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Hello, I'm Julia Child.

Welcome to my house.

What fun we're going to have baking all kinds of incredible cakes, pies and breads right here in my own kitchen.

Norman Love, executive pastry chef for Ritz-Carlton Hotels gives a savory twist to a classic choux pastry with salmon mousse puffs and mascarpone vegetable eclairs.

Join us on... [Captioning sponsored by VIEWERS LIKE YOU] These charming little appetizers are made out of pâte à choux or choux pastry.

We usually think of it for making cream puffs.

But Chef Norman Love has a new twist.

He's going to turn it into... what?

( both laugh ) We're going to do a little bit of a twist.

We're going to add some cucumber juice and red onion juice into our pâte à choux, the pastry to give it a little bit of an interesting flavor... Oh, that will be fun.

and make it a savory item.

You got half a cup of milk in here, I know.

I do, and I have a peeled cucumber.

And I'm going to slice the cucumber.

We're going to need a full cup of liquid so by using a half a cup of milk... and then we'll substitute the other half a cup of liquid for... Fine.

for vegetable juice.

And I'm going to use a vegetable extractor, juice extractor.

I'm just going to cut some of these cucumber sticks.

And I'm going to just pass them into... And quickly turning this on... ( machine grinding ) If you don't have one of these fancy machines I suppose you can put it into a blender and then squeeze it dry.

Yes, you could, you could use a blender.

You could even use a food processor.

Yeah.

And then after...

Twist it, yeah.

Exactly, either through a cloth or on a grater.

What's wonderful about this is that it separates any of the seeds or pulp that's coming from the fruit or vegetable, and...

It has a lovely... a lovely cucumber smell.

Yes, and you get this: just the pure liquid from the vegetable.

Mm-hmm.

So we're going to measure out a half a cup of cucumber juice.

Okay... and we're going to add that to our milk.

In the same method we're going to also extract some red onion juice.

Yeah.

We need about 1 1/2 tablespoons of red onion juice.

( machine grinding ) ( machine shuts off ) So we're going to add 1 1/2 tablespoons... Of onion juice.

of onion juice.

Is that supposed to come to the boil?

Yes.

With that we're going to add...

I'll turn the heat on.

seven tablespoons of butter.

Sometimes I like to cut the butter up into smaller pieces.

Makes it a little bit easier for it to melt.

Melt faster.

Mm-hmm.

Now I'm going to grate some pepper.

Mm-hmm.

I'm going to add also just a pinch of salt to help enhance some of the flavor bring out some of that onion and cucumber.

So, we're going to bring this mixture to a boil.

Stir it just a little bit to make sure all our ingredients are well incorporated.

What's interesting about this type of pâte à choux is that as long as there's the correct combination or chemistry between fat and liquid and flour the liquid can be substituted basically for anything.

So you could use any vegetable puree... Yeah.

or any type of fruit puree to acquire that... different from the classical traditional pâte à choux flavor.

Now that the milk is coming to a boil I'm going to take one cup of all-purpose flour and I'm going to add that all at one time.

While it's boiling?

While it's boiling.

Then we're going to carefully incorporate the flour into our liquid.

Mm-hmm.

You'll start to notice as the mixture starts to thicken that there are some lumps that begin to form but if you start to stir vigorously... you end up with a very, very smooth mixture.

Mm-hmm.

Can you smell that onion and cucumber?

I can smell it.

When cooking the pâte à choux we want to try to form a little bit of a skin on the bottom of the pan.

You'll see that the... the paste itself will start to form a ball.

Even if this is a no-stick pan it's going to stick on the bottom, is it?

You won't see... but you'll start to see a little bit of a formation along the bottom edge there.

Yeah, yeah, I can see that, yeah.

And just after about one minute or so... make sure that we have it well mixed.

And then that's cooking the flour, too.

Yes-- pâte à choux is the only pastry that's cooked twice.

Of course.

Once in the pan, once in the oven.

That's true.

