Charming Tomato Tarts

My dear friend Peabody is going to be annoyed with me. Another post about tomatoes. If she ate these tarts she would end up in the hospital, so Pea, these are not for you. I bet you could replace the 'maters with squash circles or asparagus spears and it would still be yummy.

Minis are so much fun. There is something about a smaller version of foods that we like that is somehow more charming than the larger version.

Tomato tarts are one of the nicest ways to capture the essence of warm tomatoes now that harvest season for tomatoes is in full swing. Smaller tomato tarts, like the ones I made tonight, have the added delight of being made with just one type of tomato in each tartlet and of being small enough to eat in a few bites, held in the hand, so that you can smell that great tomato fragrance each time you bite into the tart.

The inspiration came from an article in the Press Democrat, our local paper. Since they are part of the New York Times stable, they often carry articles from that paper. This is one. Melissa Clark wrote about 'A week's worth of sweet, summer tomatoes', published in the P.D. on Sept. 5.

Her tartlet recipe used mascarpone cheese for the filling. I used ricotta cheese mixed with an egg, and then I folded in chopped basil and freshly ground pepper. I pinched my little tartlets up around the tomato slices, but they decided to flatten out during baking. Even so, they were delicious. The pastry was flaky and buttery, which combined well with the sweetness of the hot tomatoes and the nutty Parmesan cheese, lively basil and mellow ricotta. We each had three and I sure wish I had made more.

Multicolored Tomato Tartlets

2-3 small firm but ripe heirloom tmatoes, preferably in different colors

1 sheet puff pastry, defrosted but cold

1/2 cup ricotta cheese

1 small to medium egg

1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil

Freshly ground black pepper - about 1/4 teaspoon

2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the puff pastry sheet on the parchment paper and cut out circles using a small sharp knife. (I used a wide mouth canning jar lid) Set aside the rest of the puff pastry that isn't circles, or cut rectangles from the scraps if any are large enough. Set each puff pastry circle or rectangle evenly apart on the baking sheet.

In a bowl, mix together the ricotta cheese, egg, basil, and pepper. Set aside.

Slice stem and bottom ends from the tomatoes. Save for another use or discard.

Slice remaing tomato crosswise into rounds 1/2 inch thick. You will need 6 or more nice rounds. (You may have to trim the slices to fit the rectangles if you are using them, or slice cherry or small pear tomatoes in half for the rectangles.) The tomato slices should be about 1 inch smaller in diameter than the pastry rounds.

Place about a tablespoon of the ricotta cheese mixture in the center of each pastry piece, spread out to about 1/2 inch from the edge. Place a tomato slice on top.



Pinch edges of pastry up around the tomato slice edges. Scatter parmesan over the pastries.

Bake until the pastry if puffed and golden, about 10-12 minutes. Serve warm.

A Second Chance

Which of us doesn't need a second chance? The first time we messed up somehow...spaced out or were immature or too tired or a hundred other possible things got in the way. Mother nature, bless her, rarely gives us a second chance with the progression of the fruits that find their way through the seasons. With the right cultivar we might get a fall harvest of strawberries. With a green house we can turn the seasons on their head. But to have a whole extra crop without any effort on our part...that is a true bonus...a second chance to take advantage of, in this case, an extra crop of blackberries.

This had been a great year for blackberries. For weeks I harvested a handful each morning to sweeten up my breakfast oatmeal. I did make a few dishes with the berries, but I grew busy with the new job just when the berries were at their peak and most bountiful. So many were never harvested and just dried on the vines.

Then we had a weird combination of some cool followed by a long sustained heat spell. Well, the blackberries must have thought it was spring and summer all over again. A whole new crop came into being and now they are hanging ripe and sweet, juicy and very seductive in clusters, just waiting to be picked and appreciated.

The other day I spent long enough picking them to fill a pint basket. The Gravensteins are almost finished, but there were some nice apples just right for combining with the berries in a berry-apple cobbler. The topping is not difficult...just a combination of ground almonds, packaged biscuit mix and sugar, plus enough milk to make a cobbler dough that can spread over the fruit. Sweetie had two helpings and was duly appreciative that Mother Nature gave us a second chance for summer's berries in mid-September.

Andrea of Andrea's Recipes is hosting a second round of Grow Your Own. Even though I didn't have to do much of anything to grow these great berries and apples, I think this dish qualifies. Go on over later in the month to check out the yummy dishes in the event. You'll be glad you did.

Blackberry-Apple Cobbler

1 pint fresh blackberries, washed and drained

1 cup tart apple chunks, peeled or unpeeled

1 cup biscuit mix, such as Bisquik

1/2 cup almonds, ground until fine in a food processor with

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In wide baking dish place berries and scatter the apple chunks over them evenly. The apple chunks should be about the same size as the berries. Cover the dish with foil and press edges to seal. Place dish in preheated oven and bake for 15 minutes, or until the berries give up some of their juice and the juice bubbles.

While the fruit is cooking, mix the ground almond/sugar mixture with the biscuit mix in a mixing bowl. In another small bowl, mix together the milk and the brown sugar. Stir to dissolve the sugar.

