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!

Found Food: Spiced Kuri Squash and Chicken Stew

When one impulse buys a 4-pound Kuri squash, it then behooves one to find a recipe that uses it.  This is the recipe that I found--and since I have a habit of finding food before I find the recipe, I'm creating a new tag.  

The amazing Red Kuri Squash

All of the vegetables and the chicken are local; the broth, while not homemade, has made use of leftover broth from my roomie's fabulous pilaf that she made me two nights ago.  I placed the onion, garlic, and ginger ends and peels in my freezer bag o' stock scraps. 

ETA: This recipe was originally posted in September 2010; it's now 2 October 2011, and I made this again deboning 2 lbs of leg quarters--NOT for the timid but an excellent way to get bones for the freezer hoard for future broth--to get 1.25 lbs of meat.  I also took photos!  Next time I make this, I may use coconut milk in place of the broth, since I bet that's worth the calories.

Spanish Lamb Chops: Menu

I happened upon twelve beautiful lamb loin chops at GIANT: original price $33.18, scavenged price $19.03.  It was definitely time not only for my wonderful Spanish lamb chop recipe, but to make Voluptuous Vegan's Fennel, Orange, and Pomegranate Salad.  (Second only to unveganing a vegan recipe is serving it with baby animal, since both please my warped sense of humor.)

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).

Lazy Yakatori Steak

I defrosted a beautiful 1 3/4 lb. sirloin that I got on sale at Whole Foods for $6.99 a pound.  I found this easy recipe for Yakatori Steak so that I could get one more go on the grill before it gets too cold, which I decided to make even easier by using red wine vinegar instead of lemon juice to save a step and not cubing or slicing up the steak to thread on skewers.  Lazy! 

With it I will grill salt and vinegar potatoes and local eggplant that I bought yesterday at Sonnewald.  I'm very excited to get a chance to make the potatoes, though of course rice is the obvious (and lazier) accompaniment to the steak.  La!

A Winning Recipe: Tortilla Espagnola

(Updated: I was too busy last week to make this, get the photo, and submit it to NYT, but it's still a winner.  I wrote this post on 9/20.)

The NYT Well Blog is putting together a round-up of readers' potluck recipes and photos, deadline 24 September.  I at first felt like I had nothing to submit, but my friends reminded me that very few recipes are truly original--we're all vamping on someone else's idea.  Besides, the entry form asks for the source--hurray for such explicit protection of intellectual property!

I first thought I'd go with a tart, since I have been the Queen of Tarts this summer.  They are impressive--edible at any temperature and with crusts that often permit them to become finger food, which is something of a win.  But I hesitated, because my tarts are seasonal, and I felt a winning recipe should be for all seasons.

And then I remembered Epicurious's Tortilla Espagnola, which I revised pretty heavily and with great success for preparation in my iron skillet.  Not only is it even more of a finger food than tarts, it creates more individual bits, tastes best at room temperature, and is a very easy prep that leaves you with lovely flavored olive oil to use when you cook.  A win!

Found Food: Roasted Squash Seeds

While I am perfectly happy to compost my food scraps and reuse them that way, the best foods are those that have further edible iterations.  The kuri squash that I used to make the Spiced Kuri Squash and Chicken Stew yielded some plump, beautiful seeds that begged to be roasted.  Since these will be higher calorie and a huge temptation, I'm taking them to a neighbor's tonight along with a bottle of Portguese wine.

Roasted Squash Seeds
Makes 2 cups

Seeds from a winter squash such as Kuri
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher or fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1)  Take seeds scooped from squash and rinse in colander to get rid of as much squash fiber and meat as possible.  Spread on baking tray and dry out.

2)  Preheat oven to 375 F.

3)  Place seeds in a mixing bowl.  Add oil and stir.  Add spices (improvising as necessary or desired) and stir.  Spread seeds evenly on baking sheet.

4) Place baking sheet full of seeds in oven and bake 20-30 minutes or until seeds begin to brown.  Adjust salt as desired.

