Thursday 17 December 2009

Dolcelatte and Parma Ham Gougeres



Oh baby its cold outside, so the idea of steaming hot cheese puffs is even more enticing than normal. The snow is falling thick and fast, the temperature is plummeting and warming food is definitely the order of the (very chilly) day. The best part is, they freeze well so I can make a huge batch and keep some to serve during the party season. These are usually made with gruyere but I wanted something just a little deeper in flavour and chunkier in texture. Using a stronger blue cheese, a gorgonzola or roquefort gives a great result but if you do, I wouldn't bother with the ham as the delicate flavour is overpowered.

Dolcelatte and Parma Ham Gougeres
250 ml whole milk
125g butter
salt and pepper
100g plain flour
3 large eggs
100g dolcelatte (or other mild blue cheese), crumbled
50g Parma Ham

Heat the oven to 220C/Gas 7.
Heat the milk, butter and a few grindings of salt and pepper in a saucepan until the butter has melted. Add the flour and whisk until the mixture starts to come away from the sides of the pan. Remove from the heat and add the eggs and cheese. Beat until smooth and shiny. Snip the Parma ham into little shreds and stir through the batter.
Using two teaspoons, place dollops of the batter onto a baking tray and bake in the hot oven for around 10 minutes until light and golden.
Serve immediately or allow to cool and freeze.

4 comments:

  1. love the sound of these - must try them for sharona and alan...xx

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  2. I followed your recipe with 4 oz of Stilton, no salt and no parma ham. The puffs stuck to the foil. I will be making it again with minor adjustments. (less butter, more crumbled stilton cheese, parchment paper lining and better whisk) I liked the puffs a lot, even ate them cold the next day, after I peeled off the stuck foil.
    May (Brooklyn, NYC)

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  3. Glad you liked them May, I love them too without the parma ham and with a stronger blue cheese.I always bake with parchment paper so didn't come across their ultra-stickiness but will remember in future, thanks.

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  4. Hiya Marie:

    I made the version 2 on New Year's Eve. I use only 5 tbps of butter (instead of 8) I have to make some conversions because of the US packaging. This time I used a Danish style crumbled blue cheese with cranberry (4 oz), still no Parma ham. I have also added 4 tsp of walnuts bits. I love the walnut blue cheese combination. So, this concludes my cheese puff baking 2009.
    I have some pictures on Flickr, but I can't paste the link on your site. Oh well.

    Happy New Year!

    May

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