When the berry-apple mixture juice is bubbly, remove the foil. Stir the milk mixture into the biscuit mixture and stir just until combined. If the mixture seems too stiff, add a little more milk. Drop the biscuit mixture over the hot fruit, spreading a little if needed, to cover most of the dish. It's OK if some of the fruit is not covered. The biscuit mixture will spread a little more as it cooks.

Bake for 15 minutes or until the biscuit topping is golden brown.

Serve while hot or warm, with some light cream or ice cream over the cobbler if desired. Serves 4-6.

September's Ripe Fruit

Autumn is my favorite time of year, hands down, and it has been for as long as I can remember. I didn’t even mind that it meant the beginning of school because I like to learn new things. I love fall colors with all of the reds and golds and browns and oranges of the turning leaves. Fall is also harvest time. The apples ripen, the winter squash harden their shells, the tomatoes become almost unbearably sweet and juicy and the pears are in season, too.

The property where I live used to be part of a large farm. Near the old farmhouse, which is over 100 years old, there is an enormous shrub. It grows at least 7 feet high and as much around. The first year we lived here I noticed that the shrub (which is not a tree as far as I know, because it has many, many shoots growing up from the ground, not a central leader) had what looked like fuzzy funny shaped pears growing on the branches in the summer. In late August those fruits had changed to a yellow with green tinges and, eventually they were bright yellow gold and all the fuzz went away. The stem then came easily away from the branch and they smelled heavenly. I knew they weren’t pears, but I didn’t know what they were. I filled a bowl with them, put the bowl on the dining room table, and the perfume kept the room smelling really nice for over a week.

At the fairgrounds in early October that year we went the county Harvest Fair. One of the exhibits of fruits had those strange knobby pear shaped fruits with a name label…now I knew that they were pineapple quince.

Grandpa Merrick moved back to our area a few years later. When he spotted the quince he immediately asked if he could take some when they ripened to make jelly. Since I didn’t know what to do with them, I agreed readily. In exchange I received a couple jars of rosy colored quince jelly. My daughter was his favorite granddaughter, so he gave her a jar just for her. She still remembers how much she liked that jelly.

She will be coming home for a flying visit soon. There just might be a jar of quince jelly waiting for her, a fond collaboration between Grandma Loyce and myself. Neither one of us had made jelly for ages and ages, but today enough of the quinces were ripe enough, we had the time, and I had made sure we had the equipment, so we made jelly. It was fun cooking with her in the kitchen I designed and helped to remodel, in the old farmhouse where she now lives. If Grandpa Merrick were here he would have joined us, I’m sure.

In case you want to make some quince jelly yourself, make sure that the quinces are ripe, with no soft spots. Quinces are not good to eat straight off the shrub because they are quite hard and astringent. You don’t need to add pectin because quinces are loaded with pectin (a natural jelling agent). The version we made allowed you to keep the skins on, but I did cut off any blemishes on the skin, along with the stems and cores. The actual time that you work in the kitchen is only a couple of hours, but the process takes most of the day since the cooked pulp needs to slowly release the juice over 3-4 hours so that you get a nice, clear, rose colored jelly. It tastes somewhat floral, too.

This recipe seems to be a good entry for In The Bag: September which asks us to use a seasonal fruit. This innovative event asks participants to make something using the items that have been designated as being 'in the bag' that month. It is an ongoing event hosted, turn and turn about, by Scott of Real Epicurean (this month), Julia of A Slice of Cherry Pie and Cherry of Cherry’s English Kitchen.

Oh, and another use for quinces (the ones that are overripe or have major soft spots) is to bowl with them, especially if you live at the top a hill as we do, on a country road. In the morning when we walk down to get the paper, we bowl a few quinces down the middle of the road and see which one goes the furthest. Ah, the simple joys of country life, heheheh.

Quince Jelly

3 1/2 lbs of quince, washed, stems removed, cored, quartered (leave skin on)
7 cups water
Enough sugar to add almost a cup of sugar (about 1 cup) for every cup of juice (about 4 -5 cups)

1 Put quince pieces in a large stockpot with a thick bottom and add water (if you are eyeballing it, put in enough water to cover the pieces of quince by about an inch.)

2 Bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, cover and cook for 45 minutes to an hour, until the quince pieces are soft.

3 With a potato masher, mash the quince to the consistency of slightly runny applesauce. Add more water if necessary. If the mash is too thick, you won't get enough juice out of it.

4 To strain the juice from the pulp, place a metal strainer over a pot. Drape 2 layers of cheesecloth over the strainer. (Can skip the cheesecloth if you are using a fine mesh strainer). Ladle the pulp into the cheesecloth. You may need to have two strainers set up this way. Let the pulp strain for 3 to 4 hours. If you aren't getting enough juice out of the pulp, you may need to mix more water into the mash.5 Measure the amount of juice you have. It should be about 4-5 cups. Pour into a thick bottomed pot on the stove and bring to a boil. Measure out the sugar – about a cup for every cup of juice. Add sugar to the juice.6 Bring to a boil, initially stirring constantly, until the sugar is dissolved, so that the sugar does not stick to the bottom of the pan. Insert a candy thermometer to monitor the jelly temperature.