Ikea's New Cookbook: Delightful, Delicious, Delovely

I am still swooning over the clever visuals in this cookbook. *want*  (h/t David Lebovitz)

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.

Chocolate + Sorbet, Two Ways

As summer gasps its last breaths here in South-Central PA, I find myself wanting one last round of the delicious machine-free Chocolate Sorbet that I've made twice this summer, once with vanilla extract and once with mint extract.  But I like options!  Here are two recipes that are amazing ways to get your chocolate fix in the summer and come highly recommended.

The Chocolate Sorbet recipe is a modified-for-handmade version of David Lebovitz's that I poached from King Arthur Flour's Baking Banter blog. The Rainbow Sorbet Torte is from Mollie Katzen's Vegetable Heaven--the only hitch with it is that you really need to make it in a springform pan to get the full visual effect. Any size will do.

I have made the sorbet once as written and once with mint extract and found both equally tasty.   Tomorrow's menu is Mexican, with Puerco Pibil in the starring role served with homemade corn tortillas, so this time I'm sticking to vanilla and adding cinnamon.  I may also add some Spanish smoked paprika--one of my guests cannot have spicy food, so chipotle and cayenne are out, alas.  Decisions, decisions!


Chocolate Sorbet
Use the Epicurious Recipe above if you plan to use an ice cream maker; this recipe includes ingredients and steps for making this sorbet by hand.

Ingredients
2 1/4 cups water
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
Pinch of salt
6 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or other flavored extract
2 tablespoons vodka
1 teaspoon espresso powder (optional)
1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

In a large saucepan, whisk together 1 1/2 cups water with the sugar, cocoa powder, and salt. Bring the mixture to a boil, whisking frequently. Let it boil, continuing to whisk, for 45 seconds.

Remove from heat and stir in chocolate until it's melted, then stir in the extract and the remaining 3/4 cup water. Transfer to a blender and blend for 15 seconds (I skip this step, actually). Place mixture in a 9" cake pan and freeze for 2 hours.

Pull pan from freezer. Mix the slush around with a fork or spoon, making sure to bring frozen edges to center (to make it all uniform). Smooth and repeat this process every hour, could be 4 or more. When uniformly icy, blend again to make it "creamier."

Yield: 1 quart


Rainbow Sorbet Torte
The first time I made this, I had to make my own chocolate wafers to avoid Nabisco and its evil HFCS and transfats. Now you can find chocolate wafers without those nefarious ingredients in the organic aisle. To crumble cookies: place in a big ziploc bag and roll gently with a rolling pin till uniformly crushed.

2 cups crumbled chocolate wafer cookies (about 30 cookies, or most of a 9 oz. package)
6 tablespoons melted butter (vegan substitute = fine)
3-5 pints assorted fruit sorbets (have an eye toward contrast!)

Preheat oven to 350˚F. Combine crumbs and butter in medium-sized bowl, and press mixture firmly into bottom of 9x3" springform pan. Bake for 10 minutes, and then cool.

Let the sorbets soften for 30 minutes in the fridge or at room temperature for 10-15 minutes (depending on the weather). Spoon one pint of sorbet into the crust, and spread it evenly to the edges. Repeat creating layers with remaining sorbets. Press down firmly to eliminate air pockets, then cover the top with plastic wrap.

Freeze for at least 4 hours or until firm. Let the torte stand at room temperature for about 10 minutes (or in the fridge about 30 minutes) before removing the rim of the pan. To serve, dip a sharp knife into hot water, and slice the torte in wedges.

Yield: 12-20 servings, depending on number of pints

Time to Make Pretzels, and That's No Lye!

I'm a huge-huge fan of yeasty, chewy pretzels, and the NYT published this recipe in May that I've been saving, with an eye toward purchasing some lye when I had some extra money.  Thanks to Harold McGee, the best kitchen chemist ever, I now have the means of making a lye-substitute without shelling out any dough.*

*Puns are a necessary part of a balanced diet.

