A starter inspired by traditional flavours in Flemish cooking that combines the best of everything: choux pastry, asparagus, endive, apple, bacon lardons and celeriac presented in a novel way; my personal version of "op Vlaamse wijze"
Not being able to be in Antwerp this Christmas (again) my approach was that, if I couldn't be in Flanders, I was at least going to bring the tastes of Flanders to those joining my host Fiona for Christmas dinner at her house this year.
This recipe serves 5 to 6 diners (depending on how. confident you are with baking your choux).
Shopping list
The choux pastry
½ a cup of cold water
4 tbspns unsalted butter
½ a cup of plain white flour
2 large fresh eggs (not from the fridge)
A pinch of salt
The choux pastry filling
250g fresh asparagus, cut roughly into chunky pieces; cooked and drained
100ml double cream
100g plain full-fat cream cheese
A generous handful of fresh dill
Salt and ground black pepper to taste
The endive (aka witloof)
1 young fresh endive per diner
1 cup of vegetable stock (fresh or diluted)
A couple of tbspns of bitter orange marmalade
Approx. 4 heaped tbspns of finely grated, aged hard cheese. (I opted for García Baquero because of the "in joke" using Spanish cheese with Flemish flavours, but parmesan, Grana Padano or any other hard cheese with a strong flavour will work)
The celeriac remoulade (aka seldersla)
½ a medium fresh celeriac; washed, peeled and spiralised or roughly grated
A handful of fresh parsley, finely chopped
Good quality mayonnaise, sufficient to coat liberally
Ground black pepper to taste
A little freshly squeezed lemon juice (optional)
The salade tiède' (aka "lukewarm salad")
375g lean smoked bacon lardons
2 heaped tspns chopped smoked garlic
2 fresh apples, peeled, cored and cut roughly
200g walnuts, each half hand-broken into 3 or 4 pieces
2 tbspns toasted sesame oil
Approx. 4 tbspns teriyaki marinade; good quality store-bought or homemade
The juice of ½ a lemon (optional)
Cooking Method
the choux pastry
Preheat the oven to 450°F/230°C/gas mark 8. Over a medium heat, bring the butter and water to a gentle simmer in a deep pan/saucepan on the hob. Add the flour, stirring almost continuously with a wooden spoon. The mixture will start to form a dough and eventually come away cleanly from the pan
Once the dough is clearly a cohesive mass, decant to a clean mixing bowl, pressing down evenly to aid cooling. Allow to cool for 10mins
Using a whisk, add the eggs, one at a time, being careful not to the whisk too vigorously. At first it's likely to seem "messy". Keep shaking the whisk free of half-formed dough mix; flick it back into the bowl and keep mixing. Finally, finish up creating your choux dough by mixing it into a soggy", glutinous-but-cohesive mix (resembling waffle batter more than pastry) using a wooden spoon or spatula
Add the dough to a piping bag and pipe into about 6 choux buns on a lightly greased, non-stick baking tray or baking paper. NB: if you don't have a piping bag, use two table spoons dipped in cold water to divide the dough into roughly six portions and shape them on the baking tray. This will give the outcome a more "rustic" look but should not affect the quality of the buns (like they had piping bags when they first made choux...). Finally, before placing in the oven, dip your clean fingers in cold water and gently wet the top of each bun
Bake for about 20mins then allow to rest and dry in the hot oven for about 10mins. This really is a guideline. One thing I've learned over the years trying multiple recipes—one thing I must say is that I find the recipes using milk much dodgier—is that you really need to develop an instinct for when your choux are ready; neither too moist nor too dry. Just keep an eye on them
Finally, choux is one of those pastries that is best eaten pretty fresh, so best not to bake your buns more than 24 hours before serving
The choux bun filling
You can make this the day before or while your choux buns are baking. In a mixing bowl, whip the double cream until it properly thickens. Yes, you can do this with a hand whisk if you want. But, you'll save a lot of time if you use an electric whisk/mixer
To a jug or narrow, deep mixing bowl, add the cooked, cooled asparagus, cream cheese and dill, ensuring you pull the leaves off the stalks (which you can chuck in the composter). Blend into a smooth, creamy mixture using a handheld blender, adding ground black pepper and salt to taste
