tea to a simmer, turn heat off and allow to infuse for 10 minutes. In the meantime, whisk the egg yolks, sugar and custard powder together.
2.Pour the infused milk through a sieve onto the egg mixture and mix well. Pour into a clean pot and bring to the boil, whisking continuously. Boil for about 2 minutes to cook off the starch in the custard powder.
3.Once thickened, add the butter and whisk well to incorporate. Put into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap, making sure the wrap is touching the crème, to avoid skin forming on top. Refrigerate for 2 hours or until cool.
Fruit tea with strawberry mille-feuille and tea syrup
4.Preheat oven to 180°C. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Put pastry on lined tray and prick with a fork. Brush with egg wash. Cover with more baking paper and put another baking tray on top. (If necessary, cook pastry in batches.)
5.Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until pastry is cooked and golden brown. Remove top tray and baking paper and, using a fine sieve, sprinkle icing sugar evenly on top of all pastry sheets.
6.Return to oven for another 5 minutes or until nicely caramelised, but not burnt.
7.To make berry syrup, bring sugar and water to the boil. Add the tea, turn off the heat and infuse for about 10 minutes. Then bring back to the boil and reduce until it becomes a gel-like consistency, around 15 minutes. Pass through a fine sieve, then pour into a small bottle that has a nozzle top and keep aside.
8.Using a sharp bread knife, evenly trim all sides of the pastry. Cut each sheet into 10 equal-sized rectangles, you need 30 in total.
9.Place the cold crème in a mixing bowl and beat with an electric whisk for about 1 minute to lighten it up. Place into a piping bag fitted with a nozzle.
10.On 20 of the pastry rectangles pipe 3 rows of 5 dots of the crème pâtissière – or more depending on the size of the nozzle. To build, put the 2 pastry sheets with crème on top of each other, then top with third one.
11.To serve, put on plate and decorate with three drops of syrup. Crumble the freeze-dried strawberries on the top.