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Ingredients

For the Fricassée 

• 200g Mixed wild mushrooms, thickly sliced
• Generous splash dry white wine (75ml)
• 2 shallots, peeled and finely chopped
• 20g butter
• 50ml crème fraiche
• freshly grated nutmeg
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the Pithivier

• One pack ready rolled puff pastry
• 1 egg, beaten

Method

First of all, heat the wine in a small saucepan until it just begins to bubble around the edges. 

Then remove it from the heat.

Finely chop the shallots.

Melt 10g of the butter in the frying pan and gently soften the onions for about 10 minutes or until they have turned golden brown. Then, with a draining spoon, remove then to a plate.

Turn the heat up high and add the mushrooms. Brown them and then add the shallots, adding a little extra butter if it is needed. Add in the wine and season with salt and freshly ground pepper.

Bring it up to a gentle simmer, turn the heat to low, put a lid on and leave to cook gently for 10 minutes.

Taste to check the seasoning, remove the pan from the heat and stir in the crème fraiche with a few good gratings of fresh nutmeg. Re-heat without allowing it to come back to the boil then let it cool completely.

Whilst cooling down cut small discs out of the pastry.

Put one disc onto your work surface and place a mushroom ball in the centre.

Brush around the outside with some egg wash and place the second disc over the top pressing down firmly to stick the discs together.

Brush the side facing up with more egg wash and place the Pithiviers in a pre-heated oven set to 160°C for 25 minutes.

For The Choux Pastry

• 70g plain flour
• ½ tsp caster sugar
• Pinch salt
• 65ml milk
• 50g butter
• 65ml water
• 2 eggs

For The Filling

• 200g cream cheese
• 1 tbsp horseradish sauce
• 2 tbsp fresh dill, chopped
• Juice of half a lemon
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 120g smoked salmon, cut into strips
• To Garnish
• 12 small sprigs fresh dill

Method
Preheat the oven to 220°C. 

To make the choux pastry, mix the flour, sugar and salt in a bowl. Gently heat the milk, butter and water in a saucepan so the butter melts but the liquid doesn’t bubble. Once the butter has melted, turn up the heat until the liquid starts to boil. Immediately turn off the heat, tip in the flour mixture and beat vigorously with a wooden spoon until a smooth dough is formed.

Spread the dough over a large dinner plate to cool to hand-hot, then scrape it back into the pan. Using a wooden spoon, beat in the eggs one at a time until you have a smooth, shiny mixture. Spoon into a piping bag with a 1cm hole snipped off or use a 1cm nozzle. Pipe the mixture into the éclair tray then place onto a baking tray and bake for 20-25 minutes, reducing the temperature to 200°C as soon as the tray goes into the oven.

Remove from the oven and split the éclairs down the middle with a small serrated knife, then return to the oven for 5 minutes until crisp and golden. Set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, make the filling by mixing the cream cheese, horseradish, dill, lemon juice and seasoning in a bowl. Spoon into a piping bag with a 1cm hole snipped off. Once the mini éclairs have cooled completely, pipe the filling into them and top with strips of smoked salmon. 
Garnish with a small sprig of dill.

Ingredients

For the Choux Pastry

• 85g butter
• 200ml water
• 105g plain flour, well sifted
• A pinch of salt
• 3 eggs

Put the butter and water into a heavy-based saucepan.  Bring slowly to the boil so that, by the time the water boils, the butter is completely melted.

Immediately as the mixture is boiling really fast, tip in all the flour with the salt and remove the pan from the heat.

Working as fast as you can, beat the mixture hard with a wooden spoon; it will be soon become thick and smooth and leave the sides of the pan.

Stand the bottom of the saucepan in a bowl or sink of cold water to speed up the cooling process.

When the mixture is cool, beat in the eggs, a little at a time, until it is soft, shiny and smooth. 
If the eggs are large, it may not be necessary to add all of them.  The mixture should be of a dropping consistency – not too runny. (‘dropping consistency’ means that the mixture will fall off a spoon rather reluctantly and all in a blob; if it runs off it is too wet, and if it will not fall, even when the spoon is slightly jerked, it is too thick).


To finish the Éclairs

For the chocolate frosting

• 300g dark chocolate
• 200ml double cream
• For the filling 
• 400ml double cream, whipped to firm peaks

Pre-heat the oven to 200oc

Using a piping bag fitted with a 1cm plain nozzle, pipe 5cm lengths of choux pastry on to a non-stick baking sheet (keep them well separated as choux pastry puffs up during baking). 

Bake in the pre-heated oven for 25 – 30 minutes until crisp and pale brown.

Use a skewer to make a pea-sized hole in each Éclair then return to the oven for 5 minutes to allow the inside to dry out.  Leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

Put the whipped cream in a piping bag fitted with a medium plain nozzle.  Pipe the cream into the Éclairs through the holes made by the skewer, until well filled.

Break up the dark chocolate and put in a Pyrex bowl (or similar).  Set aside for a moment.

Bring the double cream to a simmer in a heavy-based saucepan.  Pour the simmering cream over the chocolate and beat with a wooden spoon until the chocolate has completely melted and the cream and chocolate perfectly homogenised.  Allow to cool slightly.

Place the filled Éclairs on a cooling wire over a tray (to catch any drizzling dripping chocolate). 

Spoon a generous topping over each Éclair.  Allow to set before scoffing.