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.

Scavenged Chicken to Javanese Chicken Curry

It took me a long time to find a recipe to use for 3 pounds of scavenged chicken legs and thighs I bought on Labor Day at GIANT (Original price: $6.26  Reduced price: $4.20).  It seems I only cook whole chicken and boneless, skinless breasts, so buying bone-in pieces is a real departure for me (it also doesn't help that I didn't eat any chicken at all from 2000-2008, so I have little experience cooking it relative to other meat).


This recipe for Javanese Curry Chicken that I downloaded in 2006 from the NYT is the one I finally chose.  I will use dried kaffir lime leaves that I brought home from a Belfast Marks and Spencer back in May, and I got frozen chopped lemon grass and whole knobs of frozen galangal from the Asian grocery around the corner.  I have cut the oil down from 3 to 2 tablespoons, subbed light coconut milk for regular, and removed as much skin and fat as possible from the chicken.


Note to self: cook more Asian food to use that grocery more extensively!

Javanese Chicken Curry (Opor Ayam) Adapted from NYT

Time: 1 hour

Serves 4 to 6
Per serving (@ 5 servings):  318 calories, 37 g protein, 1.2 g carbs, 16.8 g fat

1/2 tablespoon ground coriander

2 fresh cayenne or other hot pepper, cored, seeded, and chopped

6 shallots, peeled and cut into chunks

2 cloves garlic, peeled

1 piece galangal, about 11⁄2 inches long, peeled and roughly sliced (optional)

1 piece ginger, 2 inches long, peeled and roughly sliced

2 tablespoons sunflower oil (or other oil suitable for high heat)

2 tablespoons chopped frozen prepared lemongrass

2 pieces cinnamon stick

5 dried kaffir lime leaves

21⁄2 to 3 pounds skinless chicken legs, thighs or both (if possible, have thighs cut in half and knuckle cut off legs), patted dry

1.5 cups unsweetened light coconut milk (1 can)

3⁄4 teaspoon kosher salt, more to taste

1. In a small food processor, combine coriander, chili, shallots, garlic, galangal and ginger and process to a smooth paste, adding a tablespoon or so of water if needed. (Ingredients can also be chopped finely, then pounded together in mortar and pestle.)

2. Heat oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat. When oil is hot enough to gently sizzle a pinch of paste, add all the paste and cook, stirring often, until golden, 5 to 7 minutes. Reduce heat as needed to prevent browning.

3. Add lemongrass to pot with cinnamon and lime leaves. Cook 1 minute more, until cinnamon is fragrant.

4. Scrape paste to one side and add chicken to pot. Raise heat and brown chicken lightly on both sides, about 10 minutes total. Add 1 cup coconut milk, 1 1⁄4 cups water and salt, stirring well and scraping up browned bits from bottom of pot. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook uncovered 40 to 50 minutes, until chicken is cooked through and sauce is thickened. Do not boil.

5. Add remaining coconut milk and heat through. Taste for salt. Let cool slightly and serve.

Scavenged Top Round To Sesame Ginger Beef

I'm adapting this recipe for a beautifully reduced-price slab of lean organic top round I found at GIANT.  (Original price: $7.14.  Reduced price: $4.28)  I started the brown rice, then made the marinade, and will cook the beef when the rice is almost finished.  That means about 40-45 minutes marinating at room temperature, and dinner in under an hour!

Sesame Ginger Beef (adapted from allrecipes.com)
Serves 4
Per serving:  257 calories, 29.4 g protein, 7.5 g carbs, 11.7 g fat

1 pound round steak or other lean steak like sirloin
2 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari
2 tablespoons vegetable oil (use something higher heat than olive oil)
2 tablespoons sugar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon ginger, minced
4 spring onions/ 1 shallot/1 small onion, chopped
1 bag frozen veg (stirfry mix = best)
1 tablespoon sesame seeds 

1.  Mix sugar, soy sauce, oil, garlic, and ginger in a large bowl. Set aside. 

2.  Cut steak into strips and add to bowl.  Cover and refrigerate overnight, or leave out to marinate at room temperature for up to an hour.

