Semur en Auxois

The landscape flows past. Green grass decorated with pale, almost white cows amid yellow buttercups. Hedgerows separate the fields, creating a tapestry of greens draped across rolling hills.

Semur en Auxois is a medieval city built atop a ridge next to a river. It has ramparts, towers, ancient stone walls, narrow streets guarded by gates (at least in the old part of town). 

We asked around for the local culinary specialty, thinking it would be something relative to all those cows, cheese, or perhaps wheat. Nope. It’s semurettes,  small dark chocolate truffles shaped like rugby balls (or American-style footballs).  They directed us to a blue shop in the heart of the ancient town, presided over by Mr. Coeur, master chocolatier. Semurettes aren’t something you eat in quantity. They’re rich, dark chocolate ganache coated with cocoa powder, more rich than sweet.

Strangely enough, Mr. Coeur leaves for California in a couple of weeks, to follow the famous Highway 1 between San Francisco and Los Angeles.   

Black swans

I made these almost a year ago, as an experiment. We had to invent a pâte à choux variation, or maybe it was just a dessert formula... I forgot. It's not important, though. I do remember thinking, "but what if this doesn't work?".

So, chocolate pâte à choux, chocolate pastry cream, and there they are - a fancy version of éclairs. They look good swimming across a blue plate.

Pipe some pâte à choux into "S" shapes, pipe some more with a star tip, just like a normal éclair. Slice in half horizontally, then slice the top piece vertically to make the wings. Pipe in some chocolate pastry cream, place the head and neck (the "S" curve) and press the wings into the pastry cream.

Voilá! Black swans. Maybe if I were a virtuoso pastry bag artiste, I could have somehow given the bird a beak. There has to be a way! Maybe with a mold and some tempered chocolate... but then might as well cast the bird in two pieces and assemble - chocolate would hold really fine detail, right down to feathers.

Now I'm wondering... what about making white swans with meringue, then alternating the black and white swans on a blue platter...