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!

Local and Seasonal: Pumpkin Stuffed With Everything Good

Pumpkin fresh from the oven.

It's September 2010.  My friend Stacie calls me, and in a voice full of excitement, tells me, "NPR just did an interview with a chef who makes a recipe you have to try.  It's called Pumpkin Stuffed With Everything Good.  I know you'll love it!"  Stacie was correct, and that was the day I discovered and fell in love with Dorie Greenspan.  This recipe comes from Around My French Table, which I am very sorry to say I still don't own.  That day, though,  I went to google.com, and a quick search yielded up a version of this recipe on Epicurious.com, (which I encourage you to use if you have not already tried it, though I prefer allrecipes.com's ratings system). 

Flash forward to October 15, 2011, when I'm on my second go with this recipe since the pumpkin season hit.  While pumpkin growers in the Northeast had their crops devastated by Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee, I still managed to find two PA pumpkins at the Whole Foods in Mt. Washington, MD, and I shipped them back home with me.  I like the "bonne idée" section at the end of the recipe; both times I've used chard, the first time I subbed in 1.5 cups of brown rice, and this time I left out the thyme and added in about a tablespoon of ginger to complement the Star Anise and Ginger Chicken that I'm going to have as the main with my stuffed pumpkin tonight.

Try this recipe!  If enough people eat Pumpkin Stuffed With Everything Good, maybe stores will carry pie pumpkins after Halloween!

Friday's Tip: Egg-cellent Advice

A Tip  Today's post is all about the glorious, wonderful, incredible, edible egg.  I feel sorry for my egg-eschewing friends, since these little guys are really quite an amazing package:

• They are the perfect protein.  Really, there is nothing better nutritionally.
• They are the cheapest animal protein you can buy, even if you get organic eggs.  Let's say you buy a dozen eggs at $4.00, and you eat 2 at a time--that's a whopping $.67 per meal.  Thankfully, I can get local, pastured eggs cheaper than that.  Serious Eats recently confirmed my suspicion that eggs taste like eggs regardless of how footloose and fancy-free the chickens are, UNLESS they're pasturized (and then they suck).  
• At about 70 calories per large egg, they are an excellent low-calorie, low-fat, high-protein snack, particularly if you are cutting calories, hungry, and don't want to sabotage your weight-loss goals.  Protein is very filling!  I've been keeping boiled eggs in the fridge just for this purpose, and they really do the trick.

Here are some tips to help you get the most out of these little powerhouses:

1. Fresh eggs are desirable for baking, particularly if you need to separate white from yolk.  Less fresh eggs taste the same, but the white deteriorates with age and is less separable.
2. Older eggs are preferable for boiling, since the peels will come off easier.  Boiling, in fact, is an excellent use of eggs on the verge of passing their Best By date.
3. Not sure if your eggs are fresh?  Fill a large pot or bowl with water, and put them in.  If they sink, they're good; if they float, very delicately but decisively throw them out (the reason they float is that they have begun oxidizing).
4. Don't pay more for egg-shell color, which is determined by chicken color and does not affect taste or quality; instead, pay more for eggs from humanely-kept chickens!
5. How to hard-boil eggs with energy efficiency in mind: Fill a pot with cold tap water.  Place eggs in.  Sprinkle liberally with the cheapest salt you own (egg shells can crack, and the salt fills the cracks to keep the insides from leaking out).  Cover (optional step, but it helps them boil faster so saves energy).  Bring to a full rolling boil.  Cover if you haven't already and turn off heat.  Let sit 12 minutes.  Uncover and add a tray's worth of ice cubes.  Let sit 10 minutes.  Remove from water and place in fridge.  N.B.  This process takes less than 30 minutes, but requires you to hang out in the kitchen.
6. Secret ingredient to boil fresh eggs to help with peeling: 1 teaspoon baking soda. (h/t Summer Tomato for this excellent video--I always buy farm-fresh eggs and was losing lots of white when peeling.  This trick seriously works!)
7. Secret trick to separate eggs: Do it when they're cold and the whites are at their firmest, and then bring to room temperature to bake.
8. Have extra egg whites?  Eat them within 2-3 days, or freeze them in ice cube trays and store till ready to use in freezer.
9. Have extra egg yolks?  You can freeze them, too, but you need to liberally sprinkle them with sugar OR salt so that they keep their consistency--if you plan to make a lemon curd or flan with them, for instance, choose sugar.  You have to have a plan in mind for them to know which to choose.
10. Finally, don't be afraid of the cholesterol or other bad press eggs have gotten.  They are a great food for everyone but truly a dieter's friend. 

