Savory Tart Tatin with Apples, Shallots and Blue Cheese

I know that a lot of people rely on the internet for finding new recipes, which is fine, but I love cookbooks, so I'm always on the lookout for one that will have a number of new-to-me recipes that sound delicious.

A few days ago I was in one of our independent bookstores and found a great cookbook on the sale table. It's The Great British Baking Show Favorite Flavors book and I'm sure that I'll be making and posting more of the recipes in the future. As I paged through the book, there were at least a half dozen that sparked my interest. Last night I made the recipe that sealed the deal for me actually purchasing the book.

As written, this recipe is a Tart Tatin, which is sort of an upside down pie, with a rough puff pastry top that becomes the bottom of the tart. It is savory, but there is some sweetness from the apples and the shallots. The blue cheese brings home the savory as does the garlic. the thyme adds a wonderful herbal note. If I make it again I'll add finely chopped toasted walnuts, because the finished tart would have been even better with some walnuts, in my opinion. I'll also cut back some on the butter and oil because I found it overly oily. Just in case you think that it isn't worth making, I should tell you that Sweetie thinks it might be the best thing I've ever baked. Of course I had him at 'blue cheese'!

Because the puff pastry I thought I had in the freezer ended up not being there, and because I didn't have the time to make rough puff and I did have pie dough on hand, I used regular pie dough for the tart and it worked fine. I also didn't use all the blue cheese, nor all the apples and I also used fewer shallots than called for. What this meant was that I had a single layer tart. The original was probably thicker and that's why more fat, cheese, apples and shallots were needed. I liked it as a single layer tart, especially with the pie dough crust. I also skipped the balsamic drizzle, but kept the parsley.  I'm going to give you the original recipe below, but feel free to use pie dough and/or half the fillings if you like. Also feel free to toast a couple tablespoons of walnuts and chop them up and sprinkle them over the tart when you have turned it out onto the serving plate. Not only are walnuts and blue cheese a classic match-up, but the crunch should be great with the soft cheese, fruit and shallots. I plan to that next time.

Savory Tart Tatin with Apples, Shallots and Blue Cheese
Serves 4-6

For the rough puff pastry 
200g plain flour
1/4 tsp salt
175g unsalted butter, cubed and chilled
4 tbsp chilled water
1 tsp white wine vinegar or lemon juice

For the topping/filling
40g unsalted butter
2 tbsp olive oil
400g banana shallots (1bout 12 small shallots), peeled and halved lengthways, root end intact
2 Braeburn apples, cored and cut into eighths
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 1/2 tbsp golden caster sugar (I used turbinado sugar)
1 thyme sprig, leaves picked, about a teaspoon
150g blue cheese (such as Stilton) crumbled
salt and black pepper to taste

To serve
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley

1.) Make the rough puff pastry. Mix the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl. Lightly rub in the butter with your fingertips, just enough to knock the corners off the butter pieces - it should still be in a rough dice. Pour in the chilled water and vinegar and quickly mix with a palette knife (small offset spatula works) to bring the dough together in a ragged ball, adding more water if needed.

2.) Lightly flour the work surface, tip the dough out of the bowl and flatten it into a square. Roll out the dough to a rectangle that is three times as long as it is wide - about 36cm x 12 cm, with one of the short ends closest to you. Fold the top third down to the middle and the bottom third up to cover it, to create a three-layered square of dough. Wrap the dough and chill it for 1 hour.

3.) Lightly flour the work surface and roll out the dough to a rectangle, this time about 45 x 15 cm, with one of the short ends closest to you. Fold the top edge down to the middle and the bottom edge up to meet it in the middle. Turn the dough 90 degrees clockwise and fold the dough in half, much like closing a book. Wrap and chill for another 1 hour, or until you're ready to bake.

