FFwD: Gnocchi a la Parisienne

I wasn't really sure what I would think of this week's recipe for French Fridays with Dorie.  I don't have the book in front of me at the moment, but I remember reading Dorie's introduction/description (incidentally, probably my most favorite part of Dorie's books - always so helpful and fun!) being something along the lines of being choux dough cooked like gnocchi in a pot of salted water, then layered with bechamel sauce and cheese, then baked until bubbly and golden.  I mean really, what's not to like about that? Especially on a snowy day!  I do love me some choux pastry, so it didn't seem like much of a stretch that I would like this.

Since the recipe makes enough to serve 6 as a main course I also knew I was going to end up taking Dorie's suggestion to shape some of the dough onto a baking sheet and freezing them for later use.  I'm glad I did because making a double-layer in my two little ramekins was just the perfect size for me and the boys.  Cups full of doughy, cheesy goodness as Aidan called them.

To make matters easy for shaping the gnocchi I used a really small cookie scoop that I have and just scraped it so it was only half-full to equal the teaspoon amount for each dumpling.  I ended up with a sheet pan full for the freezer, plus about 20 more for my two ramekins.  

I layered the gnocchi in two layers of 5 in the ramekins, with the bechamel sauce in between each layer, and then generously topped them with shredded Gruyere cheese.  I baked them for the same amount of time as the recipe - roughly about 25 minutes in all - and they puffed up beautifully, but did deflate fairly quickly. Now that I know what to expect next time, I'll know better how to layer them, probably packing them in even a little tighter into the ramekins and another layer of Parmesan in the middle.

Anyway, cups full of doughy, cheesy goodness indeed.

For more cheesy goodness, just head on over to the French Fridays with Dorie site and scroll on through the LYL post to see how the other cooks faired this week.  As always, the recipe for the Gnocchi a la Parisienne can be found in Around My French Table, by Dorie Greenspan.

Daring Bakers in August: Chocolate Eclairs

Welcome to the August 2008 challenge. This month's hosts were Tony Tahhan and MeetaK! MeetaK chose a recipe from her "darling sugar daddy Pierre Hermé" from a cookbook written by Dorie Greenspan: Chocolate Desserts By Pierre Hermé . While Meeta has had this book for ages. I have wanted it for ages, so I although the recipe is here for me to make and as I reminder, the month got away from me and I haven't been able to make it yet.

So, make sure to check out the other Daring Baker's blogs for their creations. My apologies to our hosts and all for waiting til the last minute and nissing the boat! I promise to be back on the ball next month!

Chocolate Éclairs by Pierre Hermé

- Éclairs consist of 3 elements:- Pâte à Choux, also known as Choux Pastry or Cream Puff Dough
- Pastry Cream
- Chocolate Glaze

Pierre Hermé’s Chocolate Éclairs
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(Makes 20-24 Éclairs)

• Cream Puff Dough (see below for recipe), fresh and still warm

1) Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Divide the oven into thirds by positioning the racks in the upper and lower half of the oven. Line two baking sheets with waxed or parchment paper.

2) Fill a large pastry bag fitted with a 2/3 (2cm) plain tip nozzle with the warm cream puff dough. Pipe the dough onto the baking sheets in long, 4 to 4 1/2 inches (about 11 cm) chubby fingers. Leave about 2 inches (5 cm) space in between each dough strip to allow them room to puff. The dough should give you enough to pipe 20-24 éclairs.

3) Slide both the baking sheets into the oven and bake for 7 minutes. After the 7 minutes, slip the handle of a wooden spoon into the door to keep in ajar. When the éclairs have been in the oven for a total of 12 minutes, rotate the sheets top to bottom and front to back. Continue baking for a further 8 minutes or until the éclairs are puffed, golden and firm. The total baking time should be approximately 20 minutes.

Notes: The éclairs can be kept in a cool, dry place for several hours before filling.

Assembling the éclairs:

• Chocolate glaze (see below for recipe)
• Chocolate pastry cream (see below for recipe)

1) Slice the éclairs horizontally, using a serrated knife and a gently sawing motion. Set aside the bottoms and place the tops on a rack over a piece of parchment paper.

