This week is the first French Fridays with Dorie challenge, and boy am I glad to be a part of this! I've been practicing my poor neglected french skills for the past couple of weeks. Mr. Boom and Chirp-chirp are just about at wits end listening to my conversations with myself, the cats, the fish, the bees, and any other creature caught in my evil french aura.
The look on Mr. Boom's face as I was leaning over the bridge the other night, counting spawning sockeye salmon in a sort of frenchy Count from Sesame Street voice...well it was just something. That's all I'll say about that.
This is not sockeye salmon, rather it's wild Coho. And that's the last of the broccoli from this year's garden. The gougeres really stole the show, though. And my friends, I'm not kidding when I say it's a real feat to top fresh Coho salmon.
The recipe called for any type of sharp cheese. I used an applewood smoked natural cheddar. The smokiness went really well with the salmon and held it's own against the almost peppery taste of the late season broccoli. The recipe also called for five large eggs. One of my young hens is laying cute little eggs now, so I used up seven of her eggs to equal the five the recipe required. One large egg, without its shell, weighs 50 grams. So, I just kept cracking the eggs into the bowl until I hit 250 grams. The yolks are just a bit bigger than my thumbnail, to give you a sense of perspective that the photo is sorely lacking!
So, first challenge was a total success. I can't wait for next week!
