my modern artefact

Some of the best Napa Valley wine comes from the Los Carneros region. A's favorite winery, Robert Sinskey Vineyards, has a Glutton and Gourmand gift club (unfortunately, they are overbooked and cannot take on anymore requests) that A's parents receive every month with lots of bottles of wine to try and also a few of Maria's recipes, usually with a kitchen gadget or two thrown in for good measure.

Robert Sinskey took over his father's vineyard nearly 22 years ago. They produce a wonderful pinot noir, which has been something of a muse for Robert, he says, "She scared and thrilled me at the same time...The worst was when you missed the mark by showed up late (to harvest) and discovered your delicate Pinot shriveled up like a beauty queen who had spent her better years tanning at the beach, now prematurely aged, brown at the edges with a tired essence of prune."

Robert's wife, Maria, is the Culinary director of RSV and composes the recipes that are sent out with the gift club each month. She written 2 cookbooks and spends a lot of her time traveling.

This month's recipe packet was all about the pâte à choux dough which is of an eggy, sticky, yet smooth consistency. Inside there were two recipes; one for the Gougere: big, golden, cheesy puffs which hail from the Burgundy region of France and another for Gnocchi Parisenne. M had it all planned out. We'd drop down into the valley for a little barbecue lunch and pick up the delicious gruyere cheese at Whole Foods and make the puffs for wine hour--which, occurs sporadically around here, but today it was sometime around dusk. What a coincidence! I read all about Molly's cocktail party enthusiasm in April's issue of Bon Appetit, all on account of these little cheesy rounds of pastry--and here we were pastry bags loaded, ready to bake them off.

We used Maria Sinskey's recipe:

Yields 30

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup water
10 tablespoons (1 1/3 sticks) unsalted butter
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
5 large eggs (thanks girls!)
1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan
1 cup shredded gruyere (1/2 cup extra for good measure)
1 teaspoon finely chopped thyme
1/2 teaspoon finely chopped rosemary (herbs should be fresh, bien sûr)

Eggwash:
1 large egg beaten well with 2 teaspoons of cool water

Directions:

1. Bring the water, butter, and salt to a boil in a medium saucepan.
2. Remove the pan from the heat and add flour.
3. Return the pan to medium high heat and stir until batter pulls away from the side of the pan. Scrape into the bowl of a standing mixer. Turn the mixer on and allow the paddle to cool the dough slightly from about a minute.
4. On low speed, add the eggs one by one. After each egg is added increase the speed to medium and beat until the egg is incorporated. The eggs may also be beaten in by hand. Beat well after all eggs have been added.
5. Add the grated cheese and herbs. Beat until well incorporated.
6. On a parchment or silpat-lined sheet pan, using a pastry bag, pipe the batter into 2-inch rounds, 2 inches apart. The batter may also be scooped into mounds with a tablespoon. Freeze for about 5-10 minutes to set.
7. To bake: preheat oven to 450 degrees. Position a rack in the center of the oven. Egg wash the puffs straight from the freezer. Bake for 20 minutes, rotating the pan once until puffed and golden. Serve warm (but they're great cool as well).

If you want to know how good these are just read Molly's column. Very satisfying to make and enjoy--certainly a crowd pleaser. The 30 of them were gone in less than 5 minutes.

[1-2. c. lynn]