Juicy Post: The 2023 Summer Horses Doover Edition

The Start Of It All

KD’s Horses Doover issues appear only twice a year – one for cold weather and one for the hot months. Now it’s time for the summer issue of this long awaited event (check our archives for other summer cocktail bite inspirations). The term horses doovers decidedly came from my younger daughter, who had her own vocabulary as a toddler – such as closhwoth for washcloth. She also was famous for not eating pork products because she loved piggies. Her big sister once convinced her to eat a strip of bacon by telling her that it came from a really evil big pig who had murdered baby piggies.  That worked only once.  She even wanted to raise Duroc pigs when she grew up, and caused a scene at the meat counter at our Giant grocery store by sternly and loudly telling people “Don’t. Eat. Piggies!” The fact that she lives in Bologna, a city famed for its pork products, is perhaps a perfect example of the exactitude of Karma. 

Fresh Herbs Only

In honor of a porkless horses doover, KD presents this one without a whiff of piggy. 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 This recipe, though, 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 either in your garden or perhaps a pot or window box, this is the perfect recipe for only the fresh version. Jerry Traunfeld  wrote this cook book 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. 

You can make these, freeze them unbaked on a sheet and then store in a freezer bag (don’t forget toand 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 the Traunfeld’s recipe. I normally use Silpats 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 gougeres, I add a few flakes of Maldon salt also before baking them off.

A Wrap Up

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 entree — 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 almost think of it as 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 extensive food writing of 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.”  Victoria 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 nineteen 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 is utilizing 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. 

 
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