2) The glaze should be barely warm to the touch (between 95 – 104 degrees F or 35 – 40 degrees C, as measured on an instant read thermometer). Spread the glaze over the tops of the éclairs using a metal icing spatula. Allow the tops to set and in the meantime fill the bottoms with the pastry cream.

3) Pipe or spoon the pastry cream into the bottoms of the éclairs. Make sure you fill the bottoms with enough cream to mound above the pastry. Place the glazed tops onto the pastry cream and wriggle gently to settle them.

Notes:

1) If you have chilled your chocolate glaze, reheat by placing it in a bowl over simmering water, stirring it gently with a wooden spoon. Do not stir too vigorously as you do not want to create bubbles.

2) The éclairs should be served as soon as they have been filled.

Pierre Hermé’s Cream Puff Dough
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(Makes 20-24 Éclairs)

• ½ cup (125g) whole milk
• ½ cup (125g) water
• 1 stick (4 ounces; 115g) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
• ¼ teaspoon sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (140g) all-purpose flour
• 5 large eggs, at room temperature

1) In a heavy bottomed medium saucepan, bring the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt to a boil.

2) Once the mixture is at a rolling boil, add all of the flour at once, reduce the heat to medium and start to stir the mixture vigorously with a wooden spoon. The dough comes together veryquickly. Do not worry if a slight crust forms at the bottom of the pan, it’s supposed to. You need to carry on stirring for a further 2-3 minutes to dry the dough. After this time the dough will be very soft and smooth.

3) Transfer the dough into a bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using your hand mixer or if you still have the energy, continue by hand. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each egg has been added to incorporate it into the dough. You will notice that after you have added the first egg, the dough will separate, once again do not worry. As you keep working the dough, it will come back together again by the time you have added the third egg. In the end the dough should be thick and shiny and when lifted it should fall back into the bowl in a ribbon.

4) The dough should be still warm. It is now ready to be used for the éclairs as directed above.

Notes:

1) Once the dough is made you need to shape it immediately.

2) You can pipe the dough and the freeze it. Simply pipe the dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets and slide the sheets into the freezer. Once the dough is completely frozen, transfer the piped shapes into freezer bags. They can be kept in the freezer for up to a month.

Chocolate Pastry Cream
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by PierreHermé

• 2 cups (500g) whole milk
• 4 large egg yolks
• 6 tbsp (75g) sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch, sifted
• 7 oz (200g) bittersweet chocolate, melted
• 2½ tbsp (1¼ oz: 40g) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1) In a small saucepan, bring the milk to a boil. In the meantime, combine the yolks, sugar and cornstarch together and whisk in a heavy‐bottomed saucepan.

2) Once the milk has reached a boil, temper the yolks by whisking a couple spoonfuls of the hot milk into the yolk mixture. Continue whisking and slowly pour the rest of the milk into the tempered yolk mixture.

3) Strain the mixture back into the saucepan to remove any egg that may have scrambled. Place the pan over medium heat and whisk vigorously (without stopping) until the mixture returns to a boil. Keep whisking vigorously for 1 to 2 more minutes (still over medium heat). Stir in the melted chocolate and then remove the pan from the heat.

4) Scrape the pastry cream into a small bowl and set it in an ice‐water bath to stop the cooking process. Make sure to continue stirring the mixture at this point so that it remains smooth.

5) Once the cream has reached a temperature of 140 F remove from the ice‐water bath and stir in the butter in three or four installments. Return the cream to the ice‐water bath to continue cooling, stirring occasionally, until it has completely cooled. The cream is now ready to use or store in the fridge.

Notes:

1) The pastry cream can be made 2‐3 days in advance and stored in the refrigerator.

2) In order to avoid a skin forming on the pastry cream, cover with plastic wrap pressed onto the cream.

3) Tempering the eggs raises the temperature of the eggs slowly so that they do not scramble.

