Asparagus Napoleons with Goat Cheese, Chives, Lemon Zest

I love puff pastry.  If you keep some in your freezer, you can make a lot of great things with very little notice. It only takes about 30-40 minutes to thaw and is so versatile.  Napoleons are usually desserts made with squares or rectangles of puff pastry and layered with pastry cream and fruit.  I'm going to show you how to make savory asparagus napoleons but you can make napoleons with any filling you like.  Get creative.  I'm using asparagus because it's in season here now.

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Technique 101: Learn Easy Pâte à Choux Dough and Make Beautiful Cream Puffs

Once you know how to make this easy Pâte à Choux dough, you can use it to make a number of different things. Pâte à Choux is cream puff pastry and is used to make cream puffs, gougeres, and even beignets.  I love it because it is simple, fast and I can make it ahead of time.  You can make these beautiful cream puffs and fill them as a dessert with ice cream or whipped cream.  You can make them and fill them for lunch with crab or chicken salad.  You can add cheese to the dough and make savory little gougeres for appetizers, which I will make for a future post.  You can make the cream puffs ahead of time and then simply fill them right before serving - I love recipes that can be made ahead of time, and this one is one of the best and most versatile.  Once you have this basic technique in your cooking arsenal, you will be ready to make all kinds of goodies.

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Sicilian Arancine

Arancine are one of the most traditional foods in all of Sicily.  These fried rice balls resemble oranges - the Italian word for orange is arancia.  They can be stuffed with a variety of mixtures, but a meat sauce, or ragu, is the most traditional.  In Sicily, they are sold everywhere and we loved to see them sold on the street by vendors, in the airport or even gas stations.  How different from the sad hot dogs and pretzels you buy in an American gas station! They are great picnic fare and are often eaten just held in a paper napkin.  Arancine are made by forming balls of risotto, inserting some kind of stuffing, rolling them in bread crumbs and then frying. They are best served hot but can be eaten room temperature.  

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