4.) Make the tipping. While the pastry is chilling, melt 15g of the butter with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a large flying pan over medium heat. Add the shallots, cut side down, and cook without stirring for 3-4 minutes, until golden. Turn the shallots over and cook the other side for 2 minutes, until lightly colored. Using a fish knife or palette knife, remove the shallots to a large plate and season well with salt and pepper.

5.) Heat another 15g of butter and the remaining olive oil in the frying pan. Add the apples and cook each side for 2 minutes, until lightly caramelized. Add the garlic, season with salt and pepper and cook for another 1 minutes. Remove the apples to a plate.

6.) Assemble the tatin. Spread the remaining butter over the base of the ovenproof pan or skillet and scatter with the caster sugar. Place the shallots and apples in the pan (they don't have to be neatly arranged) and scatter with the thyme and half the blue cheese.

7.) Lightly flour the work surface. Roll out the pastry and cut it into a 28-30 cm disc (about 3mm thick). Lay the pastry over the shallots and apples and tuck the edges down the inside of the pan. Chill for 20 minutes while you heat the oven to 200 degrees C/180 degreed C fan/Gas 6.

8.) Cut a steam hole in the top of the pastry and place the pan over medium heat on the stove for 2 minutes, until the edges of the pastry start to sizzle and bubble. Then, transfer the pan to the oven and bake for 30 minutes, until the pastry is crisp and golden all over.

9.) Meanwhile, bring the balsamic vinegar to the boil in a small saucepan over medium heat until reduced by half. Removed from the heat and leave to cool.

10.) Leave the baked tart to rest in the ovenproof pan or skillet for 2 minutes, then place a board or serving plate on top of the pan and carefully flip the pan over to turn out the tart. Drizzle with the reduced balsamic vinegar and scatter with the remaining blue cheese and the parsley, to serve.

Mushrooms After the Rain

If you have ever been in the woods after the fall rains begin you may have been lucky enough to see mushrooms growing there. I'm not sure why there seems to be a co-relation, but the few times that I have seen mushrooms growing in the wild it was after rain.

We have been blessed with well over an inch of rain this past week. Considering our years of drought, that is a lot! I do hope that it's the beginning of a rainy winter and not just a tease.

The part that sucks about all that rain is that our older lab dog, Pi, came home just about when the rains were setting in. We still had to get him outside to do his business, so we set up an EZ-UP tent just past the end of the ramp that Sweetie built for the express purpose of getting him outside. The first day and a half we pretty much had to carry him, but then he started being able to walk with some weight on his legs and now can sometimes bear his full weight as he climbs up and down (although we still have to hold on to his harness for helping with balance). Once on solid ground he is able to walk on his own and today walked an area about 20 feet in diameter a couple of the times we took him out. Progress!

But back to mushrooms! For dinner I made a mushroom soup using a recipe I found in the paper. The recipe is by Ellie Krieger from the Washington Post.

 

The interesting things about this recipe are that the mushrooms and shallots are roasted first, and the soup is thickened with cannellini beans. Once the soup is cooked, you use an immersion blender or regular blender to liquify all the soup ingredients and it becomes fairly smooth and truly delicious. Ellie Krieger writes, "Along with all that flavor, this soup also has considerable nutritional bragging rights. Besides the wealth of B vitamins, potassium, and health-protective compounds in mushrooms, the soup gets it's creaminess not from cream, but from being pureed with a can of canellini beans, which - in additions to essential minerals, fiber and more - deliver enough protein to make it a meal in a bowl." We served it with soda crackers and a yummy green salad that Sweetie made. A great dinner for our first day after the rains.

By the way, I use a plastic produce bag to coat the mushrooms and shallots. If it is a clean bag, you can also use the outside of it to spread out the oiled veggies in the pans once you dump them out of the bag...keeping you hands clean...and then toss it. Since Sweetie insists on putting produce in the bags, I keep finding ways to re-use them, including using them to collect our compostable fruit and veggie scraps, tea bags and egg shells, etc.