7 As the jelly cooks, skim off the foam that comes to the surface with a spoon

8 As the temperature rises above the boiling point of water (212°F), you will notice the consistency of the jelly/juice begins to change. When the temperature is approximately 8 degrees higher than boiling point at your altitude (anywhere from 220°F to 222°F at sea level) the jelly is ready to pour into jars.
Note that candy thermometers aren't always the most reliable indicators of whether or not a jelly is done. Another way to test is put a half teaspoonful of the jelly on a chilled (in the freezer) plate. Allow the jelly to cool a few seconds, then push it with your fingertip. If it wrinkles up, it's ready.

Canning
9 There are several ways to sterilize your jars for canning. You can run them through a short cycle on your dishwasher. You can place them in a large pot (12 quart) of water on top of a steaming rack (so they don't touch the bottom of the pan), and bring the water to a boil for 10 minutes. Or you can rinse out the jars, dry them, and place them, without lids, in a 200°F oven for 10 minutes.

10 Use a large ladle to pour the jelly into the sterilized jars to 5/8 inch from the top rim of the jar. Use canning jars with canning lids to seal the jelly. Sterilize the lids by letting them sit in just boiled hot water for a few minutes. You will hear a popping noise as a vacuum seal is created as the jars of jelly cool.

(To be safe, we put the jars full of jelly, topped with sterilized lids and bands, into a canning pot, added boiling water to cover, plus an inch, and simmered that for 45 minutes, then let cool. Check the lids for a good seal my noticing if the lids are concave. If not, push down on the center. If the lid stays down, it is sealed. If not, refrigerate and use the jelly within a week. )

Makes 4-6 cups of jelly. We got 6½ 8-oz. jars of jelly.

Posted by Elise on Sep 28, 2005 on Simply Recipes

A Welcome Chill

September has brought to our part of California, as it often does, days of intense heat. The fog that often cools the air, at least at night, during the summer is missing so the smog increases and the house retains the heat of the day all night long. Without the marine layer, as the weather folks call it, the temperatures rise during the day into the 90s, which is hot in our neck of the woods.

A couple of evenings ago I was sitting in bed, with the fan going, reading a great cookbook called 'From A Cooks Garden'. I had a bunch of tomatoes on the kitchen counter that needed to be used before the heat turned them to sticky mush. This fine book had a recipe for Gazpacho that really looked good. As I read through it I realized that I had most of the ingredients in the kitchen and pantry. Clearly it was too hot to sleep. The gazpacho needed to chill 4 hours or overnight. Bingo! The light bulb went on over my head as it became clear that making the soup was the right thing to do, even though it was 10 PM. I am not a night owl and my eyes usually start to droop right around 10 PM, so this was most unusual.

So, in my cool cotton nightgown and with bare feet I headed for the kitchen to finely chop tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, pepper, and parsley.

Fortunately we live in the country so no one noticed that, bare foot and barely clothed, I went and harvested some dark basil by moonlight. Chopped, it went into the bowl. The red wine vinegar and olive oil were added, I gave it a good stir to combine the ingredients and into the fridge it went. By now it was after 11 and I was tired enough to go to sleep despite the heat.

Today we served the lovely gazpacho, full of the flavors of summer, to Grandma Loyce. We had invited her to dinner and were glad we could cheer her up on a day when she had to see her sister, a victim of cancer, for the last time at the mortuary. Loyce loved the soup and we did what family does at times like these and told stories of the past, shared laughter and sober thoughts, and reminded ourselves of how fortunate we are to have each other. The rest of the meal was great, too, but the soup was somehow comforting and a welcome chill, all at the same time.

Tami of Running with Tweezers is hosting the second annual Super Soup Challenge to honor her mom and to remind us that "food (and blogging) can heal the soul and bring people together" . This savory, full flavored soup from the garden, topped with garlic croutons, is summer comfort food at it's finest and, I believe, a worthy entry.

Gazpacho
From the Cooks Garden by Ellen Ecker Ogden

4 large tomatoes, seeded and finely chopped
1 large cucumber, peeled and finely chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 medium red pepper, seeded and finely chopped
½ cup chopped fresh basil
½ cup chopped fresh parsley
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup rice vinegar
3 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste
chiffonade of basil for garnish

Garlic Croutons
4 slices French or Italian bread, cut into ½ inch cubes
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced, and salt, to taste

Mix all the gazpacho ingredients, except the salt and pepper and the basil garnish in a large bowl or puree’ in a blender, depending on if you like a rough or smooth textured soup. Cover and refrigerate until well chilled, at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.

Meanwhile make the croutons. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Toss the bread cubes, oil, and garlic with your hands in a large bowl until well mixed. Spread in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Bake for 5 minutes. Stir to turn the croutons, and bake until golden brown, about 5 more minutes. Cool completely. Best used within a few hours, but they can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Serve the soup chilled, seasoned with the salt and pepper and garnished with the croutons and the basil garnish. Serves 8.

Adam Had It Right

In the Garden of Eden all was well until Eve was tempted by the snake and Adam and Eve bit into that apple. Now Adam could have resisted, it was one of those 'just say no' opportunities, but the apple is a very delicious looking fruit. Adam had it right. An apple is worth almost anything. Now, this can be seen as Gospel truth or a parable or story, but what matters is the apple was eaten.

Vanielje of Vanielje Kitchen is hosting TGRWT #6 (They Go Really Well Together) this month and she chose to challenge bloggers to make something that combines apples and lavender.

