Frances Quinn · 36 canapés: choux tomatoes, carrots, cauliflower-cheese scones, Signature

Why it earned the handshake

Frances’s official recipe is a miniature garden of savoury pastry: twelve tomato-like choux buns filled with smoked-trout pâté and finished with tomato glaze, twelve paprika pastry carrots piped with cumin-and-coriander hummus, and twelve cheese scones dressed as cauliflowers with cauliflower purée. The set asks for piping, pastry horns, several small fillings, and enough assembly discipline to make three different vegetables read clearly on the plate.

Ingredients

Choux pastry “tomatoes”

35g plain flour
25g butter, in small pieces
1 large free-range egg, beaten
A pinch each of sugar and salt

Tomato glaze

5 sheets gelatine
150g tomato ketchup

Smoked-trout pâté

120g smoked trout
100g softened unsalted butter
7.5ml creamed horseradish
40g soured cream
A handful each of chopped parsley and dill
Fresh lemon juice, salt, and black pepper, to taste
Fresh basil, to decorate

“Chantenay carrots”

250g plain flour
10ml smoked paprika
1.3ml sugar
5ml salt
125g unsalted butter, in small pieces
1 free-range egg

Carrot glaze

1 free-range egg yolk
A pinch of smoked paprika
A pinch of ground turmeric
A drop of orange food colouring

Cumin-and-coriander hummus

1 x 400g can chickpeas
50ml light tahini
Juice of 1 lemon
2 garlic cloves, crushed
5ml ground cumin
A handful of chopped coriander
Salt and black pepper, to taste
A pinch of smoked paprika and fresh dill, to finish

Cauliflower purée

Black pepper, a few pinches of grated nutmeg, and handfuls of chives and dill, for the steaming water
400g cauliflower
100g garlic-and-herb cream cheese
7.5ml salt
2.5ml Dijon mustard

Cheese scones and finish

300g self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting
2.5ml salt and 2.5ml pepper
100g unsalted butter, in small pieces
A handful of finely chopped chives
100g grated Comté, or Gruyère
150ml full-fat milk
4 Little Gem lettuces
A pinch of grated nutmeg

You will also need twelve pastry-horn moulds, a piping bag with a plain nozzle, a 3.5cm cutter, a small star nozzle, and a 6cm fluted cutter.

Method

For the choux, heat the oven to 190°C and line a tray. Mark twelve 3.5cm circles on the paper. Bring 60ml cold water and the butter to the boil, remove from the heat, beat in the sifted flour, and cool briefly. Beat in the egg to make a glossy paste. Pipe twelve balls, bake for about 10 minutes until risen and crisp, then pierce their bases and dry them in a 160°C oven for a few minutes. Cool completely.
Soak the gelatine in cold water. Warm the ketchup, squeeze out the gelatine, and stir it in until smooth. Strain the glaze and set aside. Blend the trout and butter, then add the horseradish, soured cream, herbs, and lemon juice. Season, pipe the pâté into the choux through their base holes, and spoon the glaze over each. Add a basil sprig and leave to set.
For the carrots, rub the paprika, sugar, salt, and butter into the flour. Add the egg and enough of a tablespoon of cold water to bring the pastry together. Knead gently, wrap, and chill for at least 45 minutes, ideally 1–2 hours. Mix the glaze ingredients. Heat the oven to 190°C. Divide the dough into three, roll each piece into a circle, cut each into four, and wrap the quarters around pastry horns. Brush, fork in a carrot texture, and bake for about 8 minutes. Remove the moulds while warm, brush again, and cool.
For the hummus, blend the tahini and lemon juice for a minute, scraping down as needed. Add the garlic and cumin, then blend in the drained chickpeas and coriander, scraping down between additions. Season and chill for 10–15 minutes. Pipe the hummus into the cooled carrots, dust with smoked paprika, and add dill as the leafy tops.
For the cauliflower purée, heat the oven to 110°C. Season water with pepper, nutmeg, chives, and dill; steam the cauliflower over it until tender. Dry the cooked cauliflower in the low oven, cool, then blend with the cream cheese, salt, mustard, nutmeg, and black pepper.
For the cheese scones, heat the oven to 190°C. Rub the butter into the seasoned flour, stir in the chives and cheese, and add the milk to make a soft dough. Roll it gently and cut 3.5cm rounds. Bake for about 10 minutes until risen and lightly golden. Cool, slice off each top, and pipe the cauliflower purée onto the scones with a star nozzle. Cut lettuce circles with the fluted cutter, set one on each scone, pipe more purée to suggest florets, and finish with nutmeg.

Baker’s tips

Keep the choux and carrot pastry crisp by drying the choux after baking and cooling both pastry elements fully before filling.
Chill the carrot pastry for the full resting time if possible; it makes the small horn shapes easier to handle.
The three canapés depend on contrast: a smooth filling, a crisp shell, and a recognisable vegetable finish.
Pipe the cauliflower purée in two stages around the lettuce “leaf” so the scone reads as a little cauliflower.

Make-ahead

The published recipe does not give a separate make-ahead schedule. It does, however, direct the cook to cool the choux, carrots, scones, cauliflower, and fillings before assembly; keep the components cool and assemble close to serving so the pastry stays crisp.