I know, I know – another cooking group? But it’s Dorie!!!
I was thrilled when I saw Dorie Greenspan had a new cookbook coming out this fall – Around My French Table. I was even more thrilled when I received a review copy from Thomas Allen & Son:
It’s always tricky to approach reviewing a cookbook because of course, cooking your way through it is the absolute best way to figure out if it’s the real deal or not. Dorie’s latest is over 500 pages and nearly every recipe is one I want to make. Ok, then. Enter French Fridays with Dorie – what better way to work your way though a book than with a group of like minded Dorie groupies? I signed up immediately, loving the fact that you can post as much or as little as your life allows and I especially loved the fact that Dorie chose the recipes for the first month.
Our first assignment was gougères (pp 4-6). What’s a gougère, you ask? Well think a cream puff/profiteroles but savoury and cheesy. Its a savoury choux pastry with cheese. A pre-dinner snack found all over France, the gougère is a specialty of Burgundy where it’s often served with one of my favourite apéritifs of all time, a kir.
Now I’ve made profiteroles before with some success so I approached this fairly casually. In fact I made them after returning home from the Savour Stratford festival, so I was dead tired and they still worked out. Dorie’s recipe must be failproof if I managed it in that state… She claims the recipe makes 36, I halved the recipe and it made 30 – and I used a piping bag to ensure my measures were even. No matter, 30 golden puffs of cheesiness using only a very few ingredients is definitely a good deal 🙂 I used half Gruyère, half blue cheese because that’s what we had in the fridge and they were perfect.
Problem is… they’re excellent warm but even if you try really hard, it’s difficult to finish 30 of them between two of you. I tucked them away in an airtight container and racked my brains for a use for day-old gougères. Flipping through AMFT (as one is wont to do – it is a fascinating read with stories interspersed through the recipes), I happened upon Dorie’s onion soup recipe (pp 56-57). I love a good French onion soup and wondered if I could substitute bread croutons for the day-old gougères??
I had some onions on hand so decided to go for it. Dorie’s recipe calls for a long, long caramelisation of the onions over a very low heat (mine took nearly 2 hours and they still weren’t as dark as I am sure Dorie meant them to be but it was bedtime!!). She also uses chicken stock – I normally use beef. As you can see in the photo below, the soup is not as dark as you might expect a French onion soup to be but the flavour was spot on – you can tell that the onions cooked for a long time. I placed some gougères in the soup and topped it with cheese (not the best choice – Parmesan – again, the only thing I had on hand) and popped it under the broiler (that’s the grill for you, mum) for about 5 minutes.
And it was cheesy perfection for dinner…
And how did it taste? I really liked the flavour the gougères brought to the soup – for one thing it meant you could use less cheese – don’t you hate it when you order French onion soup and it’s just overloaded with cheese? Well Dorie’s version isn’t but this was a most excellent use of leftovers, if I do say so myself…
What I really liked? That it was so easy to remove each little gougère topped with cheese and pop it in your mouth. Sometimes large bread pieces can be cumbersome to eat (not to mention messy) – this was a slightly more elegant version in terms of ease of eating.
So we’re 2 for 2 right now! I am excited to join French Fridays with Dorie when time permits and you can too – simply buy the book and register here! Follow along on Twitter too!
You go girl! I really wonder where you find the time! **bows**
1. I choose easy recipes.
2. I choose recipes that work!!!
I was really sorry I didn’t get to meet you in Toronto, but reading this post is like having a little visit with you. I absolutely love that you put the gougeres in the onion soup — I think I just might do the same when the weather gets colder.
Welcome to FFwD!
Dorie thanks so much for stopping by. I am so looking forward to working my way through your book 🙂 and am glad you weren’t offended by my recipe combining!
ummm ,.looks yum..
That it was!
Mmm they look so yummy, I love gougères!
Aren’t they the best?
I want to join in! WOW, these are making me hungry. They’re gorgeous.
So go join!!!!
Hi Mardi 🙂
Sadly I’m years late to this! Just now discovered this through you, whom I also have just discovered!