Here are some recipes that I recommend, all of which are easy and yummy:
A lowfat Egg Salad.
A lowfat version of Eggs in Purgatory.
My current favorite dessert, Lemon Curd Tart with Olive Oil.
A great use for summer's cherry tomatoes, Cherry Tomato Frittata (I use only half the parmesan, and then add hot sauce).

A Tip and a Tool for Friday

TIP  A full freezer is an efficient freezer, and here are some excellent, cost-effective ways to fill it!  Use a gallon-sized freezer bag to save all of your veggie scraps (such as garlic, onion, carrot, and celery ends) rather than throwing them in compost, or worse, throwing them away.   Just pull the bag out of the freezer and toss in these scraps whenever you cook!  When the bag is full, you can use these to make a brilliant homemade vegetable stock.  These bits are actually the best-tasting parts for making stock--so not only do you get more bang for your veggie dollar (more significant if you buy organic), you get some mighty good and pretty dang easy-to-make broth.

I normally combine the veggie-scrap bag with a chicken carcass bag (see below, though you can skip the chicken or add another set of meaty bones) in a large pot, add water to cover, bring to a boil and then simmer for hours. I make sure I add ginger if I have it (that freezer bag is a good place for ginger peels), and herb stems like parsley along the way (though don't get too crazy with the herbs), and peppercorns to the stock.  I never add salt, though.  Strain the broth when you're done, reserving the liquid and tossing all solids in the trash,  and then measure off amounts into glass jars (which I conserve rather than recycle).  Place them in the fridge for a few hours before placing them in the freezer to prevent glass-jar explosion, which spoils all the cooking love. (You can also fill ice cube trays with stock and then store these cubes in quart-sized freezer bags.)

If you prefer chicken stock, use another gallon-sized freezer bag to store raw or cooked portions of chicken.  Since whole chickens are cheaper anyway, simply buy one, chop it up for the usual parts, and throw the rest in the freezer bag.  Then throw leftover bones in there, too, rather than throwing them out. 

TOOL  If you work with dough at all, anything that needs to rest from corn tortillas to bread, King Arther's Dough Whisk will be your new best friend.  I confess I got mine in a happy accident--for some reason, it was included in a box of goodies I'd ordered, and I keep thanking the generosity of the employee every time I use it!  It is So. Much. Better. than a regular whisk--not only does its circular shape mix up dough faster and more thoroughly, but less dough sticks to it (and what does stick is much easier to clean off).  Truly one of my favorite favorite baking tools and a must have for any baker!

Local Pork Butt to Puerco Pibil

Back in the triple-digit heat bath that was July, a friend on Facebook posted this recipe for Robert Rodriguez's Puerco Pibil (made famous in Once Upon a Time in Mexico).  I made a mental note (and a comment on her Facebook) to make this recipe come the cooler days of Fall when having the oven on for four hours is no hardship and might even bring welcome heat. 

The highs are in the 70s, the lows in the 50s, and it is time, since I am cooking for 8 this evening, including two people with gluten sensitivities.  Dinner will be a potluck: I am providing the main dish with homemade corn tortillas (using Bob's Red Mill's masa harina and recipe) and chocolate sorbet (my farewell to summer), my roommate is providing Italian Cornmeal Cake, and the guests are bringing the rest.  Since one of my guests cannot eat hot peppers, I threw in two poblanos from the garden rather than habañeros to make the marinade, and I'm making pico de gallo as a topping for those of us who want more kick.

Who knew I had to move to York, PA, to start cooking Tex-Mex? 

Puerco Pibil á la Robert Rodriguez

Makes 15 servings

Thanks to my local butcher from Three Sons, I now know that pork butt and pork shoulder are the same thing.  I also learned that it can come with bone, so I carved off the meat and stuck the bones in a freezer bag for future use, most likely to help flavor a winter bean soup.  I was left with about 4 pounds of meat.

The only ingredient not readily available where I live is the annatto seeds; you can order them through Penzey's.

5 Tablespoons annatto (achiote) seeds

2 teaspoons cumin seeds

1 Tablespoon peppercorns

8 allspice berries

½ tsp. whole cloves

2 habanero chiles

½ cup orange juice

½ cup white vinegar

2 Tbsps. salt

8 cloves of garlic

Juice of 5 lemons

Splash of tequila x 2

5 pounds pork butt (or shoulder)

Banana leaves or heavy-duty aluminum foil

White or Spanish rice or taco shells for serving

1.  Place the annatto, cumin, peppercorns, allspice, and cloves in a spice grinder and process to a fine powder.

2.  Carefully remove the seeds and veins from the chiles and chop coarsely. (Habaneros are very hot; even breathing the fumes may make you cough. Removing the veins and seeds ensures the dish is fiery but not painfully hot. You can also substitute a milder chile.)

