Profiteroles as promised!

This is Martha Stewart's croquembouche

Ax once told me that his aunty had made him profiteroles smothered in chocolate sauce for his birthday. Judging by his wide eyes and enthusiasm in describing the large, delicious puffs, it was clear that this desert had been a success, not to mention a standout in his food memory.

After Ax told me about the chocolate profiteroles, I planned to make some one day, sometime, vaguely in the near future...But it was only when Elizabeth Bard described her wedding cake, a traditional French croquembouche (profiteroles, crème patisserie, and crunchy toffee), in her novel Lunch in Paris, that I started looking at recipes.

Making a croquembouche seemed a tad over ambitious, so I decided to try my hand at profiteroles filled with crème patisserie, and drizzled with chocolate.

Ax found this recipe for the choux pastry on his iPhone!

To make the choux pastry, you will need:
1 cup water
1/2 cup unsalted butter (chopped)
1 cup plain flour
1/4 tsp salt
4 large eggs

Bring water and butter to boil in medium saucepan

Reduce heat, add flour and salt and stir until a smooth ball forms

Transfer to a large bowl and beat in eggs one at a time with an electric mixer

 

After the fourth egg is integrated, the mixture will look smooth and silky. Cover with gladwrap and let stand for about an hour.

To make the crème patisserie, you will need:

1 cup milk
75g castor sugar
3 egg yolks
25g plain flour
1 vanilla bean, split length ways

Heat the milk with 50g of sugar in a small saucepan, add the scrapings from the vanilla bean and bring to a gentle boil.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the remaining 25g of sugar.When the yolk mix is pale and frothy, add the flour and whisk to combine.
Add the hot milk slowly to the egg mixture, whisking as you go.

Return mixture to saucepan and whisk over heat until it thickens.
Remove from heat and allow to come to room temperature.

To make the profiteroles, preheat the oven to 215C

Transfer the pastry mixture to piping bag. Use a 1/2" tip to pipe 1" rounds onto a lightly greased tray leaving puffing room between each round. If you want smooth profiteroles, use a moistened finger to smooth the piping ridges.
Bake until golden brown puffed (about 23 minutes). Remove from oven and turn off heat.
Use a small knife to make a small slit in the side of each puff. Return the puffs to the oven, with the door slightly ajar for a further 10 minutes. Remove puff from oven and allow to cool completely.

When the profiterole are cool, use a 1/4" piping tip to pipe a bit of the crème patisserie into each puff, through the slit you made earlier. Once filled, the profiteroles are ready to be served, with your choice of sauce.

I made a chocolate sauce, by melting down a milk chocolate Easter rabbit, with a splosh of milk and a shot of Kahlua. Yum!

The shapes are a little rustic but who cares!

The profiteroles were so good, that Ax and I polished off about four before they even made it to the plate, we didn't have much room for dinner afterwards though!

Happy baking...

Date night

Ax and I ventured to 'Asakusa' on Waverley tonight. We hoped that the fare would live up to standard of 'Hana', the Japanese restaurant that we frequented in the Blue Mountains, and to our surprise, it came pretty damn close! The restaurant is quite small with minimal, modern decor. Each table is presented with an amuse bouche of edamame, traditional Japanese boiled soybeans, on arrival.

We ordered the tempura asparagus, and the fried eggplant with chicken mince for entree. The eggplant was ugly, yet delicious and sadly I was too busy stuffing my face to take a photograph. The asparagus was tender-crisp and perfectly complimented by the accompanying dipping sauce. Smiles all round.

For main, Ax slurped the nabeyaki udon soup, which came in a hot iron bowl, with a tempura prawn and some assorted tempura vegetables. And, although he claimed the broth was not quite as tasty as the nabeyaki at Hana, I did see the bottom of the bowl.

I ordered the beef glazed with teriyaki and it was absolutely delicious. It was a little one dimensional and could have done with a few more veggies, though.

With two entrees, two mains, a serve of rice and a bottle of BYO plonk, our bill came to $56, which is quite reasonable in my opinion.

As Ax says, 'the Japanese aren't really known for their deserts', so we strolled a bit further down Waverley in search of a moist slice of cake or a sweet pudding. We found ourselves at 'Red Rhumba', which serves modern Australian cuisine. Ax said he didn't feel like dessert, but I begged him to have a few bites so I wouldn't feel guilty, and bribed him with the promise of a drink.

We ordered wine and tiramisu, and the tiramisu was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G! The perfect combination of creamy custard and moist ladyfinger sponge biscuits soaked in coffee and liqueur. Plus, it was presented beautifully in a large glass, and big enough to share, which was lucky, coz Ax ended up eating several more than a few bites. A wonderful saturday evening had by all!
(Pics by Ax)

Tune in next week for adventures in profiteroles!