Gently fold this mixture into the whipped double cream using a broad spatula. Add this to a piping bag and pipe into your cooled choux buns and allow to rest. Again, you can do this without a piping bag. In which case, gently slice off the top of the choux buns (as you might a boiled egg) and add the mixture to the cavernous interior of your buns using a teaspoon, finally popping its "hat" back on
Whatever your chosen method, store in the fridge or a suitably cool place until plating
The celeriac roulade (aka seldersla)
The simplest of the elements of the dish, add the mayonnaise to the grated/spiralised celeriac, stirring in gently, adding the finely chopped parsley as you go
Add the lemon juice, if desired. You can make this element up to 24 hours before. Simply store in a sealed container in the fridge and remove with enough time for it to return to room temperature before plating
The endive
Wash and drain the endive. To a saucepan approx. 1 cup of quality vegetable stock and bring to the boil. It should be only enough liquid to half-cover the endive
Boil for about 3 mins, then reduce the heat and allow to simmer until your endive is cooked until tender. This can take anywhere between 8 and 12 mins depending on your set-up. (Top tip: use a fork or other small, sharp object to test. Push into the base of the endive. If if passes through easily without resistance, it's done).
Remove the endives and thoroughly drain. Then, transfer to a heat-proof ceramic dish or baking tray making sure they sit closely together, but are not on top of each other. Using a large, flat knife, smear a thin film of marmalade over the top surface of each endive. Finally, spinkle with the finely grated cheese of choice
Immediately before plating, place under a hot grill, allowing the marmalade and cheese to caramelise—to even burn a little—or, if you have one, you can achieve the same effect with a chef's blowtorch
The salade tiède' (aka "lukewarm salad")
This one definitely starts some time before plating. I'm not going to step-by-step, hobbycefblokesplain it to you. Most importantly, you need to marinade the lardons in the teriyaki and you need to do this at least 4 hours before cooking (I personally recommend 24 yours before). Nothing could be simpler: place your lardons in a suitable container, stir in the teriyaki so that all facets are covered and store in the fridge until cooking
Prepare the apples (if you do this hours before, use lemon juice to keep it from turning brown while stored in the fridge). Prepare the walnuts. And, yes, I really do mean "hand-broken". You really don't want any of the "dust" or uneven sizing you get when using a pestle and mortar or the tiny pieces of walnut from an automatic chopper. (PS: I did mine watching rubbish Christmas Eve TV in the tradition of doyennes of the kitchen used to completing repetitive tasks by hand)
In a fairly deep pan, heat the sesame oil until hot, but not smoking. Add the chopped smoked garlic and allow to sizzle until it becomes translucent. Add the lardons and all of the residual teriyaki marinade. Cook, stirring regularly, until the lardons are cooked and semi-crisp on at least one facet
If the lardons are genuinely lean, there will be relatively little fat released during cooking. If the fat seems excessive, pour some of it off (though you want a nice lubrication of "teriyaki juice" and a little fat left in the pan). Turn off the heat. While still warm, add the apple and walnuts. Season with salt and black pepper. Stir the ingredients together gently, allowing the flavours to blend while they rest
The Big Reveal
Because, of course, your timing is immaculate, you'll plate all four elements, each with a slightly different temperature, at exactly the same time. Garnish your filled choux buns with a sprig of fresh dill and off you go. Eet smakelijk!
Alternatives
No, I really don't have a tried 'n tested veggie version for this one given it's a recipe I only knocked up for this year's Christmas, so I'll have to work on that. That said, I would imagine smoked tofu might work as a good replacement for the lardons in this recipe given the overall mix of flavours.
Accompaniments
In my head, I had the notion that the lardons and teriyaki would make this work with a light red. But, on the day, I was still working on a glass of fizz when I served it up and found that it worked incredibly well with a decent, very dry prosecco Fiona had found at her go-to organic wine dealer. God knows what it was, but, yeah, it worked really well with the almost bitter flavours in this dish.
Comments