Tunisian Bread Salad

I am completely in love with the concept of “bread salad”. It feels like cheating. Like you have this healthy bunch of vegetables and you just make them so much tastier by adding chunks of rustic bread that soak up all the lovely dressing. But you still feel healthy doing it because you call it a salad. I am famous for taking leftover cornbread and making a cornbread-bread salad with honey balsamic dressing. And sometimes I even throw in a few vegetables too.

Most people know about panzanella or Tuscan bread salad, which is made from crusty Italian bread mixed with tomatoes, red onions, cucumbers and basil. Delicious. But Tunisian bread salad or even Mediterranean bread salad (similar) is less well known and equally (if not slightly more…) tasty. You take beautiful seasonal vegetables – eggplant, peppers, tomatoes – and roast them off with some aromatics. Mix those in with olives, herbs, capers, fresh cheese, and chunks of stale bread and toss with a delicious, harissa dressing and you have a beautiful, alternative, light and flavorful, bread salad.

This is a fantastic way to use up old bread (or so we all tell ourselves…). But I’ve actually seen this as a roasted vegetable salad on its own, so if no bread is at hand or you want to be even healthier, you can leave it out and still have a delectable salad. Store-bought harissa is fine, but I would suggest making your own like I do in my homemade harissa recipe; it’s cheaper, fresher, and healthier without the preservatives.

I love harissa in a salad dressing, and my dressing here has honey and harissa which, by the way, is a fantastic combination – I like to just slather the two on bread as a crostini or as an hors d’oeuvre to spruce up a weeknight dinner. In any case, this salad is bright, flavorful and beautiful – great for entertaining. Enjoy!

Ingredients

Yields 4 to 6 servings

Salad:

1 eggplant, cut into a medium (bite-sized) dice

1 red bell pepper, cut into a medium (bite-sized) dice

1 yellow bell pepper, cut into a medium (bite-sized) dice

8 oz mini sweet or cherry tomatoes

3 small shallots, quartered

3 or 4 whole garlic cloves

Olive oil

Salt & freshly ground black pepper

¼ cup niçoise olives, pitted

A generous handful of fresh mint, roughly chopped

A generous handful of fresh cilantro, roughly chopped

1 day-old round loaf of bread or whatever rustic bread you have on hand, cut into medium-sized cubes*

Garnish:

Fresh cheese (feta, goat or bocconcini will do), torn or crumbled into small pieces

2 tsps capers, rinsed and drained

1 or 2 hard-boiled eggs, quartered

Dressing:

¼ cup rice vinegar

1 tbsp harissa**

1 ½ tbsps honey

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

Procedure

Preheat oven to 400° F.

In a bowl, toss together eggplant, bell peppers, tomatoes, shallots and garlic with olive oil, salt and pepper to coat. On a baking sheet, arrange vegetables in a single layer. Roast for 25 minutes until lightly browned.

For the dressing, whisk together the rice vinegar, harissa and honey in a bowl. Drizzle in extra virgin olive oil, whisking to incorporate.

Using a slotted spoon, transfer roasted vegetables to a large bowl. Add olives, herbs, and bread and toss with dressing. Garnish with cheese, capers, and hard-boiled eggs.

*If you have fresh bread, just put the cubes of bread on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, and bake at 350° F until lightly browned. You just want it to be crisp enough to stand up to the salad dressing and not turn to mush.

**For harissa you can use my version here or use the store-bought kind.

Exotic Fried Green Tomatoes

A friend of mine has a farm in upstate New York, and he generously dropped off a CSA-like box of his vegetables – tomatoes, green peppers, cucumbers, celery, and parsley (more pics on my FB page). There were a ton of tomatoes, and he suggested ripening them by placing them on a sunny windowsill. I thought I would reserve a few of the green ones to recreate classic, Southern fried green tomatoes.

So, interestingly enough, although green tomatoes are known as a Southern specialty, they do pop up in other cultures. They can be found throughout the Mediterranean; Italy, Greece, Turkey – all have their versions. I’ve seen green tomato pickles, green tomato sauces for pasta, delicious cold soups, and beautiful casserole dishes with green and red tomatoes.