3.  Process the orange juice, vinegar, chiles, salt, and garlic in a blender or food processor until liquefied. Add the lemon juice and tequila.  Combine with spice blend in a large, self-sealing plastic bag.

4.  Cut the pork into 2-inch chunks. Place in a large, self-sealing plastic bag with the marinade. Seal bag and turn to evenly coat the meat. Refrigerate for 8 to 24 hours, turning occasionally.  (Overnight = better.)

5.  Heat oven to 325 degrees. Remove the meat from the marinade and wrap tightly in banana leaves or foil so no steam can escape. Place packet in roasting pan and roast four hours. Open packet carefully; the meat should shred easily with a fork. Serve with rice or shred with two forks and use as taco filling.

Per serving: 240 calories (35 percent from fat), 9.3 g fat (2.9 g saturated, 3.8 g monounsaturated), 92.2 mg cholesterol, 33.1 g protein, 5.2 g carbohydrates, 0.7 g fiber, 1,037 mg sodium.

Green Housekeeping: Practical Tips for Mega Savings

Use less soap in your dishwasher and clothes washer--not only do you save money on soap, but the appliance will last longer.  This great article even has tips on how to load your dishwasher to make it more efficient!

Be sure how often your car needs its oil changed--like my MINI, you may only need to do it about every 10,000 miles!

Local Top Sirloin to Korean Steak

Dinner tonight is courtesy of Three Sons Meat Market of York County, who raise and slaughter their own meat and sell it at Eastern Market every Friday, Sonnewald Natural Foods, which has the best local and organic produce in the area, and Dietz's Produce at Central Market, which is my go-to market within walking distance.

This is a very easy prep, best done the night before or the morning of cooking, that I found on Austin's own Stubb's BBQ website (which is local to where I used to live, LOL).  Photos will follow soon.

I'm serving this tonight with spicy baked sweet potato fries--a recipe for that will follow soon--and an as-yet-to-be-determined vegetable.

Korean Steak, Stubb’s style

Serves: 4-8

Toast your own sesame seeds, and use a teaspoon to scrape the skin off the ginger with ridiculous ease.  Save all veggie scraps, including ginger peels, in the freezer as a base for vegetable or chicken stock.

Ingredients

2 Lbs beef flank steak or sirloin
4 scallions (green and white parts), sliced in 3/4" lengths, or 4 shallots, chopped
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 Tbs minced garlic
2 Tbs minced fresh ginger
4 Tsp sesame oil
2 Tbs sesame seeds, toasted (see Note)
1/4 Tsp crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
1 Tbs dry sherry (I used Busha Brown's Spicy&Hot Pepper Sherry)

Preparation

Score the beef on each side with intersecting cuts 3/4 inch apart to create a diamond pattern; cut only lightly into the meat, about 1/8 inch deep.  Slice the scallions diagonally into ¾-inch lengths.

In a baking dish or shallow pan, combine the brown sugar, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, sesame oil and seeds, pepper flakes, and sherry. Stir in the scallions, and then add the beef, coating well with the marinade. Cover and marinate, refrigerated, preferably for 8 hours (or from 1 hour to overnight), turning the beef once or twice.

Prepare a grill for direct cooking. For a charcoal grill, when the coals are ashed over, rake or spread them out in the bottom of the grill so the food can cook directly over the coals. (For a gas grill, fire-up the burners so the food can cook directly over the heat.)

Grill the steak over direct high heat, flipping once, long enough to lightly char the scored edges of the meat, making them crisp and crunchy, without overcooking the interior. (Allow 8 to 10 minutes total for medium-rare.)

Let the steak rest for 10 minutes. If desired, boil the marinade for 1 full minute or more, to use as a sauce. Slice the steak against the grain into thin strips and serve drizzled with the cooked marinade.

Notes:  Toast sesame seeds in a dry skillet over medium heat, stirring often, until golden brown and aromatic, 3 to 5 minutes.  Or buy the seeds already toasted.

This Korean marinade may also be used to grill thin slices of beef (known as bulgogi), rather than a whole steak. (To put a touch of Texas in this dish, replace half the soy sauce with Stubb’s Beef Marinade.) It’s also dynamite on lamb, particularly when charcoal grilled. Serve with steamed rice and a cucumber salad, tossed with a sesame dressing.

Gardening with Newspapers

Just when you thought you had no more use for old media, the NYT prints an article that gives newspapers a clear advantage over their electronic counterparts.  Now, if only I had enough space to start a fall garden . . .