Profiteroles aux Pistaches

Drip, drop. Drip, drop. The lonely rain on the low rooftops hammered on. Drip, drop. Drip, drop. Divine Cherry was sitting in her kitchen. She was reading. Drip, drop, went the rain on the windowpane. Drip, drop. Small Perfect Cloud, immobile and silent, watched the fleeting tears of heaven slide down the glass. Drip, drop.
'Remember when you were young?' asked Celestial Dragon from behind her. 'You shone like the sun.'
Divine Cherry woke up from her rêverie. She looked Celestial Dragon in the eyes.
'Remember when you melted the sun? We were still young,' she said. Small Perfect Cloud lifted its head.
Aeons ago, Celestial Dragon had melted the sun around a cloud and thus created the first chou – or at least, the idea of the chou. Small Perfect Cloud opened its eyes. Now, on this rainy day, Divine Cherry recalled it for the first time. The world had been greener back then. The sky was green, the clouds were green, all the flowers were green, the water was green. It must be said, however, that back then not every colour was born yet. Small Perfect Cloud got up. Most of the colours still lay dormant in the rainbow. That hadn't fully shown itself either yet. But green was different. It always had been. Divine Cherry got up and had a look at her cupboard. Contrary to popular belief, and despite of what those funky ancient Greeks thought, Hope didn't leave Pandora's box last. And it wasn't even Curiosity that drove her to open the box in the first place either. It was Hope itself. The world was green, back then, the colour of Hope. Hope was everything. And Pandora had hoped that there'd be something else in the box: she had never liked green.
Divine Cherry found a stash of pistachios. Small Perfect Cloud started walking towards the door.
'I'm hoping for the sun,' said Divine Cherry to no one in particular (except maybe for the window who, in cowardly surprise, started urging the raindrops on it to slide down faster). 'And I've therefore decided to make Profitéroles aux Pistaches.'
This is how she did it:


Profitéroles aux Pistaches
Ingredients for puffs (quantities and recipe taken from Stefania)
makes 36 choux
-74ml of water
-10ml of milk
-66gr of butter (unsalted)
-70gr of flour
-2-3 medium-sized eggs
-a pinch of salt


Put the milk, water and diced butter in a pan. Melt the butter on low heat and bring it to boil. When it boils add the entire flour all at once and stir with a wooden spoon in order to well mix it all. The dough will naturally form a ball. Continue stirring the mixture on the heat for 3-4mins to let it dry a little.
Transfer the dough into a large bowl. Now add the eggs one by one, making sure to have well incorporated one egg before adding the next. You will know it will be ready when the mixture will be shiny and fall off the spoon in long drips. Stop adding eggs at this point. (A piece of advice: crack the eggs in a small bowl beforehand and beat them lightly with a fork. That way you will be able to add exactly as much as you need).
Now put the mixture into a piping bag and, on a greased baking tray, form many small mounds - well apart from each other. Smooth the tops of the piles with humid fingers. (If they're not humid, your finger will stick to the dough. Unpleasant). Put them in a preheated oven at 200°C. After the first 15mins I opened the oven to let out the steam, but also turned the trays and quickly closed the oven door again. However, do not open the oven door before at least 15mins have passed. The choux will be ready when they'll be golden brown on the surface. You need to cook them well or they will deflate easily.
Once they have cooled down, you may even freeze them before actually using them. To defrost, put them still frozen in a preheated oven at 220°C for 3-4mins.


Ingredients for filling
for 12 choux
-250g of crème patissière (see here)
-45g of pistachio paste


Add the pistachio paste to the crème patissière when the latter is still in the pan in order to melt it properly.


Ingredients for pistachio paste
-50g of pistachios
-25g of icing sugar
-12.5g of ground almonds


Put the pistachios in a large bowl. Pour over boiling water (100°C) and leave them immersed for 5mins. Doing so will facilitate the peeling: the skin will come off very easily. Dry the pistachios well and chop them finely in a blender. Transfer the chopped pistachios in a bowl, add the remaining ingredients and stir with a spoon. Add a few drops of water in order to give a bit more consistency to the paste. Form a ball, cover with cling film and store in the fridge.