For my fried green tomatoes, I like to crush up some pistachios with panko bread crumbs for the crust in place of traditional cornmeal. It gives a nutty bite and a hint of sweetness that works well with the acidity of the green tomatoes. You can stop right there after frying in the recipe if you like – they taste lovely just like that. But I took it a step further and chopped up a bunch of herbs, mixed them up with shredded mozzarella, and baked them to bubbly, cheesy perfection. You can, of course, use whatever herbs you like – any combination of chives, parsley, mint, thyme, and even oregano would be fantastic. Enjoy!

Ingredients

Yields 4 to 6 servings

4 medium, firm green tomatoes

½ cup shelled pistachios

1 ½ cups panko bread crumbs

2 tsps garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

½ tsp cayenne

½ tsp black pepper

½ tsp salt

¾ cup buttermilk

Canola or olive oil

1 tbsp butter

2 tbsps chopped herbs (I used chives, parsley & mint)

1 cup low-moisture shredded mozzarella*

Preheat the oven to 400° F.

Trim the ends off of the tomatoes, and cut into 1/4 “ slices. In the food processor, pulse pistachios, until they are almost a coarse meal. Add bread crumbs, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne, black pepper, and salt and pulse until the mixture looks like a fine crumb. Pour breading mixture into a bowl or baking dish.

Pour buttermilk into a separate bowl. Dip tomato slices in the buttermilk and then dredge in the breading mixture. Pat the breading mixture on to create an even coat that sticks. Place on a rack on a baking sheet.

Heat a ½“ of oil with butter over medium-high heat in a Dutch oven or cast iron skillet. Fry tomatoes in batches for 1 to 2 minutes on each side. Place back on the rack over the baking sheet.

In a bowl, combine chopped herbs and mozzarella. Sprinkle over fried tomato slices and bake in the oven for 5 to 7 minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Serve immediately.

*I used low-moisture, shredded mozzarella in place of slices of buffalo mozzarella here in order to keep the tomatoes crispy.

Smoky Spicy Corn Pudding

Seriously. I had a somewhat interesting story for how I came up with this recipe, but I keep going to the fridge and sticking a fresh spoon into this now cold, smoky, spicy corn pudding and taking a bite. Then, tossing the spoon into the sink to prevent a second bite. I’m hedging because I don’t want to admittedly portion a piece out, heat it up and eat it (after the three helpings I had last night), but I seriously can’t help myself. It is that tasty…even cold and semi-solid in the fridge.

Growing up in Florida (yes, it’s still the South!), I developed such a weakness for southern food, and corn pudding, itself, is classic, southern comfort food at its best. And I know I did some corn fritters not too long ago and repeating corn might be a sin, but it’s such a seasonal staple in my house. and this is just too good not to share.

There are tons of variations and no real right way to make corn pudding, but I prefer this method because it stays creamy, sweet, with a caramelized top, and it still cuts easily without being bread-like. I mention the combo of mustard seeds and curry leaves in a previous post, and this marries incredibly well with the spiciness from the peppers, the sweet tang of the sundried tomatoes, and the deep, lovely smokiness from the mozzarella. I wanted smokiness without bacon-y flavor (for once), and the result here is divine. I’m likely making this for Thanksgiving this year, which is always a cultural trip! Enjoy!

Ingredients

Yields 1 2-quart baking dish

4 to 6 medium ears of corn (you want 3 ½ cups of the kernels), husks and silk removed

olive oil

salt & pepper

1 tbsp canola or vegetable oil

2 tbsps butter

1 ½ tbsps brown mustard seeds

10 curry leaves

2 shallots, finely chopped

1 red cherry, fresno or jalapeno pepper, minced (seeded and ribbed only if you can’t take the heat!)

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 tbsp finely chopped sundried tomatoes (either packed in oil or rehydrated)

¼ cup all-purpose flour

3 eggs

2 cups heavy cream

a couple dashes of Tabasco

1 ¼ tsp salt

½ tsp black pepper

1 ¼ cups grated smoked mozzarella

¼ cup sliced green onions, dark and light green parts only

Procedure

The first step of this dish is roasting or grilling the corn. Brush the corn with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place cobs on a hot grill or a grill pan and cook for 20 minutes, rotating every few minutes to cook all sides. If you don’t have a grill, you can place the seasoned corn on a baking sheet under the broiler for the same amount of time (still rotating). Let cool slightly, cut the kernels from the cobs, and reserve kernels in a separate bowl.

