1001 Kitchen Tips #71 - Choux buns/ profiteroles/ eclair fails - how to rescue them if they fall flat! And gluten free vegan profiteroles?

Some of the croquembouche towers made over the past year

Time! It is everything in such a busy kitchen. With often 12 - 20 events a week preparation is everything and there is literally no time for things to go wrong!
Choux pastry, however, is something that can go wrong. Quite easily if you're not paying attention. The pastry section of the kitchen is the only one I never trained in formally, so I have taught myself everything.
Here's a few tips I've learned on choux pastry.

Piping eclairs just before the guests sit down for their starter - pressure for fresher!

1 - Always bake a tester. Once your choux pastry is ready to go pipe one out on a baking tray and bake it as a tester to see what happens. It's something I always do, apart from the day we cooked them for this midsummer night's dairy dinner when they turned out a little 'interesting'. A warm day and an aga - maybe not a good match. If the tester doesn't rise or it collapses as soon as it comes out on to the cooling rack at least you can rescue the choux mix before you've wasted all your time and ingredients.

Spreading chocolate on profiteroles (2009)

2 - If choux pastry doesn't rise I have found it is either down to 3 things:
              i   - Too much egg. The size of your eggs also makes a big difference - small eggs and you might need more, large eggs and you might need less, so in this case add less egg to begin with: you can always add more, but you can't take it out.
              ii  - You haven't beaten the mix enough. Beat it up! Air is everything with choux pastry. Once you add the flour to the hot water & butter you should let it cook out on a low heat beating it ferociously with a whisk. I used to do this by hand - but on the dairy dinner Ms Marmitelover turned the choux paste into the Kitchen Aid and beat it up fast for a few minutes that way. When I was making the gluten free profiteroles below last week I did both - starting it off by beating by hand on the heat so the gluten free flour could cook out, then transferred to the electric mixing machine to beat it for a few minutes, then added the egg, then kept beating for another couple of minutes for good measure. Maximise the air in there! Produced such a good result!
              iii - Too much flour (different brands of flour - even different batches of the same brand can make a difference. They all have different properties - for some you need less, some more to achieve the desired result. Small things like this seem to matter when you're making choux pastry.

Gluten free profiteroles

3 - How to rescue choux pastry fails. I have found 2 ways to do this:
         i - Re-beat the choux pastry in the electric mixing machine. If your choux pastry tester comes out of the oven risen, but falls flat as soon as it cools this is down to the mix not being beaten up enough. The day after the dairy meal I was baking more profiteroles for another croquembouche and this happened. Probably not enough beating by hand - tired. There was just under 1 hour to go before I had to leave for the party - really no time to give up and start again so I transferred that choux pastry to the Kenwood mixer and beat it on high power for a few minutes to get more air in it. They came out perfect that time!

Banoffee eclair (back) for an assiette of mini desserts and mini cheese courses - couldn't find a banoffee eclair recipe so made my own - was very popular!

     
         ii - Add in another water-butter-flour mix to your choux pastry. If your choux pastry tester comes out flat and heavy this may, quite possibly be due to too much egg. This happened to me the other day - I had overestimated on how much smaller the eggs I had were and consequently added too much egg. Again I was on a strict time limit - almost time to go out and cook for a hen party, so no time to completely throw it away and start again, and, with butter at £1.25+ a pack it's all money too! This was a triple mix (3 times recipe) so I made a single water/butter/ flour mix, beat it in the Kenwood machine and incorporated it into the too-much-egg mix to thicken it up. Did the trick!

Assiette of dessert 2009 with chocolate eclair at the back

Gluten free profiteroles? Yes you can! They turn out really well with this recipe - you can always rely on Doves Farm recipes.

Gluten free vegan profiteroles? Yes you can also do these! I did them for a couple of guests last year - one was vegan the other gluten free so I combined the 2 using this recipe but changing the flour for Doves Farm gluten free self raising flour. Then used this recipe for 'whipped cream' from coconut milk - so nice I almost prefer it over normal cream! Then a chocolate sauce made from vegan chocolate and coconut milk. Gluten and vegan people you're worth it!


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Quail egg benedict canape & assiette dessert

When the kids are away the parents will play! "Wwwwoooooooo!" "Wwwwwwooooooooooooooo!" "Oh food?! Is there any need for that tonight?" 

Well that's the record broken for the loudest party we've ever done - beats even the rowdiest hen party. Way to go!

The 2 waiters had to go either end of the drawing room at the same time by the end - the husbands were camped at one end and the wives at the other. The men seemed most offended when we took this plate of quail egg benedict to the wives' side. While I was getting the starter together guests kept coming up asking how it was done - how could you get so many poached quails eggs ready at the same time?

As with everything else with dinner parties it's all down to the 3 P's - Preparation, preparation, preparation. I had poached them just before leaving. There's a great article here on how it's done which I found via someone's tweet (can't remember who now) - same way I've been doing them since my first breakfast shifts at the Lygon Arms. Drop them into iced water, then re-heat them just before serving for a couple of minutes in just off the boil water.

The muffins were cut out & topped with ham, cut with same size cutter. As we had an aga at our disposal at Wyelands House in Chepstow I just dropped them in the simmering oven for a few minutes. Meanwhile the hollandaise was warming in a bain marie - if it's thick let it down with a little warm water so it's easy to spoon on top of the eggs, but not too much so it runs off and onto your guests' evening dress. Then warmed quail egg goes on top of the muffin & ham and hollandaise on top.