Ingredients for frosting (Pierre Herme)
-100g of white chocolate
-25g of single cream
-22.5g of pistachio paste


Heat the cream and add the pistachio paste, stirring with a spoon in order to dissolve them well. In a bowl, finely chop the chocolate, pour over the pistachio-cream mixture and stir well.


Final Steps
Place the flavoured crème patissière in a piping bag. Pierce a small hole at the back of the choux and fill them with the cream. Then plunge them quickly, head first, into to frosting and let them subsequently cool in the fridge so as to dry and solidify the frosting.
Serve.


Ricetta in Italiano
Profitéroles aux Pistaches
Ingredienti per i bignè (dosi e ricetta addattati da Stefania)
per 36 piccoli bignè

-74ml di acqua

-10ml di latte

-66gr di burro

-70gr di farina

-2-3 uova medie

-Un pizzico di sale

In un pentolino mettere l’acqua, il latte e il burro a tocchetti. A fuoco basso far sciogliere il burro e portare il tutto a ebollizione. Quando bolle aggiungere la farina in una volta sola e mescolare con un cucchiaio di legno per far amalgamare il tutto. L’impasto formerà naturalmente una palla. Continuare a girare l’ammasso sul fuoco per 3-4 minuti in modo da farlo asciugare un pò.

Trasferire l’impasto in una ciotola capiente. Agiungere le uova una ad una e assicurarsi di aver ben incorporato l’uovo precedente prima di aggiungere il successivo. Quando l’impasto risulterà lucido e ricadrà dal cucchiaio formando lunghe punte è pronto ed è il momento di fermarsi dall’aggiungere altre uova. Consiglio di rompere le uova in una ciotolina a parte e sbatterle leggermente con una forchetta, in modo da poter aggiungere anche solo mezzo uovo per volta se necessario.

Mettere l’impasto in una sac  a poche e formare tanti piccoli mucchietti ben distanziati su una teglia imburrata, con le mani umide arrotondare la cima dei mucchietti. Infornare a forno caldo (200°C).  Dopo il primo quarto d’ora ho aperto lo sportello per far uscire il vapore, ho girato le teglie e richiuso. Non aprire lo sportello prime che siano trascorsi almeno 15 minuti. I bignè sono pronti quando saranno ben dorati in superficie. Bisogna cuocerli bene o si sgonfieranno facilemente.

Una volta raffreddati si possono congelare fino al momento di utilizzarli. Vanno messi in forno caldo (220°C) ancora congelati per 3-4 minuti.

Ingredienti per farcitura 

per 12 bignè

-250g di crema pasticcera (ricetta in quest'altro post)

-45g di pasta di pistacchio

Aggiungere la pasta di pistacchio quando la crema e’ ancora sul fuoco in modo da scioglierla bene.

Pasta di pistacchio (100g)

-50g di pistacchi sgusciati

-25g di zucchero a velo

-12.5g di mandorle in povere

Mettere i pistacchi in una ciotola capiente. Versarci sopra dell’acqua bollente (100°C), lasciare i pistacchi immersi 5 minuti. In questo modo la sottile buccia verrà via molto facilmente, semplicemente passando i pistacchi tra le dita. Asciugare bene i pistacchi e tritarli molto finemente in un mixer. Trasferire i pistacchi tritati in una ciotola, aggiungere gli altri ingredienti e mescolare con un cucchiaio. Aggiungere poche gocce d’acqua in modo da dare consistenza alla pasta. Formare una palla e riporla in frigo coperta da pellicola.

Ingredienti per glassa (Pierre Herme)

-100g di cioccolato bianco

-25g di panna

-22.5g di pasta di pistacchio.

Scaldare la panna e aggiungerci la pasta di pistacchio, scioglierla bene girando con un cucchiaio. In una ciotola, spezzettare finemente il cioccolato, versarci sopra la panna bollente e mescolare.

Assemblaggio

Mettere la crema pasticcera aromatizzata in una sac a posche, formare dei buchini sul retro dei bignè e farcirli con la crema. Tuffarli rapidamente nella glassa e farli raffreddare in frigo in modo da asciugare la glassa.

Enjoy,
And Spread the Mess