3.  Heat skillet or wok to medium high.  Add beef with marinade, and cook till beef is just browned on all sides.  Pull beef out, and add onion and frozen veg and cook till onion is tender.  Put beef back in, add sesame seeds, and cook for two minutes more (or longer, if you want your meat more cooked--I like mine rare to medium-rare).

Lemon Curd Squares with Rosemary

From Serious Eats' Cook the Book series, this would be the first recipe I would make from Melissa Clark's new cookbook, too.  I'll work it into my rotation soon . . .

Chicken Tortilla (Free) Soup: Healthy Tex-Mex

I often miss the Tex-Mex I enjoyed as a grad student in Texas. Since I am on a diet (and constantly seeking recipes that hit the trifecta of easy-healthy-yummy), I had to find a healthy option--my fellow queso lovers know just how heartbreaking that search can be!

A baker at heart, I normally cook recipes as is or tweak them slightly. This recipe, on the other hand, is really my own. The pico de gallo recipe comes courtesy of Cindy Haenel's Knife Skills cooking class at Central Market, and the soup is a fresher take on Allrecipes' Chicken Tortilla Soup V.

The tortilla chips are optional in the recipe, and the soup is excellent with or without them. Needless to say, cut the salt if you add the chips. 

Chicken Tortilla (Free) Soup with Homemade Pico De Gallo
Serves 3
Per serving (without tortilla chips):  247 calories, 37 g protein, 12.7 g carbs, 6.6 g fat

For the Pico De Gallo:
4 ripe tomatoes (in winter sub 8 heavy-for-size ripe Romas), cored and diced ¼”
1 cup finely diced onion (sweet yellow onion if possible)
1 or 2 large jalapenos, stemmed, seeded, and finely diced
½ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
¼ cup lime juice (2-3 limes)
1 tsp salt (or to taste)

1. Combine tomatoes, onions, jalapenos, cilantro, and lime juice in a non-reactive bowl (glass or stainless steel) and mix gently.

2. Add 1 teaspoon salt, mix and taste. If mixture is sour, add more salt till flavor is balanced.

3. Serve or store covered and chilled up to 2 days (best made fresh, however). 

For the soup:
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (can sub leftover cooked meat)
4 cups chicken stock (homemade = best)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 tsp cumin (or to taste)
1 small onion, chopped
1 cup frozen corn kernels (use fresh-picked corn if available)
4 cups tortilla chips (NOT fritos), crushed (optional)

1. Poach chicken breasts in chicken broth in medium-sized saucepan. Pull out breasts and set aside till cool enough to handle, and then shred by hand. Keep broth lidded in the meantime.

2. Heat olive oil in skillet. Add onion, then garlic and cumin, and sauté till tender. Add to broth.

3. Add corn and chicken to broth and bring to a boil (faster if lidded). Lower heat and simmer 20 to 30 minutes.


To Assemble:
In a deep soup bowl, place a generous amount of pico and 1 cup of the chips, if you're using them. Ladle a generous amount of soup on top.

French Tomato Tart: Vive la Tomate!

It seemed fitting yesterday to celebrate Labor Day by making David Lebovitz's fabu French Tomato Tart for my neighbor's potluck. Pinko commie cuisine never tasted so good, and tomatoes are at their best as summer cools into fall. Really best with home-grown or farm-fresh tomatoes, but if you must have an out-of-season fix, go for tomatoes that feel heavy for their size and ignore all other considerations such as color. That trick works for me all the time. And romas are typically the best tomatoes in winter.

This recipe is ideal picnic fare. The first time I made this, I served it to a friend hot from the oven, and we both swooned. Eight servings became 4. *blush* We took the remaining slices as picnic fare on a scenic day trip to Pittsburgh the next day (which included stops at the Flight 93 9/11 memorial site and her family's ancestral home in northwestern PA), which we ate upon arrival at our hotel in downtown Pittsburgh--and it was even better! The crust was even more tender, and the flavors had melded together. So, if you happen to have leftovers (!), be sure you have the time to savor each bite!

