Pate a Choux - Gougeres

Damn Gina. These bad little cheese puffs can make Betty Crocker look like Martha Stewart. Wait, like Jacques Pepin. Yes, like Jacques.

Ingredients:
1/2 recipe Pate a Choux, recipe follows
1/2 cup grated Gruyere
Freshly cracked black pepper
1 egg, beaten

Special Equipment: pastry bag fitted with a #10 star tip, baking sheet, parchment paper, pastry brush or just get over it and use two spoons to drop spoonfuls onto your baking sheet. Get fancy or just get simple.

Pate a Choux:
1 cup water
1 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons sugar
6 tablespoons butter, cut in pieces
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour, sifted
4 eggs, beaten

In a small saucepan over high heat, bring the water, salt, sugar, and butter to a boil, making sure the butter is completely melted. Off the heat, add the flour all at once and beat vigorously with a wooden spoon. Return to the heat and continue beating until the dough forms a solid, smooth mass and pulls away from the sides of the saucepan. Take off the heat and empty the dough into a clean mixing bowl. Little by little add the beaten eggs, beating vigorously in between each addition, until the dough forms a smooth, supple mass.

Divide the dough into 2 even quantities, 1 part to be used for the gougeres, the other for profiteroles if you want. Personally, I love the savory cheesy gougeres so I have yet to get around to making sweet puffs.

You won't believe how simple and easy it really is until you do it once and then you may be tempted to make another batch right on the fly. That's exactly what happened to me anyway. (Now, I just double or triple the recipe.)

In a small mixing bowl, add the grated cheese and plenty of freshly cracked black pepper to the half-recipe of pate a choux. With a rubber spatula, scoop the pate a choux into the pastry bag and pipe out approximately 25 (1-inch) rounds, spaced 1 to 2 inches apart on the parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Alternatively, instead of piping, just drop rounded tablespoonfuls of the pate a choux on to your baking sheet. Parchment paper is easy for cleanup and a non stick surface, if you have it, otherwise use a silpat or grease your baking sheet.

Baking:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Brush your little gougeres lightly with the beaten egg and place in the oven. Cook until golden and puffed, about 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool briefly on a baking rack. Serve hot or at room temperature. Good luck getting them to room temperature...

Seriously, the first time I made these for my family, they were all eagerly waiting for them to come out of the oven. They never even made it off the baking sheet as the whole family dove in for the hot little nuggets. My Dad's girlfriend thought they were so amazing, she asked me to give her the recipe and I immediately made another batch. Not a one survived the night...

The only thing I wrote down for this recipe that night and I quote, "oh my god. these rock."

The inspiration for these really come from my favorite steakhouse, Fogo de Chao. They serve these at the table as a little snack while you wait for your table and the horrible/lovely dilemma arises: you could literally stuff yourself on these little gems before you make it to the all you can eat steak extravaganza... But do try to refrain, because you can make them so easily at home it will surprise you and may even be your own little secret weapon when entertaining family and friends.

When bread or rolls just won't cut it, serve these. You will not be disappointed. I've even heard that pate a choux will freeze perfectly well. Alas, I never have any left over to try. What a terrible problem to have... :)

Garlic, Mushroom and Anchovy Pizza

This was an awesome pizza. I received a radio transmission last night from someone talking smack about homemade pizza... Sensing I was being baited, I run headlong into the challenge being thrown. I knew I had this one in the bag even if it took a while to get the magic moving along.

As most of my loved ones know, I'm not the fastest cat in the kitchen and some call me intense and methodical but the truth is that I am part food scientist and culinary wizard. Ok, maybe wizard is going too far but I love the challenge of making something awesome from what I happen to have on hand. And I revel in making everything from scratch, if and when I can. From grinding the wheat to make flour, to making a sauce and yes, sometimes, making the cheese, it's just what I do. Most people who know me well, love my cooking and love this quirky little character trait almost as much.

In recent months, I have been dying to make bread and pizza, which is something I have often made on a super regular basis in the past. But given the strange way my cooking mojo has been affected by my husband's sudden and unexpected departure, I guess I have been in need of some inspiration. And maybe even more importantly, I needed someone to love the kitchen witchcraft back to life. Not really about trying to impress anyone but hey, if that happens as a side effect, I won't ever cry over it.

Knowing my pizza snob's particular weakness for garlic, I thought I had a good idea of the kind of pizza he might like so I ransacked my cupboards and found what I thought to be the perfect ingredients for his kind of pie. Turns out, I wasn't far off the mark at all and I got more than a few props. But with or without the enthusiastic response and genuine appreciation, I would have done it for him in a heartbeat just for the sake of bringing back the kitchen love I've been missing.

