a springtime night for light indulgence

in preparation for my attempt this weekend of gateau st-honore, i decided to plan a small menu around it and sieze the opportunity to finally pull my vue out of its exile on the shelf. i first heard about this delightful book on the martha show, when i realized that for all of my pasta, pizza and wagamama books i have no tomes on basic french-inspired cuisine (even if, in this case, it came by way of australia). i liked shannon’s casual approach to his french food when i saw him on the show and i liked him even more as i perused his book for ideas this morning.

i settled on his pea soup creation when i saw the inscription for it: “perfect for a springtime night of light indulgence.” the recipe consisted of a very basic, very simple and very delicious pea soup with no fuss and no muss, to be accompanied by scallops wrapped in pancetta. here’s where i started making changes: i used chicken, because i had it in the fridge and because i don’t eat things that swim, and i also used proscuitto because while i do have pancetta in the fridge it isn’t sliced and i wasn’t feeling up to dealing with my mandoline and making slices.

that took care of the entree. for the hors d’eouvres--and this, i really thought, was inspired--i took a scrap of the leftover puff pastry and the leftover egg whites from my gateau and made a mini quiche lorraine. was it perfect? no. i didn’t pre-bake the puff crust enough. was it delicious? you bet your ass it was.