Creamy Roasted Mushroom Soup

Makes 4 servings (about 6 cups)
by Ellie Krieger, Washington Post newspaper

1 1/2 pounds mixed mushrooms, such as oyster, baby bella, shiitake and/or maitake, sliced
3 large shallots (9 oz. total), cut into 3/4-inch wedges
5 tablespoons olive oil, divided
3/4 teaspoon fine salt, divided, plus more to taste
2 cloves garlic, minced or finely grated
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme leaves
4 cups n-salt-added or low-sodium beef or vegetable broth, plus more broth or water as needed (I used low-sodium chicken broth)
1 (15-oz.) can no-salt-added cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more as needed
1/4 cup dry sherry (or use 1/4 cup broth and 1 tablespoons sherry or white wine vinegar)
   Chopped fresh flat-leaf (Italian) parsley, for garnish

Position racks in the top and bottom thirds of the oven and preheat to 425 degrees F.

In a large bowl (or plastic produce bag in my case) toss the mushrooms, shallots and 3 tablespoons of the oil and 1/2 teaspoon of the salt. Spread the coated mushroom mixture across 2 large, rimmed baking sheets and roast for 10 minutes in the preheated oven.

After 10 minutes, stir veggie in each pan, then return to the oven, switching the pans top and bottom and back to front. Roast another 10-15 minutes, or until the mushrooms release their water and brown, and the shallots soften. Remove from the oven and set aside.

In a large pot over medium heat, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil until shimmering. Add the garlic and thyme and cook, stirring, until aromatic, 30 seconds. Reserve 1/4 cup of the mushrooms for garnish (I forgot to do this!). Add the remaining mushrooms and the shallots to the pot, along with the broth, beans, pepper and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt.

Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil, Reduce the heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Stir in the sherry and cook until the flavors meld, 3 minutes more.

Using an immersion blender, puree the soup in the pot until smooth. (Alternatively, let cool until not scalding and puree in batches in a regular blender.) Stir additional broth or water if needed to thin to get your desired consistency.

Rewarm the soup if needed. Taste, and season with additional salt, if desired.

Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with mushrooms (if you remembered to set some aside) and chopped parsley. Serve at once.

Awesome Mushroom Tart on an Almond Freeform Crust

I love getting cookbooks for Christmas! This year I received quite a few of them, so it was challenging to pick the first recipe to make out of a new cookbook. Dorie won out...which is not surprising since her recipes are always top notch. Who is Dorie? Dorie Greenspan , one of my favorite cookbook authors, especially for baked goods. The book, received from my darling daughter and her amazing beau, is called Baking with Dorie. It has lots of sweets that I'll get to later, but the recipe that spoke to me was for a freeform tart topped with mushrooms. It's official title is Free-Style Mushroom, Herb, and Ricotta Tart. You start with a thin, crumbly crust made with almond flour and all-purpose flour, so not gluten free. This crust has lots of herbs in it. As a matter of fact, the whole tart has lots of herbs in it. The crust is topped with a ricotta-rich filling which also has herbs in it, and that is topped with cooked mushrooms...with more herbs. Then to 'gild the lily', you top the whole thing with dressed micro-greens and a drizzle of oil. I added a small amount of chopped walnuts since I used walnut oil for the drizzle and I think they added some needed crunch. Sweetie liked his tart warmed up and it really did taste better that way than at room temperature as called for in the recipe.

As with many Dorie Greenspan recipes, you can play around a bit with this recipe...use whatever herbs appeal to you or that you have on hand, mix up the mushrooms that you use, and so on. It's also a great recipe for entertaining since each of the components can be made in advance. It might seem like a long recipe, but you can make each component on a different day if you like; the spread one day, the mushroom topping another day and the crust the day you will serve it, so it's really quite manageable. You can also do it all on the same day as I did and serve it that day. 