I have an apple tree with fruit just waiting to be picked and cooked with, and a couple of lavender plants still driving the bees crazy with blossoms, so this seemed like a natural.

A while back I was given a recipe by someone I barely knew. It was one of those 'secret handshake' kind of recipes, sure to drive a new baker crazy...minimal instructions, comments like 'add nuts and raisins' with no measurements, no pan specified, etc...but it makes a great apple cake. It also seems to be missing an ingredient, which takes the secret thing a bit far. This time around I just used it as a template to begin from since it is so minimal anyway.

This apple cake starts out with browned butter. You could substitute vegetable oil or canola oil, but the browned butter adds amazing flavor. I also used a 1/2 cup brown sugar instead of a full cup of white sugar, although there is still a cup of white sugar. I added 1/2 cup milk, the potential missing ingredient. Next time I think I'll try it with buttermilk. For the nuts I used chopped walnuts since I like the way they go with apples. I also added 1/2 teaspoon baking powder since I wasn't using buttermilk or sour milk. The 2 teaspoons of cinnamon would have drowned out any lavender flavor in the topping, so I only used 1 teaspoon, although I added 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg since I like that spice with apples. As you can see, I've gone a fair distance from the original recipe. Given that, I'm going to print the recipe I used, not the original.

To keep with the event theme, the cake is topped with a glaze that includes honey infused with lavender. I scattered a few flowers over the top, too, for flavor, fragrance, and taste. Apples and lavender do go well together, at least in this lovely apple cake. Sweetie just had a piece and he loved it. Since he generally doesn't like cake, that's saying something. He said he really likes the moistness and he could taste the lavender, but it wasn't too strong.

It's apple season from now well into the fall. Go wild! Make something with apples and lavender...you'll be glad you did.

Natasha’s Apple Cake

½ cup (1 stick) butter
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs, beaten, or the equivalent in egg substitute
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
½ cup walnuts, chopped
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup milk or buttermilk
4 cups sliced apples ( don’t peel mine, but you could)
1/2 cup mild honey, such as clover
1 tablespoon lavender flowers (fresh if possible)

1) Preheat oven to 350degrees F. Grease and flour a Bundt pan.

2) Take the butter and melt it over low heat in a heavy bottomed pan or cast iron skillet. Once melted, turn up the heat and, stirring constantly, cook until the solids begin to brown a bit. Remove from heat. If brown enough for your taste, pour into a bowl and let cool. If you want it browner, leave in the pan a few minutes to continue cooking, then pour into bowl when desired brown color has been reached.

3) In large bowl mix together the two sugars until well mixed. Add the browned butter and eggs and mix well. Add the vanilla and mix well. Add the walnuts and mix well.

4) On a sheet of waxed paper (or in another bowl) mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.

5) Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix just until combined. Add the milk and mix until fully incorporated. Stir in the apple slices.

6) Place cake mixture into the prepared pan, then level top by pushing down on the batter with a spatula and spreading as needed.

7) Bake for 1 hour. Cool in pan on rack 10 minutes, then turn out onto a serving plate with a rim.

8) While cake is baking, in a small saucepan heat the honey over medium heat until liquid. Add the lavender flowers, stir, reduce heat to simmer and simmer for one minute. Strain honey through a fine wire mesh strainer into a bowl. Once the cake is on the serving plate and is still warm, drizzle the lavender honey over the cake until it is all used. Decorate with more lavender if desired.

Boy Did I Goof!

Many, many weeks ago Lis of La Mia Cucina sweetly awarded me the Schmooze Award, for which I am grateful. This award was created by Mike of Ordinary Folk and Danielle of Pink Reviews to “recognize people who have a positive influence on the blogging community by developing and nurturing relationships. You know – commenting on other’s blogs, joinin in on and sustaining a “blogversation” according to Lis. What I didn’t read was that I was supposed to nominate other bloggers to receive the award. Perhaps the difficulty lay in the fact that when Lis gave me the award I was totally focused on a new job. With aging brain cells the only ones at my disposal, it really required complete concentration to learn a new job, even one in a field that is familiar to me like this one. Thank you, dear Lis. I’m blushing for the award and in embarrassment that it has taken me until now to pass on the award (and to feel even a bit competent at the ‘job’.)

‘So what is this job?’, you ask. Well, I’m still finding out some of it, but it is an admin job for a pain clinic. The clinic, and intensive 6 day affair, is held once a month. The two weeks leading up to the clinic are filled with lots of preparations, paperwork, communication with the patients, and preparing the clinic and kitchen for the participants.
The doctor who hired me was stoked to find that I have a food blog…somehow he thought that I’m a professional foodie or something…far from it, but I do enjoy cooking. That is a good thing.

You see, a freshly prepared lunch is served each day to about 25 people. Veggie trays, fruit trays, salads, and whole grain breads are joined by rolls of smoked salmon with capers, rolls of turkey breast and ham, sliced onions, olives, pickles, roasted red peppers and similar foods. On the last day of the clinic such a lunch is followed by a celebratory dinner, so a whole lot of cooking is going on that day. Although I love to cook, so far my main duties have been to assist the other cooks and to keep track of all the paperwork. It may eventually be my turn to be in charge of the cooking, who knows? This time I brought a lentil salad that I wanted the group to try. For Tuesday dinner I also brought some heirloom tomatoes which I turned into an insalata caprese, with slices of fresh mozzarella cheese, olive oil and basil, plus a drizzle of reduced balsamic vinegar. The vinegar isn’t traditional, but delicious nonetheless.