Preheat the oven to 350° F.

In a medium skillet, heat oil and butter on medium-high heat. Once foam subsides, add mustard seeds and curry leaves. Once the seeds start to sputter and pop, lower the heat to medium-low and add shallots, peppers and a pinch of salt. Cook for a few minutes until shallots are translucent. Add garlic and cook 30 seconds until fragrant. Add sundried tomatoes, corn kernels, and flour and stir to coat. Cook for another 30 seconds, stirring. Remove from heat and transfer to a large bowl.

In a separate bowl, beat together eggs, cream, Tabasco, salt, and pepper. Add this along with the grated smoked mozzarella and the green onions to the corn mixture and combine thoroughly. Transfer to a greased 2-quart baking dish and bake for 50 minutes or until an inserted knife comes out clean.

Let cool slightly before serving.

Black Salt 'Slaw

I grew up in a suburb in Florida, and, although there was a pretty large Indo-Pakistani community, the resources were very spread out. That is to say, there was no central area to find food (think Adam’s Morgan in D.C. or Curry Hill in NYC), and there were maybe one or two good Indian grocers selling everything from spices to Indian sweets to household goods.

I used to love visiting my family in Toronto, an incredibly ethnically diverse city. There are West Indian neighborhoods, Indian areas, Chinese, Philipino, Latin American – all distinct areas. Ambling down Gerard Street, one of those streets that literally transport you into a different country, you can find row after row of Indian restaurants and shops– clothing, groceries, dvd’s, jewelers…you name it.

One of my favorite parts about the trip (because I can assure you shopping for clothes with the women in my family is nothing short of arduous) was visiting the various chaat houses. Chaat is a general term and includes any Indian snacks that have puris, puffed rice, fried noodles or dumplings with potatoes, lentils, chickpeas or even mung bean, all doused in spicy, tart, tangy sauces. “Junk food”, we’d call it. I would devour these chaats and wash it all down with falooda (which I mentioned in my sugar plum post and which I will have to make at some point); it’s really what got me through these shopping trips.

Tamarind, cilantro, chilies, onions, and yoghurt were all featured heavily in these dishes, but it was the spice mix, the chaat masala, that really made them distinct. Chaat masala includes a staggering number of spices, but one flavor that stands out from them all is black salt. Black salt, or Kala Namak, is a grayish rock salt, and it, quite frankly, has a smell similar to eggs. It has a sulphurous quality, and, although that may not sound too appealing, I assure you once mixed in it is delicious!

I thought I would make a ‘slaw for the summer that focuses on black salt. I served it here over a beautiful, simple, grilled swordfish, but it would also be delicious with yesterday’s ribs. The chili powder gives it a little heat, the honey sweetness, and it definitely has the tart and tangy quality of the chaats I remember as a child. Enjoy!

Ingredients

Yields 6 to 8 Servings

For the dressing:

½ cup red wine vinegar

2 garlic cloves, minced

3 tbsps honey

3 tsps black salt

½ tsp salt, kosher or sea

½ tsp Indian chili powder or hot Hungarian paprika

½ tsp finely ground black pepper

I roughly ground the toasted seeds)

For the slaw:

½ head green cabbage

½ head red cabbage

1 or 2 carrots, julienned or shredded

1 bulb fennel, thinly sliced

2 green onions, thinly sliced (white and green parts only)

Procedure

This is super simple as most coleslaws are. I like to combine all of the dressing ingredients, and let them marinate while I’m prepping the vegetables.

For the cabbages, wash thoroughly and remove the core. You can either slice manually or use the slicer in your food processor to achieve the right sized pieces. Combine with the carrots, fennel and green onions in a non-reactive bowl.

Pour the dressing over the vegetables, and keep refrigerated for 2 hours or so. I like to toss the coleslaw every half hour to make sure any dressing that has sunk to the bottom gets fully mixed in. The flavors are much brighter when you let them sink in for a few hours.

Creamy Cauliflower Puree with Fenugreek

So it’s the middle of summer. I know a bathing suit looms in the near future, and despite all attempts I’ve let things like pork buns, sausage orecchiette, a hot dog on the run, and delicious pastries from Duane Park Patisserie interrupt an otherwise (mildly) healthy flow of food. Let’s not even bring up the subject of wine.

