Potato cheese sticks

I just read the book "Julie and Julia" by Julie Powell

and like most people who have read it, I got inspired to try out some of the recipes myself.

 Well, one recipe in particular - Potato Cheese Sticks.

The recipe: Bouchées Parmentier au Fromage (potato cheese sticks)
½ lb. baking potatoes (2 medium potatoes)
1 cup sifted AP flour
1 stick softened butter
1 egg
1 cup grated Swiss cheese
⅛ tsp white pepper
Pinch of nutmeg
Pinch of cayenne
pepper Salt, to taste
Yields: 60 pieces

Peel and quarter the potatoes. Boil in salted water until tender.

Drain, then put through a ricer. You should have about 1 cup. Stir the potatoes over moderate heat in a heavy-bottomed saucepan for 2-3 minutes until they form a light film on the bottom of the pan, indicating most of their moisture has been evaporated. Beat the flour into the potatoes, then the butter by fractions, then the egg, cheese, and seasonings. Taste and adjust seasoning. Preheat oven to 425. Either butter 2 baking sheets or cover them with parchment paper. With a fluted pastry tube ¼ inch in diameter, squeeze the mixture into 2½-inch lngths spaced ½-inch apart onto the baking sheets. Bake both sheets at the same time for about 15 minutes, or until the sticks are lightly browned.

While waiting for the sticks to bake, I couldn't help myselp-- I kept checking it every 2 minutes. Is the oven hot enough? Is it browning too slow? Too fast? Why does it look the same after 45(!!) minutes!!!

Arg, I should've realise it earlier........... the recipe  called for a 425 F oven. We use Celsius. I didn't check the proper conversion. I asked S who told me to put the oven to 160C. I should've checked!!!

After 15  minutes, they were still as soft as they were when I first put them in the oven. And 45 minutes more in the oven did not help. As I said, I should've checked. The oven should be arounf 220C. So okay, technically it IS S's fault but I should keep a little blame on myself.





So being someone who will eat absolutely ANYTHING, S resumed cooking them on the stove in a little olive oil and promptly ate them. At least there's an audience for my experiments! Albeit for now, failed experiment!