The Bakinglady 

Whenever I talk to people about pastry the one kind that everyone shies away from is good old fashioned choux and yet it’s one of the easiest pastries to make if not one of the most versatile. Savoury or sweet, choux is a fabulous pastry to master and if you nip onto You Tube I will show you how to make fabulous pastry in a matter of minutes. This wonderful vegetarian savoury ring is full to the brim with chunky mushrooms, stilton cheese and sweet fried onions and couldn’t be easier to whip up to impress the veggies in your life…. If you really can’t bear to go meat free just chuck in a handful of ham or some cooked chicken and you will please carnivores as well….

Simply delicious!Serves 4-6

What you will need

Choux pastry

125mls water

50g butter or margarine

Italian pinch salt

Italian pinch sugar

65g strong bread flour

2 eggs

25g grated Edam

For the filling

400g mushrooms, I used a mixture of chestnut and large flat mushrooms

40g butter or margarine

1 clove of garlic, finely hopped

100g onions, finely chopped

75g Stilton cheese, crumbled

100g full fat cream cheese

seasoning

What you do

Start by making the choux pastry…

Take a look at my free tutorial on You Tube to see how to make choux quickly and easily avoiding stodgy buns and soggy bottoms…. For perfect profiteroles and excellent Eclairs Just remember the three B’s

Boil the mixture well

Beat the mixture well

Bake the mixture well, and you can’t go wrong!

Line a baking tray with a sheet of baking parchment (not greaseproof as it will stick to the pastry…been there, done that, ate the paper stuck to the bottom of my profiteroles) then preheat the oven to 220c or 200c for a fan oven. Mark a 7-8” circle on it to use as a guide.

Sieve the flour onto a piece of baking parchment and put to one side.

Place the margarine, water, sugar and salt into a saucepan and bring it to the boil ensuring that the butter or margarine is fully melted and that the mixture boils well….your first B, BOIL WELL

Tip all the flour in one go into the boiling liquid and stir vigorously JUST UNTIL the mixture forms a ball that comes away cleanly from the sides of the saucepan, as soon as it does this STOP or you will have a greasy, heavy pastry. Leave to cool for about ten minutes or the egg will just scramble in the mixture.

Now beat the eggs and add them to the cooled mixture a LITTLE at a time, if you add them in too fast the mixture will be too sloppy to pipe. Beat well between each addition of egg ( your second B,  BEAT WELL)

Once all the egg is added, transfer to a piping bag, and pipe the choux pastry on top of the baking parchment, using the drawn circle as a template, leave a 4 “ gap in the middle, use all of the mixture up.

Place the baking sheet in the oven and cook for approximately 30 minutes or until the pastry is well risen, crispy and firm to the touch (this is the third B, BAKE WELL, you don’t want a soggy bottom so make sure the pastry is crisp and golden before you remove it to sprinkle over the grated cheese)

Finally sprinkle the grated Edam over the top of the cooked choux pastry and return to the oven for 2-3 minutes to melt and brown it slightly.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool then split the choux ring horizontally, transfer to a serving plate.

For the filling

Fry the onion and garlic in the butter for a few minutes until they just soften and colour a light golden brown ,then add the sliced mushrooms, fry until the mushrooms release their juices then continue until the juices evaporate off again.

Add in the cream cheese followed by the crumpled stilton and season to taste.

Pile the mushroom filling in the base of the choux ring, place the lid on top and if you like fill the centre with bright zingy fresh salad and a light drizzle of your favourite salad dressing.

The choux pastry should be crisp and light, complimenting the creamy cheese and mushrooms and makes a wonderful light lunch or an impressive main course for vegetarians.