Once it's all together I would recommend putting it on a sheet pan or cookie sheet and heating it for about 10-15 minutes at 325 degrees F. The cheese filling becomes more savory and the mushroom flavor takes over. When it's at room temperature the mushrooms are more subdued in flavor, which is a shame if you have bought the more expensive wild mushrooms.

That said, we loved, loved, loved this tart. It will go into my regular rotation and will be even better in the warmer months of the year when fresh herbs are so easy to get.

Free-Style Mushroom, Herb and Ricotta Tart
from Baking with Dorie, Sweet, Salty and Simple
Six servings

Raggedy Edged Almond-Herb Crust
1 1/2 cups (204 grams) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (50 grams) almond flour (or an additional 1/3 cup (45 grams) all-purpose flour)
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 stick (8 tablespoons, 4 oz. 113 grams) cold unsalted butter, cut into bits (I used non-dairy margarine)
2-3 tablespoons minced fresh herbs (a mix is good - parsley, thyme, chives, dill, rosemary, scallion greens or any of them by themselves)
1 cold, large egg, lightly beaten

Put both flours and the salt in a food processor and pulse to blend. Add pieces of butter and do long pulses about 15 times until it looks like crumbs, not sand. Scrape work bowl and under blade as needed.

Drop in the herbs and pulse only to blend. Add the egg in three additions, pulsing after each addition until dough forms clumps and curds. Pinch and it should hold together. If not, add a splash of water and pulse again.

Turn the dough out and gather into a ball. Knead a few time to make dough cohesive, then gather and flatten into a disc. (I substituted the working dough with heel of your hand for the kneading and the results were good.)

Place the dough between two sheets of parchment and roll to a thickness of 1/8 inch, rolling into a rough circle of dough with ragged edges. As you roll, now and then lift of and replace the parchment...both sides in turn...to make sure to not crease dough. Remove top sheet, prick dough all over with a fork, replace parchment and slide parchment/dough/parchment sandwich onto a baking sheet. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or freeze for at least one hour.

When ready to bake, center a rack in the oven and preheat to 400 degrees F. Peel top sheet of parchment, place it on a baking sheet, place the dough on it and cover with the other sheet of parchment, loosely, to keep tart from browning too much. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until crust is golden around the edges. Remove the top sheet of parchment and bake for and additional 2-3 minutes to firm up the crust and give it more color. Transfer baking sheet to a cooling rack and let crust cook to room temperature. Can be made ahead but best to use within 8 hours.

The Tart

1 Raggedy Edged Almond-Herb Crust
1 recipe Ricotta Spread
1 recipe Mushroom Topping
Extra-virgin olive oil or walnut oil or toasted sesame oil
A handful of micro-greens tossed with oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper
A couple tablespoons toasted walnuts, chopped roughly

Ricotta Spread

1 cup (212 grams) ricotta
1/4 cup (60 ml) plain yogurt, preferable Greek
1/2 shallot, finely chopped, rinsed in cold water and patted dry
2 scallions, trimmed and finely sliced
1-2 tablespoons minced fresh herbs (see description in Raggedy Edged Crust above)
Fine sea salt and freshly grounds black pepper to taste

Drain the ricotta and yogurt if needed. Put into a bowl and whisk until smooth. Add the rest of the ingredients and whisk to combine. Add more salt and pepper if needed. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve the tart. If liquid has accumulated, drain it off before using on the tart. Spread can be refrigerated up to two days.

Mushroom Topping

1 tablespoon unsalted butter (I used non-dairy margarine)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 pounds (680 grams) mushrooms - a mix is good - ordinary ones from the market are fine, too - cleaned, trimmed and sliced
1-2 garlic cloves, minced (to taste)
3 tablespoons white wine
fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 scallions, trimmed and finely sliced (I only used one)
2 tablespoons minced fresh herbs (see description in Raggedy Edged Crust above)

Warm the butter and oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When the bubbles have subsided, toss in the mushrooms and garlic and cook, stirring, until the mushrooms are brown and tender and the pan is almost dry. Pour in the wine, stir and cook until it's almost evaporated. Season with salt and pepper to taste and remove the pan from the heat. Leave the topping at room temperature for up to 3 hours or pack into a covered container and refrigerate for up to 2 days; reheat in a skillet with a little water before using.

