Gateau Saint Honore With Francois Food

GATEAU ST. HONORE

Steps:

• For Pastry Base: Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Sift flour onto a board or into a medium bowl. Make a well in the center. Add butter and egg to well and mix them together. Mix sugar into butter and eggs. Combine with the flour, adding water as needed. Allow pastry to stand for 30 minutes before rolling. Roll into a 10-nch round. Place on greased baking sheet. Cover with a round of greased parchment paper and weigh pastry down with dried beans or pie weights. Bake 10 minutes, then remove paper and weights. Bake 10 minutes more. Remove from oven and let cool. For Choux Pastry: Bring water and butter to a boil in a saucepan. Add sifted flour to pan, all at once,and beat hard until mixture is smooth and comes away from the sides of the pan. Turn out onto a plate to cool.
• When cool, place the pastry in a medium bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating hard in between each addition. Add the salt.
• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Place the pastry into a piping bag with a large nozzle and pipe small nut shapes onto a greased, floured baking sheet. Bake for 12 minutes. Turn off the heat and keep pastry in oven for 20 more minutes to dry out the centers. Cool and store in an airtight container until ready to use. Pastry Cream: In medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan, slowly bring milk and vanilla bean to a boil. Discard the bean.
• In a separate bowl, beat the sugar and egg yolk until pale and thickened. Beat in flour. Add a little of the boiling milk to the egg mixture, and then pour all this back into the pot of milk. Bring back to a boil. Lower heat and simmer 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Flavor with vanilla extract and let cool. Filling: Whip cream and sugar until stiff. Place bowl in freezer for 20 minutes. Toffee: Place all ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and continue to cook until it reaches 280 degrees F. Keep warm. To assemble: Place pastry cream into a piping bag with a thin, pointed nozzle. Fill each choux with pastry cream. Place a layer of choux in a circle around the edge of the pastry base and drizzle a thin coating of hot toffee on them. Layer a second round of choux over the first, like build a wall, securing with more toffee. Continue in this fashion until all the filled pastries are used. Fill the center of the "wall" with whipped cream and garnish the top with candied fruit and chocolate curls.

GATEAU ST. HONORé

Steps:

• Heat the milk with the scraped seeds of the vanilla bean or the vanilla bean paste until just below a simmer.
• In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks, sugar and cornstarch. Ready a bowl with the butter, placing a strainer on top of it.
• Gradually whisk the hot milk into egg mixture and then return it all to the pot. Whisk this constantly (switching to a spatula now and again, to get into the corners) over medium heat until thickened and glossy, about 2 minutes. Pour this immediately through the strainer, whisking it through if needed, and stir in the butter. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly over the surface of the custard, cool to room temperature and then chill completely until ready to use.
• Preheat the oven to 375 F and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
• Cut the puff pastry into a 9-inch circle (or use the shell from a 9-inch removable tart pan to cut a circle with a pretty fluted edge) and place this on the baking tray. Dock the pastry with a fork and bake for about 20 to 25 minutes until an even golden brown. Cool.
• Makes 2 recipes of choux paste.
• For the profiteroles, preheat the oven to 400 F and line two baking trays with parchment paper.
• Fill a piping bag fitted with a large plain tip with the choux paste. Pipe profiteroles, each about 1 ½ -inches across. Wet your finger in cool water and tap any points on the batter. You will need 16 to 18 profiteroles for the torte.
• Bake the profiteroles for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 375 F and continue to bake for about 15 more minutes, until they are a rich golden brown colour and are very light. Allow the pastries to cool completely before filling.
• To fill, stir the pastry cream to soften and fill a piping bag with a medium plain tip (or an éclair or doughnut tip, if you have one). Use a skewer to first poke a small hole in the side of each profiterole. Insert the piping bag and fill each with cream until you feel resistance. Save any remaining pastry cream for the torte. Chill until ready to dip in caramelized sugar.
• Bring the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt up to a full simmer over medium high heat. Reduce the heat to low and stir in the flour with a wooden spoon, stirring vigorously until the dough "cleans" the sides of the pot (no longer sticks). Scrape this mixture into a large bowl and use electric beaters or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium speed for a minute or 2 to cool it a little.
• Break two eggs into a small dish and whisk them just to blend a little. Add these to the flour mixture while still on medium speed and mix until blended. Add the remaining 3 eggs one at a time and mixing well after each addition.
• Work with this recipe while the batter is still warm.
• Bring the water, sugar and corn syrup up to a boil in a small pot over high heat and continue to boil, uncovered and without stirring, and occasionally brushing the sides of the pot with water, until it is a light amber colour. Ready a bowl of ice water and carefully set the bottom of the pot into the ice water to halt the sugar from cooking further.
• Using tongs, carefully dip the tops of the profiteroles halfway into the caramelized sugar and place them, caramel side down, on a lightly greased parchment-lined baking tray to set. If the caramel in the pot begins to set before you have finished, you can reheat the caramel on low heat.
• To assemble, whip the cream and skim milk powder until it holds a soft peak and stir in the sugar and vanilla. Divide the cream in half, stir the raspberry puree into one half and then fill 2 piping bags fitted with a plain or star tip each with a cream.
• Place the baked puff pastry disc onto the serving plate. Spread the remaining pastry cream on the bottom, leaving a half inch space around the outside edge. Arrange the dipped profiteroles on top of the puff pastry, creating a ring around the outside and so that the flat, caramel-dipped tops are facing up. Sprinkle the fresh raspberries over the pastry cream. Pipe alternating straight lines, circles or other patterns with the two colours of whipped cream and chill until ready to serve.
• The St. Honoré is best served the day it is assembled, but the separate parts, pastry base, profiteroles and pastry cream, can be prepared a day ahead.

