Gougères (tasty, light, cheese puffs)

                                                                            Gougères

Gougères are a traditional finger food in Burgundy, France, to eat as an appetizer or light snack. They pair wonderfully with wine and are very easy to make. This recipe is for the common cheese version but they can also be made with anchovies instead. They are similar to cream puffs but are not normally filled. You can use your imagination if you decide to fill them. When I was researching gougère recipe I ended up with a riff off one from Alice Waters in her Book "The Art of Simple Food" and one I found on the Kitchn website.

1 cup (8 ounces, 237 grams) water 

8 tablespoons (4 ounces), 227 grams)  butter cut in chunks

3/4 teaspoon (4.5 grams) salt

1 cup (4.25 ounces, 120 grams) flour

4 large eggs

1 1/2 cups (6 ounces, 170 grams) grated gruyère or similar cheese.

Combine the water, butter, and salt in a 2-4 quart saucepan. When the butter is melted add the flour all at once. Stir vigorously until the mixture comes together and looks like mashed potatoes. Continue to stir the mixture over medium low heat for 3 to 5 minutes to dry out the dough. The dough will be ready when it glistens and is thick enough to hold the spoon upright. 

Transfer the dough to a stand mixer and stir until it has cooled so that it is just warm to the touch. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each egg using the paddle attachment. Now add the grated cheese. You could also do this by hand with a wooden spoon or a stiff spatula.

Preheat the oven to 400º F (204ºC). Line baking sheets with baking parchment or silicone mats. Spoon rounded spoonfuls of the dough onto the baking sheets. They can be 1 or 2 inches in diameter depending on the size you want. They should be 1 1/2 inches apart. If you prefer you could pipe them from a pastry bag with a plain 1/2 inch tip. Bake the gougères, one sheet at a time, for 10 minutes and then turn the oven temperature down to 375ºF (190ºC) and bake for another 15 minutes. The gougères should be golden brown and crisp on the outside. Pierce each one with a sharp pointed knife, making a small slit to let out the steam. This helps them to stay crisp. If you are not serving them right away, place them on a cooling rack. They can be reheated and re-crisped in a 375ºF ((190ºC) oven for 3 minutes. They also can be frozen to be served later. If your freezer is large enough to hold a baking sheet, you can freeze unbaked gougères to bake later. Once frozen you can move them into a ziplock bag. You can make them any size you wish, tiny to large. Large ones could be used as sandwiches.

Variation: You can replace the cheese with 4-6 salt-packed anchovies, soaked, filleted, and chopped. This recommendation is from the Alice Waters recipe.

Roasted Garlic and Lemon Chicken

This recipe was inspired by a recipe from Nigella Lawson but it takes much less time than her recipe. It is easy and very good. I like to serve it with couscous.

                                                       Roasted Garlic and Lemon Chicken

6 bone-in skin-on chicken thighs                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

1 small head garlic, separated into unpeeled cloves   

2 lemons, cut into eighths. I use Meyer lemons because that is what grows in my yard

Small handful fresh thyme

3 tablespoons olive oil

2/3 cup white wine

Salt and black pepper

Preheat the oven to 425º. Salt and pepper the chicken thighs and put them in a roasting pan. Add the garlic, lemon, and thyme. Add the oil and mix everything together, then spread the mixture out in the pan leaving the thighs skin side up. Sprinkle the wine over the chicken. Roast the chicken for 35 to 40 minutes.

Smoked Chicken (or turkey) potpie

 

Smoked Chicken Potpie

Pie Crust:

2 ½ cups T65 flour

1 ½ tsp salt

10oz unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces and chilled

About ¾ cup ice water (original recipe ¼ cup didn’t have nearly enough to meld flour)

Combine flour and salt, add butter and toss to coat with flour. Combine with pastry dough blender (by hand) until only small pieces of butter are left.  Add ¼ cup of water at a time, mixing with fork until it can be worked by hand.  Knead until smooth, divide in half with one half slightly larger than the other, wrap in plastic wrap in ½ inch discs and refrigerate for an hour or overnight. 

Filling

Whatever veggies you want (1 ¼ cups sliced carrots, onions, shallots, peas, brussels sprouts, celery etc etc)

Bay leaves

Thyme

Peppercorns

2 cups shredded cooked chicken or turkey

1 egg for crust

 

Cover veggies with water and add bay leaf, thyme and peppercorns, bring to simmer and simmer 8-10 min until tender then drain and remove thyme, bay and peppercorns 

If using celery, boil in salted water 1-1.5 min and blanch.