To Assemble and Serve the Tart:
Place the crust on a baking sheet and cover with the ricotta-yogurt spread.

 Stir the scallions and herbs into the mushroom topping and spoon it over the spread. 

Scatter on the walnuts and drizzle with the oil.

Reheat the tart in 325 degree F oven for 10-15 minutes, just enough to warm the tart. Remove from the oven, slide onto a cutting board or plate, and top with dressed the micro-greens. Cut the tart at the table using a pizza wheel or a long chef's knife. Serve at once while still warm.

Triple Onion Dip

Impossible that it is already Nov. 17th. Somehow I thought I had a few days left to make the Bread Baking Babes bread...will do it tomorrow if I can. This has been a crazy month with too much travel and doctor's appointments (routine) and dentist appointments (not routine) and there is a big event on Wednesday and yesterday was a retirement party...so I made a delicious dip but not the bread. Just glad that I don't have to host Thanksgiving this year! I will make the dip again for Sweetie though.

The holidays are upon us. Still seems too soon, but I guess if Christmas decorations are showing up in stores before Halloween these days, it's not too surprising that Thanksgiving will be gone in a flash. Still, we usually need things to serve our near and dear ones on turkey day, including old favorites.

Does someone in your family love the dip made with onion soup mix and sour cream? I've got a recipe for a dip that has a taste quite similar, but made from scratch...fresh onion, leek and shallot instead of that 'what ingredients are in this packet anyway?' dry soup mix. Instead of sour cream and mayo, we substitute slightly healthier Greek yogurt. This dip tastes very familiar with potato chips, but just as delicious with baby carrots, celery sticks, snow peas and red pepper strips. I won't lie and tell you that it is quick and easy, but I assure you that once you try this you'll never go back to the soup mix version. If you are bringing it to a party, remember to bring breath mints, too. This wonderful triple onion dip has a true onion flavor...big time! I saved about a tablespoon of the onion mixture to put in the center as garnish, but that's optional.

Today was really beautiful here with sunny skies and brilliant color on the trees because it has been getting cold enough at night for good fall color. I was able to find some time to start cleaning up my vegetable/flower garden of old squash plants and morning glories that had gone to seed. Grateful that I have the energy and strength to do gardening and pulling and pruning and lifting...just wish I had a little more. Soon (in a day or two) I should have a post for you of a delicious crown bread, then another post a few days later...or by the weekend... of a main dish salad perfect for friends and family who have or choose to eat gluten free, dairy free, egg free, low salt, vegan. I'm preparing ten of them for the event on Wednesday and I'll be prepping for them Tuesday. Hope our power company doesn't turn off our power. Tough to roast veggies in the quantities I need over the BBQ!

So here is the delicious, fairly healthy three onion dip from Feed Me Phoebe blog. Thanks Phoebe!

Healthy French Onion Dip with Leeks and Shallots
from #feedmephoebe

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium sweet onion, peeled and diced
1 large leek, green and white parts only, halved and thinly sliced
2 large shallots, halved and thinly sliced
1 tablespoon tamari or soy sauce
1 cup plain Greek yogurt, preferably full fat
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat the olive oil. Saute' the onion, leeks and shallots in the oil about 7 minutes, stirring often, until translucent and beginning to brown. Reduce heat to low and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until dark and caramelized, about 15 minutes. Add the tamari or soy sauce and continue to cook for 2 minutes to evaporate the liquid.

In a medium mixing bowl combine the onion mixture, the Greek yogurt and the salt. Stir well. Taste and adjust seasonings if needed. Use at once or chill. Return to room temperature to serve.

Serve with chips or crudites.