all aboard the choux choux train!

I was trawling through my archives and noticed I blogged about these guyss f o u r times in the span of one year! Four times. Heh. These guys aren't so bad once you get to know them! I make these quite regularly at home and I think I've near perfected them. These shells are crisp when filled on the day but remain firm when stored in the fridge overnight. The best thing is that there are no more issues with the choux deflating! Hoorah!

I've written the recipe out just like the way I make them. Good luck in the kitchen!

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Choux pastry  
makes around 17-19 x 4-5cm (base) round diameter choux puffs

65g unsalted butter, cubed

60ml milk

60ml water

70g plain flour
pinch of sea salt

2 large eggs (or 1 large egg & 2 large egg whites)

Preheat oven to 200 degrees fan forced. Line a large baking tray with non-stick baking paper. Weigh the flour and add a pinch of salt.

Melt the butter over low heat with milk and water in a small saucepan. When the butter is completely melted, bring to the boil. When the liquids are boiling and thoroughly combined, add the flour and salt and stir until it forms a smooth paste. Lower heat when dough comes together and stir until paste doesn't stick to the sides. Remove from heat and allow the paste to cool for 3-5 minutes before adding eggs.

Add a beaten egg and beat hard to incorporate. The paste will break up but mix hard to bring it together. Add the remaining egg and mix until it reaches the desired consistency*. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a 15mm plain piping tip and pipe out 4-5cm diameter rounds with a 5cm space between each choux. If there are peaks on top of the paste, moisten your finger and press down on them gently.

Bake at 200 degrees celcius fan forced for 20 minutes and lower heat to 150 degrees celcius fan forced and continue to bake another 20 minutes. Choux should be golden brown and sound hollow when tapped. Turn off heat and let puffs sit for 20-30 minutes in the hot oven. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

*I've made these various times and found that both paste consistencies I end up will puff up in the oven. I prefer it when the paste just hangs off the wooden spoon. The dough is still kind of firm, but can still be easily piped with a "peak" and holds its shape. However it is fine when the paste is soft enough to fall off the spoon. In this case the paste will spread out a little bit when piped.   

And a final tip, before filling the choux with crème légère (mixture of crème pâtissière and whipped cream), crème pâtissière or sweetened whipped cream, pierce a small hole at the bottom / side of the choux with a 3mm piping tip and use that later to pipe the filling in. It will make it less messy. Otherwise, cut the choux in half and scoop in some of your favourite ice cream!

my kind of lunch

Useful (and cheap) ingredients in the pantry, definitely canned tomatoes and fish! This is my kind of quick lunch at home. It might not look like much, maybe a plop on the plate, but it tastes so good especially with the addition of canned sardines!

Get the pasta boiling and sauce cooking at the same time to maximise time and efficiency. It'll be faster if you prep the ingredients beforehand, but it's fine to cook along as you go. You can stretch it out to 2-3 serves with the sauce, but I like my pasta extra saucey!

If you don't like sardines, try it with canned mackerel or tuna. Or even just with the tomato sauce itself!

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Sardine & tomato pasta for one!

1 serve of dried spaghetti
handful of string beans, top, tailed and chopped (or asparagus, ends removed and chopped)
1 small can of sardines in olive oil, drained
1 small brown onion, diced
8 baby capers in wine vinegar, rinsed
400g canned diced tomatoes
pinch of two of dried Italian herbs
sea salt, white/black pepper, sugar, to taste

Cook the spaghetti according to packet instructions. While that is cooking, pan fry the drained sardines until hot to remove the fishy smell. Set them aside and brown the chopped onions with a dash of salt. Add capers, canned diced tomatoes and herbs - be careful of splatter. Season with sea salt, white pepper and sugar and simmer away. In the final minute, add the prepared beans to the pasta pot. Drain pasta and beans and stir into the sauce. Add sardines on top and finish with a crack of black pepper (and a shave of cheese).

summer rages on

With the Melbourne over-30 degrees weather set to continue and expected to go higher next week, it's a good time to make ice cream just to open the freezer door for a breeze of cool air. This no-churn ice cream is still on my to-do list, but hey, might as well use some seasonal peaches or nectarines before they're gone. Alice Medrich calls this an ice cream, but it tasted more like a creamy, tangy frozen yogurt to us.

Keep cool!

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Sour nectarine ice cream     makes around 500ml

adapted from Alice Medrich's peaches 'n' sour cream ice cream in Sinfully Easy Delicious Desserts; available online over here

According to Wikipedia, peaches and nectarines are essentially the same fruit except for their skin, so neither one of them will do. The nectarines I used were kinda firm, but use soft and squishy ripe ones for a sweeter taste. I also reduced a lot of the sugar, so increase it for a less tart taste.

3 yellow nectarines

juice and zest of half a lemon

300ml sour cream

45g caster sugar

Peel and slice the nectarines and puree with lemon juice and zest in a food processor. Add sour cream and sugar and blitz until smooth. Transfer mixture into a shallow tray and freeze. 

As the mixture starts to freeze around the edges, blitz in a food processor and freeze. Repeat 3-4 times for a creamier ice cream. It will take a while, but totally worth the effort. For the final blitz, the texture should resemble something like softened ice cream. Transfer mixture into a taller container and freeze until firm enough to scoop.