My fridge is loaded with fruits and veggies, sending subliminal messages of health across my apartment. I was seriously in the throes of a carb-craving the other day, and with nothing other than fruits and veggies decided to get a little creative. The result? A lusciously, creamy cauliflower puree flecked with crushed fenugreek leaves.

Okay, so in reality, this still has butter and some milk, but it’s definitely better for you than equally buttery mashed potatoes. The cauliflower, cooked until super tender, is fresh and creamy when pureed. Fenugreek, as a seasoning, is used in so many different cultures – South Asian, Ethiopian (like in the clarified butter), Iranian, Turkish, Afghani…to name a few. I chose the leaves here over the seeds because the flavor of the leaves is much more subtle and lacks the typical bitterness of the seeds. Fenugreek leaves have a flavor not unlike celery, and, when warm, emit a sweetness of sorts.

This is a sinfully easy side dish to make. Fenugreek leaves can be purchased at most specialty spice stores, and even health food stores. Enjoy!

Ingredients

Yields 6 to 8 servings

3 small heads or 2 large heads of cauliflower, cored and cut into even-sized florets

3 garlic cloves

6 cups milk

1 stick butter

1 ½ tsps ground fenugreek leaves*

chopped chives

salt & freshly ground pepper

Procedure

In a medium pot, bring cauliflower, garlic, a pinch of salt and milk up to a simmer. Do not boil. Simmer covered for 12-15 minutes or until cauliflower is very tender.

Strain cauliflower and garlic from milk mixture, reserving both. Melt butter with ground fenugreek in a small saucepot for 5 to 7 minutes.

Puree cauliflower in a blender with 1-1 ¼ cups of reserved milk and melted fenugreek butter, working in batches if necessary. Adjust milk amount based on desired texture of the puree. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper and garnish with chives.

*In order to grind the fenugreek leaves without any of the stems, place a small sieve over a paper towel. Add fenugreek leaves and crush the leaves between your fingers and/or against the sieve, itself. The ground fenugreek will fall through the sieve onto the paper towel.

Quick Bread with Bacon, Medjool Dates & Nigella Seeds

I was reading this article in the New York Times on what the French call a cake salé, and it inspired me to create my own exotic version. A cake salé is close to what we call a quick bread or a quick loaf in America (think zucchini bread, cornbread, or even muffins).

The main ingredients of any quick bread are flour, baking powder (and/or soda), fat, eggs, and liquid; the flavor is really up to the imagination. It’s chemically leavened, so it’s much faster to make than traditional bread, which requires a whole process leavening with yeast. This loaf is incredibly easy to make and really versatile. I’ve been serving it warm for breakfast, but it would also make a delicious lunch paired with a simple salad.

I mentioned to a girlfriend the inclusion of dates in this bread, and I got a wrinkled nose reaction. She believed dates to be the shriveled up nonsense that’s in trail mix. At that point, she hadn’t tried Medjool dates, which are amazing – plump, sweet, and creamy with thick, soft flesh and a taste closer to caramel and honey than to fruit. (She’s now addicted). They are also incredibly nutrient dense, high in fiber and an excellent source of potassium. They are eaten throughout the Middle East, to break a fast or served with a thick, Arabic coffee at the beginning of a meal.

For this recipe, I couldn’t get the idea of bacon out of my mind. I’m such a fan of sweet and savoury – it’s a richness of flavor that can’t be matched – and bacon tastes fantastic with a hint of sweetness. With the caramelized leeks, the honey of the dates, and the slightly bitter, thyme-like bite of the nigella seeds, the flavor of the bread is really well-rounded – great as a stand alone but also wonderful as an accompaniment to a larger meal. Enjoy!

Ingredients

Yields 1 8½” x 4¼” x 2¾” loaf pan

4 slices bacon, chopped

3 tbsps butter

1 leek, white and light green only, thinly sliced

1 ½ tsps nigella seeds

salt

3 dates, skinned and pitted*

¼ cup + 1 tbsp vegetable oil

3 eggs

1/3 cup milk

1 ¼ cups flour

1 ½ tsps baking powder

1 tsp salt

¼ tsp black pepper

Procedure

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Heat a skillet over medium-low heat. Add bacon and cook until just starting to crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon into a bowl to cool.