So I now have two clinics worth of experience and space in my elderly brain to realize that I spaced completely on the award. There are many who deserve this award and, fortunately, many have received it while I have been otherwise occupied. There are still plenty of bloggers who qualify, especially those who visit all kinds of blog, famous and unknown and everything in between, who are positive in their comments and who are caring and, often, funny. They make such a difference in many folk’s days.

Without further ado (or excuses) I nominate… Quellia of All Things Edible. Not only is she always upbeat, but she participates in lots of events, which is so supportive, plus she has the cutest kid.
And
Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice, one of the co-founders of the burgeoning Daring Bakers and she is as sweet as the lovely tarts she makes so well.
And
Peabody of Culinary Concoctions by Peabody. Not only does she get around the blogosphere and spread joy, but you can’t visit her blog without seeing something truly delicious on the screen... usually sweet and baked.
And
Morven of Food Art and Random Thoughts who is both a talented writer and a thoughtful commenter.
And
Brilynn of Jumbo Empanadas who is probably the world’s best booster for ice cream and Dorie Greenspan, as well as being a talented writer and photographer.

That’s as many as I’m allowed to nominate for this award. Go check out their blogs and give them a nice comment…they deserve it. Just hope they don't take so long to nominate others :)

'Mater and Cuke Salad

It must be August, it’s so hot. No, wait, it’s September and still hot for northern California. Well, can’t argue with Momma Nature, so dinner will need to be something that doesn’t heat up the kitchen. It’s also a good evening to bring something to Lis and Ivonne’s La Festa al Fresco, the blog world’s biggest patio party. A party celebrating good, fresh, seasonal food with friends in the fresh air is perfect for warm and sultry evenings.


Now that the heirloom tomatoes have kicked in with plenty of ripe fruits, what better way to enjoy them than in a tomato and cucumber salad?

'Mater and Cucumber Salad
To a mixture of about 3 cups of chunks of a whole rainbow of colors of tomatoes, I added another 2 cups of chunks of seeded cucumber from my garden. I used two medium green cucumbers and 1 large lemon cucumber. Over those I poured ½ cup red wine vinegar, 2 tablespoons good quality balsamic vinegar and ¼ cup Meyer Lemon flavored olive oil (although unflavored olive oil would also work fine). ½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper was sprinkled over the top and I folded the mixture together until well mixed. If you like you can add 1 – 2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh basic, and/or ¼ teaspoon minced garlic.

Tomatoes, to retain their best flavor, should not be refrigerated. Leave the bowl on the counter and stir it a couple of more times to make sure that everything has a chance to bathe in the marinade.

After marinating for a few hours, taste to see if the salad needs more pepper or an addition of salt. This salad is so pretty that you can just serve it in a nice bowl with a slotted serving spoon, or you can place mounds of it in lettuce cups for a fancier presentation.

The rest of dinner on this hot evening? We had grilled fresh zucchini, some of the last from the garden, I’m afraid. The poor zucchini plants have been producing faithfully since May, so they deserve to reduce production.

Sweetie also grilled some chicken thighs which he had seasoned with garlic salt and a nip of bourbon. Who needs barbeque sauce when you have bourbon? It gives grilled meats, poultry and fish a nice smoky taste.

“Tutti a tavola” which means “everyone to the table”. See you on the patio!

Happy Birthday Dear September Daring Bakers

As the blogroll of the Daring Bakers (those intrepid denizens of the kitchen enamored of ovens, butter, sugar, yeast and flour) grows larger with more and more birthday guys and gals, a single recipe stands as a Happy Birthday greeting to those born in the month of September from me to you.

This month wish a happy birthday to eleven talented women. (If I missed anyone I'm truly sorry.)They are Laura of Eat Drink Live, Anne of Simply Anne’s, Kellypea of Sass and Veracity, Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict, Baking Soda of Bake My Day, Sara of The Kitchen Pantry, Inne of Vanille & Chocolat, Deborah of Taste and Tell, Gilly of Humble Pie, Sara of I Like to Cook, and Morven of Food, Art and Random Thoughts.

The blackberry season is drawing to a close here in Northern California, but there are enough berries left to bake into the birthday treat for these lovely ladies. If you have almost any kind of fruit that is fresh and ripe, check out David Lebovitz’s book Ripe for Dessert for some terrific ideas of how to make the best use of them. I was quite taken with his Financier recipe. Combining the richness and almonds of Financiers with the juicy sweetness of blackberries is a winning combination. Using muffin cups instead of the little Financier molds also makes it accessible for most bakers. Happy year gals! Enjoy the little cakes.


Blackberry Financiers
From Ripe for Dessert by David Lebovitz
12 small cakes

7 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 ¾ cups blanched almonds, sliced or slivered, or 157 grams almond flour
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup powdered sugar
5 tablespoons flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 large egg whites
½ teaspoon almond extract
one 6-oz basket blackberries

Position the oven rack in the center of the oven and pre-hear to 400 degrees F. Butter a 12 cup muffin tin.

