Gougères - French Cheese Puffs

Gougères – French Cheese Puffs

Gougères are classic French cheese puffs made with choux pastry and grated cheese (Gruyère / Comté). French they may be but it was in Russia that I really took a liking to them.

I blame it on the French bakery Volkonsky‘s, which was in dangerous proximity to Katya’s Moscow appt. A small bakery / café selling delicious pastries, sandwiches, breads and coffee not to mention gougères.

It was a lesson in how something so innocent can be so addictive … I could have eaten them by the handful.

In memory of  Volkonsky’s gougères, here is  my recipe (see link Gougères below):

Gougères – French Cheese Puffs Recipe : ERIKA ALLISTON – Sweet Pea Blog

• 250 mL cold water
• 75 gr unsalted butter (in small cubes)
• 3 pinches salt
• 150 gr white flour (sifted)
• 4 eggs
• 80 gr Gruyère cheese (finely grated)
• grated nutmeg to taste

Chou Pastry – Method:

1. Place water, butter & salt in a sauce pan. Heat till just boiling.
2. Remove from heat.
3. Add flour all at once. Using a wooden spoon, stir vigorously untill a smooth dough forms (see photo)
4. Let cool for 5 minutes.
5. Add 1 egg, mix well. Don’t panic, it will take a few minutes of vigorous stirring for the egg to fully mix in. At the beginning the dough will separate and look lumpy, just keep stirring!
6. Repeat step 5 for remaining three eggs, adding them one by one.
7. Now fold in the grated cheese & nutmeg.

Baking – Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 200°C (normal not convection heat)
2. Using a teaspoon, place generous dollops of dough on a lined baking sheet (see photo), leaving 2cm  / 1 inch between them. *
3. Bake for 18-20 minutes.
4. Let cook and serve immediately. You can keep and reheat the gougères but they will lose their perfect consistency

NOTE : other recipes suggest chilling the dough before baking ie. 30-60 minutes in the fridge. I tired this and felt that it didn’t make a large difference, except that when cooked my gougères were slightly paler in colour  and softer in texture.

Beef Stroganoff

BEEF STROGANOFF {Бефстроганов, Befstróganov}

A great Russian beef recipe!

“Don’t always listen to your husband but always listen to your BUTCHER!”

This is what I was told on Saturday after finding Olivier in the butcher shop. He had ventured in with our shopping list and ordered 350g of beef shoulder. The butcher put the meat on the chopping block and with his knife poised asked what we were cooking. “Beef Stroganoff” Olivier replied.

The knife went down and a knowing look came over the butchers face. “My friend” he said, “this is not the meat for you.  For beef stroganoff only beef fillet will do! You want the most tender meat, cut into ‘allumettes‘  (thin strips) and then quickly seared in the pan. It will melt in your mouth”.

And it did. The price was definitely not that of beef shoulder, but worth every penny.

Beef strogi as it’s known in our family comes with many variations on a theme. However I like a simple recipe, made with only beef, onions, paris mushroom and sour cream. A little salt & pepper, garnished with chopped parsley and you have a carnivores bit of heaven.

The name is likely derived from Count Sergei Stroganoff (1794-1881), a Russian official and gourmet! I bet you he was all over the beef fillet.

BEEF STROGANOFF Recipe – ERIKA ALLISTON, Sweet Pea Blog

• 350g beef fillet
• 1 medium onion
• 150g paris mushrooms (approx. 18)
• 180mL sour cream
• 30g butter
• 1/2 teaspoon olive oil
• salt & pepper
• small bunch parsley (chopped)

1. Cut beef  into ‘allumettes’ thin fingers (see picture). Beef should be at room temperature.
2. Finely slice the onion (see picture)
3. In a large, non stick skillet (frying pan) on medium/low heat,  melt 15g of butter & olive oil
4. When bubbling add onions, cook till translucent but not browned (5-8 mins)
5. Cut mushrooms into slices (see picture)
6. Add mushrooms to onions, cook for 2 minutes, set aside
7. Add 15g of butter to skilled on medium/high heat
8. When sizzling add beef, salt & pepper, cook until golden
9. Add cooked onions / mushrooms &  sour cream to beef, let simmer for 2 minutes
10. Serve immediately sprinkled with chopped parsley

Russian crêpes – I used to think that a crêpe was a crêpes was a crêpe. That was until Katya made me her Russian recipe. While the basic ingredients are the same – flour, eggs, milk and butter, the taste and texture are soooo much better! I am convinced that the secret lies in warming the milk and melting the butter, to which the dry ingredients are then added. The result is an unctuous wonderful batter that makes perfect crêpes.