Heat another, clean skillet on low. Add butter. When foam subsides, add leeks and stir to coat completely with the fat. Add nigella seeds and a few pinches of salt to draw out the moisture. Cook on low, stirring frequently, for 15 to 20 minutes until the leeks are well caramelized. Remove with a slotted spoon and add to bowl with the bacon.

Combine dates, oil, eggs, and milk in a blender or food processor. Blend for 30 seconds on low or pulse until dates are finely chopped. This helps to distribute the dates in the batter. The goal isn’t to have them pureed, just chopped a bit more finely, so they don’t clump in one place in the batter. Add this liquid to bacon and leeks, and stir to combine.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt and pepper and whisk so that all of the ingredients are well combined. Fold in the liquid to the dry ingredients using a spatula. Do not overmix. You just want everything to come together. It should be a wet, sticky, clumpy dough – like muffin batter.

Pour batter into a greased 8 ½ “x 4 ½” loaf pan. Bake at 350° F for 40-45 minutes until golden brown.

* To remove the skin from the dates, simply heat water to a boil. Pour over dates and let sit for 1 minute. Carefully remove from the water, and peel off skin – it should slide off easily.

Freekeh with Summer Squash and Brown Butter

I was having lunch with a Lebanese girlfriend of mine recently when she pointed out freekeh on the menu. I had never heard of it, so, of course, I had to order! It was served like a pilaf to accompany a fish, tasted like a nuttier, slightly smoky brown rice, and had a toothsome texture.

After some research, I was really surprised that it’s not more well known. Freekeh is a roasted green wheat and can be found throughout Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and Jordan. It’s an incredibly healthy whole grain, comparable (if not superior) to quinoa, a rich source of nutrients with high fiber and protein. It’s harvested young and then roasted in the fields over an open fire, giving it that smoky quality.

The mixed summer squash at the Union Square Greenmarket looked too shiny and beautiful to resist the other day, and I thought it would pair well with the freekeh. I roast the squash off here with some sweet cherry tomatoes and prepare the freekeh similarly to rice. The coriander and cinnamon work really well with the sweetness of the squash and the smokiness of the freekeh, and the pine nuts are great for texture. This is so delicious I’ve given up my carnivorous ways for a few days, snacking on it at intervals.

And the pièce de résistance? Nutty, glistening, warm brown butter. I love to use brown butter in place of regular butter in a dish like this or even in breads and cakes; it really elevates and deepens the flavor.

Freekeh also goes by the name frik, farik or even roasted green wheat, so if you are shopping for it, I would ask by all names. I picked up my freekeh at Sahadi’s on Atlantic Ave. in Brooklyn, but I know a number of the Middle Eastern specialty shops in the area carry it. Kalustyan’s also carries it in store and online.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

Yields 4 to 6 servings

2 cups freekeh, whole (not cracked)

1 lb mixed summer squash, medium dice

¾ cup cherry tomatoes, whole

olive oil, salt, & pepper

2 ½ tbsps canola oil

1 onion

½ tsp ground coriander

½ tsp ground cinnamon

¼ tsp white pepper

1 scallion, thinly sliced

4 garlic cloves, minced

3 cups vegetable or chicken stock

¼ cup pine nuts, toasted

4 tbsps brown butter *

handful of parsley, chives, and/or cilantro, chopped

Procedure

Preheat oven to 400° F.

Pour freekeh in a bowl and pick through for any stones or off pieces. Rinse freekeh with several changes of water until the water runs clean. Cover the freekeh with fresh water and soak for a half hour. Strain off all excess water.

Combine diced squash and tomatoes in a bowl. Lightly coat in olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a baking sheet in a single layer and roast for 15-20 minutes until soft but still with a bit of firmness.

Heat a pot or a dutch oven over medium-low heat. Add canola oil. When hot, add onions and coat with the fat. Add coriander, cinnamon, white pepper and a pinch of salt to draw out the moisture. You just want to sweat out the onions until they are translucent, so be careful the heat isn’t too high or they will start to brown.

When the onions are translucent, add scallions and garlic. Cook for one minute, and then add freekeh. Toast the freekeh in the pot, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. The freekeh should become aromatic.

Add the vegetable or chicken stock, and bring up to a boil. Lower to a simmer and simmer covered for 45 minutes. Turn off heat, remove cover, and let stand uncovered 5 minutes.

