Profiteroles (Choux Pastry)

 

MUNCH RATING: 4/5

 

After watching the episode of Good Eats called ‘Choux Shine’ I decided to follow Alton Brown’s advice of using bread flour when making choux pastry. I didn’t use his recipe though, I just used bread flour instead of plain flour in a recipe I already had, because his recipe makes 48 profiteroles and I didn’t want that many. I’m not sure the bread flour makes a huge difference, but they did puff up in the oven and didn’t deflate when I took them out, which is the problem that some people have.

 

 

I’m not a huge fan of cream, so I filled them with ice cream instead. The chocolate sauce is really gorgeous and so easy to make. This quantity of sauce will be enough for 6-8 people, so I just put the remainder in the fridge where it can stay for 3 days.

 

I will try Alton’s recipe next time, as this recipe only makes 12 and they went down very well, so I’m sure that more will be needed for next time!

 

• Makes: 12 profiteroles
• Oven temperature: Gas mark 7/425°F/220°C then reduce to Gas mark 5/375°F/190°C
• You will need: a deep saucepan, a baking sheet lined with parchment or Magic Non-Stick Liner.

 

Ingredients:

FOR THE CHOUX PASTRY

• 25g butter
• 150ml water
• 50g plain or bread flour
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 egg, beaten

FOR THE CHOCOLATE SAUCE

• 100g plain chocolate (I used Asda Value)
• 150ml double cream
• 2 Tablespoons golden syrup

FOR THE FILLING

• Vanilla ice cream (I used Carte D'Or)

 

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to Gas mark 7/425°F/220°C.
2. Sift the flour onto a piece of greaseproof paper.
3. Put the butter and water into a deep saucepan and heat until the butter has melted. Bring to the boil.
4. Then add all the flour at once and quickly lift off the heat, beating hard with a wooden spoon until you get a smooth, thick paste that comes away from the sides of the saucepan (about 30-40 seconds). If necessary replace the pan over the heat and beat for a few minutes.
5. With the pan off the heat, add the egg yolk and beat really well until it is incorporated (it might seem like it has curdled and won’t mix in, but persevere!), then add the beaten egg a little at a time (you might not need it all) beating continuously. The mixture should be thick and shiny and be able to stand up on its own.
6. Place the choux pastry into a piping bag with a 1cm plain nozzle and pipe blobs in a circular motion onto the lined baking sheet.
7. Bake for 10 minutes at Gas mark 7/425°F/220°C, then reduce to Gas mark 5/375°F/190°C for 20 minutes, until they are golden brown and feel dry to the touch.
8. Remove from the oven, then use a skewer to poke a hole in the bottom of each one to allow the steam to escape and place on a wire rack to cool completely.
9. Split the profiteroles in half, then sandwich the halves together with a generous teaspoon of vanilla ice cream.
10. To make the sauce: Place the chocolate, double cream and golden syrup in a small saucepan and gently heat until the chocolate has melted and the sauce is smooth and glossy. Pour over the profiteroles.

 

COOK’S NOTES:

• I recommend watching Alton’s ‘Choux Shine’ episode to get a really good idea of how to make choux pastry, as he shows you what the texture should be like. It’s also quite an amusing episode!
• Since my piping bag busted, I used a plastic food bag instead (like Alton suggests) and it worked really well.
• I made the pastry by hand, which was fine, but when I try Alton’s recipe I will use a mixer because it is a much bigger quantity and it will be easier to incorporate all those eggs!

‘Choux Shine’ episode Part 1

‘Choux Shine’ episode Part 2

 

Trout Kiev and Pilaf Rice

MUNCH RATING: 4/5

I saw Simon Rimmer make a Salmon Kiev on Something for the Weekend last Saturday and I thought it looked quite good. We had a huge trout fillet in the freezer, so I thought that would be a good substitute. It did work quite well, however the trout was quite soft and flaky, so it was a bit difficult to cut pockets to stuff with the garlic butter. But it tasted really good, even though I didn’t follow Simon’s recipe at all and just did my own thing! Steve ate his with Salad Cream (which he puts on everything!) and I tried it and it was actually really nice. It gave the fried fish that acidity to cut through the grease, a bit like tartare sauce.

