Cream Puff Shells for Book Group

Tonight is Book Group.  This month we read My Life in France by Julia Child and her nephew, whose name escapes me at the moment.  It is a delightful book.  Having had the great opportunity to spend several months in France many years ago, I rather identified with a number of items in the book.

Usually I like to think of some kind of refreshment to make that accompanies the topic of the reading for the month.  This time I thought of making choux paste to make cream puff shells.  I thought I would take them unfilled, since so often they become soggy.

Some of the empty cream puff shells

This was all a great idea. I did make the cream puff shells (click here for recipe). I did not burn them.  I also did not go to the Book Group as the last two days have been so hot and humid that my body has rather bitten the dust and I am barely hanging on.  It is too bad, since I had some nice tuna salad, some somewhat dry chicken salad, and a can of whipped cream which would be so easy for the ladies to inject into their cream puff shell.

Instead,  Dear One will get to enjoy the puffs.  He did come home and asked about filled shells.  It was not so popular to have empty shells, and whipped cream in a can to fill himself as he wanted them.  He rather likes the pastry cream I usually (as if I make these on a regular basis---probably 3-4 years since the last time....) make, and I think he especially likes the ganache I put on the top.  Oh well.  Maybe next time.  Maybe even tomorrow as there were 48 puffs and I am relatively sure he and Son will not eat them all tonight.  I had three.  It is amazing that a 1-inch glob of choux paste on the buttered pan puffs up into about 2-3 inches across and a couple of inches tall.

Fresh Salsa, again...

A generous friend gave me two flats of BEAUTIFUL tomatoes on Saturday.  All I had given her was a  loaf of the benighted sourdough-cracked-wheat-potato and whole wheat bread.  It was definitely not a fair trade, but as I said, she and her husband are very generous.

So this morning I pulled out the Cuisinart food processor and chopped ingredients then put them together and refrigerated the beautiful salsa, after eating several spoons full!

Salsa in the Measuring Cup

Today's Salsa recipe

5 cups chopped tomatoes
3 cups chopped yellow onions (since I did not have sweet onions)
Garlic cloves to fill a 1/4 cup measure, then finely chopped
Jalapeno coarsely chopped to fill a 1/3 cup measure, then finely chopped
1 Tablespoon coarse sea salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup dried cilantro (since I did not have any fresh cilantro)

Put all together in large bowl.  Stir well. Taste for seasoning (really, do that) then eat immediately or refrigerate and eat over the next few days.

Mixed Salsa

Friends are coming at lunch time so we will eat this salsa with the freshly made tortilla chips...which are calling me from the oven now!