In a skillet, heat the butter until it begins to sizzle. Continue to cook over low heat until the edges begin to darken and the butter gives off a nutty aroma. Remove from the heat. (The butter may sputter and splatter while cooking. If you want, place an overturned colander over the pan to protect yourself.)

In a food processor, grind the almonds with the granulated and powdered sugars (or, if using almond flour, just begin with the granulated sugar and almond flour and don't grind unless the flour is coarse). When fine, add the flour and the salt and pulse to mix. While the processor is running, gradually pour in the egg whites and add the almond extract. Stop the machine, and add the warm butter, pulsing as you pour until the batter is just mixed.

Divide the batter evenly among the buttered muffin cups Batter will come up about 1/3 of the way. Poke 3 or 4 blackberries into each cake.

Bake for 18 minutes, until puffy and deep golden brown. Watch so they don’t burn. (I had a little trouble with the edges being a dark brown...still tasted great.) Let stand a few minutes, then remove them from the pan and cool on a rack. Store cooled cakes in an airtight container for up to a week.

Variations: Substitute peach, nectarine, or plum slices for the blackberries, peeling first if desired. Cut the fruit into ½ inch slices and lay them over the top of each little cake before baking. You can also sprinkle the top of each cake with untoasted sliced almonds before baking.

Kings and Queens of Tarts

Another Daring Baker challenge my friends...a tart. Veron and Patricia have given us a most yummy challenge in the form of a Milk Chocolate Caramel Tart from Eric Kayser’s Sweet and Savory Tarts. The recipe can be found at the bottom of this post.

Due to lots of commitments at the end of the month, I baked this tart early in the month, so mine included the cinnamon in the crust (which became optional later) and the dry method of making the caramel (which also became one of two options later).

Learning new skill, or revisiting old ones is part of the joy of these challenges. I'd never made caramel using the dry method, so I learned how, with a little experimentation (see below). Since the recipe was brief and assumed some experience in making the various parts, we were instructed to "read between the lines" in making the tart. Very glad to have made this recipe. It was rich, but delicious and surprisingly light. Despite my best intentions to give some of it away, I'm afraid that Sweetie and I ate most of it ourselves over a period of 5 days. The tart tasted better to us each day, especially the caramel, which got more and more gooey.

The August challenge for the ever growing ranks of the Daring Bakers is a European style tart, thin and rich and elegant. The crust includes ground hazelnuts, cocoa, cinnamon, butter and confectioners sugar. Its texture is crisp and cookie-like. Inside this crisp, not too sweet crust is a layer of very sweet caramel topped with a frothy mousse of whipped cream and melted milk chocolate.

My caramel is soft but not runny and so the combination of textures works well. The flavor components are another matter. Both the caramel and the mousse are fairly mild and dairy flavored. The crust has a very strong cinnamon flavor and, less so, a cocoa flavor. The nuts give negligible flavor to the dish. If I were to do it again, I’d leave out the cinnamon, but maybe put some ground dark chocolate into the crust instead, or a good shot of vanilla. With some whipped cream decorations around the edge, the tart is pretty and perfect to serve to some favored friends.

I learned some new skills while making this tart and revisited some, too. I used a hand rotary grinder to grind the nuts, which is something I learned from a German friend of mine. It produced a finer texture, almost like a flour, than what you get with the food processor. One thing I made sure to do was to really beat the dough mixture well at each point. That resulted in a nice, plastic-like texture which made it easy to form into a crust in the tart pan. The recipe makes enough dough for 4 tarts, so if I were to do it again I’d cut the recipe for the crust in half. Blind baking by pricking the dough with a fork, then lining the tart with parchment, then filling it with dry beans (which I save for this purpose) resulted in a nice thin crust. Once I removed the beans and parchment, I put the tart crust back into the turned off oven for 15 minutes to crisp up the bottom.

The caramel presented even more of a challenge. I made my tart early in the month before a different version of making the caramel had surfaced. In some ways I’m glad, because I learned so much this way.

I had no trouble turning the sugar into caramelized sugar, but when I added the cream, which had been warmed a bit, the whole mixture seized up. Panic would have ensued without prior assurances by another Daring Baker that if this happened, to keep stirring and cooking until it all was smooth again. Well, I added the butter and tried that, but grew impatient. After straining the liquids from the solids, I returned the solids to the pot and, over high heat, let it liquefy again. Once that happened, still over high heat, I whisked the liquid into it, a little at a time. That worked well. The mixture thickened up a bit. When it came time to do the eggs, I added a tablespoon of flour to the eggs and saw that there were lots of lumps. I strained that mixture, too. Learning from my mistakes, I ended up incorporating some of the mixed eggs into the rest of the flour rather than adding the flour to the eggs. The resulting mixture easily mixed into the cooled caramel mixture. Then I poured it into the cooled tart pan and baked it 15 minutes. It looked perfect.

I let the tart cool overnight in the fridge and made the mousse the next day. Melting the milk chocolate in the microwave was easy. One minute at a time at half power, stir, another minute at half power, stir, and so on until its all melted. The cream whipped up in the chilled Kitchen Aide mixer just fine. I folded some of it into the slightly cooled melted milk chocolate to lighten the chocolate, then folded that into the rest of the whipped cream. Even so, I had a few little flecks of unincorporated milk chocolate, but that didn’t affect the taste. I suspect that if I had cooled the chocolate just a bit more that there would not have been any flecks.

