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 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.

A Warm Lamb Salad Welcome to This Blog!

Best to start boldly and declare it: I love the taste of baby animals. LOVE. Lamb also happens to be the one meat you can get at the grocery that is humanely raised, since there isn't enough of a demand for it to factory-farm them. And thankfully, Whole Foods Market sells pasture-raised veal, so I can get my osso bucco fix that way. Why sentimentalize baby animals but not the adults? Especially when they are so tasty.

Since I'm on such a tight budget yet want to buy meat that is as humane as possible, I either buy meat raised and slaughtered locally at my farmer's market (easy to get the good stuff in South-Central PA) or I scout for excellent reduced prices in the good section of the meat aisle at the local GIANT. I made this recipe after I happily landed some lamb shoulder blade steaks, .81 lbs total, for a mere $2.38. I have gotten three separate meals out of the salad and froze the stock for lamb stew--that's a bargain!

This easy recipe is adapted from Bruce Aidells and Denis Kelly's The Complete Meat Cookbook, which has never failed to deliver truly awesome recipes. You can serve it as a first-course or as a light lunch. It rewarms very nicely in my toaster oven; not sure what a microwave would do to the meat. Still, cold lamb is to be avoided.

Warm Lamb Salad
Serves 4-6

for the lamb
1 lb. bone-in or lamb shoulder, trimmed of all fat (leave bone in for stock)
1 medium onion, unpeeled, cut in half
2 bay leaves
6 garlic cloves, unpeeled
1 carrot, unpeeled, cut in half lengthwise
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 cups water or chicken stock

for the salad dressing
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1.5 tablespoons olive oil
1 garlic clove, crushed or minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

for the salad
3-4 cups cubed, cooked potatoes (red, fingerling, or other boiling variety)
1/2 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
4 green onions or scallions, finally chopped
1/2 pound fresh chopped tomatoes or blanched green beans (or both!)
Salt and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste

To prepare lamb:
Place the trimmed meat in a large pot with the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer, and cover. Simmer for 1.5-2 hours, or until the meat is quite tender. Remove the meat, discard the vegetables (but do eat the carrot!), and put the meat back in the stock to cool, covered, in the stock. Save the stock for soup. When the meat is cool enough to handle, cut into 1/4" slices and reserve.

To make the salad dressing:
Whisk all the ingredients together in a bowl, pulse briefly in a food processor, or (my choice) place in a glass jar with lid and shake to emulsify.

To assemble the salad:
Gently toss the meat, potatoes, and other vegetables with the dressing, preferably while the lamb and potatoes are still warm. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve at once.