Salmon choux

Salmon choux

New year's eve is fast approaching and I thought it would be nice to have something a bit different to just salmon on toast. These little salmon choux are quite easy to make but it does take a little time I'm not going to lie. But they are great to nibble on and how pretty are they?

You can also serve them as starters on a bed of lettuce (I like a bit of peppery lambs lettuce with it) drizzled with a zingy lemony vinaigrette.

You will need:

For the choux pastry:

- 150 ml of water (or grams if you prefer weighting it)
- 100 g of plain flour
- 60 g of butter (I  prefer to use margarine)
- 3 medium eggs
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1^1/2 tea spoon of baking powder

For the salmon mousse:
- 200 g of salmon (I used tined for ease, if you want to use fresh salon you will have to steam it first)
- 1 tbs of horseradish cream
- 4 tbs of double cream
- 1 pinch of salt and pepper
- 1 handful of chopped chive

For the decoration:
- 3 slices of smoked salmon
- Thumb size piece of black radish (optional)
- Chopped chives

Preparation:

1. Preheat your oven to 180^oC. In a saucepan on a medium heat, mix together the water, the salt and the butter. When the mixture reaches boiling point, dump in all the flour and mix quickly until it forms a ball. Take the pan off the heat source and add the eggs one by one, mixing vigorously in between. The dough will start to loosen until reaching a thick cream consistency. Make sure there are no lumps left in the mixture, it has to be smooth to avoid clusters of flour in your choux. 

2. Place the mixture in a piping bag fitted with a large round nozzle (about 1cm diameter) and pipe small balls on a non-stick oven proof tray (I usually line mine with baking paper, it saves on washing up!) That amount or choux pastry should make about 20-25 choux. Bear in mind that they will about double in size in the oven so try to leave a bit of space between them or they will fuse together. Bake for 15 min without opening the oven door or they might collapse.

3. For the salmon mousse, place all the ingredients in a mixer and whizz until smooth. If you feel that the mixture is still a little bit too thick you can add a bit more double cream but keep in mind that the mousse needs to hold inside the choux so it cannot be too runny. Also taste your mousse, you might want to add more salt/pepper/horseradish depending how you like it!

4. Cut a cross with a sharp knife at the bottom of your choux. Place the salmon mousse in a piping bag, insert the nozzle in the cut you’ve made in the choux and pipe in your mixture until full.

5. For the decoration, cut the smoked salmon into strips and place them on the top of the choux. Then balance a very thin slice of black radish and finish by sprinkling a bit of chopped chive on top….et voila!
Now all that’s left to do is to not eat them all before your guests arrive!