The thin red line

For something that looks like inconspicuous fine threads, a pinch of saffron packs a potent, pungent aroma and a slightly bitter flavour. It is also one of the most expensive spices in the world, which is not surprising as its harvesting process is extremely labour intensive. Saffron is made up of carefully dried stigmas from the purple crocus sativus flower. Each flower produces only three stigmas and they must be hand-plucked from the blossom and carefully dried. It is estimated that it takes 14,000 stigmas to produce one ounce of saffron threads.

Saffron is commonly found in seafood and rice dishes like risotto, bouillabaisse and paella (we also like it in less conventional condiments like mayonnaise as the combination goes exceedingly well with French fries and mussels). But using saffron to riff up desserts? Junior pastry chef of Ellenborough Market Café at Swissôtel Merchant Court, Koh Wei Wei, gave her Asian take on it and came up with palate cleansing sweets that would suit most tastes. Koh advises one to stick to mild and light ingredients for saffron to truly shine. “If you combine it with a rich and heavy chocolate, you may not be able to taste the flavour of the spice,” she explained.

RICOTTA CHEESE, SAFFRON JELLY, POACHED PEAR AND SABLE MILLE FEUILLE

Serves: 10
Prep time: 45 minutes to 1 hour
Cook time: 25 to 20 minutes

ricotta cheese
200g whipped cream
500g Ricotta cheese
75g icing sugar
1 vanilla bean, split and deseeded

-Whip cream and set aside.
-Meanwhile, mix ricotta cheese with icing sugar and vanilla bean.
-Fold in the whipped cream and leave in the chiller to set for 30 minutes to an hour.

poached pear
2 pears, cut into 4 wedges
1 liter water
400g sugar
2 vanilla beans, split and deseeded

-Place all ingredients in a medium pot.
-Poach pears at 65°C for 45 minutes to 1 hour until tender. (Use a kitchen thermometer to gauge temperature.)
-Remove from heat and allow the mixture cool.

saffron jelly
25-35 saffron threads
1.2 liters water
424g sugar
8 gelatin leaves

-Soak gelatine leaves in ice water to soften.
-Bring water, sugar and saffron to boil and add gelatin into the mixture.
-Stir the mixture until ingredients are completely dissolved.
-Pour the mixture onto a tray and let it set in a chiller for 45 minutes to an hour.
-Slice the jelly into 10cm by 3cm rectangles.

ivory chocolate
200g Valrhona Ivory chocolate

-Temper the chocolate at 28°C.
-Shape into rectangular size of 10cm by 3cm.

sable tart
285g butter, at room temperature
150g icing sugar
175g egg yolks (from 8 to 9 eggs)
490g plain flour

-Pulse the ingredients in a food processor or mix all ingredients into dough by hand and allow to rest for 1 hour.
-Roll out the dough and slice into 10cm by 3 cm rectangles.
-Line the dough pieces on a tray lined with a baking sheet and at 170°C for 10 to 13 minutes.
-Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.
-To assemble, layer sable tart with 5 wedges of poached pear, ricotta cheese and another layer of sable tart.
-Arrange a layer of saffron jelly and cover with a layer of sable tart.
-Top off the mille feuille with a thin layer of ivory chocolate and serve.

Koh says: “This is a crowd pleasing main dessert which combines all kinds of textures in one mouthful—it’s crispy, gelatinous, and has chocolate and fruit in one bite. When preparing the saffron jelly, do not over boil the mixture as it will weaken the setting agent.”