Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Choux pastry roll with smoked fish, in two different ways

Here's a simple choux pastry roll that would make a lovely dinner as well as suit a more festive occasion. I've made it few times as a light meal recently, but I can just as well imagine serving this alongside coffee when my friends will finally come and visit my new home, or as a starter with some salad. Here I've used the choux pastry roll as a carrier for various smoked fish, but feel free to stuff it with coronation chicken, egg mayo & watercress, tuna salad, chopped mushrooms or any other flavoursome and moist (sandwich) filling..

Choux pastry roll with smoked fish (or any other stuffing you like)
(Keedutainarull suitsukalaga)
Feeds 8



Choux pastry:
100 grams butter
150 ml plain flour
500 ml milk
0.5 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
3 medium eggs

Stuffing A (above photo):
200 grams hot smoked fish fillet, cut into small pieces (I used South Atlantic bream, Seriolella porosa, but mackerel, cod or any other oily fish would be fine)
150-200 ml thick sour cream or creme fraiche
100 ml chopped herbs (dill, parsley, chives)

Stuffing B:
200 grams cream cheese (natural or flavoured)
100 grams smoked salmon, chopped finely
a generous handful of shopped dill
1 bell pepper, diced finely

Start by making the choux pastry. Melt the butter in a saucepan on a slow heat, add flour and stir until combined. Add milk in 2-3 installments, stirring until combined after each addition. Simmer for a few minutes, then remove the saucepan from the heat. Leave to cool.
When cooled, mix in the salt and baking powder, then mix in the eggs one by one, beating vigorously after each addition (I use my electric mixer to do that, but it's not essential).
Pour into a lined Swiss roll tin (20 x 30 cm) and bake at 225˚C for 15-20 minutes, until golden.
Flip the baked choux pastry onto another piece of parchment paper, let it cool. Peel off the 'baked' parchment paper.

Choose your stuffing and mix the stuffing ingredients together. Spread over the pastry.

Roll the pastry into a roll, starting from the wider end. Keep wrapped in the parchment paper and let the flavours develop in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

To serve, cut into 1.5 - 2 cm slices.

Here's one I made earlier, using cream cheese, cold smoked salmon, green peppers and dill as a filling. This was actually the first dish I cooked to K. back in July, and I must have passed some test or another, as I'm now cooking happily in his kitchen:)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

This sounds so interesting and I can't say I have ever tried anything like it. I love smoked fish though! This sounds like a great alternative to regular sandwiches :)

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

That looks very interesting! I'm sure that this recipe is awesome...

Anonymous said...

That looks absolutely fantastic. As I have said before - you know your finger food (although maybe these are best enjoyed with a knife anf fork!). I will make something like this for my next buffet table.

ScienceMel said...

That sounds amazing and easy peasy. Thanks for sharing... might just have to have it for dinner this weekend.

Brilynn said...

That makes for a very nice presentation, I happen to like anything that's rolled.

Pille said...

Joey - that's a good way of putting it indeed. We'd often serve small open sandwiches alongside coffee in Estonia, and this roll would make a great change from it.

Rosa -thank you!

Clivia - this roll would be great on a buffet table (we call it "rootsi laud" or "Swedish table" in Estonian:), and you could easily use one of your mushroom fillings here!

Melinda - thanks! How did your dinner go?

Bron - indeed:)

Brilynn - it looks nice, it's amazingly easy to throw together and it's versatile. What's not to like!?

Johanna - you must try this one! I've made it almost every week now, and it's perfect for various parties, as you can experiment with fillings. I've made the smoked chicken version twice now, and as one of my recent Scottish visitors was a veggie, I made one with a simple mushroom salad (salted mushrooms, onion, parsley, sour cream) filling. Everybody loved it:)