Okay, so, next I'm going to transfer our pâte à choux to our mixer.

That will make adding eggs a lot easier, won't it?

Yeah, sure will.

You can do it by hand.

You can do it by hand.

This makes things a little bit easier.

( turns machine on ) I like to put the mixer on on one speed, just for a few seconds to allow some of that initial heat-- steam-- to be released from the mixture.

We add our eggs one or two at a time.

And we're going to add approximately seven eggs.

But you see, sometimes this fluctuates because we're really looking for a consistency and the proper consistency of the pâte à choux is determined by how much egg is put into the choux paste.

So as the mixture starts and the eggs start to be absorbed by the flour mixture... we'll add one more egg.

We never want to incorporate any type of air or an excessive amount of air into the pâte à choux so it's best done on "one" speed or very low speed and slowly adding the eggs.

Do you feel it needs another egg?

I think it may.

I think it may take one more egg or at least some of the white.

I think we're looking for that fine line where we can actually touch the paste.

Let me show you.

And just by touching the choux paste and bringing it up you see that it kind of peaks and then slowly falls down into itself.

That's a very good test, isn't it?

So sometimes, depending on our machines our paddles don't properly get down to the bottom so, just to help it along a little bit by using the paddle to make sure that your ingredients are well incorporated.

And in this case they are.

So to finish our pâte à choux, we're going to chop about a teaspoon or two teaspoons of fresh dill.

This I'll coarsely chop.

It doesn't have to be very, very fine.

That's not very much, is it?

No, about a tablespoon or three-quarters of a tablespoon of fresh dill and you can use more if you'd like.

Mm-hmm.

We're looking for just... for the added touch of flavor and for the color.

Mm-hmm.

And I'll just blend, carefully blend the fresh dill into the pâte à choux.

Mm-hmm.

We never want to whip the pâte à choux.

We don't need any extra air.

We don't want any air in it.

No, we don't, we want to be as careful as we can with it.

So a wire whisk is used to incorporate air so it's best to use either a wooden spoon or a rubber spatula.

Okay.

I think that basically will complete our pâte à choux.

We'll be ready for piping our pâte à choux... Good.

into the eclairs and cream puffs.

So I'd like to also remind you that I think that it's important that the pâte à choux be warm when we're bagging the pâte à choux.

I have seen it where the pâte à choux is made it's bagged, and then it's frozen at that state prior to being baked, and it works very well.

But my recommendation is to work with the pâte à choux directly after it... after the paste is made.

And if you don't have a pastry bag-- and in this case we have a number five straight tip to do our choux and eclair-- a tablespoon would work.

Just a light touch into either oil or water, possibly and just like dropping biscuits.

And off of a tablespoon the pâte à choux will work the same.

When you've done that, do one with a spoon.

But you should get a pastry bag.

I mean it's silly for people not having...

The convenience of it.

the right stuff.

I agree.

So one of the tricks to working with pâte à choux is just to put a very small dollop to help the paper stick.

That's a very good idea.

Sometimes when you go to put your pâte à choux and you lift your bag the paper comes back up with it.

That's very annoying.

So by putting just a couple little dots it will help secure the paper.

We're going to begin by doing a row of choux.

I keep my tip a little bit off the surface and then it's almost like a letter "c." Where it's a quick release.

So that we try to cut off the tail... or the stream.

That's one of that... quick movement around.

Yes, exactly.

We want to space out our choux properly so that they'll bake evenly and they won't bake into each other.

Yeah.

That's about two inches, isn't it, between them.

And choux means "cabbage," doesn't it?

Yes, it does.

That's because they look like little cabbages, yeah.

Yes, they do.

Would you, uh...?

I'd love to try it, I'm...

Please do.

I'm not a whiz at this.

Do another row at... of choux puffs.

Ah, of course.

Woof.

Yeah, well, of course, that's... ( laughing ): That isn't...

Yes.

Yes.

Oh, that was bad.