The second key factors is to be one with your crêpe – out with the spatula and in with your fingers, just be careful not to burn them while slowly peeling back the crêpe to flip it onto the other side. This adds a whole new meaning to hands on cooking!

RECIPE - SWEET PEA Blog

Crêpe Batter Recipe:

• 125 grams white flour
• pinch of salt
• 250 ml milk
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 large eggs

1. Combine the flour and salt and set aside.
2. Heat the milk, remove from the stove and add the butter. Let it melt.
3. Beat in the eggs
4. Add the flour/salt mixture.
5. Ideally leave batter to rest overnight.

Crêpe Making

1. Heat a non-stick skillet/frying pan on medium heat
2. When hot, using a piece of paper towel run a little butter around the pan
3. Immediately, holding the pan in the hand you write with, pour some batter (approx 1 small ladle) into the center of the pan  and roll it around until it thinly covers the surface. This can take a little practice!
4. Let the crêpe cook until the upper surface become dry, and the lower surface against the pan becomes golden
5. Using your fingers  (or a spatula if you prefer) flip the crêpe, let it cook
6. Place on a plate and spread a little butter on the surface.

NOTE: the first crêpe normally does not turn out well, it is the crêpe that is used to season & prepare the pan.

Russian Beetroot Soup

RUSSIAN BEETROOT SOUP – From Russia with love:

Not from James Bond, but from Katya - my gorgeous Russian friend, who definately passes for a Bond girl, but who prefers to spend her spare time in the kitchen rather than being a damsel in distress!

When I asked her about Russian cuisine, she said that ” it is traditionally based on peasant foods because of the extreme climate, and that it is very common for Russian recipes to include simple ingredients such as eggs, flour, milk, sour cream, cabbage, potatoes, carrots and beetroot.”

When I think of Russian beetroot soup the 1st thing that comes to mind is borscht – made with cubes of beetroot, a variety of other vegetables & served with sour cream.

The current recipe is a hand me down from Katya’s friend, a Russian chef, who gave it to her, she then passed it on to me & I am now sharing my version with you It is a delicious modern take on the traditional Russian beetroot soup. There are no potatoes or cabbage and the sour cream has been replaced by goats cheese.

The taste is surprising complex - as the ingredients work so well together that you cannot immediately distinguish one from the other. Only after a few minutes does each flavour take on its own persona. The goats cheese* is a nice contrast in colour, taste & texture to the soup, which is warming, rich & smooth, just perfect for the winter months.

I did a little improvising when reading through the recipe & decided to make it with only 1L of stock & not 2, giving it a slightly heartier consistency. I also reduced the cream to a fraction - for digestion reasons and put only a 1/4 of the garlic into the goats cheese and dried basil instead of parsley (which I didn’t have on hand) . In the future I will toast the pine-nuts as it brings out their flavour.

*NOTE: If you have a food allergy or do not like goat cheese, I would suggest using cream cheese, crème fresh or greek yogurt. Any one of the three will work. If you are sensitive to raw garlic, you can always omit this or use just a little sprinkle of dried garlic fakes.

RECIPE – SWEET PEA Blog

Soup:

• 1 extra large raw beetroot without stalk (400 gr)
• 1 large carrot (100 gr)
• 1 medium white onion
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 4 tablespoon tomato purée
• 1/4 cup light cream
• 1L vegetable stock

Goats cheese cream

• 100 gr fresh goats cheese / fromage de chèvre
• 1/4 garlic clove, crushed
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• Pine nuts for decoration

1. Peel & chop the beetroot & carrot into small cubes, set aside.
2. Peel & chop the onion. Heat the oil & sweat the onions for a few minutes.
3. Add the chopped beetroot & carrots. Stir & cook on medium/low heat until slightly soft.
4. Add the tomato purée & then the stock. Stir, then cover. Cook until vegetable become soft (10 minutes)
5. While waiting, in a small bowl mix the goats cheese, crushed garlic, dried basil & pepper to taste. Set aside.
6. Toast the pine nuts till slightly golden.
7. Separate the stock & cooked vegetable. Using a blender mix the vegetable while gradually adding the stock.
8. Finally add the cream to the mixed soup.
9. Serve warm, with a teaspoonful of goats cheese cream & sprinkled with toasted pine-nuts.