French Fridays with Dorie: Gougeres

So, I disappeared again.  I had all these grand plans for more frequent posting, but you know what they say about that whole "best laid plans" thing.  At least this time I have a decent excuse: we moved to Boston!  That's right, I am a city girl now.  I am still cooking (constantly), only now it is in a tiny apartment kitchen on a correspondingly small apartment stove.  A miniature stove, however, is a small price to pay for high ceilings and hardwood floors (and I can't forget the Whole Foods within walking distance).

Now that we are (kinda, sorta) settled in our new place, I really am going to be posting more often.  To give myself a bit more motivation, I have decided to participate in French Fridays with Dorie.  We are going to be cooking along with Dorie Greenspan's new cookbook, Around my French Table.  I am really excited about this because I haven't cooked much French food, and I am always looking to expand my culinary horizons.  Also, it gives me an excuse to buy a new cookbook; something that makes my boyfriend and our overstuffed bookcases groan and also something I (kinda, sorta) promised myself that I wouldn't do.  But come on, this is Dorie, and my copy of Baking: From my Home to Yours was looking rather lonely.


I was happy to find out that the inaugural dish of FFwD was gougeres, cheese puffs made from pate a choux, because I have been wanting to make them for a while now.  Now that I have whipped up a batch, I am kicking myself for waiting so long because these are fantastic and so easy to make.  These gougeres are light and airy, and the cheese flavor is deliciously strong.  I used a high quality Gruyere (my favorite - the stinkier the better), but Dorie says that also makes them with cheddar.  I love the straightforward cheese flavor of the Gruyere gougeres, but I think that a cheddar version would make an excellent vehicle for some sort of filling (they are made from the same base as cream puffs, after all).  Right now I am imagining a chicken or seafood salad, or perhaps some sort of chutney or jam.

I am looking forward to experimenting with this recipe, but, more immediately, I am looking forward to dinner tonight: hot from the oven gougeres (I baked off six for my test batch and froze the rest for later), some thinly sliced sopressata, a big pile of lightly dressed greens, and a bunch of gorgeous purple grapes.  Oh, and wine, of course.  It is the natural partner of the gougere, and a perfect way to toast the kickoff of French Fridays.

Head over here to see a parade of gorgeous gougeres from the FFwD crew.