I found a new food group: Gougère

I now understand what Eric Cartman is about:

"I want my cheesy poofs"

The other day we were invited to dinner, and we inquired as to what we could bring.  Nibbles was the reply.  I didn't want to cop out and buy some biscuits and dip, I wanted to cook something.  My first thought was Parmesan Cheese Twists.  My idea was, flour, yeast and parmesan, rise, twist, bake.  But I was pointed to another recipe by my lovely wife, John Burton-Race's recipe for Gougère, in his book French Leave.  I read through it and there were techniques that I had never encountered.  Game on, I love a challenge.

And the challenge of the recipe, of which I had only vaguely heard of, was Choux Pastry.  Everyone knows of it, but you may not know that you know.  Choux pastry is comonly used in profiteroles, the little round pastry balls filled with cream or custard.  Stack a few of these into a tower and you then have a crockenbouche.  Easy.

Now gougère are just savoury "puffs" with cheese as the main flavouring. How cool is that! Here is the recipe:

Serves eight.

125g unsalted butter
1 large pinch sea salt
Pepper
300ml water
240g plain flour
5 eggs, beaten
225g Gruyere, grated (Use Heidi)
Olive oil for greasing
1 egg, beaten, for egg wash
Preheat the oven to 220C/425F. Cut the butter into rough pieces and place in a saucepan with the salt, pepper and water, then bring to the boil. As soon as the butter has dissolved and the water begins to froth and bubble, remove the pan from the heat and vigorously beat in the flour until you have a smooth paste. Return to a gentle heat and stir and beat the mixture until it forms a ball that comes clean away from the sides of the pan.
Remove from the stove and, a little at a time, beat the eggs into the paste. Stir in the cheese. The choux paste should now look glossy and smooth, and again come away from the pan easily when you stir.
Lightly grease a baking sheet with a little oil. Put the choux paste into a piping bag fitted with a 1cm nozzle and pipe 2-3cm-round balls on to the greased tray. There should be four balls per person and they should be 4cm apart. Brush the egg wash over the top of the buns and bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, until golden and expanded to three times their size. Remove from the oven and enjoy straight away

Here is my effort:

Free range fresh eggs, not x-large

The Heidi Gruyere cheese

Butter and flour.  Next add the eggs, a bit at a time, and beat it vigorously

Piping the mixture is not easy, very sticky

TaDa

We are now going to try extending this recipe for Xmas day.  As an afternoon snack we are going to make the above recipe.  Then straight out of the oven we are going to fill the hollow centres with a smoked salmon/dill creme filling.  I cannot wait.