Dear Tofurkey,
I'm sorry to hear about your blender, and sorrier that we cannot afford a (rigged) giveaway that would get you a Vitamix to replace it. Someday I'm sure you will get one and I can assure you it will survive the ice cream making described in that recipe. I have already made similar things (some of which you've tasted) and my Vitamix has never let me down. They are definitely delicious, though not, I think, a substitute for real ice cream.
This week, as I told you on the phone (since we will not become pseudo-internet friends), I tried hard to replicate one of our childhood favorites: mushroom puffs. For those who will read this blog when we are famous enough to afford giveaways and who may not know about mushroom puffs, let me describe them: OMFGSOFCKINGGOODICANDIEHAPPYNOW. That's the sound you make after you take your first bite. Unfortunately, future ignorant reader, you will never know that firsthand because these delicacies were made by the Pepperidge Farm company which several years ago stopped making them. How could they possibly do that if they were so good? Well, I have a theory. You see, when I was younger, we would buy them in Canada on our way to our cottage. Usually, we would buy every last box in the store. They were little puff pastries filled with mushrooms and onions smothered in a white wine cream sauce. You would toast them to golden brown and consume the pure happiness that resulted. But as we grew older, they became scarce, until finally we could not find them. We wrote comments to the stores, asking them to get them and were told that they did not sell them anymore. So we wrote the company, and were rebuffed, even when we asked for the recipe! Why should they want to protect a recipe they would not use anymore? I think that as processed food became more profitable, they took these off the market because they were made with real, wholesome, delicious ingredients and now they do not want to remind our chemistry-addled stomachs of the true deliciousness of real food so they will not even tell you how to make them.
Never fear! I started with the recipe you gave me in your cookbook to me, the one adapted fro Deborah Madison I think? Here are the results.
This attempt was good, but not really a mushroom puff by far. This
was partly my own fault. One, we do not have a tart pan and since I was
laughed at for buying a pastry crimper recently, I did not buy one. So
when I poured the egg and cream over the top, it ran over the flat sides
of the pastry and basically formed a bath. So it wasn't really baked so
much as poached. Also, it doesn't call for wine and the herbs weren't
quite right. So I tried again this past week. This time I used a
slightly more labor-intensive pastry dough and I blind baked it first. I
should have baked it even longer because the bottom still was crispy,
but next time I will. I sauteed leeks, onions, and mushrooms and
deglazed the pan with white wine, adding rosemary, fresh thyme, salt,
and pepper. When I reduced, I threw out the rosemary sprig and added
some half and half and a little grated gruyere. Once that reduced and
thickened, I poured it into the pastry and used the extra dough to make a
thatchwork top crust. I also added some seasoned roast chicken to the
bottom, which was really good, but obviously not for you and not a part
of the original mushroom puff spirit (use of chicken voids
OMFGSOFCKINGGOODI CANDIEHAPPYNOW guarantee). Here are the results:
I'm sorry to hear about your blender, and sorrier that we cannot afford a (rigged) giveaway that would get you a Vitamix to replace it. Someday I'm sure you will get one and I can assure you it will survive the ice cream making described in that recipe. I have already made similar things (some of which you've tasted) and my Vitamix has never let me down. They are definitely delicious, though not, I think, a substitute for real ice cream.
This week, as I told you on the phone (since we will not become pseudo-internet friends), I tried hard to replicate one of our childhood favorites: mushroom puffs. For those who will read this blog when we are famous enough to afford giveaways and who may not know about mushroom puffs, let me describe them: OMFGSOFCKINGGOODICANDIEHAPPYNOW. That's the sound you make after you take your first bite. Unfortunately, future ignorant reader, you will never know that firsthand because these delicacies were made by the Pepperidge Farm company which several years ago stopped making them. How could they possibly do that if they were so good? Well, I have a theory. You see, when I was younger, we would buy them in Canada on our way to our cottage. Usually, we would buy every last box in the store. They were little puff pastries filled with mushrooms and onions smothered in a white wine cream sauce. You would toast them to golden brown and consume the pure happiness that resulted. But as we grew older, they became scarce, until finally we could not find them. We wrote comments to the stores, asking them to get them and were told that they did not sell them anymore. So we wrote the company, and were rebuffed, even when we asked for the recipe! Why should they want to protect a recipe they would not use anymore? I think that as processed food became more profitable, they took these off the market because they were made with real, wholesome, delicious ingredients and now they do not want to remind our chemistry-addled stomachs of the true deliciousness of real food so they will not even tell you how to make them.
Never fear! I started with the recipe you gave me in your cookbook to me, the one adapted fro Deborah Madison I think? Here are the results.
This attempt was good, but not really a mushroom puff by far. This
was partly my own fault. One, we do not have a tart pan and since I was
laughed at for buying a pastry crimper recently, I did not buy one. So
when I poured the egg and cream over the top, it ran over the flat sides
of the pastry and basically formed a bath. So it wasn't really baked so
much as poached. Also, it doesn't call for wine and the herbs weren't
quite right. So I tried again this past week. This time I used a
slightly more labor-intensive pastry dough and I blind baked it first. I
should have baked it even longer because the bottom still was crispy,
but next time I will. I sauteed leeks, onions, and mushrooms and
deglazed the pan with white wine, adding rosemary, fresh thyme, salt,
and pepper. When I reduced, I threw out the rosemary sprig and added
some half and half and a little grated gruyere. Once that reduced and
thickened, I poured it into the pastry and used the extra dough to make a
thatchwork top crust. I also added some seasoned roast chicken to the
bottom, which was really good, but obviously not for you and not a part
of the original mushroom puff spirit (use of chicken voids
OMFGSOFCKINGGOODI CANDIEHAPPYNOW guarantee). Here are the results: 
So they weren't perfect, but they were almost there. If I added more cream to the sauce and baked the pastry dough all the ay through before adding the filling first, I think I'd be there. I hope sometime soon we can have a good ol' days mushroom puff on the porch at Canada with our families. Meanwhile, maybe you'll be inspired to try too and we can compare notes.
Miss you and love you,
Tukey
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