Near & Far is a recipe book inspired by life and travel. In it, Swanson has compiled 120 of her favourite recipes from her life in San Francisco and Northern California and her travels to Morocco, France, India, Italy and Japan.

With a chapter devoted to each location, she provides a personal sketch of her culinary memories, a list of pantry items and a selection of vegetarian recipes complemented by her own photographs.

Here, Swanson shares her recipe for gougères: baked choux-pastry appetisers made with Comté cheese which are said to originate from Burgundy in France, where they were traditionally served in wine cellars as an accompaniment to wine tasting.

Gougères

Golden pom-poms of cheese and herb-flecked magic, gougères are pure delight. I’m all about keeping the process as simple as possible, opting for a one-dish method and stirring the batter by hand, not bothering with a mixer. Instead of fussing with a pastry bag, I push dollops of the dough onto baking-paper-lined baking trays from a spoon.

A couple of tips: be sure to use large eggs, not extra-large, and prep all your ingredients ahead of time. Related to baking, be sure the gougères brown all the way, particularly up the sides, before pulling them from the oven. The resulting structure will prevent the tops from caving in.

Recipe and images from ‘Near & Far’ by Heidi Swanson, $39.95, Hardie Grant Books.

Ingredients

170ml (2/3 cup) water
80ml (1/3 cup) milk
115g butter, thickly sliced
¾ teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
65g plain flour
65g wholemeal flour
4 eggs, at room temperature
90g grated Comté, gruyère or Cantal
4 tablespoons finely chopped soft herbs *

Method

Preheat the oven to 220°C, with racks placed in the top and bottom thirds. Line two baking trays with baking paper.

In a large heavy saucepan over medium-high heat, bring the water, milk, butter and salt just to the boil, then dial back the heat a bit. Add the flours and stir with a wooden spoon – really go at it – for a couple of minutes, until the dough comes together smoothly, is glossy and gives off a faint toasted scent. Remove from the heat and let cool for about 5 minutes – long enough so the eggs won’t cook when you work them in.

One at a time, add each of the 4 eggs, stirring vigorously after each addition. Stir in 70g of the cheese and the herbs. Right away, scoop the gougères onto the prepared baking trays in heaped tablespoon-sized dollops, leaving at least 4cm between each. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese.

Place in the oven, bake for 5 minutes, then reduce the heat to 190°C and bake for another 20 to 25 minutes, or until the gougères are deeply golden all over, puffed and well set. If you notice the gougères in the back browning much more quickly than the ones in the front, spin the tray 180 degrees about two-thirds of the way through without letting much heat out of the oven – be quick.

Alternately, if you aren’t going to bake the gougères immediately: shape the dough, sprinkle with cheese and freeze on trays for half an hour. Transfer the gougères to a well-sealed freezer bag until you’re ready to bake. Bake straight from the freezer, as above; they may need a couple of extra minutes.

* Try these herb combinations: 1 tablespoon each of fresh thyme, tarragon, oregano and dill; or 1 tablespoon each of fresh chives, tarragon, chervil and thyme.

Makes about 24