He wanted me to write it down last night but I knew I wouldn't forget. Even so, just to keep track of our goodies for his benefit, I will sketch out the gist of it for "memory preservation". Like I could really forget... He was dead serious I document it and so here is how the event went down:

Ingredients:
1 tin of good anchovies in oil
10 -12 cloves of fresh garlic, grated into a paste
Marinated mushrooms from Costco (not sure the brand but they are my favorites), sliced; however many you like
1/2 Vidalia or sweet onion, sliced thin
~1/2 lb shredded mozzarella

Dump anchovies and their oil into a medium bowl and grate the garlic cloves into a paste, adding to the anchovies. Add the sliced mushrooms and onions to the anchovy garlic mixture and just stir. I added maybe 2 tbsp of the mushroom marinade to the mix but you can squeeze a lemon or lime or add a little vinegar of your choice if you are using fresh mushrooms.

The idea is really to make almost a dressing or oil and vinegar marinade for the mixture. This will be the base of the pizza and is almost a sauceless or white style of pizza because there is no traditional marinara or pizza sauce used in this pizza.

Pizza Dough:
3 c 4 tbsp flour
2 tsp yeast
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt
1 1/3 c lukewarm water
2 tbsp olive oil
(this is enough dough for 2 medium 8-10" pizzas or 1 large rectangular baking sheet)

In a mixing bowl, gently mix all ingredients either using a stand mixer or even by hand until just incorporated. Cover and let rest until doubled, which is usually about an hour. Punch down and let knead until it forms a smooth ball. At this point, you can let it rise and double in size again or let it rest, then shape for your pizza. If you don't use all the dough, you can wrap the rest of it tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate or freeze for later use. Yep, I said, it, freeze it. It freezes, thaws and cooks beautifully, which is a great time saver if you've already gone to the trouble once... so consider doubling or tripling your recipe to save time next pizza night. It also makes great calzones, bread sticks or dinner rolls.

Shape your dough, by pressing it with your hands into a pizza pan. It isn't rocket science. There may be a technique to it, but I find it fun just to stretch it, press it, rotating the pizza pan and pressing it from the middle of the pan to the outer edges. No magic necessary. Just make it so... If it tears or gets a hole, who cares? Fix it and keep on trucking.

Here is a tip: take a fork and poke it all over the dough once you've got it in the pan. This keeps the dough from puffing up too much while it bakes. It will bake evenly this way....

Bake:
Preheat the oven to 425 F. Use coconut oil or olive oil to lightly grease the pizza pan of choice. If your dough is well rested, it will easily stretch to fit your pan

I pre-bake my crusts for 5-7 minutes. Spread the anchovy mixture on the bottom of the crust, being careful not to overload as the flavors are fairly strong and straightforward. Sprinkle the mozzarella on top and bake for 10-12 minutes at 425 F.

This wasn't the last pizza we made together.  When I make pizza, I usually make enough for more than one pizza and this evening was no different. The second pizza I made was more of a white Greek affair. Primarily, because I again, had all the ingredients on hand to make something unique and with very strong flavors, which we both love.

Greek Feta Pizza Topping:
1 lb of Greek Feta, crumbled
3-4 cloves of fresh garlic, grated
Handful of Kalamata olives, pitted and roughly chopped
1 beefsteak tomato, diced
~1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
1 red onion, julienned
Bunch of fresh arugula

In a food processor, I gently pulse all ingredients except the red onion and tomato. The reason I leave these ingredients out is because any of the cheese mixture you don't use in the pizza can easily be stored in the fridge, literally for months. The key to preserving this is well, most of the ingredients are already fermented or preserved already: the feta and the olives, for instance. In my experience, if you pack the cheese mixture into a mason jar, cover the remainder with olive oil and seal tightly with a lid, ensuring there are no air pockets in the cheese mixture, it will keep for quite a long time.

You can add the fresh tomatoes and red onions when you are ready to use and the garlic will have permeated the cheese mixture beautifully. We use this mixture for pizza but also for pasta as it makes an incredibly light and satisfying sauce for fresh pasta when you have little time or are feeling less than enthusiastic about spending time in the kitchen. One of the reasons I usually make several batches just to have on hand.

To use it as a pizza "sauce", just pre-bake your pizza crust for 5-7 minutes. This ensures a crispy crust that is fully baked and yet not soggy. Spoon dollops of the mixture on your prebaked crust, not getting too carried away or the pizza will be too heavy and I enjoy it best with a lighter touch. But do experiment to see what you prefer.

Add the diced tomatoes and julienned red onion on top of the cheese. Sprinkle a little mozzarella on top if you must, but this pizza really doesn't need it.

Bake at 425 for 10-12 minutes or until brown and bubbly. Not required, but I find it helps to let the pizza "rest" for about 5-10 minutes or so to make cutting and serving easier, but do what you must if you can't wait that long.

I like to add fresh arugula to the finished pizza once it is out of the oven and cool, almost like a flatbread salad, but you can follow your gut and play around with flavors to suit your tastes.