A couple of weeks ago I had the good fortune of getting a spot of sunshine in Miami. It was a short getaway but believe me, that sun – for 4 whole days, was just magical.
One of the highlights of our trip was dinner at the Betsy Ross Hotel. The restaurant is called BLT (Bistro Laurent Tourondel) and it was perfect in every sense. It is American Steakhouse meets French Bistro in a traditional colonnial setting. Just before dinner we were treated to Gruyère Popovers and they were so good that I, (who doesn’t usually eat bread before dinner because it fills me up) polished off two. Mind you, I don’t think you can classify a popover as bread, can you?!
We left Miami a little bronzed and feeling a whole lot healthier – I spent the next couple of days going through recipes and fiddling around the kitchen. These popovers seemed very similar to yorkshire puddings but more like Gougères (pronounced ‘goozhair’) – which are a savoury pastry from Burgundy (France), traditionally made with Gruyère.
They are basically a baked choux pastry with a touch of Gruyère – so very simple. I imagine they would be delicious in all manner of ways but I think they would work really well as something to nibble on with a glass of champagne, a beer – or any aperatif in fact. And if the plain, golden and crisp crust, infused with gruyere is not enough – then perhaps with a little slice of ham (off the bone of course!) and a smear of mustard.
Time for you to get your head oven – for all the right reasons!
80 grams/2.8 ounces butter
80 grams/2.8 ounces plain (all purpose) flour
3 large eggs (no bigger)
200 mls water
40 grams/1.4 ounces quality Gruyère or Comté cheese plus extra for grating over the top
A pinch of salt
Heat the water, butter and a pinch of salt in a saucepan. When the butter has melted, whisk until the ingredients are completely incorporated. Pour the flour into the saucepan in one go and mix vigorously with the whisk so that all the flour is moistened with the butter mixture. What you will have is pâte à choux (translated that means ‘cabbage dough’).
Cook your pâte à choux for a further 3 minutes, stirring constantly – the mixture should pull away from the sides of your saucepan. Turn the heat off and let cool for a few minutes then add the eggs and mix vigorously until you obtain a smooth, fluffy dough (you can actually pour the mixure into a food processor or stand mixer and mix the eggs in that way) Mix in the 40 grams of cheese and whisk till incorporated.
Heat oven to 200°C and place oiled parchment paper on a baking tray. Using a pastry bag (or a zip lock bag with a hole cut in one of the bottom corners), pipe the gougère dough into small, regular, evenly spaced rounds about 1 inch in diametre. Ensure there is enough space between the rounds as they will inflate. Sprinkle some grated cheese evenly over the top of the rounds.
Bake the gougères at 200°C until they become nicely tanned, around 15 – 18 minutes. Turn up your oven to its maximum temperature and watch them carefully till they turn golden brown. The intense heat will give them a beautifully crisp crust.
Serve them straight out of the oven.
Notes: You cannot prepare gougères in advance but the pâte à choux only takes 10 minutes to put together. Because it is very quick to make it is important that you have all the ingredients measured and ready to go.
The biggest problem people have with these is that they do not inflate – this can happen for two reasons 1) your pâte à choux is too liquidy, so ensure you use large eggs and not extra large, also ensure you cook the flour in the butter mixture for the full 3 minutes and 2) you do not whisk enough air into the batter which is why I suggest using a mixer to beat in the eggs.
Today’s helper – I can’t help but squeeze those cheeks…
© 2011, Michelle. All rights reserved.
