A Dyslexic version of *Crisp and Fluffy Potato Pancakes* from Michael Ruhlman

marilynfl

Moderator
from the recipe book "EGG A Culinary Exploration of the World's Most Versatile Ingredient" by Michael Ruhlman.

As to the dyslexic part, Michael mentions in the commentary text that his chief recipe tester begged him to include herbs and cheese to this recipe, so he did. This makes me think these shouldn't be as cheesy as they ended up because I took it much, much further than that.

Let's start with the legitimate Ruhlman recipe for C&F Potato Pancakes:

1 cup mashed potatoes

1 cup Pâte à Choux (see page 103)

salt

2 scallions, finely chopped (white and some of green) or fresh chives

1/4 C grated cheddar cheese (optional)

1 C panko

vegetable oil for sautéing

salt and freshly ground pepper

Mix patty ingredients together, shape into eight 3" disks. Press panko onto both sides. Brown in oil, blot, serve immediately.

****** moving on to

Page 103 = Gougères recipe

1 C water

1/2 C unsalted butter

1/2 tsp salt

1 scant cup (130 grams) flour

4 eggs

1 cup (120 grams) grated Gruyère

1/2 C (50 grams) grated parmesan

Combine water, butter and salt and simmer over high heat. Add flour and lower heat, stirring constantly for 30 seconds. Then stir for another 30 seconds.

Transfer to mixer and add eggs one at a time at med-high. Or stir like the dickens in the saucepan. Add the Gruyère and half the parmesan...

(Recipe continues on for baking purposes, but I was making the pancakes, remember? So...)

Here is my dyslexically screwed-up version that ended up tasting really good:

1. I was merely curious about this recipe, not to mention lazy, so I used Bob Evan's ready-to-eat mashed potatoes.

2. I added the cheddar because cheddar is never optional to me.

3. Apparently I was supposed to stop the recipe to get just Pâte à Choux rather than Gougères, but I didn't.

4. I also added ALL of the parmesan cheese rather than half.

5. ...resulting in MY version of the pancakes containing Gruyère AND Parmesan AND Cheddar.

5a. ...plus scallions AND chives,

6. I made half the recipe and shaped 4 large disks. Next time I would make the disks smaller because they were large but soft and a little difficult to flip. I cooked one and froze the other three.

7. I sautéed in butter rather than oil because...again, why not?

8. I pulled them out of the freezer the night before and made them for breakfast for Bonnie the next morning.

9. MY version ends up tasting like the filling from pirogies, which I love. Former Pittsburgh-ee Bonnie confirmed the taste profile. We both agreed this was a good thing.

10. I had piped out the rest of the Gougères dough onto parchment, froze them (tucking in the used parchment paper) then baked them separately a few days later at 400 degrees until golden, using the same parchment. They puffed up beautifully.

11. I felt very french there for a few moments, using accent aigus, graves, and circonflexes.

Adieu, mes amies.

 
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