Grana Padano PDO’s Gougères with Caramelised Balsamic Glaze Served with Parma Ham and Rocket

To make the Grana Padano Cream

1. Heat the oil in a small saucepan and sauté the onion for a couple of minutes on a medium heat.
2. Add the white wine and cook until all the liquid has evaporated. 
3. Add the cream, and once it’s reached a simmering temperature, lower the heat and add the Grana Padano. Mix thoroughly. Once the Grana Padano has melted, turn off the heat and leave it to infuse for 5 minutes.
4. Using a sieve, separate the onions from the cream. Cool the cream to room temperature and keep in the fridge until needed. It will become more solid as it cools. 
5. When ready to assemble, check the consistency of the cream. If it’s very loose, mix gently with a spatula. Repeat until it becomes a pipeable texture. Do not over mix as it will become firm quickly. 

To make the Caramelised Balsamic Glaze 

1. Cook the sugar in a small saucepan on medium to low heat. Do not stir. Once the sugar has turned amber in colour, add a splash of wine (2-3 tsp) and stir, then add the balsamic. Stir well and transfer to a small heatproof bowl. Cool down completely.

To make the Gougères 

1. Preheat the oven to 230°c/ Gas Mark 8. 
2. Prepare the piping bag and nozzle, as well as a large baking sheet with baking parchment on top. Fill the sprayer with some water. 
3. Combine the water, milk, butter and salt in a saucepan and heat over medium temperature. 
4. It’s important to work quickly for the next stage as the choux batter should be warm when it goes into the oven.
5. Once the liquid in the saucepan has reached boiling point, turn down the heat and add the Grana Padano, stirring a couple of times. Then add all the flour in one go and mix. Once the paste has come together into a dough, start adding the eggs, roughly one sixth at a time. Repeat until the texture has turned into a thick batter (you don't want the batter to be too loose, so you don’t need to add all the eggs if it's too much). Transfer this mixture into the piping bag whilst warm.
6. Pipe the choux batter on the parchment, in roughly 1-inch circles, leaving 1 inch of space between them.
7. Using the sprayer, mist the choux with water. Lightly press down the peaks on the tops of the piped batter. Place the tray in the oven.
8. Cook at 230c°/ Gas Mark 8 for the first 6 minutes, then lower the heat to 180 c°/ Gas Mark 4 and cook for 4 minutes. Then lower the heat again to 150c°/ Gas Mark 2 and cook for another 4-5 minutes. 
9. Turn off the oven but do not open the oven door for 5 minutes. Then keep the oven door slightly ajar for an additional 10 minutes. 
10. Transfer the choux onto a wire rack to cool completely.

To Serve

1. Cut the gougères in half and pipe roughly 15g (1 tbsp) of Grana Padano cream onto the bottom layer. Top the cream with ⅓ of torn parma ham, drizzle with a small amount of caramelised balsamic glaze, sprinkle with a pinch of black pepper and garnish with rocket.

Equipment required:

Piping bags, a nozzle (1cm plain circle), a spatula, a small jug, a small saucepan, baking parchment, a water mist sprayer, a baking tray, wire cooling rack and bowls.

Note: Some parts of this recipe are time critical, and you need to work as quickly as you can. Choux making can be a bit of a challenge if you haven’t made it before. Read through the following steps in advance and prep ahead to make things a little easier.