Chocolate Glaze
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(Makes 1 cup or 300g)

• 1/3 cup (80g) heavy cream
• 3½ oz (100g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 4 tsp (20 g) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces, at room temperature
• 7 tbsp (110 g) Chocolate Sauce (recipe below), warm or at room temperature

1)In a small saucepan, bring the heavy cream to a boil. Remove from the heat and slowly begin to add the chocolate, stirring with a wooden spoon or spatula.

2) Stirring gently, stir in the butter, piece by piece followed by the chocolate sauce.

Notes:

1) If the chocolate glaze is too cool (i.e. not liquid enough) you may heat it briefly
in the microwave or over a double boiler. A double boiler is basically a bowl sitting over (not touching) simmering water.

2) It is best to glaze the eclairs after the glaze is made, but if you are pressed for time, you can make the glaze a couple days ahead of time, store it in the fridge and bring it up to the proper temperature (95 to 104 F) when ready to glaze.

Chocolate Sauce
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(Makes 1½ cups or 525 g)

• 4½ oz (130 g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1 cup (250 g) water
• ½ cup (125 g) crème fraîche, or heavy cream
• 1/3 cup (70 g) sugar 1)

Place all the ingredients into a heavy‐bottomed saucepan and bring to a boil, making sure to stir constantly. Then reduce the heat to low and continue stirring with a wooden spoon until the sauce thickens.

2) It may take 10‐15 minutes for the sauce to thicken, but you will know when it is done when it coats the back of your spoon.

Notes:

1) You can make this sauce ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator for two weeks. Reheat the sauce in a microwave oven or a double boiler before using.

2) This sauce is also great for cakes, ice-cream and tarts.

Hay Hay It's Funnel Cake!

Well, it is finally starting to feel a bit more like the beginnings of summer here in Utah. Summertime will always and forever remind me of County Fairs.  Though the County Fair and State Fair won't happen until later in the summer I don't see any reason to wait to give this treat a chance.  The timing was also perfect to send this as my entry to Suzana of Home Gourmets, winner of the last round of Hay Hay It's Donna Day, the event created by Barbara at Winos and Foodies, and with its new home with Bron Marshall.  Suzana has chosen Choux! for HHDD#20 - so now was as good a time as any to try my hand at making an old fashioned country Fair favorite - funnel cake.   I recently watched an episode of Good Eats where funnel cakes were made and knew that it wouldn't be too long before I had to give it a go. 

It was super simple and easy and made for a very, airy light concoction.  I guess you could call them sort of like a doughnut, but either way, it was a nice fun treat.

I modified a basic choux recipe just a bit to add some extra flavor to my funnel cakes with the addition of a bit of vanilla, cinnamon and ginger.  Just pipe a bit of a random pattern straight into the hot oil and fry up some chouxy goodness - easy peasy - plus it was really fun to watch.  

Besides, we all like treats that can be prepared start to finish with minimal fuss or mess in a short amount of time.  Making these only took about 35 minutes from start to eating a stack of funnel cakes dusted with some powdered sugar.  Definitely worth a repeat.  

Choux Funnel Cakes

(Adapted from Donna Hay's recipe for Choux and Alton Brown's recipe for Funnel Cake)

- Approximately 10 depending on size - mine were about 6 inches across
1 cup (8 fl oz) water (240 ml)
100 grs (3 ½ oz) unsalted butter
¾ cup (112 ½ grs / 4 oz) plain all-purpose flour
5 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

1 Tablespoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground ginger

Confectioners' sugar for dusting, if desired

Place the water and butter in a saucepan over high heat and bring to the boil. In a small bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, cinnamon and ginger.  Add flour mixture and beat with a wooden spoon until smooth. Cook, stirring over low heat until the mixture leaves the side of the pan. Remove from the heat. 

Place in an electric mixer and beat on high, gradually adding the eggs until well combined.  Beat in the vanilla.

Once all eggs have been added and mixture is smooth, put dough in a piping bag fitted with a number 12 tip. Heat about 1 1/2 inches of oil in a heavy pan. Pipe dough into oil, making a free-form lattice pattern; cook until browned, flipping once. Remove cake from oil, drain on paper towels, and top with powdered sugar. Continue until all of the batter is used.