6.2.10

Profiteroles: A Tribute to Beard Papa's

Great days end with great dinners. Saturdays are usually great meal nights at Casa De Simone. Today my mom (despite her very achy back) cooked one of my ultimate favorites: smoky baby-back pork ribs and rosemary and thyme-seasoned sweet potato fries (accompanied by a tangy dip made with mayonnaise and old-fashioned mustard). Sheer comfort. Finger-licking good. Naturally, a delectable meal such as this deserves a grand finish. I fell in love with profiteroles a few years ago, the first time I ever went to Boston. In the Quincy Market there's a little stand that sells nothing but cream puffs! It's called Beard Papa's (http://www.muginohousa.com/). With 3 choices of cream filling (chocolate, vanilla and strawberry), they are surely the best cream puffs I've ever had. You take a bite, and fresh custard just oozes out every which way. Mmmmmmmmm. I would go to Boston right now to have one.

Anyway, they were the winning dessert. It was a 3-way effort between myself, Gordon Ramsay and Jacques Pepin.


125ml milk
200ml water
150g plain flour
1 tsp golden caster sugar
½ tsp salt
100g unsalted butter
4 medium eggs, lightly beaten


Preheat oven to 350F.


Place the milk, cold water, salt, sugar into a pan and set over a low heat. Once the sugar and salt has dissolved add the butter. Once the butter has melted, bring to a rolling boil. Turn off the heat, add in the flour and beat vigorously with a wooden spoon. As soon as the mixture starts to form a cohesive ball, stop beating and remove from element. Add the eggs quickly and beat with hand-held mixer (it really works best, but if you don't have one a whisk is fine. Just whisk fast!) until nice and smooth.


Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Spoon mixture in a pastry bag with a large nozzle. Form balls, any size you like. I made quite large ones (the more to fill with custard, of course). You can even make eclairs instead. I got 18 profiteroles. Bake them for 25-30 minutes. Depending on your oven , they may have to cook longer. They should have a nice golden color all around. They should also be completely dry and sound hollow when lightly tapped. Allow to cool on the counter.


Vanilla Crème Patissière (or custard) courtesy of Jacques Pepin, from Jacques Pepin Celebrates

1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
4 egg yolks
2 tsp vanilla (my addition)
1 1/2 cups milk
3/4 stick of butter (3 oz), softened

Beat egg yolks, flour and sugar in a bowl for at least 2 minute, until very smooth. Bring milk to a boil in medium saucepan. Add milk egg mixture (pour in slowly and stir quickly). Pour mixture back into saucepan and bring to a boil, while stirring rigorously. Make sure to get the sides of the pan, where the custard will stick. Once the custard is thick remove from heat. Cool in the fridge. To avoid a crust from forming on the top, either sprinkle a bit of sugar on the top or place plastic wrap directly over the custard. When custard has reached room temperature, add the butter and beat until nice and smooth. I thinned it out a bit by adding some milk. Keep in fridge until ready to fill profiteroles.


Cut off the tops of the profiteroles and fill with the pastry cream. I really pile the custard on, really let it spill over the sides. Place the cut-off piece back on, like a hat. Keep in fridge until ready to serve.
Finally, melt some chocolate (I like semi-sweet, or dark chocolate) over a double broiler or in the microwave. Drizzle it on top. I tend to be VERY GENEROUS with the chocolate pouring.
Custard is cold. Chocolate is hot. Drool.
These were just amazing. Luckily, there are only 4 people in my family, and we weren't gross enough to eat all 18, so there were leftovers. Well, they're gone now.......obviously.
Some ideas I thought of to jazz them up:
-add some orange zest and a splash of Grand Marnier to the pastry cream
-add some lemon zest to the pastry cream and glaze tops with lemon glaze instead of chocolate
-add lime zest and coconut to pastry cream, drizzle tops with white chocolate
-add some strawberry coulis/puree to the custard and cover tops with white chocolate
Lots of experimenting to do! Profiteroles may well be the cause of my inevitable obesity.
Enjoy the custard oozing out every which way as you take that first bite. They're not Beard Papa's, but they're just as oozy.
Cheers.

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