I smoothed the mousse over the caramel as well as I could, then refrigerated it for about 4 hours. Then I removed the tart from the pan and decorated it with little whipped cream starting around the rim and a few in the center. For serving, I used a serrated small knife to make sure that I could cut the crust. It was a hit, aside from the strong taste of cinnamon. When I just tasted the caramel and mousse together, it was even clearer that I didn’t care for the cinnamon flavor at all with this tart.

Glad that Veron and Patricia chose this luscious Milk Chocolate and Caramel Tart for August. I learned that my idea of incorporating something was the exact opposite of what the recipe said. I stayed cool when my caramel turned bad and celebrated when it was saved. I barely resisted eating all the left over mousse in the bowl and did not resist having a second piece. Delicious! Even more delicious the next day.

Read all about how each King and Queen of Tarts (Daring Bakers) made their tart by visiting the blogroll

here.

Milk Chocolate and Caramel Tart
Daring Bakers Challenge #9: August 2007
Hosts: Veron (Veronica's Test Kitchen) and Patricia (Technicolor Kitchen)
Post Date: Wednesday, August 29
Quantity: One (1) 9" Square or one (1) 10" Round tartChocolate Shortbread PastryNote: The Chocolate Shortbread pastry can make 3 tart shells. So, if you want to cut that recipe into thirds then do so but Veron and Patricia are not promising it will scale down properly.
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Refrigeration: overnight
To make 3 tart shells: 9 ½ inches (24 cm) squareor 10 inches (26 cm round)

Ingredients:
1 cup (250g ) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (150 g) confectioners’ sugar
½ cup (50 g) ground hazelnuts
2 level teaspoons (5 g) ground cinnamon
2 eggs
4 ½ cups (400 g) cake flour
2 ½ teaspoons (10 g) baking powder
1 ½ tablespoons (10 g) cocoa powder

A day ahead
1. In a mixing bowl of a food processor, cream the butter.
2. Add the confectioners’ sugar, the ground hazelnuts, and the cinnamon, and mix together
3. Add the eggs, one by one, mixing constantly
4. Sift in the flour, the baking powder, and the cocoa powder, and mix well.
5. Form a ball with the dough, cover in plastic wrap, and chill overnight.

Milk Chocolate and Caramel Tart
Preparation time: 40 minutes
Baking Time: 30 minutes
Refrigeration time: 1 hour

Ingredients:
½ lb (250 g) chocolate shortbread pastry (see recipe above)
1 ½ cups (300 g) granulated sugar
1 cup (250 g) heavy cream (30-40 percent butterfat) or crème fraiche
¼ cup (50 g) butter
2 whole eggs
1 egg yolk
2 ½ tablespoons (15 g) flour
1 ¼ cups (300 g) whipping cream
½ lb (250 g) milk chocolate

1. Preheat oven to 325 °F (160 °C).
2. Line the baking pan with the chocolate shortbread pastry and bake blind for 15 minutes.
3. In a saucepan, caramelize 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar using the dry method until it turns a golden caramel color. Incorporate the heavy cream or crème fraiche and then add butter. Mix thoroughly. Set aside to cool.
4. In a mixing bowl, beat the whole eggs with the extra egg yolk, then incorporate the flour.
5. Pour this into the cream-caramel mixture and mix thoroughly.
6. Spread it out in the tart shell and bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
7. Prepare the milk chocolate mousse: beat the whipping cream until stiff. Melt the milk chocolate in the microwave or in a bain-marie, and fold it gently into the whipped cream.
8. Pour the chocolate mousse over the cooled caramel mixture, smoothing it with a spatula. Chill for one hour in the refrigerator.

Alternate Caramel Method:
If you have problems with the dry method, you may use this method.
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon corn syrup
Set mixture in a pot over medium-high heat and stir slowly. When the mixture comes to a boil, stop stirring and leave it alone. Wait till desired color is attained. Proceed with the rest of the recipe.

Caramel Fragments:
Melt ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar in a saucepan until it reaches an amber color. Pour it onto waxed paper laid out on a flat surface. Leave to cool. Break it into small fragments and stick them lightly into the top of the tart.

Homegrown

Diving around the country roads near my home lately I've come across the following signs: Fresh Apples Next Left, followed a little ways down the road by Pears 69 cents/lb. The former price of $1 a pound had been painted over with the new price. A large billboard announced 4H Chickenque at the Fairgrounds the first weekend in September. Another sign tacked to a telephone pole offered: Stone Free Hay Delivered and a phone #. You can tell that this is still a rural area and it's possible to buy locally grown fruits and nuts and, sometimes, vegetables right in the driveway or front yard of the folks who have grown them.

Turning up my driveway I notice the pink trumpets of the Naked Ladies near the mailbox on the left, the olive tree overgrown with the muscat grape vine on the right. A little way up the drive on the left the pineapple quince are weighing the branches down almost to the ground and turning from fuzzy green to a bright gold. Straight ahead where the driveway turns left I can see the Gravenstein apples thick on the tree.

