Bodacious Bouchons - September BakeSpace Challenge

It's that time of the month again... My Bakespace buds and I participate in the BakeSpace Challenge. This month, the challenge was to choose a recipe from another participating member's Recipe Box, and make it. We did a round robin drawing so my friend DDpie (DD) was cooking from my recipe box, and I was cooking from Gigi421's (Karen) recipe box, who was cooking from DajaD's (Dajana) recipes.... and so on and so forth... Did that make any sense?

I had a hard time deciding what I wanted to cook from Karen's collection. There were SO many great things... Braciole from her grandmother, Savory Italian Herbed Muffins, Zabaglione with Strawberries (that she had made for the Strawberries and Eggs challenge from earlier this year), as well as Sauerkraut Balls, Veal Capricosa and something I have made many times before because they are absolutely delicious.... Ricotta Gnocchi. But I finally decided on Tuna Corks, because I had friends over for lunch this afternoon, and I thought it would be a great little repast.

I made two changes out of necessity, because I was missing 2 ingredients... Onion and Gruyere. So I resorted to Shallot and Uniekaas Alpenhorn, which is a dutch cheese that is kind of a cross between Gruyere and Emmental. I also separated the eggs to see if I could get a little height to the finished product. This did increase my output from 8 bouchons to 11. Here is my slightly altered version, and YES, they were DELICIOUS!!!!! Something delightfully different from Tuna Salad or a Tuna Sandwich... YUM!

Bouchons au Thon

(Tuna Corks)

Vegetable cooking spray
6 oz Chunk-Light or Albacore Tuna in spring water, drained
2 TB finely chopped Flat Leaf Parsley
1/4 teaspoon Salt
3 TB Tomato Paste
3 large Eggs, lightly beaten (I separated 2 of the eggs and beat the egg whites then folded them in)
1/4 cup finely chopped Yellow Onion (Shallot)
1 cup (4ozs.) shredded Gruyere cheese (I used Uniekaas Alpenhorn)
1/3 cup Crème Fraîche

Heat the oven to 325 degrees.
Lightly grease 8 wells of a standard muffin tin with the cooking spray.

Place the tuna in a medium size mixing bowl; use a fork to break up any pieces larger than a dime.

Add Parsley, Salt, Tomato Paste and Eggs stirring to combine thoroughly. (I added 1 egg and 2 egg yolks)

Stir in the shredded Gruyere.

Fold in the Crème Fraîche.

Beat the Eggs Whites to firm peaks.

Fold into the mixture.

Divide the mixture evenly among the 11 muffin-tin wells. (filling about 3/4 full)

Use water to fill any empty wells halfway full to prevent those wells from scorching.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the tops and edges of the bouchons are set.

Dislodge the bouchons by running a knife around the inside edges of their wells.
Let them sit for 2 or 3 minutes, then carefully extract them and transfer to individual plates with Bay Leaves, Lemon Leaves, Dill Sprig or Parsley Sprigs and a slice of Lemon to garnish.

Mangia!!
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