Mix with chicken.

Roll out pie dough and place in pie dish, with top half on parchment paper on a cookie sheet and place both in refrigerator

 

Buttermilk Béchamel

50cl Buttermilk (heated in microwave)

50g Butter

40g t65 Flour

Pepper

Salt

Paprika

Cayenne Pepper

 

 

Melt butter, then add flour while whisking constantly to make roux blanc, then add hot buttermilk and continue to whisk until thickened.  Season to taste.

 

Heat smoker to 375F

 

Take out pie dough, add veggies and chicken and top with béchamel, brush edge of crust with beaten egg, place top crust, seal the edges, cut off excess and cut vents

 

Smoke 45min to 1 hour until crust is golden

Boeuf Bourguignon

The recipe for this delicious dish is from Delphine, my French daughter-in-law. She gave it to me in French and the translation is mine. This is a dish that is definitely better the next day and that is why the cooking process takes two days. Because it only needs to be simmered the second day it is perfect for entertaining, whenever we are able to do that again. It tastes best when served in a chalet in the French Alps. It serves 6.

3 1/3 lbs. beef

1 1/3 lbs bacon cut into lardons (small strips)

4 or 5 onions, cut across and then cut into slices

4 or 5 carrots, cut into rings

50 ounces wine

1 bouquet garni (Delphine uses thyme and bay leaf, but you can include any herbs you like, all tied up in a bundle.)

2 or 3 cloves of garlic, diced

butter and olive oil.

salt and pepper.

flour

Cut the beef into cubes and brown in a dutch oven in a mixture of butter and olive oil. Season the meat with salt and pepper. If all the beef won't fit in the pan without crowding, cook in batches, adding more butter if needed. Remove the beef to a bowl and then cook the bacon. Put the bacon to one side with the beef. Brown the onion in the fat from the beef and bacon. Season it with salt and pepper. Return the beef and bacon to the pan and sprinkle with flour. Let it cook for 5 minutes. Add the wine, the carrots, garlic, and the bouquet garni. Cook 3 or 4 hours over a low flame. Remove the bouquet garni and let cool. When cooled refrigerate. The next day simmer for about 2 hours.

 

Poulet à la Gaston Gérard (ou poulet aux moines)

 This chicken recipe is from Dijon, France. The wife of the mayor accidentally put mustard in her chicken dish. To save it she added wine, créme fraîche, and cheese. That saved the dish and she named it after her husband. Delphine prepared it for us at her family's chalet in the French Alps and it was absolutely delicious. Unfortunately American chickens are not the same type as French chickens. Just looking at them you can see they are different. French chickens have a longer body than our roly-poly American chickens and French chickens have more flavor. There is a farm in the Santa Cruz area that has the best chickens this side of France, Fogline Farm, and I will use their chickens whenever I can. I recommend you get the highest quality chicken you can find and not use one that has been water chilled.

Poulet à la Gaston Gérard
preparation time about 15 minutes
cooking time 1 hour

1 small whole chicken cut into serving pieces or 6 whole chicken legs, about 3 pounds, for 6 persons
2 onions, chopped
1 or 2 cloves of garlic, minced
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 generous cup dry white wine
150 grams grated gruyère cheese plus more to top dish when placed in oven (150grams is 1 2/3 cups)
1 tablespoon strong mustard
250-300 grams crème fraîche (250 grams is just over 1 cup)
1 tablespoon cornstarch
thyme
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste

Salt the chicken pieces and then brown them in a mixture of the olive oil and butter in a dutch oven. Next add the onions, garlic, thyme, bay leaf, and grate some pepper over it all. Cover and cook over a low burner for about three quarters of an hour. Remove the chicken and keep warm on a plate in a low oven. Add the wine to the dutch oven and then add the cornstarch and stir. Add the grated gruyére and then add the mustard and crème fraîche. Stir to combine and simmer for 10 minutes. Return the chicken to the dutch oven, sprinkle cheese on top and place uncovered  in oven set at 380ºF for 10 minutes.

