Daughter Kate is a great cook and caterer and her chicken salad made with smoked almonds has become one of our favorites.  She often serves it stuffed in gougeres.  The salad is best done in a processor, unless you want to spend hours finely chopping the ingredients. The special flavor comes from the smoked almonds, which are a must.  Makes about 2 dozen, plus a few, but if you want to make more,  you can cool completely and freeze them for another time

Gougeres:

1 cup milk
4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
5 large eggs, divided
5 oz. Capriole fresh goat cheese, crumbled

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and line two baking sheets with Silpats or parchment paper.

In a medium saucepan, combine the butter, milk and salt and bring to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat and add the flour all at once. Whisk for a few minutes, then return the pan to the heat and continue whisking to dry the paste out slightly. Remove the heat from the pan again, switch to a wooden spoon, and add 4 of the eggs — one at a time — stirring to make sure each egg is fully incorporated before adding the next. Stir in the goat cheese .

Drop the batter by the tablespoonful onto the baking sheets. Beat the remaining egg, then brush the tops of each puff with it. Bake each sheet, one at a time, in the 375 degree F oven for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees F and continue cooking for another 5-10 minutes, until the tops are nicely browned and the gougeres are puffed. Serve warm, or let cool completely and freeze in a ziptop bag (you can reheat in an oven on a baking sheet before you’re ready to serve.)

BBQ Chicken Salad:

4   chicken breasts whole, the halved and rubbed with a garlic clove, salt, and pepper

½ red onion, peeled

4   celery stalks, washed and  trimmed

1 can Blue Diamond Smokehouse Almonds

3-4 c. mayonnaise, home-made or Hellman’s

Preheat oven to 350°.  Place split chicken breasts in a buttered baking dish and bake for 25 min. or until just tender and juices run clear.  Set aside to cool.  In a food processor, pulse the almonds, onion, and celery till fine and place in a mixing bowl.  Repeat with the deboned, cooled chicken.   Mix all together with 3 cups mayonnaise.  The mixture should be moist but not sloppy.  Add more mayo if necessary.  Cover and refrigerate until needed.

Just before serving split gougeres horizontally and fill with salad mixture.  Serve at once