I was inspired to make these crackers after reading The Blue Bistro by Elin Hilderbrand.
On the Page
I picked up this book because I had just watched the Netflix limited series The Perfect Couple based on one of her books. The show had been interesting enough for me to binge-watch it in a few evenings; I figured I would pick up one of her novels.
Adrienne flees Colorado - and the hotel world - and lands in Nantucket. Though she has absolutely no restaurant experience, one of the restaurant owners hires her to run the front of the house of the wildly popular eponymous restaurant, The Blue Bistro. Thatch and Fiona co-own the eatery and have been friends since elementary school. Where Thatch is outgoing and charming, Fiona hides in the kitchen and churns out her creative, popular fare.
As you can imagine, romance blooms between Adrienne and Thatch though she is jealous of the relationship between Thatch and Fiona. Despite his protestations that they are just friends, their relationship is definitely more complicated than just friends or even just business partners.
I wasn't much into the romance side of the story, but the food descriptions made my mouth water!
"It was the best omelet Adrienne had ever eaten. Perfectly cooked so that the eggs were soft and buttery. Filled with sautéed onions and mushrooms and melted Camembert cheese. There were three roasted cherry tomatoes on the plate, skins splitting, oozing juice. Nutty wheat toast. Thatch had brought butter and jam to the table. The butter was served like a tiny cheesecake on a small pedestal under a glass dome. The jam was apricot, homemade, served from a Ball jar."
"'The other basket contains our world-famous savory doughnuts,' Thatcher said. He whipped the cloth off like a magician, revealing six golden-brown doughnuts. The doughnuts were deep-fried rings of a light, yeasty, herb-flecked dough. Chive, basil, rosemary. Crisp on the outside, soft on the inside. Savory doughnuts. Who wouldn’t stand in line for these? Who wouldn’t beg or steal to access the private phone line so that they could make a date with these doughnuts?"
"'These are hand-cut potato chips with crème fraîche and a dollop of beluga caviar. This is the gift we send out. It’s better than Christmas.'"
"In the restaurant kitchen, August meant lobsters, blackberries, silver queen corn, and tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes. In honor of the last year of the restaurant, Fiona was creating a different tomato special for each day of the month. The first of August (two hundred and fifty covers on the book, eleven reservation wait list) was a roasted yellow tomato soup. The second of August (two hundred and fifty covers, seven reservation wait list) was tomato pie with a Gruyère crust. On the third of August, Ernie Otemeyer came in with his wife to celebrate his birthday and since Ernie liked food that went with his Bud Light, Fiona made a Sicilian pizza—a thick, doughy crust, a layer of fresh buffalo mozzarella, topped with a voluptuous tomato-basil sauce."
This was the passage that inspired this recipe...
"Most of my staff has been here since we opened twelve years ago. They love it here. They love it because Fee puts out the best family meal on the island and at midnight she sends out homemade crackers. Ninety-nine percent of the world think that crackers only come out of a box, and then here’s Fee sending out baskets of hot, crisp cheese crackers and after eight hours of busting their asses and raking in three, four hundred bucks, the staff gets first dib - "
and that’s why they want to work here. Because of the crackers.
In my Hand
I don't think I've ever worked anywhere because of the crackers, but I do love these crackers. And I especially I love that these are so flexible. One time I made them with Smoked Gouda, another time it was Cotswold. Actually this time it was Cotswold. You will just need to adjust the texture of the dough as a more oily cheese will take longer to bake or you will need a smidge more flour.
1-1/2 cup flour plus more if needed
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
2 cups shredded cheese (I used Cotswold for this batch)
1/2 cup butter, cubed
1 to 2 Tablespoons vodka (or you can use water)
Also needed: parchment paper, rolling pin, cutters (I used a small biscuit round or you can just cut by hand)
Place flour, spices, cheese, and butter in the bowl of a food processor. Cover and pulse until evenly blended. Add vodka or water until a stiff dough forms.
Turn the dough into a bowl and press it into a cylinder or disc. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes.
While the dough chills, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
Roll dough to about 1/8" thickness on a lightly floured surface or between two sheets of lightly floured parchment paper.
Cut into desired shapes with a small cutter or cut basic squares approximately 1-1/2" in size. Gently transfer shapes to prepared baking sheet using a thin spatula. For larger crackers, you can use the tip of a chopstick or skewer to make a small hole in center of each cracker. For these, I didn't do that.
Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until the bottoms just begin to brown. Let cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
I am adding this to the October #FoodieReads link-up.
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