Pigu {Italian Gougères}

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Here while back, I came across a recipe for Pigu. What the heck is Pigu I wondered? Well, basically it is a little dough like thing filled with romano cheese. You start out by making the dough much like noodles, but I almost think it comes out tasting more like bread than a noodle dough. Basically, it is like an Italian Gougères.

Okay, I’ll bite (for you)… what is a Gougères? It is a choux pastry flavored with cheese (usually Gruyère), then usually filled with a savory filling.

So, we have dough, check.

We have cheese, check.

Well, it’s like an Italian Gougères, correct? We’re going to go with it and run!

Pigu {Italian Gougères}

My Kitchen

First, let’s talk about my kitchen. I can almost officially say, IT’S DONE!!!

Why can I almost and not just scream it? Well, because I don’t have all my kitchen stuff moved in yet. I’ve been moving 1 box at a time. Plus I have to be careful because I can’t have anything on the counters yet. You know, a coffee pot, my Kitchenaid Mixer, a toaster, etc. Everything moved in has to be in a drawer or a cabinet. We’re not done with the dust yet. The dust in the house, not so much the kitchen. 

But just because I can’t officially scream it’s done, it’s done. In fact, I have now baked a cake and made my first meal in the kitchen. Should I also mention that my stove isn’t actually hooked up to a big propane tank yet? Are you questioning me yet? Good! My stove is hooked up to a BBQ Propane bottle right now. Whatever, I have a working stove. I can cook and bake. That makes me happy!

Dinner

The other night I decided I was tired of pizza, burgers, tacos, basically… take out. Since my stove was working, I decided I was making Shrimp Fried Rice… but then changed my mind to make Shrimp Cakes. Yum! I asked hubby what he wanted as a side, he said grab red potato salad. I did but wasn’t totally feeling that.

That’s when I remembered that I had read a recipe for Pigu. It’s also on my bucket list. The story behind these cute little puffs of pillow pastry was Brown Eyed Baker eats them at Easter. Hello, this week is Easter. That meant now was as good of a time as any. If I didn’t do it this year, I’d have to wait for next year. Plus I had victims to try them on. Ha! I joke! I did have people at my house helping lay tile, trim, etc. That meant that I got to feed them yummy food. One of my favorite things to do!

Ingredients

Truthfully very few ingredients go into the making of these cute little pillow puffs. Eggs, water, vegetable oil, flour. And the quantities of each basically screams, homemade noodles.

You put the flour, make a well, add the water, eggs, and vegetable oil. Slowly mix in and incorporate. Sounds like noodle dough to me. Even the quantities are extremely similar. Now, I wish I would have had my kitchen fully stocked to do this… but I was working on a small counter space. Why? Because I had all the drawers and shelves out of my refrigerator sitting on the countertops. Don’t ask… yet.

Then the filling was made out of Romano Cheese, eggs, and pepper. As much black pepper as you could stand. Truthfully, I wish I would have used more. Way more. But not knowing with my first go-round, I stayed on the reserved side. Last month we went to Kansas City. While there we went to City Market and I bought Romano Cheese so I had fresh Romano Cheese. Yum!

I swear, mixing the filling looked like scrambled eggs. LOL. And don’t forget the black pepper!

Problems

Here is where I tell you about the problems I had. I was working on a cutting board versus the counter… so I was limited on space. I’m not sure I rolled the dough out properly. I also didn’t quite have enough Romano Cheese. So I made 18 instead of 25 of these little gems. Oh, and I didn’t have a brush for the egg wash so I used a spoon and drizzled egg wash over the top. 

And because I probably didn’t roll my dough correctly, mine don’t look like little ravioli. I don’t care though because, YUM! That Romano Cheese was nice and tangy. The dough was perfectly baked. And it was all around… YUM! But again, don’t forget that black pepper!

Let’s just say… make these, make them now! In fact, tomorrow… that way you have them before Easter in the Lent season! You’re welcome.

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