This takes practice, as everything does.

Yes.

Those are...

But you see there's no right or wrong because they're going to bake evenly.

They're going to be sliced open or filled with a pastry bag, so they're... Then you have to shape them up with your egg wash.

Yes, exactly.

So we're going to finish the last pan with... the last row, excuse me, with some eclairs.

Eclairs are nice, fine line and then... coming back into itself.

That's...

So that we cut off the edge and we have an equal, rounded edge on each side.

Something to practice.

I think that like anything...

Anything.

practice makes perfect.

After our pâte à choux is placed on our parchment paper I like to egg wash, and the egg wash will help add some nice color, a nice golden brown to... And you can form them up if you've messed them, like mine.

( both laughing softly ) So I'm going to crack one egg and a little bit... a splash, a tablespoon or less of water.

Then we take a fork and... just basically scramble our egg.

So, we scramble our eggs... and just lightly brushing the tops of the choux.

To help ensure this nice brown, even color.

That gives it a glaze.

Yes.

Yeah.

Like you said, we can, just by touching the liquid, the eggs to the choux you can form the choux back because the dough is quite sticky.

If you try to touch it with your fingers sometimes creates a little bit of a problem so it's a...

Learn how to use the pastry bag.

( both laughing ) Or drop them by spoon is equally, equally nice.

With the eclairs I paint the tops with the egg wash. Then I like to take a fork, and I run the fork along the top to actually leave some grooves.

Well, that's an idea.

Not only does that leave a decorative top to your eclair but as the eclair is baking it breaks open evenly.

And that keeps them that way.

At this point we're going to bake them for about the first ten or 15 minutes in a 400-degree oven.

And then I like to lower my oven down to about 350 degrees for the remainder 15 minutes-- approximately 30 minutes of baking.

In homes, all ovens are different and all ovens... in pastry shops, all ovens are different.

So it's something that I think is important that you keep a close eye on the pâte à choux as you're baking it and that you don't open the door.

It's very, very important the first 15 minutes of the baking that we've created a steam.

Yes, sort of like a soufflé, isn't it?

Yes, very much.

The pâte à choux creates a steam amongst itself and that's what causes the pâte à choux to grow.

Aha, yes.

So we must keep that steam and that humidity inside the oven.

These smell good.

Golden brown.

Beautiful, lovely.

Wonderful aroma of onion and cucumber.

Do you have to poke them or anything to let out the steam or you just...?

No, I think that just... just... Because they've cooked long enough.

Yeah, and in the drying process a lot of the moisture should be out from the center.

Mm-hmm.

So we can just let them cool on this rack.

So, in the meantime, let's make our fillings and we can start with mascarpone vegetable medley.

Good.

We're going to start with some red pepper.

I need a quarter-cup of very finely diced red pepper.

What you do is take our top off, set that aside.

Get rid of some of our... some of our seeds.

We're going to cut our pepper in half.

A quarter-cup's not very much and it'll be sufficient for the portion of choux paste that we made.

I like to take that piece out.

Mm-hmm.

And kind of square off our pepper.

Then, we're going to very, very, very finely diced...

I think I had many Band-Aids many years ago when I was learning to... Yeah, I guess when you start out it's usually at the salad bar, isn't it?

( laughing ) First, the dishwasher, then all the chopping.

And learn to perfect your knife skills.

So, I have approximately a quarter-cup of red peppers.

Mm-hmm.

Okay, and next we're going to do some very finely diced cucumber and I have a peeled cucumber.

I think that, in this case, I'd like to remove the seeds.

Mm-hmm.

The best way is take a teaspoon or a tablespoon or some sort of spoon... You can just run the spoon down the center of the... of the cucumber to remove all the seeds.

And, again, with the cucumber, I think we can get very fine cuts.

And then, after, I think if we come back... Oh, and then you have to come back.

come back and we cut those again in half.

We'll be able to get a very fine, fine dice.

