Savory Éclairs with Spicy Crab Salad

I have a passion for vintage cookbooks. What's most remarkable about books from around 1920 and before are the chapters devoted to those convalescing at home with "receipts" for bouillon and consomme' designed to cure what ails one. Nice start for a delicious recipe, eh? "Remember all those diseases we used to fear around the turn of the century, and BTW, here's a great recipe for an afternoon tea!" I was inspired to make these Savory Eclairs from an old cookbook menu for a ladies' lunch. The original recipe listed tuna salad, but I thought crab a more contemporary choice. Pate a choux, the dough prepared for eclairs and cream puffs, is pretty easy to make and really tasty when seasoned in a unique way. Just sift dry spices in with the flour. I plan on experimenting with lemon peel and rosemary eclairs and may even a ginger-cinnamon blend eclair as a shell for curried chicken salad.

Spicy Crab Salad

• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup canned crabmeat
• 2 tablespoons Mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon minced chives plus chive stems
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 Savory Éclair Shells (recipe below)
  

Place eggs in a medium saucepan and cover completely with water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and then continue to cook the eggs for 15 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold running water.

When cool to the touch, peel eggs and finely chop. Add eggs and crab to a mixing bowl. Stir in Mayonnaise, chives and salt until combined. Use immediately or cover and refrigerate up to 24 hours. When ready to serve, slice an éclair in half lengthwise and spoon crab salad on bottom éclair half. Place top éclair half on crab salad and serve immediately.

Makes about 2 cups

Savory Éclair Shells

• 1 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 cup water
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 4 eggs

Preheat oven to 425F. Sift together dry ingredients and set aside. Combine water and butter in a small pot over medium heat and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and dump the flour mixture in all at once. Stir with a wooden spoon or paddle to incorporate.

Return the pot to high heat and cook, stirring constantly, for about one minute. The mixture will form a dough ball and coat the pan with a thin film.

Transfer the dough into a bowl and stir for a minute to release some of the heat. Add the eggs, one at a time, stirring each one to fully incorporate before adding the next. Stir vigorously until thickened.

Fit a pastry bag with a wide round tip and fill with the warm dough. Line a baking sheet with parchment or wax paper and adhere it to the tray with a little dab of the dough at each corner.

Pipe 2-inch long mounds about 2 inches apart on the baking. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden and puffed. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for another 10 minutes or until golden brown. Turn off oven and allow the éclairs to dry for another 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and use immediately or when cool.

Makes about 24 éclairs