On Wednesday I hope to make some more applesauce from them. The blackberry vines to the right have almost finished up for the year. Berries now often have an unripe spot somewhere on the berry that looks ripe. Up near the house are the vegetables I have grown from seed: butternut squash in a pale pinkish tan partially hide under heart shaped leaves. The cucumbers have been happy lately and producing round prickly balls that look a lot like lemons when they are ripe. The zucchini which have been feeding us since May are finally slowing down.

But my favorite right this minute are the tomato bushes, which are finally producing ripe tomatoes in yellow, orange, yellow streaked green, bright red and deep brownish red. There is something wonderful about harvesting something that you grew from seed, especially when it is something that you've never grown before.

I bought two packets of heirloom tomato seeds, each a mixture. The Brandwines have not yet ripened, but today I can plate a rainbow of slices of Marvel Stripe which is a beefsteak type and has wonderful red and yellow streaks throughout, of Green Zebra which have small fruits, but look great with yellow stripes under the kelly green stripes when ripe, of the mild flavor and softer texture of the orange Persimmon tomato, of small intensly red Costoluto tomatoes which are deeply lobed and have a full tomato flavor, of strangly colored Black Krim tomatoes...swirled with brownish red, bright red, lime green and dark green on the outside near the stem. They have the best tomato flavor of all and are a wonderful firm, juicy beefsteak size, too.

From tiny seeds, to little seedlings,

to big bushes that sprawl and grow like crazy and produce lots of tomatoes...homegrown tomatoes are something to really enjoy. Check out the Grow Your Own 2007 event at Andrea's Recipes to see more examples of homegrown goodies.

I prepare something this delicious very simply, with just enough added to highlight the flavor. First of all, never put these good tomatoes in the refrigerator. It wrecks havoc with the true tomato flavors.

I slice the tomatoes, fan them on a plate, sprinkle lightly with a good balsamic vinegar and drizzle lightly with a good quality olive oil. A bit of salt and/or freshly ground pepper goes well. Then mince some fresh basil, or cut in a chiffonade, then sprinkle on the tomatoes. Heavenly!

I couldn't choose which tomato photo to post, so here are a bunch. Enjoy!

Waiter, We're Tropical Grillin'

The gas grill has gotten a workout this summer. Grilled salmon, pork, chicken, Italian turkey sausages, ribs, plus pounds and pounds of summer squash have all been grilled by Sweetie. He presents quite a picture sitting by the grill with Merlin the cat on his lap, smoke swirling up from the grill, and a good book drawing his attention away from the food...but never for too long.

One day he came in while the pork roast was still cooking away and held out a tray of bannana halves that he has cooked on the grill. They were warm and sort of gooey in a good way, like caramel but a little firmer. The flavor was smoky and sweet and very tropical.

When Jeanne of Cooksister announced that this month's Waiter event was "Waiter, there's something in my... meatless barbecue", the grilled bananas immediately came to mind. Should I make grilled bannana financiers? Grilled bannana bread? Grilled bannana and peanut butter sandwich? A tart with grilled bannanas and mango curd? Too many possibilities.

Then decision was easy once we purchased some fresh pineapple. Grilled bannanas and grilled pineapple spears would go perfectly with some coconut pineapple ice cream garnished with a little toasted coconut. Tropical grillin' at it's best. The hot bannanas and pineapple contrasted nicely with the cold sweet ice cream and slight crunch of the toasted coconut. The great thing about this recipe is that it will work anytime you have ripe bannanas and some good fresh pineapple and the weather is OK for grilling. You could also grill other kinds of fruit to add to the fun.

A mention should be made about the ice cream. I used some store bought pineapple coconut light ice cream and it was very good. The part that I didn't anticipate is that the hot fruit melted quite a lot of the ice cream. If I did this again, I would make scoops of the ice cream and then freeze the scoops on a try in the freezer until they were very solid. That way the ice cream would start out hard and the hot fruit would soften it nicely instead of melting it into pools. Live and learn. I wrote the recipe with the addition of freezing the ice cream balls.

Tropical Grilled Fruit over Ice Cream with Coconut

1 pint HaagenDaz Rich and Light Pineapple and Coconut ice cream (or a flavor of your choice)

3 medium bannanas, sliced lengthwise, skins left on

1 tsp. light olive oil or salad oil

3 spears fresh pineapple

1/4 cup sweetened shredded coconut

Scoop the ice cream into balls. Place on a cookie sheet and freeze until firm. Leave in freezer until after fruit has been grilled.

Lightly brush the cut side of the bannanas with the oil. Place the bannanas and pineapple on a tray.

In a small cast iron skillet or heavy bottomed pan, toast the coconut, stirring often, until most of the coconut is lightly toasted. Set aside.

Over medium heat, grill the bannanas, cut side down first, and the pineapple spears, turning once as soon as the first side carmelizes where it touches the grill, about 4-5 minutes. Continue grilling on the second side until the bannanas are softened and the pineapple carmelizes where it touches the grill. The bannana skins will hold the softened bannanas like little boats. Return to the tray and cut the pineapple into chunks.

Remove the ice cream balls from the freezer and place two or three in a bowl. Place pieces of the grilled bannana and chunks of the grilled pineapple in the bowls and sprinkle with the toasted coconut. Serve at once. Serves 3 or 4.