Jack O’Keeffe is head chef at Cooks Academy in Dublin. He is from Co Cork, and will be returning there to celebrate Christmas with his family. “I will have the feet firmly planted in front of the fire with family and friends at home in Doneraile, Co Cork, waiting for Santa to bring me a set of shiny new knifes.”
His Christmas dinner will be a traditional affair, with his mother in charge of the cooking. "It's all about traditional classics when celebrating with family, so it's the usual feast of ham, turkey and all the sides. The cooking is split between myself and my mother, but Mam generally takes care of the majority of it, because apparently I take the whole thing far too seriously."
But he will not be partaking of the bird. "Honestly, I hate turkey, can't stand it. I do, however, love ham, especially when it is smoked on the bone, glazed in maple syrup and loads of Dijon mustard. But what I really enjoy feasting on is some native and seasonal game, such as venison."
Christmas pudding won’t feature on his plate either. “I wouldn’t give it to my worst enemy. I have the same opinion of Christmas cake and mince pies as well. Just throw away the dried fruit – it is the 21st century, not Victorian London.”
So instead of pudding, O’Keeffe suggests making this impressive French dessert, Paris-Brest. “The choux pastry can be made and baked off a day or two in advance (pop it back into a hot oven for a few minutes if it goes soggy), and the same goes for the mousseline – just let it sit at room temperature for 10 minutes before using.”
JACK O’KEEFFE’S CHRISTMAS PARIS-BREST
Serves 6
Choux pastry
200ml cold water
½tsp caster sugar
85g unsalted butter
Pinch of sea salt
115g strong flour or bread flour
50g chestnuts, crumbled, or flaked almonds
3 medium eggs, beaten
1 egg, beaten, for egg wash
Chestnut praline
150g chestnuts, cooked (the ones in the vacuum packs are great)
75g hazelnuts, skinned
75g almonds, skinned
200g sugar
50g water
Pastry cream (this can be replaced with a thick shop-bought custard)
500g milk
2tsp vanilla extract or 2 vanilla beans, seeds scraped out
80g caster sugar
6 egg yolks
36g cornflour
180g unsalted butter, cold and diced
Praline mousseline
120g praline paste (recipe above)
180g unsalted butter, room temperature and diced
Decoration
Icing sugar
Spun sugar (optional)
Method
Preheat oven to 170ºC fan or 180ºC conventional.
Choux pastry:
Take a heavy-based saucepan that’s larger th
an necessary, (this will make your life way easier). Place the water, sugar, butter and salt in the pot and slowly bring to the boil. Once the butter dissolves, reduce the heat and add the flour. Stir vigorously for two to three minutes, or until the mix forms into a smooth ball that does not stick to the sides of the pan.
Remove from the dough onto a sheet of parchment paper or bowl and allow it to cool for five minutes.
Return the mixture to the pot and begin to add the beaten eggs, mixing vigorously until all the egg is fully incorporated and the dough is smooth and glossy. Put the dough into a piping bag that has a large plain or star-shaped nozzle fitted. Set aside.
Line two large oven trays with parchment paper and using a 20cm disk (I use a 20cm plate) draw a circle with a pencil on both sheets of parchment and then flip the parchment over so that the lead from the pencil does not transfer onto the pastry.
Carefully pipe the dough on top of one of the drawn circles, using the circle as your guide when piping. Once you have done that, pipe another circle inside the first one and have them just touching. Now pipe a third circle on top of the first two but in the middle, along the joint.
On the other tray, pipe a single circle on top of that sheet’s template – this will be a smaller circle that once baked will sit inside the larger circle to bulk it up.
Brush the two circles with egg wash and dust the larger one with crumbled chestnuts or almond flakes. Place the trays into the oven for 50 minutes.
Remove the pastry from the oven and allow to cool on a cooling rack.
Chesnut praline:
Spread the chestnuts, hazelnuts and almonds onto a parchment-lined tray and toast in the oven at 160ºC
for 15 minutes, then remove and set aside.
Take a heavy-based pan, add the water and sugar over a medium heat until the sugar begins to turn golden. Do not stir the caramel or get it on your hands. Once golden, pour over the nuts that are still on the parchment-lined tray and allow to cool.
When cool, break into small chunks and place in a food processor or blender and blend for 10 minutes, or until it forms a smooth paste (I like to leave it a little crunchy for texture).
Set aside in an airtight container and it will last for a couple weeks.
Pastry cream:
Place a heavy-based saucepan over a medium heat with the milk and vanilla and bring to
the boil.
Put the egg yolks into a bowl along with the sugar and cornflour. Whisk until the egg mix becomes pale and light, about five minutes.
When the milk boils, pour it into the egg mix slowly, while stirring. Add the mix back to the saucepan and place on a low heat and keep whisking until the mix becomes nice and thick. Remove from the heat and whisk in the cold, diced butter. Once smooth, remove to a bowl, cover and refrigerate.
Praline mousseline:
Add the praline to the pastry cream and whisk till smooth, then begin to whisk in the butter, one cube at a time, until it is all fully mixed in and the mousseline is smooth and soft. Scoop it into a pip
ing bag with a star nozzle fitted and set aside.
Assembling:
Using a very sharp knife, preferably a serrated one, cut the bigger of the two circles in half horizontally, being careful not to crack or break it. Now take the smaller of the circles and sit it into the bottom half of the bigger circle (It will be used as a base on which to pipe the mousse
– this will raise the height of the Paris-Brest and give it a crisper bite). Now pipe the mousseline into rosettes on top of the smaller circle and completely cover it.
Top with the other half and dust with icing sugar. Additionally you can add some spun sugar to the top for extra wow factor – after all it is Christmas.