I’m going to try to join in (even though I’m coming in part way) on the ‘Everyday Dorie’ cook your way through, but I’d love to know if you have a master list of the order you did all the recipes from ‘Around My French Table’. The site link takes me to a foreign site And I’d love to have a list of the order you worked your way through, so I too can have a go 🙂
Happy Tuesday and hope you’re having a wonderful start to 2021
Hi Larry, There is no list (anymore) of the order in which we made the dishes from Around my French Table but if you go here: https://www.eatlivetravelwrite.com/category/ffwdorie/page/42/ You can work your way backwards and that’s the order we worked in.
I love the way you used them for the soup. You’ve inspired me! I’ll be making these this weekend. Going to have to order that book too!
The book is one of the best recipe books I have seen recently. Love it.
It’s a rainy, windy mess here, so seeing these pictures was so comforting. Mmmm, golden cheesy goodness. But a question: are there more days in your week than mine? I’ve got seven and can’t seem to get a fraction of what you do accomplished. DO you have a space/time generator I should know about?
The gougères took less than 45 minutes and the soup worked on itself whilst I worked….
Yes, the size was perfect for the soup – also they didn’t get quite as “soggy” as some bread does. Good all around.
Trivia to add to the post for other KIR fans:
The drink (cocktail seems too strong a descriptor) is actually named after a past Mayor of Dijon, Felix Kir. Traditionally, it should only be made with white Burgundy – but not a chardonnay, a white from the grape varietal aligote. He popularised it after WWII.
(With apologies for lack of accents that cannot be added in comments.)
Cheers for that and glad you liked it, my toughest critic!
I think this dish would be perfect for a rainy New England day like today!
Yes, it’s a great fall dish!
Love your idea to do Fridays with Dorie!! Good luck with that. I think you came up with a great use for your leftover gougeres 😉 French onion soup is one of my favorites!!
I am loving FFwDorie already too!
Great thinking. You just gave me a great idea for the dinner club I am in the process of putting together.
)
valerie
Ooh – do let me know how it comes out!
I’m sorry–did you say ‘cheesy’ and ‘choux’ in one sentence?? Yep…I’ll be making this one soon! 🙂 Yum yum YUM. This looks incredible.
Yup, it’s the best combination!
Mighty good looking recipe!
They are both wonderful recipes.
Gougeres are one of my all time favourites — and I think you were inspired to find a “day-old” use for them. Looks delicious! Theresa
Cheers – I couldn’t stand to throw them all out..
Two of my favorites combined! I usually use French bread in my onion soup, but I will have to try this!
This made a nice change.
Yum…look at all that gooey cheese! Delish!
Just the way we like it!
very crafty use of gougeres! Can’t believe you actually used them in soupe a l’onion!
Well the flavours seemed to match so…
I don’t think there is ever too much cheese in this soup but I love the gougères idea, genius! How unusual to use chicken stock but I guess it makes it a bit lighter. Beautiful post Mardi, nicely done!
Well we can *sometimes* all use a little less cheese, right?
Beautiful Gougères Mardi! I loved the substitution in the french onion soup… YUM! (If only I had a savory blog…)
Well now, there’s a challenge – a sweet soup to dunk choux pastries in….
This soup packs a lot of flavor with a few ingredients. Thanks for a great post.
Yes, that’s what I love about it!
I always find french cooking tricky, but yo have mastered it!
Dorie’s recipes are so easy!!
The onion soup looks heavenly.
Congrats on advancing to the next round! Can’t wait to see your dinner party!
LL
Thanks! Unfortunately, I am feeling more like onion soup than a big party thanks to a bout of bronchitis but I am sure I can find the energy to rally!
These were super simple to make. And they even worked for me which is a miracle. Yours are beautiful. And loved how you used them.
Yes I loved how easy they were to make too!
Mardi, I am so glad to see you are partaking in a Dorie event. I am such a huge fan of hers and am so excited to work my way through her new book. Your gougeres are lovely and I really like how you used them to top your soup. May have to use that idea!
Me too – the book is like a great novel with recipes – my favourite kind!
