Gougeres - Burgundy cheese puffs

Only three cheese puffs left!
I had several requests for the recipe for these cheese puffs, so I thought I'd snap a picture from the book, and post them to my blog, along with the recipe. It is from Dorie Greenspan's wonderful book "Around my French Table."

(These are found all over France, but particularly in Burgundy!)

Cheese Puffs (Gougeres)

1/2 cup whole milk

1/2 cup water

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup all purpose flour

5 large eggs, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups coarsely grated cheese (such as Gruyere or cheddar) (about 6 ounces)

Bring the milk, water, butter, and salt to a rapid boil in a heavy-bottomed medium saucepan over high heat. Add the flour all at once, lower the heat to medium-low, and immediately start stirring energetically with a wooden spoon. The dough will come together and a light crust will form on the bottom of the pan. Keep stirring--with vigor!--for another minute or two to dry the dough. The dough should now be very smooth.

Turn the dough into the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Let the dough sit for a minute and then add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition until dough is very smooth. Make sure each egg is completely incorporated before adding the next one. (If the dough separates a bit, don't worry. By the time the last egg goes in, it will be smooth.) Beat in the cheese. Once the dough is made, it should be spooned out immediately, onto parchment-lined baking sheets. (The puffs can be frozen at this point and baked directly from the freezer. Just add a minute or two to the baking time.)

Using about a tablespoon of dough for each gougere, drop the dough onto lined baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches of puff space between each mound.

Slide into a preheated 425 degree oven and immediately turn the temperature down to 375. Bake for 12 minutes, the rotate the pans from front to back and top to bottom. Continue baking another 12-15 minutes until the puffs are golden, firm, and yes, puffed. Serve warm or transfer to racks to cool.

Wines of Burgundy--tasting party Chez Nadeau April 2011

Well here are the remains of our tasting party! Our trip to Burgundy included three whites and three reds, along with a typically Burgundian meal of cheese puffs, chilled asparagus, boeuf bourguignon and mashed potatoes, salad, a lovely cheese course with walnut bread, and a chocolate and raspberry trifle for dessert, as well as some chocolate-covered strawberries that everyone was too stuffed to try!

A good time was had by all, and although we all were totally confused by the Burgundy classification system, at least we learned that there are only two grape varieties grown in the region: Chardonnay and Pinot Noir!

Asparagus...and blackberries?

We had our bi-monthly wine club get-together this evening, and we hosted. Our wines were from Burgundy and I wanted the menu to be as well. During our visit to Burgundy, we had asparagus with a sauce that was clearly mayonnaise based but fruity as well--raspberry maybe? I had fresh blackberries that I had cooked earlier this morning with a bit of sugar, and then pressed through a sieve to remove the seeds. Basically I had a blackberry coulis. I combined it with homemade mayonnaise--2 parts mayo to 1 part blackberry. With peeled, cooked, and cooled asparagus spears, it was a lovely starter to our meal.

More on the rest of the meal later!