STRAWBERRY GâTEAU ST HONORé

Steps:

• Make the pastry for the base: whizz the flour, almonds, butter and sugar in a food processor to fine crumbs. Add the egg yolk (reserve the white for later) and a few drops of water if necessary, then pulse until the dough comes together. Wrap in cling film, then chill for 1 hr.
• Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Roll out pastry on a large square of baking parchment, then trim to a 26cm round using a cake tin or plate as a guide. Carefully transfer the pastry still on the paper to a large baking sheet. Bake for 12-15 mins until golden. Cool on the paper, then transfer to a large, flat serving plate. Can be made 2 days ahead.
• To make the choux pastry, line a large baking sheet with baking parchment. Heat the butter in a pan with 125ml water until melted, then increase heat until boiling. Remove from the heat, then add the flour in one go, quickly stirring until everything comes together as a thick paste. Leave to cool for 10 mins. Beat the eggs in to the paste, using a wooden spoon, a little at a time, until you have a thick, glossy mixture. Spoon 12 equal-size blobs of choux, a little apart, over the baking sheet. Lightly whisk the reserved egg white, then brush over each blob of pastry. Sprinkle with flaked almonds.
• Bake the buns for 25-30 mins until crisp and golden. Remove from the oven, carefully split each bun, then return to the oven for 5 mins more to dry out the insides. Cool on a rack, then scoop out any soft insides. Can be made 2 days ahead - if they go soft, briefly crisp them up in the oven.
• To make the filling, mix the custard powder and sugar in a pan, then blend in a little milk to a smooth paste. Add the rest of the milk, then gently bring to the boil, stirring, until you have a thick custard. Remove from the heat, then stir in the vanilla. Transfer to a bowl, then cover the surface with cling film. Cool. Can be made 2 days ahead.
• Now assemble the gâteau: stir the custard to loosen a little. Whip the cream to soft peaks, then fold into the custard. Slice a third of the strawberries. Spread a thin layer of custard over the pastry base. Add the sliced strawberries to the remaining custard, then use to fill the choux buns. Arrange buns around edge of the pastry base. Spoon any remaining custard into the centre, then top with the remaining strawberries.
• To make the caramel, tip the caster sugar into a heavy based pan with 2 tbsp cold water. Heat, without stirring, to dissolve the sugar, tipping the pan if necessary, then boil hard until it becomes a light caramel. Remove from the heat and, when the bubbles subside, drizzle carefully over the choux buns. Dust with icing sugar and serve. The gâteau can be chilled for up to 2 hrs before serving.