I served it with Pilaf Rice, using Alton Brown’s fool-proof method (I have tried Paul Merrett’s recipe for Emergency Biryani which uses a similar method and it was a disaster!) but I added some mushrooms, red pepper and roasted squash before adding the rice to the pan. The vegetables did release some moisture, so next time I would add a bit less stock, probably 25ml less.

I made the rice first, then whilst it was in the oven I prepared the trout. Then when the rice came out of the oven to rest, I cranked up the oven to Gas mark 6/400°F/200°C and put the trout in for about 5 minutes.

• Serves: 2

Rice Pilaf Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp oil
• 1/2 medium onion, finely diced
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 red pepper, chopped into 1cm pieces
• handful of mushrooms, sliced
• handful of roasted butternut squash chunks
• 1 cup rice (I used long grain jasmine rice)
• 1 1/2 cups (350-375ml) stock (use the lower amount if using watery vegetables like mushrooms)

Rice Pilaf Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4/350°F/180°C.
2. Heat the oil and sweat the onion and garlic until softened over a low heat, don't allow to brown.
3. Add the mushrooms, peppers and squash and fry until softened.
4. Add the rice and gently fry until it smells 'nutty', about 2-3 minutes.
5. Add the stock, stir once and bring to a boil.
6. Cover the saucepan with the damp tea-towel (it must be damp otherwise you might set it on fire!) and clamp on the lid. Fold up the corners of the tea-towel over the lid so that it's not hanging loose. You can also use greaseproof paper.
7. Put the saucepan in the preheated oven and cook for 15 minutes.
8. Remove from the oven and leave for 10-15 minutes with the lid still on, as during this time the rice is still cooking and absorbing the liquid.

Trout Kiev Ingredients:

• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 Tbsp fresh thyme, leaves picked (I used lemon thyme)
• 2 large thick trout fillets
• 2 Tbsps plain flour
• 1 free-range egg, beaten
• 4 big handfuls of panko breadcrumbs
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3-4 Tbsp vegetable oil

Trout Kiev Directions:

1. Put the butter, garlic, thyme leaves and some black pepper in a small bowl and mash together with a fork until well combined.
2. Turn out the mixture onto a sheet of cling film and roll it into a cylinder. Chill in the freezer for five minutes.
3. Using a sharp knife, make a deep slit into the side of each trout fillet to form a pocket (or lots of little pockets if one large pocket is not possible).
4. When the butter mixture has chilled, slice it into 3mm discs and insert them into each of the pockets in the trout.
5. Sprinkle the flour onto a plate and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Beat the egg in a shallow dish. Mix together the breadcrumbs on a separate plate. Dredge each stuffed fish fillet first in the flour, then dip it in the beaten egg, then roll it in the breadcrumbs mixture until completely coated.
6. Heat the oil in an ovenproof frying pan over a medium to high heat. Add the coated trout fillets and fry for 2-3 minutes on each side, or until the breadcrumb coating is crisp and golden-brown.
7. Transfer the trout to the oven now turned up to Gas mark 6/400°F/200°C and cook for a further 5 minutes, or until cooked through. (NB: The fish is cooked through when the flesh is opaque.)

Rice Pilaf

MUNCH RATING: 5/5

This is Alton Brown's method for cooking rice pilaf and it's brilliant! The rice was perfectly cooked, each grain separated and fluffy.

He says you shouldn't use the 1:2 rice to water ratio as there will be too much water. So you will need to remember the following measures:

• To serve 2 people = 1 cup rice = 1 1/2 cups water
• To serve 4 people = 2 cups rice = 2 3/4 cups water
• To serve 6 people = 3 cups rice = 3 1/2 cups water

I cooked 1 cup of rice and I can vouch that his ratio works. Next time I will cook 2 cups of rice as the result was so delicious that Steve wanted more!
'Pilaf' is the cooking method, so you can add whatever extra ingredients to this basic recipe. He recommends using long grain rice.

• Serves: 2 
• You will need: 1 medium saucepan with a tight fitting lid, 1 damp tea-towel*
• Oven temperature: Gas Mark 4/350°F/180°C

Ingredients:

• 1/2 medium onion, finely diced
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 Tbsp oil
• 1 cup rice (I used long grain jasmine rice)
• 1 1/2 cups stock (I used chicken from a cube)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4/350°F/180°C.
2. Heat the oil and sweat the onion and garlic until softened over a low heat, don't allow to brown.
3. Add the rice and gently fry until it smells 'nutty', about 2-3 minutes.
4. Add the stock, stir once and bring to a boil.
5. Cover the saucepan with the damp tea-towel (it must be damp otherwise you might set it on fire!) and clamp on the lid. Fold up the corners of the tea-towel over the lid so that it's not hanging loose.
6. Put the saucepan in the preheated oven and cook for 15 minutes.
7. Remove from the oven and leave for 10-15 minutes with the lid still on, as during this time the rice is still cooking and absorbing the liquid.