Make sure you do plenty of spares - one is never enough.......

Dessert

Their assiette of dessert - they had it all - canapes, 2 courses, then an assiette dessert. This one was chocolate tart, glazed lemon tart, spoon of creme brulee, raspberry lavender shortbread (heart shape) and lemon meringue pie.

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Meat Free Monday #15 - Onion bhaji and hard boiled eggs in a Delhi-style sauce

Monday night is curry night! Well it was this Monday (now writing a few weeks since we did this) and as it was also Meat Free Monday Adam (curry chef) cooked this up before we went to visit nana in hospital for what was to prove my last time.

Onion Bajhi recipe here, except he used gram flour.

Hard-boiled eggs in a Delhi-style sauce (Madhur Jaffries Ultimate Curry Bible)

4 tbsp oil

140g sliced onion

1 tbsp fresh ginger grated

6 cloves garlic pureed

1 tbsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp ground turmeric

3/4 tsp cayenne pepper (this really depends on how strong your cayenne is - they vary. We had one last year that could blow your head off).

1 tsp paprika

4 tbsp natural yogurt

2 tomatoes peeled and chopped

350 ml vegetable stock (or chicken on a non-MFM day)

1/4 tsp salt

120 ml whipping cream

1/4 tsp garam masala

1 - 3 fresh hot green birds eye chillis (he must have used 3 - eyes watering). Leave seeds in for extra heat!

4 tbsp fresh coriander

8 hard boiled eggs peeled and halved lengthways (we kept them whole)

+spinach (not in recipe but we had it to use so he added it raw, then let it wilt)

Stir-fry onions till well coloured. Add ginger and garlic & fry another minute. Add all spices - stir for 10 seconds so they release flavour. Add yogurt, a spoonful at a time so it is all absorbed. Stir in tomatoes and cook for 3 - 4 mins till they become soft and pulpy - keep mashing them with the back of a wooden spoon to help this along. Add stock & salt (depending on how salty the stock is) and bring to simmer. Reduce heat and allow to simmer for 15 - 20 minutes. Sauce shuld now be thick. Stir in cream, garam masala, chillies and coriander. Taste & ajust seasoning if needed. Lay hard boiled eggs in the sauce in a single layer cut side up and spoon some sauce over.

Chapati (recipe from bag of chapati flour)

280g chapati flour

170 ml tepid water

1 tbsp ghee

1/2 tsp salt

Mix all ingredients to make a thick dough. Knead well till soft and pliable. Set aside for 10 mins. Divide dough into golf ball sized pieces dust with dry flour and roll out until 15 cm diameter. Heat a heavy griddle or frying pan with a little ghee until hot. Place chapatis in pan cooking either side for 1 1/2 minutes until bubbles appear and the chapati has turned brown.

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Meat Free Monday #2 - Egg and Chips

When I first thought of doing Meat Free Mondays I was worried if there wouldn't be enough new things to try. Now I'm worried there aren't enough Mondays in the week.

Making mini cheesecakes in muffin cases was a revelation last year. Eaten fresh from the oven, frittata can be one of the best things. I thought making frittata in the same way - in muffins cases - would be another great buffet idea. Sure enough try googling it and you get some pretty tasty versions. Here's another.

Still going through a butternut squash phase, so the frittata was:
4 eggs
(some) Milk
Ground nutmeg, s & p
Cooked spinach
Roasted butternut squash
Grated cheddar
Whole grain mustard

You also need Marg's tip of spraying the muffin cases with oil, or brushing them with oil if you don't have a spray. Stops the contents sticking to the case.

And the chips? Parnsip chips roasted in a little olive oil, having cut out the tough middle core with pesto mayo for dipping.

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1001 kitchen tips # 40 - How much does an egg weigh?

Around Christmas time your fridge fills up with all sorts of things, half of which may end up being wasted two weeks later when you can't shut the fridge door any longer and decide to route your way through furry tubs of leftovers.

Making crème brûlée, crème caramel, zabaglione all use egg yolks, so you’re left with a load of whites in the fridge. That can be a good thing – you can use these to make meringues, sorbet, mousse, marshmallows, pavlova etc.

How do you measure how many left-over egg whites/ yolks you have?

Measure them on the scales. An average medium egg is 47g in weight – 28 grams white and 19 grams yolk.

So if you need 5 egg whites it’s 28g x 5 = 140g

Amended 3/10/2011

** Since writing this I have discovered on the side of the pasteurized egg white carton they measure 1 egg white as 25g. Last Saturday I used that measurement to make italian meringue (this recipe) and I have to say it was the best italian meringue I'v ever made. So the 25g measurement seems to be the best for pasteurizd egg whites. The jury's still out on real eggs.....

Strawberry meringue roulade with Three Choirs Cuvée sorbet (Summer menu)

Uncooked eggs for pregnant ladies
High risk groups – pregnant ladies, children and the elderly are advised against eating dishes using raw/ uncooked eggs - homemade sorbet, crème anglaise, mousse, hollandaise sauce, mayonnaise etc. In these cases you should use pasteurized eggs (pasteurizing destroys salmonella) which is what commercial products are made with. I use pasteurized (also known as liquid-) egg as a matter of course for all dishes where eggs are uncooked - such as the meringe roulade with sorbet above (meringues are dried out rather than cooked so don't reach the neccessary temperature).

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Desserts

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