Cooking Digest 6/23-6/29

Below the fold: Bête Noire Bars and other thwarted cooking projects, Mexican Slaw, and Cherry Vinegar:

Cooking Digest 6/15-6/22

Below the fold: Whole Wheat Sesame Bagels, Minted Marinated Carrots, and Hellfire Jerk Chicken with Rummy Pineapple.

Cooking Digest 6/8-6/15

Below the fold: Orange Pull-Apart Loaf, my own Deconstructed BLT Tart, Gallopinto, Potato Pancakes, and Gingered Swiss Chard Omelet.

Paul's Pie: Deconstructed BLT Tart

Deconstructed BLT Tart

Paul wanted a bacon crust. 

"Do you want bacon in the crust?" I asked.

"No," he answered.  "I want a crust that IS bacon."

I happily googled "bacon crust recipe" and discovered this very promising recipe.

"How about this?" I asked.

"No," Paul said.  "I want crust AND bacon crust."


Well!  I do like a culinary conundrum, but folks who know me know that I cook more comfortably from recipes.  Still, I wanted to satisfy Paul's quest for pie.  Since it's already June and a crust + bacon crust seems pretty heavy to me, I decided to fill the crust with seasonable vegetables rather than something quiche-like--and backing away from bacon and eggs led me to the BLT, which always tastes best with summer tomatoes.

What follows is my first effort to make a seasonal version of Paul's Pie, which cobbles together the recipe above and vamps on David Lebovitz's French Tomato Tart recipe, which I've made several times with stupendous results.  The bacon comes from Godfrey Bros. Meats, the arugula from my Sterling Farm CSA share on the advice of Jonathan Darby, and the tomatoes from Brogue Hydroponics, who manage to grow delicious tomatoes in early June!  The spinach and oregano were from my tiny shady garden.

Side view of a slice.

This recipe, like many, is pretty easy but takes both time and patience--and you have to trust your own cooking judgment, which I know from personal experience can be hard.  I'm sure you could use a store-bought pie crust instead of making your own tart or pie crust, but I encourage you to make your own.  Crusts are very easy to make, and the recipe below has always worked for me AND is big enough for the 10" spring-form pan.  I've taken lots of photos to guide the beginner.  Humidity really affects baking, since the more water there is in the air, the less you need to add to your recipe.  When I made this, it was so humid that 2 Tablespoons of water was almost too much!