Timbales

Tuesday's lunch was an impromptu affair. We have a freezer full of stuff from our summer garden that must be used in the coming months. Among our stash are freezer bags filled with grated summer squash and quite a few 2-cup portions of tomato sauce.

Ken found a recipe in the Joy of Cooking for timbales, little eggy custards made with vegetables. So I thawed out some squash and sautéed it with grated shallot, and tossed a portion of our frozen tomato sauce in the microwave to thaw.

The cooked squash timbales cooling on a rack.

Then I mixed the cooked squash with 2 eggs, some crème fraiche, some grated leftover cheese (chaussée aux moines), fresh breadcrumbs (that we make with leftover baguettes and keep in the freezer), seasoned it with salt and pepper, added a couple dashes of hot pepper sauce, and sprinkled in some dried cerfeuil, or chervil.

The timbales are served, surrounded with tomato sauce and sprinkled with paprika.

This mixture went into buttered ramekins (I don't have real timbale molds) and into a water bath in a 160ºC oven for about half an hour. When they came out, they cooled for 10 minutes before I unmolded them and surrounded them with sauce.

Yummmm !

They were delicious, a little taste of summer, and we ate all three.