It was a beautiful fall day last year, when Joe and I decided to drive to San Francisco to get treats from Tartine. At the counter we ordered a plethora of items; quiche, croissant, lemon meringue cake, chocolate cookies and gougères. With our bounty in hand, we walked over to the park for a nice picnic. While sitting there, enjoying the sun; Joe said (holding a half eaten gougères in his hand) "Can you make this?" I replied "Yeah, it's just pate a choux with cheese and herbs." The look on Joe's face was of astonishment (at how easy I made it sound), and then hurt "why haven't you made these yet?"
9 months later (after moving from Napa to Boston), I picked up the Tartine Cookbook at my library. As soon as I saw the Gougère recipe, I knew I had to make it for Joe. Joe was like a kid in a candy store once I told him I was making them to go with our dinner that evening. The first thing he did was he ran to our local wine store and picked up a bottle of Domaine Roger Perrin Cuvée Prestige Veielles Vignes Côtes Du Rhône 2005 (long name, perfect pairing). For dinner that night we had grilled pork chops (thick cut) with a mustard-thyme sauce, a salad and the gougères. The wine, chops and gougères paired perfectly together.
The cheese I used:
Close up of the fresh thyme:
Here I am mixing the dough on the stovetop:
The dough after adding the eggs, cheese and fresh thyme:
The gougère before baking. I also made little greyere crisps to put on the salad (in case you're wondering what the little piles of cheese are all about):
Close-up:
Close up of some small ones that I froze:
The final, glorious product:
Posts
7 comments on "Gougères from Tartine"
oh woman - why?? why did you have to show me a variation on a theme? now I am going to have to try this and add chicken salad. also, too funny with the TWD pics - leave it to a man to pull that...and the swan - GOOD GOD. Great job!
both this and the other pate a choux look great! i am definitely a sucker for cheese, so i think i may have to try this one sometime :)
I made cheddar gougeres a couple years back and they weren't nearly as gorgeous as these!
Those look delicious! I made Ina Garten's cheese puffs and that's an outstanding recipe as well. However, I think I'll find that book so I can try that recipe too!
It's easy to make it, the meringue cake is one of my favorites and I'll bring you a couples tips you should mix sugar, cornstarch and salt. Add a little water, mix until smooth and add remaining water. Cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly with a wire whisk or wooden spoon, until mixture boils.
I also had them! so delicious!
http://deendeveras.blogspot.com/2011/07/tartines-gougeres.html
Another helpful post. You have become like a guiding light to me. When I started a project on similar topic I could not get enough information to carry further. I would like to see more posts like this.
Post a Comment