So then, we just want to make small cuts-- nice, very fine-- because we're going to be filling our eclairs with them.

We don't want to have big chunks of vegetables in it.

It's much more pleasant to the palate, I think to have very small pieces.

So, a quarter-cup of cucumber.

And then, I also have some mango.

A ripe mango is fairly soft and it's very important for the mango to be...

Sort of like a ripe peach, isn't it?

Yes, it is-- about the same texture.

And it's important for that mango to be ripe so that you get the maximum flavor.

If the mango's too hard there is absolutely no flavor coming from the fruit.

If it's too soft...

It's difficult to work with.

Difficult, yes.

So, the mangos have a pit that run through the center of the... of the fruit so, by taking your knife and almost following that pit... Mm-hmm.

directly down the side.

You can just peel it down the side of your...

Exactly.

You can cut off a cross section and you can see right here...

There it is, yeah.

The pit is sitting right inside.

I like to, sometimes, just run the paring knife down and cut some cross sections and then back the other way.

You can see here, where the mango's a little bit overripe... Yeah.

where it becomes very fibrous and difficult to cut.

Mm-hmm.

And then, by running back and forth and creating, like, a cross section you're able to then bend the skin... Oh.

and back open.

Now, that's clever.

And then you're able to take those small dice sections.

Well, that certainly is a very good way of doing it.

You can get a very fine dice, you know without too much effort.

Mm-hmm, yeah.

We're going to add a quarter-cup, then of the mango into our cucumber and red pepper.

That'll give it a lovely flavor.

So, I'm going to also add a quarter-cup of onion.

I have a quarter-cup of squash, summer squash.

Good old summer squash.

Mm-hmm.

That'll give it a little crunch, won't it?

Yes, I have some raw carrot-- can be blanched, if you'd like.

Some raw carrot.

Some finely diced celery.

Mm-hmm.

And then some tomato.

Yeah, a little nice tomato pulp.

So, there's a quarter-cup of all the ingredients.

I'm going to add, also, a little bit of pepper... Mm-hmm.

and a pinch of salt.

And you're using kosher salt.

Yes.

And I'm going to add about a tablespoon, or less... Mm-hmm.

of some balsamic vinegar.

I think the balsamic vinegar gives it a little pizzazz, a little tang to it.

Mm-hmm, and then, it has a little sweetness, too, which is nice.

Then, I'm going to add a half a cup of mascarpone cheese and the mascarpone cheese I left out at room temperature which I think will enable us to incorporate our fresh vegetables a lot easier.

Using mascarpone cheese sometimes, at a very cold temperature by quickly agitating you have a tendency-- because of the fat content in the mascarpone-- a tendency for the mascarpone to break... Oh, ho.

like heavy cream does into butter.

Mm-hmm.

So, what we're going to do is just carefully fold the mascarpone... Just carefully folding, yeah.

Mm-hmm.

And this mixture, actually is very nice to... to make the day before because then the flavors infuse and really start to work with each other and you get a really wonderful flavor.

That would be nice on crackers.

Very much.

Or accompanying a salad you could have a dollop of it, couldn't you?

Definitely.

That looks... that looks good already.

I think we should taste it.

Okay, let's taste it and make sure that we have the correct seasoning-- salt and pepper.

It just looks... as you say, making it several hours ahead would be a good idea.

Mmm, that's very nice.

Thank you.

Mmm.

Let's set this aside and we're going to make a very quick, really simple salmon mousse... Good.

that we can use to fill some of our pâte à choux.

Mm-hmm.

So, we begin with a half a pound of smoked salmon.

We're going to add that to our food processor and this is really simple-- I mean, really quick and easy to make.

And I have here four ounces of room-temperature cream cheese.

Regular cream cheese.

Regular cream cheese.

And all we're going to do is we're going to food-process the two ingredients to a smooth paste.

Mm-hmm.

( food processor whirring ) And it doesn't take very long.

No.

As you see, it takes a very short amount of time to...

