Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Blue Cheese Popovers

On Monday, I mentioned a celebratory dinner party and went straight to discussing dessert. Today, I’ll backtrack and describe the hors d’oeuvre course. We toasted with a Louis Bouillot blanc de blancs sparkling wine and whetted our appetites with blue cheese popovers and herb-marinated green olives. I found the mini popovers in Martha Stewart's Hors d'Oeuvres Handbook. I’ve used this book many times over the years and have come to depend on it. The chapters are organized by shapes or styles such as skewered, stacked, or stuffed. There are meat, cheese, and vegetable options throughout, and several of the spiced nut variations have become perennial, holiday favorites of mine.

The genius of these popovers is that the batter needs to be chilled before it’s baked so it’s not just convenient but also necessary to make it the day before. I crumbled a Roquefort cheese as small as I could into the milk and melted butter batter which sat in the refrigerator overnight. Unlike baking full-sized popovers, the pan does not need to be pre-heated. A mini-muffin pan is used, and the batter is spooned in to fill each cup. They pop up nicely, hold their shape well even as they cool, and they can even be re-heated which I discovered when we snacked on the leftovers.

Served warm, these little, bite-sized morsels had a light, golden crust on the outside with pillowy, moist, and savory insides. The amount of blue cheese used here provides just a mild pungency. To my taste, I would actually consider increasing the amount to push that flavor forward. But, if blue cheese isn’t your thing, try these simple, tidy popovers with gruyere or parmigiana reggiano for your next cocktail hour.

19 comments:

  1. Ooh, gorgeous! You could shove a little nugget into the center of each before you bake, if you think it needed little more blue cheese oomph.

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  2. OMG, can I come over for tea and those?

    This is going to sound funny. Just for the heck of it I clicked on the "Austin" tag on Blogger, as I live in Austin and up popped your site's link.

    Pretty cool.

    I'm relatively new to blogging and loving it.

    Hmmn, your site is telling my tummy it's almost lunchtime!

    Nice to "meet" you - Jannie

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  3. I love popovers. So buttery, light and airy.
    I haven't made them in years....
    will definitely make them soon!
    Stacey

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  4. Jannie --
    Thanks for visiting, nice to meet you.

    Stacey --
    Can't wait to hear what kind you make.

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  5. I can guarantee I'll be making these and serving them with some warm olives. Oh yes indeed! Beautiful!

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  6. Those are so cute and it's nice to know you don't need a popover pan!

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  7. These are very yummy and so easy to make - Martha Stewart has a very similar recipe but adds thyme to it - People are fighting over the last ones in my house!! Thanks for reminding me about these little treasures as it has been awhile since I have made them!!

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  8. I'd like to try them but it seems you forgot to post the recipe.

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  9. I don't actually re-print recipes unless I change them significantly. I provide links if they're online, or I link to books. These were from: Martha Stewart's Hors d'Oeuvres Handbook, but the recipe isn't on the Martha site.

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  10. soo pretty :) the look delicious with olives!!

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  11. This is the perfect party food and goes so prettily with olives too ^_^

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  12. heather had a great idea!
    meanwhile, i love miniature things, and i suspect i'd get caught popping popover after popover after popover into my mouth. :)

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  13. Blue cheese is definitely my thing :)

    When I first read the title of your post I was thinking these would be great with some sort of soup. Appetizers sound like a great idea too!

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  14. Yum yum yum! I love blue cheese so much! I have that Martha Stewart book (surprise, I know) so I'll look these up. By the way, I just realized you weren't on my blogroll, but now you are!

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  15. Popover baked with blue cheese sounds so good!

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  16. I'm so embarrassed to say that I've had this cookbook for years, but haven't made anything from it!! But I've looked through it so many times! These look wonderful, and they just might be the first recipe I make from this book!

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  17. How do they taste the next day? . . . as leftovers? Should they stay at room temperature or can they be reheated in the oven?

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  18. PBD: I stored them at room temperature. They're best if you re-heat them for a few minutes before serving.

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