* The tea-towel will capture any condensation that forms on the lid and prevent it from dropping back into the rice. I was a bit worried about putting the tea-towel in the oven, but absolutely no harm came to it during the making of this recipe.

Lazy Sunday Roast Dinner with Roasted Broccoli

Back in the UK Steve's mum always cooks us a lovely roast dinner on Sundays and then we usually spend the rest of the day being complete coach potatoes. So even though the food out in SF is great and special ingredients are easily obtainable, nothing quite beats a Roast Dinner for pure comfort food (although I could quite happily sit and eat a big bowl of mashed potatoes!).

The first time I made Roast Dinner in the apartment it was a bit stressful because we only have 1 shelf in the oven, so I had to juggle a few different baking trays to get everything to be ready at the same time. But I now have this great new method which is so much easier and I can sit back and relax whilst it cooks away in the hotbox.

Also, here is a fantastic recipe for Roasted Broccoli (yes really!) by Alton Brown. It's perfect to serve with roast dinner as you've already got the oven on, you just need to crank it up once everything else is cooked. Being Chinese I've grown up with my parents cooking vegetables perfectly al dente in stir fries etc, so I find nothing worse than overcooked broccoli which has no flavour and the texture of a soggy sponge. This method of roasting broccoli ensures you have perfectly cooked broccoli and none of the vitamins are lost through boiling - bonus! OK so dumping a load of cheese on top probably negates any of the health benefits, but trust me the cheese really makes this so good! I haven't tried it with the panko breadcrumbs yet so will let you know if it's any good!

• Serves 2
  
• Oven temperature: Gas 6/200C/400F
• You will need: Large baking dish/tray about 13 x 9 inches and a baking sheet
  
• Prep time: 10-15 minutes
• Cooking time: 45-50 minutes plus 8-10 minutes for the broccoli
  

Ingredients:

• 2 large Chicken Thighs, bone in and skin on
• 2 large carrots, peeled and chopped into sticks
• 2 or 3 large floury potatoes, peeled and cut into walnut-sized pieces (Russets or Maris Pipers are good)
• 5 or 6 garlic cloves, peeled and slightly smashed
• Salt and pepper
• Herbs & spices of your choice (I used a ready-made Italian Seasoning mix grinder)
• Some olive or vegetable oil
• 2 small heads of broccoli, florets cut into bitesize pieces and stalks cut into batons
• A large handful of grated cheese (I used Monterey)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to Gas 6/200C/400F.
2. Season the chicken and arrange in the baking dish skin side up.
   
3. Mix the oil and your seasoning in a large bowl, add the potatoes and thoroughly coat. Add the potatoes to the baking dish in their own section. Do the same for the carrots.
4. Evenly distribute the garlic around the chicken, potatoes and carrots.
   
5. Put the dish in the hot oven and roast for 45-50 minutes, occasionally turning the potatoes and carrots, until the chicken is completely cooked. About halfway through cooking you might have a pool of oil in the dish as the chicken skin renders the fat, so collect this and save it to use on the broccoli.
   
6. Remove from the oven and cover with foil to keep warm.
7. Now crank up the oven to Gas 7/220C/425F to cook the broccoli.
8. Place the broccoli into a mixing bowl and toss with your reserved oil from the baking dish (or drizzle with some olive oil and seasoning) and then spread the broccoli out on a baking sheet.
9. Roast in the oven for 8-10 minutes or until just tender. (Whilst this is cooking you can make your gravy). Sprinkle the cheese on the broccoli and melt under the grill/broiler (I usually turn this on so I can make the chicken skin and roast potatoes even crispier!).

TASTY TIP:
Serve up the garlic! Even though it has imparted a lot of flavour to the chicken, carrots and potatoes during cooking, it has a lovely flavour when eaten whole and isn't too strong - trust me I ate some thinking it was potato and was pleasantly surprised!