Toss in the summer squash, tomatoes, pine nuts, and brown butter. Add chopped herbs and adjust seasoning as necessary.

* Brown butter is really easy to make, but it has to be watched. Simply heat the butter in a pan over medium low. Once the foam starts to subside, watch the color of the milk solids that sink to the bottom of the pan. They should turn brown, and the butter should take on the smell of toasted hazelnuts. At that point, remove immediately from the heat by pouring into another container. The solids go from brown to black quickly, so it’s important to stop the cooking process as soon as the hazelnut stage is achieved. Also, I like to scrape the solids off the pan into whatever I’m cooking – there’s a ton of flavor there.

Savoury Roasted Cinnamon Popovers

I just looked at the title of this, and my mind immediately went to a breakfast association. The interesting thing is these popovers were conceived as a thought for an awesome dinner accompaniment: a hollow, savoury, buttery puff with which to scoop up extra sauce or even a jus.

I was eating Van Leeuwen cinnamon ice cream (out of the container) when I came up with the thought for these tasty treats. Van Leeuwen, which creates incredible artisanal ice cream, uses a Ceylonese version of cinnamon – the flavor reminiscent of Atomic Fireballs, those crazy hot candies we ate as kids that turned our tongues red. Although lovely, I prefer the more woodsy and subtle flavor of Vietnamese or Saigon cinnamon…Which I’ve read is actually a version of the cassia plant, not cinnamon after all.

Cinnamon is such a diverse spice and is a staple ingredient in many savory ethnic dishes; it adds such complexity and nuance to even a simple marinade. Whether part of Indian garam masala or a Mexican spice blend, the added note can elevate a simple dish to something much greater. Pan-roasting the cinnamon deepens the smoky-woodiness of the spice, which makes this even better as a savoury side. And who doesn’t love a popover? I mean their shapes alone are comical. And there is something about serving a warm baked (from scratch!) good at dinner that is suggestively decadent.

The best part is that this is a super easy recipe with ingredients most of us have on hand. Oh, and I’ve tailored it for use in a muffin pan. I feel like I don’t make them often enough to warrant the expense of popover tins and much prefer the smaller size. Although easy, the recipe is not without science, because getting these little guys to rise can be nerve-wracking. I’ve done it a million times and still stand watch peering through the hazily-lit oven (never open!) to make sure they are on track. So read the procedure carefully. And enjoy some luxurious dinner (or breakfast) popovers…

Ingredients

Yields 12 popovers in a traditional muffin pan

1 stick cinnamon or ¾ tsp ground cinnamon (Vietnamese, Saigon, whatever you like)

1 cup AP flour

½ tsp salt

1 cup whole milk

2 eggs

1 tbsp melted butter

melted butter for brushing

Procedure

Lower the rack in your oven to the 2nd rack from the bottom, and preheat oven to 450° F. Keeping the rack lower will prevent over-browning of the popovers.

Pan-roast cinnamon sticks or ground cinnamon in a sauté pan on medium-low heat until fragrant and toasty. If using sticks, grind in a spice or coffee grinder. You want to yield ¾ of a teaspoon of ground cinnamon.

Combine milk, butter, and eggs in a blender. Blend thoroughly. Add flour, cinnamon, and salt, and pulse until thoroughly combined. Don’t overmix. I like to pulse, scrape down, and blend until it just mixes through. You want to let the batter stand and come to room temperature (around 20 to 25 minutes). A room temperature or even slightly warm mixture will rise much higher and easier than a cold one.

When the batter is almost ready, place the muffin pan on a baking sheet and place in the oven for 5 – 10 min. You want to preheat the tin, and placing it on a baking sheet creates better heat from the bottom – again, all good for the rising of the dough. When hot, brush the muffin pan with butter to prevent sticking.

Fill the cups about halfway full and immediately place in the oven. Bake for 10 minutes at 450° F, and then lower temperature to 350° F for another 20. Don’t peak at them or they will fall! You want to keep the oven heat even. The puffs should be crusty on the outside and soft and hollow on the inside. I shut the oven off and leave the door slightly ajar, a technique used for gougeres, for another 3 to 5 minutes just to make sure.

Serve these delicious puffs warm!

Sign up to receive exclusive recipes, tips, updates and other goodies from Aliya!