“In fact, I was at a party at their house just last week where I had the most delicious lobster puffs I've ever eaten. I'm very fond of them.”
The Gilmores’ Lobster Puffs
Ingredients:
⅓ cup of yellow onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
Salt
Black pepper
1/2 tsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp dried thyme
4 oz cream cheese
5 cups of spinach
⅓ cup gruyere cheese, grated
⅓ cup cheddar cheese, grated
2 tbsp sour cream
⅔ cup of cooked lobster meat (authentic or imitation, whichever works best for your budget)
4 slices of bacon, cooked and diced
2 sheets of puff pastry
1 tbsp water
1 egg, beaten
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Sauté the onion in some olive oil or leftover bacon grease if you saved it. Cook over medium heat until translucent (about 4 minutes) add the garlic and sauté for an additional 2 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, parsley, and thyme. You can use fresh herbs, but I find it's easier to just keep dried on hand.
Mix in cream cheese and allow to cook until slightly melted. Add spinach and cook until the spinach is wilted down. Remove from heat.
In a large bowl, add the spinach mixture with the gruyere and cheddar cheeses, sour cream, lobster, and bacon. Stir until combined.
Roll out the puff pastry sheets on a lightly floured surface or parchment paper to create a large square about 12 x 12 inches.
Cut the pastry into three long columns. If you used store-bought pastry, there should be folds in the pastry you can use as a guide to cut. Cut the columns into thirds to create 9 squares for each sheet. The squares should be about 4 x 4 inches.
Scoop a heaping spoonful of the lobster mixture (about a tablespoon) onto the center of each pastry square. Brush water along the edges to help seal the dough. Fold the squares in half along the diagonal to create a triangle shape. Use a fork to create a crimped pattern along the edges if you wish. Brush the egg lightly over the lobster puffs before baking.
Place lobster puffs on a baking sheet and bake at 375 F for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
Cook Time: 35 minutes I Prep Time: 20 minutes I Makes 18 servings
This episode has an extra special place in my heart. See, every year for Halloween, I dress up in a “couples” costume with my dog. This most recent Halloween I finally did a Gilmore Girls-themed costume with her. If you read my introduction post, I shared that we went as Luke and Lorelai, but it was a specific Lorelai look. Specific to the second episode, “The Lorelais’ First Day at Chilton.” As any fan of the show will remember, Rory’s first day at Chilton fell on Laundry Day. Now why Lorelai would send every other piece of clothing she owns to the dry cleaners seems like a bit of a stretch to me. But alas, she’s forced to wear a hot pink tie-dye t-shirt and Daisy Duke shorts. She attempts to cover up this fashion faux pas with a long brown coat, but after urging from Headmaster Charleston and Emily, she has no choice but to reveal this crazy ensemble. So for Halloween, my dog Rosie and I went as plaid-clan Luke and First Day at Chilton Lorelai.
Speaking of Headmaster Charleston, his line was the inspiration behind my dish for this episode. After Lorelai and Emily leave Rory for her first day, Headmaster Charleston sets his high expectations of her for Chilton. He shares that he’s known her grandparents for quite some time. And just last week, he attended a party at the Gilmores’ where he had the most delicious lobster puffs. In honor of Emily, Richard, and Hanlin’s favorite hors d'oeuvres, we’re making lobster puffs!
This lobster puff recipe is rich and delectable with three different cheeses and bacon! If you want to be fancy and use real lobster, go for it! But it’s also perfectly okay to cook on a budget and use imitation lobster too. Remember, we don’t play by the rules here, and I’m not going to judge you. Although, Emily Gilmore might. You can also be really fancy and make your own puff pastry, but I find store-bought puff pastry is just as delicious and less stressful to make! Brushing the puffs with an egg wash creates a nice golden brown color after baking. I love a good buttery, flaky pastry and this one goes so well with the lobster.
If we weren’t in a pandemic and I was able to have my annual Christmas party in person, these lobster puffs would definitely be on the menu this year. Ask any of my friends, I tend to go all out with the food at my Christmas parties even for a small gathering of friends. I love coming up with little Christmas-themed puns for each of the dishes. These would probably have to be called “Santa Claws Lobster Puffs.” Hopefully for next year’s party…
Today is also a special day for my Gilmore Girls obsession. It’s the two year anniversary of when I unlocked a new level of the fandom. The day I won Gilmore Girls bar trivia. I had been attending trivia nights at this bar for years. And I may get a little competitive. Okay, I can’t lie to you, I’m REALLY competitive. Their annual Harry Potter trivia is incredibly difficult. They get their questions by turning to a random page in one of the books and finding a question on the page. One year, I teamed up with six other friends and we were each responsible for knowing one book. I had Deathly Hallows and well...I may have made over 1,000 flashcards that I studied for over a month to prepare for the trivia night (If you couldn’t tell, my Hogwarts house is Ravenclaw).
Now that you know just how competitive I am, let me tell you the story of Gilmore Girls trivia. I went with my sister and best friend, and they were mostly there for moral support (hey, those are their own words!). I answered most of the questions with ease. There was only one I missed, “what book is prominently featured at Richard’s funeral?” Which IS NOT FAIR because who rewatches the Netflix revival on a constant loop? Yes, I am still bitter about that. The book was Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman if you must know. I have to credit the Gilmore Guys for giving me the ability to name Jason Mantzoukas when we had to identify guest actors during the half-time round. Seriously, how can you not love the Mantzoukas episodes of Gilmore Guys?
And then came my glorious moment when we reached the final round. A bit of background information: the final round at this bar’s trivia nights are always putting things in numerical order. You have to wager 10-30 points, but if you get any part of the order wrong, you lose those points. Many a trivia night have been lost due to the dreaded final round. Gilmore Girls was not my first TV show trivia night. I had also competed in Friends, Parks and Rec, and How I Met Your Mother trivia, but never placed. However, I noticed a trend for the final round for these TV show theme nights. We were given a list of recurring characters and we’d have to put them in order of the number of episodes they appear in.
Well, my friends, I had set out on a mission to memorize the Gilmore Girls IMDB page. The whole damn thing. Okay, not the whole page, but from Lorelai Gilmore to Jason ‘Digger’ Stiles (which is 34 characters). I was determined to know the roles in order. I didn’t even know if that would actually be the final question, but if it was, I’d be prepared. So that fateful night on November 15, we get to the final round, and lo and behold: “Put these recurring roles in order by the number of episodes they appear in.” It.was.on. BUT! There was a big problem. For this question, the number of episodes also included the four episodes of A Year in the Life. I hadn’t factored those in because it’s listed as a separate show on IMDB! I panicked! All my preparation was about to go down the drain. But your girl was in luck because of the seven characters they asked, the revival episodes kept them in the same order I had memorized. Team “I had sex, but I’m not going to Harvard” had won!
I went up to claim my prize (which let’s be real, I didn’t really care about. I just wanted the validation that I am indeed obsessed with this show). The trivia master shared with me, “you’re the only team that got the last one right.” I looked a little sheepish and shrugged. “Oh, I memorized the IMDB page,” I admitted. He just blinked at me, so I explained how I had been to his trivia nights before and knew that was often the final question. He said, “I always wondered if people would do that.” Did I forever alter the final round of themed trivia? Maybe. I haven’t been to a trivia night since that night, but part of me likes to think I did.
So there you have it. If an entire food blog dedicated to Gilmore Girls didn’t tell you how obsessed I am with this show, maybe my memorizing the IMDB page just to win a trivia night will. What lengths have you gone to prove your Gilmore Girls obsession? Share with me in the comments below!