Pink paste.

to get a very smooth, pink salmon-and-cheese spread.

Mm-hmm.

What I like to do is to add a little bit of Pernod some anisette or some anise... Mm-hmm.

for a little bit of a spicy flavor.

You could even use some horseradish if you wanted to put... Yeah-- along with the Pernod?

No, but as a substitute you could do a little teaspoon of horseradish opposed to the Pernod.

I'm just going to put just about a teaspoon, half a teaspoon of Pernod and also, I'm going to put a little bit of black pepper.

Yes, I can smell that Pernod.

I'm going to scrape down the sides.

Just give a quick couple turns to make sure that our pepper... Mm-hmm.

( food processor whirring ) Now we can fill our... our profiteroles and our eclair.

These have cooled nicely now.

Just buy a very fine, small tip.

I'm able to actually puncture a hole in the bottom of the profiterole without having to cut it.

Oh, well, that's a good idea, yeah.

And then we can fill with the salmon which is a very smooth consistency.

It might be a much more difficult project trying to put those vegetables going through.

So, do a little bit differently with those.

Oh, that'll be very nice.

These are going to be for having a little cocktail reception.

Something small to eat, maybe, before dinner.

Mm-hmm.

I'm just taking the profiterole and popping a hole.

Down on the bottom, that's a good idea.

And then filling it up.

You can watch the choux puff swell.

See it puffing up.

Well, that makes it very easy.

I wouldn't have... somehow, I would've put it in the side but this is much better.

And this way, by its sitting on a base you don't see the hole.

And there's no evidence of how it was filled and I think it makes it a little bit cleaner in presentation.

Mm-hmm.

I think actually you can go quite quickly.

We can fill a couple more of these and save a little bit of the mousse for a garnish on the top of the profiterole Mmm.

maybe just like a little... little rosette.

Mmm, and that indicates what's in it.

Absolutely, and then we could take some of this beautiful fresh dill that we have... maybe take a pinch of the dill just like a little sprig... of that dill, and just kind of place that sprig just on the top.

Oh, that's rather nice.

This is to identify what type of profiterole it is and then, of course, the salmon mousse is what's identifying what's inside.

Let's finish the eclairs.

What I'm going to do, instead of popping a hole or puncturing a hole in the bottom like we did here I'm just going to slice with this serrated knife, three-quarters-- I'm not going to separate the top lid from the bottom-- just to open the eclairs.

I think this kind of looks nice for some of the vegetable medley.

You can actually see the vegetable medley kind of bulging out from the side of the eclair.

So, what I'd like to do is just take a tablespoon... Get rid of that for you.

Thank you.

And by putting the eclair between my thumb and forefinger I can...

I can open it by applying a little pressure so, it makes it very easy... to put my filling inside.

Mmm.

Smells good, the filling.

Yes, it does.

So, you can... you can actually see some of the filling bulging out I think, is much more appetizing.

Then, you know... you know what it is.

Yeah.

And I like the idea that they can be made ahead of time-- the choux paste and taken out from your freezer.

But you wouldn't fill them too soon.

No, you would do that just prior to your guests' arrival.

Okay.

So now we arrange our platter; a beautiful platter here.

We take our eclairs.

Mm-hmm.

How many do you think people would...

I guess you have to count on three that they would eat, anyway.

Three per person?

I think that's a fair estimate, yes.

It's better to have a little more than a little less, isn't it?

I'm a firm believer in that.

So am I.

One in the middle.

Oh, I think that's a very pretty platter.

Do you think we should eat one?

Which would you like?

Oh, I think I'll try the vegetable medley; one that won't disturb the platter.

And I'll have... and I'll try one of the salmon.

Bon appétit.

Mmm, that is very nice, very refreshing.

It was very kind of you to share your expertise.

This is a wonderful pastry, I think.

Thank you very much for having me in your kitchen today.

It's been lovely to be with you.

It's been a pleasure.

Julia's got the tastie Julia: Bon appétit!