GougÈres With Bacon Garlic And Thyme Food

SAUTEED SPINACH WITH BACON, GARLIC AND THYME

Steps:

• Cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat until crisp, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, thyme and red pepper flakes and cook until just fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the spinach and some salt and pepper, and cook, tossing, until the spinach is wilted, about 2 minutes. Add the balsamic vinegar and stir to combine. Serve hot or at room temperature.

THYME GOUGèRES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Bring butter and 1 cup water to a boil in a large heavy saucepan. Remove from heat. Add flour, cayenne, and salt; stir vigorously to blend. Return to heat; stir vigorously over medium heat until mixture forms a ball and a thin, dry film forms on bottom and sides of pan, about 1 minute. Transfer mixture to a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add 1 cup Gruyère, Asiago, and 2 teaspoons thyme; beat on low speed to blend. Add 4 eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each egg between additions, and scraping down sides of bowl as needed.
• Spoon dough into a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2" tip or a plastic bag with 1/2" cut diagonally from 1 corner. Pipe dough onto prepared baking sheets in 1"-1 1/4" rounds, spacing 1" apart. Whisk remaining egg with 1 tablespoon water in a small bowl. Brush egg wash lightly over rounds, patting down to form rounded tops. Sprinkle with remaining 3 tablespoons Gruyère. Garnish each with a few thyme leaves.
• Bake gougères until puffed and golden brown and centers are cooked through but still moist, 20-25 minutes. Let cool slightly and serve. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 month ahead. Let cool completely. Store airtight in freezer. Rewarm in 325°F oven until hot, 10-15 minutes.

CHEDDAR CHEESE GOUGERES WITH BACON

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
• In a medium saucepan, add 1 cup water, the butter and salt, and bring to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat to medium and add the flour all at once. Stir rapidly with a wooden spoon; the mixture will form a dough ball that will pull away from the sides of the pan. Continue to cook for a couple minutes.
• Remove the pan from the heat and let cool for a couple of minutes. Stir so that the dough cools more evenly; you want the dough to be warm, but not so hot that when you start adding the eggs they cook as they hit the dough. In a mixer or by hand with a wooden spoon, add the eggs one at a time, stirring after each addition until the eggs are incorporated. The dough should become rather creamy. Stir in the grated cheese, bacon, thyme and a few grinds of pepper.
• Spoon out small balls (about a heaping tablespoon) of the dough onto the baking sheet, with at least an inch separating the spoonfuls. Cook for 10 minutes; lower the heat to 350 degrees F and cook until puffed up and lightly golden, another 15 to 20 minutes.

BACON GOUGERES

Steps:

• Bring 1 cup water, 1 sliced stick butter and 1/2 teaspoon each kosher salt and pepper to a boil in a saucepan. Add 1 cup flour, reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring, until the mixture pulls away from the pan and looks shiny, about 3 minutes.
• Transfer the dough to a stand mixer; beat in 4 eggs, one at a time, on medium speed until smooth. Stir in 6 finely chopped cooked thick-cut bacon slices, 3/4 cup grated smoked gouda and 2 tablespoons chopped chives. Transfer to a piping bag; snip off the end. Pipe tablespoon-size mounds onto 2 parchment-lined baking sheets. Sprinkle with more gouda.
• Bake at 400˚ F, until the gougeres are puffed and golden, 25 to 30 minutes, rotating the pan after 20 minutes.

ROAST CHICKEN WITH THYME, GARLIC AND BACON

Steps:

• Wash the chicken well, removing any excess fat pockets, and trimming the skin lightly if desired. Loosen the skin from the breast and leg meat carefully. Take out any innards trapped in the bones of the cavity and let fresh water clear it out. Dry the chicken well, all of you.
• Combine the thyme, garlic, salt, pepper, and olive oil in a bowl. Stir well, adding the lemon zest, and strained juice, if desired.
• Slather some of the mixture into the cavity of the chicken. Put in the chopped bacon.
• Massage the remainder, as deeply as possible, into the breast and leg meat, reaching deep into the drumstick, and around the thighs.
• Tie the chicken legs. If any of the skin tears along the seam of the breast, tape it back together with toothpicks.
• Fit a roasting pan with a rack and add broth to a level that will not touch the chicken.
• Lay in the hen, breast side down and roast at 350 for 40-50 minutes.
• Retrieve the chicken from the oven, turn, breast side up. Continue roasting at 350 until done, and the breast registers 165 degrees in the thickest part. Make sure to take its temperature periodically, I find that people have other things to do and let the chicken cook lazily, thinking that it is never going to be done, and then go to check it, to find that it has already ruined. Check it, at least twice.
• Transfer to a plate, cover loosely with foil, and discard the rack. Transfer the drippings to a measuring cup. Retrieve off most of the fat, you can save some out to add back to the pan, if you feel the desire to have it a little richer, I don't really like a fat gravy.
• Taste the drippings, add more broth if desired.
• Do not have it too salty. Mix some cornstarch into a bowl with a little water or room temperature stock (about 2 tablespoons starch).
• Bring the drippings to a simmer in a small saucepan. Let the pan be slightly below the boil, and add in the starch, by degrees until it is thick and proper.
• Cook, if needed, then serve with the roast, carved up at table.