Now I want to make the onion soup, just so I can use gougeres in it! Beautiful job, and what a great idea for the leftovers!
Well and the onion soup is so easy…
I love your idea for onion soup- it’s hubby’s favorite. I froze most of these before I baked them, so I have some ready for the next time he makes it. Your gougeres are beautiful!
Yes, had I realised how many it would make, I would have planned to freeze some too.
This looks so delicious! I love the gougeres as the cheesy topping!
Hi Mardi,
Congratulations on moving on to the next challange! am in a contest too, if you would care to vote for me that would be really Great! Oh, and feel free to pass this link on too -lol, just me being shy!
http://ctvr.us/marinamarket
Katja
Thanks and I voted!!!
Mardi, leave it to you to think of putting gougère in a soup! Brilliant and delicious idea… I grew up making these cheesy puffs and they are irresistible. With the holidays coming up, they make a great party food.
Yes, they make me think of the holidays! Well, that and a glass of kir!
These little Gougeres look wonderful, but even more spectacular topped with cheese in that bowl of onion soup.
Thanks – it was a great success!
What a great idea!!! Now I’m craving soup at 8:20 am! 🙂
Soup can be breakfast, right? 😉
Those sound so good!!! Love the idea of the leftovers in the soup!
Well they are too good to waste, right?
Awesome idea to use the leftover gorgeres in onion soup. The photo of your soup is making my mouth water!
I just had the leftovers and it is, indeed even better a couple of days later!
Mardi, I can’t believe this idea never crossed my mind! Brilliant! I love Gougeres, love French Onion Soup – together it is a match made in heaven, I’m sure 🙂 I’ll be tucking this away for the future!
Hi Mardi!
Sorry to hear you have been sick :-(. I love making gougeres – it’s one of my “go to” fall/winter appetizers. However, I had never thought of using the leftovers as a “crouton’ for the soup – when it cools down here I am definitely going to have to try it!! Thank you for sharing such an delicious recipe and “inventive” use of leftovers!
You are so welcome – it was my pleasure testing it out for you!
What a fun idea to use them in French Onion Soup. They look fabulous! I don’t usually complain about too much cheese in the soup, it’s when I get too many onions and not enough broth that bugs me.
Well this was the perfect balance!
They’re so PUFFY. Puffy in a beautiful light airy delicious way, not in a hungover sleep-deprived eye way.
Are you allowed to keep sticking more of the leftover ones in the soup until you run out of soup to soak up? Please say you are.
Oh that sounds like a mighty fine idea and yes, they are puffy in a good way!
Congrats on the top 9!
Thanks!
What a clever idea! I’ll have to try it, if the piranha (our teenager) ever leaves us with leftover gougeres. 🙂
I wasn’t planning on having so many leftover but the recipe made so many!
Hm… I made FOS last week… drat! What a perfect pairing! Guess I’ll have to make both again – congrats on your FB #1! Beautiful gougeres!
Thanks – yes it was a risk that paid off!
Mardi, Your gougeres are gorgeous. And what a great idea to use them as croutons in the onion soup. I made the whole batch but only baked up 12. The rest are in the freezer – possible croutons!!??
I should have frozen some of them too! Next time…
I have no idea how you keep up with everything… You’re incredible! This recipe looks fabulous. I still need to get a copy of Dorie’s new cookbook!
Oh Jen you would absolutely adore this cookbook 🙂
OMG, that looks incredible! Inspired 🙂
Anything with cheese sounds good to me! Sounds heavenly!
Yes it’s a whole lot of cheesy goodness!
Hello! wow your soup looks amazing! I have been making this soup today and I can’t wait to try it! Although I had the same problem with the onions. I was nearing 2 hours of cooking and they were still not as brown as I imagined them to be :[ So I went on to the next step because it’s almost dinner time! I hope it turns out as delicious as yours!
I am glad to know I was not the only one re: the onions! I do know that it was worth the wait!
Gourgeres over French Onion Soup…..count me in!
These were super simple to make. And they even worked for me which is a miracle. Yours are beautiful. And loved how you used them.