Kitchen Detail: Summer Bites

Crisp, cheesy, delicious gougères. / iStock photo.

By Nancy Pollard

After owning one of the best cooking stores in the US for 47 years—La Cuisine: The Cook’s Resource in Alexandria, Virginia—Nancy Pollard writes Kitchen Detail, a blog about food in all its aspects—recipes, film, books, travel, superior sources, and food-related issues.

TWICE A YEAR Kitchen Detail presents its seasonal Horses Doover. The name—for hors d’oeuvre, of course—came from my younger daughter, who had her own vocabulary as a toddler (such as closhwoth for washcloth). Here are two terrific bites for this summer’s incredible heat.

I have crashed and burned in trying to make gougères—including some from very French cookbooks tailored to American audiences—with sad results that were too doughy on the inside or that flattened like a pillow you slept on too vigorously. I have to hand it to Dorie Greenspan that the first really good ones I achieved were from her cookbook Around My French Table. The recipe I want to highlight, however, comes from a different source and takes gougères to another level. Meet Cheddar and Fresh Thyme Gougères from The Herbfarm Cookbook.

This is one of those cases where the addition of fresh thyme over its dried version makes all the difference. While I fling dried thyme around quite freely, it really does not work well in this instance. So, if you have a clump of straggly thyme in your garden or perhaps a pot or window box, this is the perfect recipe for only the fresh version. Jerry Traunfeld wrote this cookbook when he was the chef at the Herbfarm Restaurant outside of Seattle, Washington. His ingredient ratio for the choux dough produces the most gossamer puff I have ever made.

Cheddar and Fresh Thyme Gougères in the KD kitchen.

You can make these, freeze them unbaked on a sheet and then store in a freezer bag (don’t forget to label and date) for hot- weather emergencies when an accompanying glass of cold white wine is the best answer. Then bake them from their frozen state following Traunfeld’s recipe. I normally use Silpat silicone baking mats instead of parchment paper, and I find the pastry bag to be faster and more even in creating mounds than two teaspoons. I also make mine twice the size of his, so I get two bites instead of one.

Many of us grow herbs as a summer pleasure, and there are more ways to feature them than in pestos or as a final garnish. This video from the author gives a quick, informative care overview for black-thumbed herb growers like myself. You can substitute finely chopped marjoram, its ubiquitous cousin oregano, dill or even chives—but always use fresh for this summertime bite. I use a pale cheddar rather than the orange one for these puffs. In addition to the pinch of grated cheddar on the tops of the gougères, I add a few flakes of Maldon salt also before baking them off.

A platter of Asian lettuce wraps from Victoria Sackett.

One of the most delightful ways to spend a sultry evening outside is to have a dinner of a few different horses doovers. Once you set it up, there’s no need to move to a dining table from where you are comfortably seated (hopefully outdoors with the humidity not too overwhelming) with a glass of something refreshing in hand. And this discovery from our sharp-penciled editor is perfect. This recipe can easily become an entrée: Just eat more! It’s also  an excellent way to use the often hydroponically raised lettuce called Buttercrunch, which now seems to be available everywhere. A certain person prefers this soft (I think of it as almost the equivalent of American white-bread sandwich loaves) and malleable green leaf for his beloved BLTs. I think they get totally lost in a salad. But any soft butter lettuce is perfect for this horses doover.

I did not realize the extent of food writing by Nina Simonds, identified on her website as “an award-winning journalist and author of eleven books, who is one of the country’s top authorities on Asian cooking with a special focus on health and lifestyle.” My colleague Victoria Sackett has made this recipe from A Spoonful of Ginger, published in 1999 and rich with healthy, restorative recipes. I also remember reading articles Simonds wrote for Gourmet Magazine in the 1980s. She went to Taipei at the age of 19 to study Chinese cuisine and culture. Being fluent in a Mandarin dialect, she translated a few Chinese cookbooks into English. Nina Simonds also holds a Grande Diplome in Classic French Cuisine from La Varenne in Paris. And she currently utilizes her extensive knowledge of Asian cuisines to promote healthy eating on her website and through her lectures in association with the Harvard School of  Public Health.