Sticky Sesame Chicken Wings

                                                      Sticky Sesame Chicken Wings

This is a recipe that I tore out of a copy of Gourmet Magazine. I was so sad when it was discontinued.   This recipe is another favorite of our family. It makes a great weeknight dinner because it is fast and easy. Serve on Japanese style rice which is unsalted sticky short grain rice. I always double the sauce ingredients.
4 servings

1 large garlic clove
3/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp hoisin sauce
2 tbsp mild honey
1 tbsp sesame oil
a generous pinch of cayenne
3 lbs chicken wings
1 1/2 tbsp sesame seeds, lightly toasted
Place the rack in the upper third of your oven and preheat it to 425º. Slice the garlic and mash it into a paste with the salt using the side of a large heavy knife. Place the paste into a large bowl and stir in the soy sauce, hoisin, honey, sesame oil, and cayenne. Cut the wings into sections. You may not want to use the tips but my husband loves to chew on them so I keep them. Stir the wing sections in the sauce. Place the wing sections in one layer in a pan lined with foil and pour the sauce over them. Roast for about 35 minutes, turning after 20 minutes. They should be cooked through and if they are not roast for a bit longer. After serving sprinkle the toasted sesame seeds on top. The sesame seeds can be toasted in a dry cast iron frying pan.

Easy Bagels with a Cool Rise

We went into Shelter in Place for Covid-19 with cream cheese that needed to be used and our local bagel bakery closed. I found a good recipe on the Washington Post site to which I only needed to make small changes to make it work for me. The recipe calls for barley malt syrup which is not easy to find. In Santa Cruz I was only able to find it at Staff of Life grocery. The Post says that is often found at brewing supply stores. If you can't find it you can substitute molasses using 1/3 less though the flavor would be more harsh. I don't know that it would be a problem in the bagels. You can also use an amount equal to the syrup of non-diastatic malt powder. The reason for the malt syrup is to give a bagel the proper New York bagel flavor.

Bagels
2 teaspoons active dry yeast.
337 grams warm water/scant 1 1/2 cups (80ºF or 27ºC)
623 grams bread flour/approximately 4 cups (may substitute high-gluten flour)
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon barley malt syrup.
cornmeal for dusting
baking stone or steel if possible

Sprinkle the yeast into the warm water in the measuring cup and let it start to foam while you prepare the dough. Whisk the salt into the flour in bowl of mixer that has a bread-hook. Stir in the barley malt syrup. Attach the bread-hook, add the yeast mixture and beat on the lowest speed until the dough starts to come together around the hook, about 4 minutes. Increase the speed to medium-low and beat for 7 to 10 minutes until you have a smooth stiff dough.
Dust a rimmed baking sheet large enough for 8 bagels with the cornmeal. Cut the dough into 8 equal pieces and roll them into smooth balls. Cover them with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let them rest 5 minutes at room temperature on your kitchen counter.
Flatten the balls into disks. Next punch a hole into the middle of each disk with your thumbs. Carefully stretch the bagels, enlarging the holes by twirling the bagel around your fingers, trying to keep the ring even as you shape it. You want the center hole large enough that it will not disappear when the dough rises, about 2 inches or 5 centimeters. I know this seems large but it will shrink when the dough rises and cooks. As you finish shaping each bagel place it on the cornmeal dusted baking sheet. After the bagels are all shaped, cover the baking sheet with foil or plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator for 12 to 18 hours.
When you are ready to cook the bagels fill a large wide pot with 3 inches/7.5 centimeters of water and set your oven to 450ºF/232ºC with the stone or steel inside. Bring the water to a boil. Have a cooling rack nearby to place the boiled bagels on. Boil the bagels 3 or 4 at a time, for 30 seconds, flipping them after 15 seconds. Place them on the rack, bottom/flatter side down. Place the bagels right side up on a sheet of baking parchment on a pizza peel or an upside down baking sheet. You might feel more comfortable sliding 4 rather than 8 bagels at a time and so feel free to bake them in 2 batches.
Slide the bagels and the parchment sheet onto the stone/steel and bake on the middle rack of the over for 12 to 18 minutes. Actually I skipped the parchment instead re-dipping the bagels in the cornmeal and placing directly on my peel. When they are a deep golden brown, remove them from the oven and cool on a rack.

Variation: For topped bagels have a dish with your topping of choice such as sesame seeds, poppy seeds, dehydrated onion or garlic nearby when you are boiling the bagels. Dip the bagels into your topping while it is still wet from the boil, before the bake.