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French Friday: Gougeres

I'm participating in French Fridays With Dorie, so for the next little while, I'll be 'cooking the book' along with many other bloggers, one recipe a week.

This past week I was blessed with visitors from what feels like another lifetime ago. Years ago, before the man, the kitchen, and the blog; before I really actually knew how to cook, or cared to know, I made friends with some really wonderful people. The kind of people who don't care that its been a year since you saw each other, and that you don't call frequently, but as soon as they see you, you're hugging and laughing and gushing about what they are doing, what you are doing, and everything in between. These are people I like to think of as 'lifers'. They may not be with you day to day, but when your chips are down, they are always there. My chips have been down a few times when these particular visitors were there to rescue me (or just keep me from losing my mind) They, at the very least, deserve a decent spread. 

The first recipe in our selection happens to be the first in Dorie's book, Around My French Table. A recipe for gougeres, cheesy baked goods that rise up to almost hollow puffs (flavored in my case with sharp cheddar, although I think smoked Gouda would be delicious in these as well) I knew these would be perfect for the entertaining. They seemed fairly straight forward, and who doesn't love cheese?

 

My gougeres puffed up beautifully and I pulled them out with alot of surprise that I had done them right...then they fell. Not baked long enough and not stirred over the heat long enough, I learned when I googled it later.  Yes, I google my failures. Really, it wasn't such a bad 'failure' at all... little cheese biscuits with an almost hollow center, thats what they looked like. Noone really seemed too put off by them,apparently it didn't matter. It was a night for catching up and thats exactly what we did. We also went through nearly a whole batch of gougeres, quite a few almonds de provence and a sizable wedge of brie. Obviously, we don't mess around.

I will be making these again, despite my lack of crisp, perfect gougeres on the first try (I never get anything right on the first try anyway) and hopefully it won't be another year before I get to share them with truly good friends.

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Radish & Goat Cheese Galette

At 8:30 last night, the man and I were siting down to dinner. 8:30 is a little late for dinner in my world (considering I rise at 6am, eat lunch at 1, and didn't eat between meals yesterday...for once) I was tired, I was busy, I was worn out from the first day back after my ridiculously indulgent longer long weekend...I was so tired in fact, that I didnt want to eat, (this basically never happens) I wanted to sit in the living room and zone out in front of TopChef until my eyes closed...until I took this pretty thing out of the oven.

Topped with super thin, vinegar dressed radishes, the sour cream crust (apparently I'm turning into Paula Dean) is first baked with a slather of dijon mustard and a layer of black pepper laced goat cheese. the richness plays off the fresh radishes, and made it a terrific light dinner. If you were to cut it into thin wedges, it probably would make excellent fodder for cocktail hour, since its almost as good cold as it was when the dough and cheese were still slightly warm, and the radishes were a cold, crispy contrast. Get the recipe on Food52,  If you feel like throwing some love my way, give it a vote!

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