My Love Affair with Gourmet Magazine – Now Defunct 🙁

I love keeping and reading old magazines related to cooking while traveling on long, boring, cross-country, super-highway, road trips. (Even the description is boring.) Some of my favorite magazines are back issues of the now defunct Gourmet Magazine. These magazines taught me how to cook, so naturally I cherish them. Recently I came across a recipe I surely saw before, but ignored till now—Mini Shrimp Cornets from the November 2004 issue of Gourmet.

Sometimes trying something new, slightly tricky, without my arsenal of kitchen tools is seemingly nuts. But to me it is a gauntlet thrown down. A challenge accepted. And hopefully overcome. In this particular instance I was forced to innovate. I used a kitchen towel with imperfect 1″ squares for my ruler, substituted my finger for a pastry brush, and aluminum foil sprayed with Pam for baking and lightly dusted with flour for freezing. I did have to buy a rolling pen (there was nothing suitable to substitute—now that I think of it a wine bottle might have worked—I’ll never know), and I always travel with a sharp knife and a knife sharpener.

The bottom line is, I persevered, and it worked.  The tiny cornets were elegant and tasty; and serving them to guests was a breeze with a little advance planning. I say go for it. Just don’t expect perfection the first time—it is like making crepes or pancakes. The first one is always pretty much a failure.  If yours are perfect from the very first one, congratulations! But please be kind and don’t tell me! 😊

And they don’t have to be perfect. Furled or unfurled. Round, square, triangles, or crescents. Whatever works best for you. Just remember follow the list of ingredients as written. Both the medium dry sherry and the fresh tarragon make it special.

Mini Shrimp Cornucopias

48 hors d’oeuvres

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
• 1 pound large shrimp (21 to 25 per pound in shell), shelled, deveined, and coarsely chopped
• 2 tablespoons medium-dry Sherry
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 (17 1/4-ounce) Pepperidge Farms package frozen puff pastry sheets, thawed
• All-purpose flour for dusting
• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon milk

Special Equipment

• parchment paper

Charlotte’s Special Equipment

• a very sharp knife or pizza cutter
• a 12″ ruler
• a small bowl of room temperature water

Heat butter in an 8-inch skillet over moderately low heat until foam subsides, then cook onion, stirring occasionally, until softened but not browned, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a bowl to cool.

When onion is cool, add shrimp, Sherry, tarragon, salt, and pepper and stir until combined well.

Roll out 1 sheet of pastry on a lightly floured surface into a 12″ square. Cut into thirds in one direction, then into fourths in the other direction to make 12 (3″ x 4″) rectangles. Cut each rectangle in half diagonally to form 2 triangles.

Charlotte’s Note:

It is pretty important to have the exact dimensions. You need to measure.  Make sure that no side is shorter than that specified. If you can’t get the pastry to roll to the desired length, the world won’t end if you carefully stretch each triangle by hand to reach the desired dimensions. Perhaps it even needs to be a smidge larger for you to work with it.

Place 1 triangle on a work surface with longest edge nearest you, then put 1 teaspoon shrimp filling in the center of triangle.

Charlotte’s Note:

After a bit of trial and error you will discover the perfect placement for you. The last batch I made, I used ½ teaspoon (yes, the kind you measure with, generously filled) and placed it in the triangle. When they were shaped into cornets and looked a little empty, I placed additional shrimp mixture in the tiny Thanksgiving cornucopia/cornet.

At this point, to make sure that the cornets seal correctly, I lightly brushed all of the exposed edges with water using my finger—no pastry brush was available. And a finger works just fine—maybe better?

Bring bottom corner of shortest side up to top point, then wrap remaining corner around resulting cone. Pinch to seal, then transfer to a lined baking sheet. Form more cornets in same manner, then repeat with remaining sheet of pastry.

Charlotte’s Note:

This is the part that tries men’s souls.  At least it did mine. Hopefully you are better than me. What did work for me, was to bring the left side of the lower bottom point of the pastry over the shrimp till it reached the bottom right had corner of the triangle. Then I took the long point and proceeded to wrap it around and around, at least twice, sometimes three times. In time you will get your groove going. And as you can tell from the photo below, my finished product does not look anything like Gourmet’s instructions.

Whisk together egg and milk and lightly brush some of egg wash over top of pastries. A finger works. A pastry brush is faster.

Charlotte’s Note:

If cooking immediately (which I don’t advise), do the following. If preparing ahead for freezing follow my instructions at the bottom of the recipe.

Chill first sheet of cornets, loosely covered (forget this part), while making second.

Bake in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until golden, 18 to 20 minutes total.

Cool cornets on sheets on racks 5 minutes, then gently loosen from parchment with a spatula. Serve warm.

Charlotte’s Note – To Do Ahead:

If you want to retain your sanity and have fun while entertaining your guests, my advice is to DO THESE AHEAD AND FREEZE THEM!

After you shape the cornets, and brush them with egg wash, place them on a parchment lined baking sheet (my preference is a half-sheet pan with parchment sheets sized to fit) and place flat in the freezer section of your refrigerator. When they are completely frozen (1 – 2 hours) remove them from the sheet pan and place them in a freezer worthy plastic bag, press out the air, and seal. They will probably keep for a month; I can’t guarantee this. I froze mine only days in advance so the longevity has not been tested.

These parchment sheets are available from Amazon or King Arthur. Amazon costs less and has free shipping if you are a Prime member. I get the unbleached type. They are as good as Silpat sheets for cookies. They can be reused wile baking a batch of cookies or cornets, and you do not have the chore of cleaning them up afterward.

The day you want to serve them, remove the cornets from the freezer two hours before you plan on putting them in the oven. Place them (not touching) on a parchment lined baking sheet, keeping them refrigerated, and uncovered until you place them in the oven. Then bake at 400° for 18 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.

One other thing—this is not conventional wisdom for freezing and baking. Most instructions will tell you to brush with egg wash right before placing the frozen hors d’oeuvres in the oven, and to bake while frozen. So follow whichever instructions feels right to you.