Enjoying sherry wine / pairings and recipes / Medium

Medium with spicy pumpkin & wild blueberry mille- feuille

Pair with: Medium

sherrywines-medium-inglass
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Cooking time: 1 hour

It has a lovely mahogany colour in the glass and in the nose I was impressed by the complexity of the aromas; hazelnuts, roasted almonds, a touch of coconut, butterscotch, fig jam and even some candied orange notes – just impressive. In the mouth it has medium sweetness and a very good acidity which balances. I closed my eyes, and imagined the first pairing that comes to my mind. Was it a tapa? Was it a samosa? Was it a spicy chicken? No! It was pumpkin spices! Pure pumpkin spices; cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, allspice… Than the alcohol and the sweetness touch into my tongue and I said OK, let’s make a plated dessert which won’t be so sweet and pair perfectly with this Medium.

Ingredients

Instructions

Medium with spicy pumpkin & wild blueberry mille- feuille

First thing first, I suggest to make the mille-feuille dough from a day before because it has a lot of chilling time. If you don’t have time for this, you can also buy a frozen puff pastry – but of course it will not be as tasty as homemade.

For mille-feuille, I’ve mixed the flour, salt and 2 spoons of the butter in bowl and united them with my hands. Then I’ve added water and lemon juice in the middle, and incorporated gradually with a fork and knead until it’s a semi smooth dough. After patting it into a flat shape, I’ve wrapped it in plastic to refrigerate for 2 hours. When I was waiting for it, I’ve beaten the rest of the butter until it’s soft and I’ve formed it into a square – smaller than the dough. This also went to refrigerator.

I’ve took out dough and butter and started to work on a floured surface. I’ve placed the butter in the middle of the dough and with the corners of the dough I’ve completely hidden the butter in it. Then I’ve rolled it into a rectangle and started folding each sides to the centre and rolled again. I wrapped it again to plastic to refrigerate for 2 hours. This folding and refrigeration ceremony repeated by me for 3 times, until the dough is finally ready!

For pumpkin filling, I’ve cut the pumpkin into 2, scraped out the seeds and pulp from inside. After that I’ve cut the pieces into smaller pieces so they can cook easier. I’ve placed the pieces on a baking paper, and baked them for 45 minutes in 350°F (180°C) oven until they are fork-tender. When they are cooled down, I’ve carved it out from the skin and mashed them roughly with a fork and pass them from a colander. At this point, I’ve added the sugar and pumpkin spices and let it cool for a while before I’ve add some dissolved gelatin to give a better texture which would allow me to pipe it and keep the shape.

For wild blueberry jam, I’ve just put the washed wild blueberries and sugar in a sauce pan and cooked it in medium heat until it boils. Then I left to cool down, to use it later as a sauce in my plate, as well as in the other filling.

I’ve whipped the whipping cream, added the icing sugar, wild blueberry jam and around 2 table spoons of dissolved gelatin into the whipped cream. After mixing all these and I’ve put it in the refrigerator and kept until I prepare the mille-feuille.

I preferred a round shape for the pastry, so I’ve cut some rounds from my puff pastry and made some holes with a fork. I baked them for 15 minutes in 375°F (190°C) oven.

When everything cooled down, I’ve used a disposable decorating bag to fill the pastry with cream; one side with spicy pumpkin cream, the other side with wild blueberry cream. I’ve used different piping nozzles for fun! Look at those pretty colours – they are perfectly matching!

Author , Canada

sherrywines-medium-inglass

Serving and consuming

Medium with food

The ideal temperature to serve a Medium Sherry is at between 12 and 14ºC, though this will depend upon the form and moment of service. Besides being a pleasant aperitif, served chilled it is the most suitable wine to accompany pâté, quiche and any especially spicy dish (curried rice, etc...).

  • Slightly chilled

    Serve between 12 & 14º C in white wine glass.

  • A wide range of styles

    A style of Medium Sherry for all tastes with more or less sweetness.

  • Pair with exotic dishes

    Pairs perfectly with Indian and Thai cuisine.