[simonj]

Gougere is a specialty of the Burgundy region.
Traditionally, gougere's are made with gruyere,
the well known swiss cheese with the holes
- but other cheeses are sometimes used.

There are more pictures and tips at my Garden Blog as always
link in signature.

With the great cheese giveaway, I felt I had to offer a recipe
that included fromage in the food!!!.

With this recipe, as always, I have incorporated Irish flavours
and aspects to it like cheddar, and in this case
the use of buttermilk does add a lot to the final dish.

The main flavours to the filling of this dish are lemon and French tarragon.

I grew tarragon in the garden herb patch, and it is an underused herb in Ireland.

French tarragon is grown from root divisions, just like horseradish
- whereas Russian tarragon is apparently grown from seed

Tarragon is easy to grow in any sunny spot well drained spot.
It can be grown with other plants in a flower bed or border,
given a little room to itself as it is not a great competitor.

This recipe is a real recession buster
- a great way to use up left over chicken,
and makes a change from the normal chicken leek or mushroom pie.
Its what I call 2nd or 3rd phase chicken, first you have the roast,
then you strip the carcass for this or a pie
- then you have the carcass for stock and soup.

With Christmas coming, I think it is also a way of using up turkey next month.
Its a lovely winter oven dish, and with the oven on the go you may
as well take advantage of that to roast or bake veg to accompany
the meal and save on energy costs.

I tend to use cuinneog butter and buttermilk from Mayo
- better flavour than regular mass produced stuff.

INGREDIENTS
For the Choux Pastry:
300ml - ½ Pint buttermilk
(traditionally the French use water, but the buttermilk
makes it a richer pastry)
175 gm - 6 oz plain flour
100 gm - 4 oz butter or margarine
50 gm - 2 oz Finely grated cheese
(I used cheddar, but gruyere is the traditional type)
4 eggs, lightly beaten
Pinch of salt.

For the filling:
225 gm cooked chicken, diced
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons fresh Tarragon (or 2 tsp dried)
1 tsp mustard - or ½ tsp mustard powder
1 pint white sauce* - easy to make yourself yourself

1 tsp paprika to garnish

METHOD

CHOUX PASTRY
Place the buttermilk in a pan with the butter and
heat gently until the butter melts,.
Bring to the boil.

Remove from the heat, add the flour and salt.

Beat in the flour quickly to produce a smooth paste which comes away from
the sides of the pan to form a smooth ball.
Set aside to cool slightly.

Personally, I remove it from the pot to the blender
and then use the pot to make the filling
- saves on washing up.

The following can be done by hand, but I just use a blender
on slow speed.
Gradually beat in the eggs to give a smooth glossy finish.
Fold in the grated cheese.

This mixture is spooned or piped around the side of
a greased ovenproof dish, an oval dish is easiest.

FILLING
Make up the white sauce*
Add tarragon, mustard, lemon and chicken, stir in
Simmer on a low heat for 5 minutes
(while piping/spooning in pastry to dish)
Pour into the centre of the dish.
Bake in the oven for 40 minutes
Sprinkle with paprika - serve hot.

The Gougere is shown here served with baked garden veg,
Very simple and energy saving recipe.
I just sliced some parsnip and carrot - roughly chopped an onion,
two cloves of garlic crushed and herbs
(root parsley, thyme, fair whack of salt and some pepper)
Chuck them in a shallow oven dish with some olive oil, cover
with tinfoil and put into the oven when you start to preheat it for the gougere,
the cooking time for the entire meal takes about 50 minutes that way.

*White Sauce
Ingredients to make white sauce

50 gm/2 oz butter or margarine
50 gm/2 oz plain flour
600ml/1 pint fresh milk

Melt butter on a low heat in a pan
Add flour and blend in with butter
Add milk, whisk.

[Sugar_Ape]

Oh wow, that looks amazing!

[simonj]

Its really very easy, especially with the blender its far less
work than the usual shortcrust pastry in regular pies and pasties