French Tomato Tart (adapted from David Lebovitz)
You can use a tart pan, removeable bottom or not, anywhere from 9-12 inches, though be sure you roll out the dough large enough to overalap the edges after you fit it in. I used a 10" ceramic tart pan for thicker dough and so I might make extra tartlets from any scraps (I got one, which meant my roommate got to try it even though she missed the potluck).

Be generous with the herbs (I have twice used oregano and thyme) and mustard. Consider slathering the mustard on the bottom of the unbaked crust as you would for a sandwich. The crust is a dream--it's considered a good beginner's recipe, and it really does go straight in the oven unbaked and topped with juicy tomatoes without becoming soggy (be sure the mustard layer dries out as specified to achieve this effect).

One possible tweak to this recipe that I want to try to move it west along the Mediterranean by subbing 8 oz of feta and using basil and oregano. Yum!

Tart Filling

One unbaked tart dough (see recipe, below)

Dijon or whole-grain mustard

2-3 large ripe tomatoes

2 tablespoons olive oil

salt and freshly ground pepper

two generous tablespoons chopped fresh herbs, such as thyme, chives, chervil, orgegano, or tarragon

8 ounces (250 g) fresh or slightly aged goat cheese, sliced into rounds

Optional: 1 1/2 tablespoons flavorful honey

Tart Dough

1 1/2 cups (210 g) flour
4 1/2 ounces (125 g) (9 Tablespoons) unsalted butter, chilled, cut into cubes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
2-3 tablespoons ice water

1. Make the dough by mixing the flour and salt in a bowl. Add the butter and use your hands, or a pastry blender, to break in the butter until the mixture has a crumbly, cornmeal-like texture. If you use your hands (which I prefer), make sure the butter cubes have chilled in the fridge and that you use your fingertips to rub the butter into the flour mixture as quickly as possible without letting it become pasty (which means it's too hot). Some people's hands are too hot to do this.

2. Mix the egg with 2 tablespoons of the water. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the beaten egg mixture, stirring the mixture until the dough holds together. If it's not coming together easily, add the additional tablespoon of ice water. I worked the dough a little to get it to come together and sprinkled more water as necessary, both with a very light hand to keep the dough from becoming tough.

3. Gather the dough into a ball and roll the dough on a lightly floured surface, adding additional flour only as necessary to keep the dough from sticking to the counter. I suggest that you get King Arthur's amazing silicone rolling mat if you plan to roll out tart or pie dough, naan, tortillas, or other things with any regularity--it provides an instant clean surface AND allows you to roll your dough to the right size with ease.

4. Once the dough is large enough so that it will cover the bottom of the pan and go up the sides, roll the dough around the rolling pin then unroll it over the tart pan. (You can also carefully fold the bottom half up over the top half and lift it into the pan, making sure the crease is in the middle.) "Dock" the bottom of the pastry firmly with your fingertips a few times, pressing in to make indentations.

5. Preheat the oven to 425ºF (218ºC).

6. Spread an even layer of mustard over the bottom of the tart dough and let it sit a few minutes to dry out.

7. Slice the tomatoes and arrange them over the mustard in a single, even layer. Drizzle the olive oil over the top.

8. Sprinkle with some chopped fresh herbs, then arrange the slices of goat cheese on top. Add some more fresh herbs, then drizzle with some honey, if using.

(If baking a free-form tart, gather the edges when you're done, to envelope the filling.)

9. Bake the tart for 30 minutes or so, until the dough is cooked, the tomatoes are tender, and the cheese on top is nicely browned. Depending on the heat of your oven, if the cheese doesn't brown as much as you'd like it, you might want to pass it under the broiler until it's just right.

Bon Appétit!

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.