Recently on a wine tour through the Côte de Beaune and Côte de Nuits areas in the Burgundy region in France, we stopped to admire the Romanée-Conti vineyard, one of the smallest (barely 2 acres) but one of the most expensive ($4,500+ a bottle!). Our tour guide appeared with a bottle of Burgundy Cremant (a sparkling wine made in Burgundy with about half the pressure of champagne so many less bubbles) and a basket of gougères, those wonderful cheesy, light puffs of dough that meld perfectly with a bubbly Champagne, Cremant or Sparkling Wine. Though as my friend Emma says, everything goes well with Champagne. I must agree.
I spent the past few days with Emma & Don on their barge cruising down the Loire River in the Burgundy region. The first time I visited them last year, for some bizarre reason, they (and I) thought I could cook...mistake #1. I made gougères that came out like hockey pucks. Should they have mistakenly been thrown at someone, they could easily have put an eye out or I could have become the official supplier to the NHL. Luckily neither happened. Needless to say, I was very hesitant to repeat this fiasco but Emma insisted so I obliged. There must have been a gougères angel on my shoulder as they came out beautifully: light, airy, crisp outside, not soggy, golden brown. And to drink with it...Champagne of course! 🙂 Cheers!
Gougères