I know that this French expression [meaning as easy as pie] is not referring to this type of chou, nor the one you will grow in your garden [cabbage], but it was the expression that came in my mind after making some ‘choux’.
I’ve heard and read that it’s not obvious to make some and I was quiet anxious to give a first try. I’ve done them three times now and every time they went fine. Or does this mean I’m a very lucky girl ? I should play lotto, then !
I would not overcome my fear if Bron didn’t propose for the breast cancer awareness to make some pink Paris-Bre[a]st.
Against all odds, the most difficult was to customise the choux, not to make them. Local strawberries and raspberries have arrived on food stalls here and would match perfectly the pink theme, but I preferred to go for the rhubarb.
These fresh and nearly sculptural sticks made a delicious compote with an hypnotic pink color. After trying to make a flavored crème chantilly with the rhubarb [disappointing] I made a crème glacée for the filling, giving this way a summery twist to these choux- somewhere between Paris-Brest and profiterolle. Coconut shred came naturally to balance the tangy taste of the rhubarb and so here it’s my late participation to this Pink October.
Thank you, Bron for this good idea !
Paris-Bre[a]st with Rhubarb Crème Glacee Printable recipe
Paris-Bre[a]st with Rhubarb Crème Glacée
(For around 20 Paris-Brest)
For rhubarb crème glacée 600g rhubarb stew
50 cl honey (I completely forgot to add it, so it depends on how sweet you like it) 15 cl milk 15 cl creme fraiche
For icing Rhubarb stew + icing sugar Coconut shred
In a pan boil butter, water and salt // Remove from fire and add all the flour in one time. Mix thoroughly until a smooth dough without any lump //Replace over the fire and dry the dough mixing non-stop until the dough doesn’t stick the pan side // Remove from fire and go on mixing until the dough cooled a bit // Add egg one by one mixing after each addition // Preheat oven to 180°C // With a piping nozzle make circles with the dough (internal diameter 4 cm) // Bake for 10 minutes. When the choux have blown, open the oven door a little and maintening it this way with a wooden spatula and bake 10 further minutes // Remove from the oven and with a wood pick make holes at the bottom or the side of each chou (to let the steam escape) and let them cool completely before filling them // Prepare the crème glacée pulsing all the ingredients in a mixer for one minute // Then use your icre-cream maker or place it in the freezer. In that case, remove from freezer after 30 minutes and mix thoroughly to break any ice crystal. Repeat this action 3 to 4 times every 30 minutes.
Reading about the Hutt river, I learnt that European settlements started in the Hutt valley around 1840, but many settlers moved to Wellington after experiencing flooding. The deforestation of the floodplain weakened the natural balances within the river system and changed the river alignment, resulting in a long history of flooding. Mechanical methods and engineering structures have been used to manage the river and create stop bank, but they were found to deteriorate the river environment. So, from 1972, new vegetative bank-edge protection were created, using native vegetation within the river corridor to minimise environmental effects and to enhance the river landscape.
We did only a small part of this 29km trail. Starting at Melling, walking in direction of Upper Hutt until Pomare station, where we picked up the train to return home. The warm just made me crave for an ice-cream. So we headed to 
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