I think puddings are the greatest challenge to those on a restricted diet – pudding is the comfort end of the meal and as a result often includes the highly calorific and soporific ingredients rich in dairy. Think of most comforting puddings (I’m not counting fruit in this discussion) and they’re filled with cream, eggs, milk, yoghurt, or chocolate.
The idea for this wonderful combination came from the meal out we had for D’s birthday in a rather splendid, very old (and more than a bit spooky!) restaurant, The Chesil Rectory: http://www.chesilrectory.co.uk/. My Friendly version recreates it with flat-baked, crisp Filo pastry shards, a sweet, sticky blueberry compote and a refreshing dairy-free lemon cheesecake quenelle. Think an elegant deconstructed lemon and blueberry cheesecake. It really is a fabulous flavour combo that results in a fine, delicate pudding, and the filo shatters pleasingly when hit with a spoon.
Blueberry and Lemon Filo Crisp (dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, sesame-free, vegetarian and vegan) N.B. contains soya in the dairy-free cream cheese
serves 4
For the blueberry compote:
- 1/2 cup fresh blueberries
- 1 tbsp water
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp lemon juice
– Place all the ingredients in a pan, heat, and simmer for 5-10 minutes until the blueberries have burst and the mixture has turned a bit jammy
For the lemon cheesecake mix:
- 1 cup dairy-free cream cheese, I favour Tofutti
- 2 tbsps lemon juice
- 4 tbsps icing sugar
- 2 tbsps dairy-free yogurt
– Beat together all the ingredients until smooth. Chill to firm up a little.
For the Filo Crisps:
- 3 sheets filo pastry
- 2 tbsps dairy-free spread
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 2-3 tbsps icing sugar
– Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Centigrade/Gas mark 6
– melt together the spread, lemon juice and zest.
– Brush each layer of filo with the melted lemony spread and sprinkle with icing sugar, layer on the next piece until they’ve all been used
– Cut into 8 decorative, even sized shapes
– Place on a baking sheet and if possible place another heavy baking sheet on top to keep the crisps flat
– Bake for 8-15 minutes until crisp and golden
To assemble:
– I used quenelles of the lemon cheesecake mix with 2 filo shards and a generous smear of blueberry compote, but just assemble as desired!
