Archive for October, 2011
I’ve always fancied myself a chocolate person, but I think I might really be a caramel person. And a pastry person – definitely a pastry person. Possibly both. Or all of the above. (This could explain why in the realm of body shapes in which most classify themselves as apples or pears, I’m starting to categorize myself as a snowman.) But oh, some things are worth it. I mean, look at this!
A tarte tatin – an inverted pie typically made with apples and a quick butter-sugar caramel started first in a skillet – is unlike any other fruit pie. Its bottom, having been baked as its top, is crisp and golden, saturated with caramel. This is what Danishes should look like. (In miniature, of course. Or at least the size of a salad plate rather than a dinner plate.)
The fruit is soft and caramelized, kept in halves or fanned out like these pears. With so many more varieties available at the market, it seemed the time to make one. It has been taking up a chunk of headspace since I saw it on Saveur.
It’s the last thing I made before leaving town for Toronto (yep, I’m there now! are you here too? Come see Sue and I at the Cookbook Store between 2 and 3 on Sunday!); my aunt was coming for dinner and I needed to pull together something quick and fancy-ish; it took under ten minutes to dump a chunk of butter and cup of sugar into a cast iron skillet and simmer it into caramel while peeling and coring (a small spoon works perfectly to scoop out the soft flesh) four ripe pears.
And fanning them out in the bottom of the pan. Kind of.
A chunk of thawed puff pastry took about ten seconds to roll out roughly as big as the skillet, then draped overtop. Regular pastry (enough for a single crust) would work just as well – next time I’ll try a hazelnut crust, I think. But I do love puff pastry in this particular placement – it allows you to wind up with something like this:
I really strongly urge you to give this a go, particularly if you are at all pie-phobic. There’s no need to line a plate with pastry, nor crimp the edge – the more haphazardly you put it together, the more rustic it looks, in fact. It’s one of those recipes that you make once, and then can just do, using apples, pears, peaches – bananas, even. Not that you’d ever want to stray from pears when they’re this good.
Saveur instructs the baker to remove excess juices with a turkey baster and reduce them further in a small saucepan. I did not bother to read the whole recipe, and am just reading that part now. I didn’t find the juices to be overly so, and didn’t mind the caramelly puddles, but I do recommend gently inverting the pan onto a plate to avoid a backsplash.
Cast Iron Pear Tarte Tatin
1 chunk of frozen puff pastry, or pastry for a single crust pie
Filling:
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter
a squeeze of lemon juice (about 1 Tbsp.)
2 lb. firm pears, peeled, cored, and halved lengthwise (about 4 pears)
Preheat the oven to 425°. Put the sugar and butter into a heavy cast iron skillet with a squeeze of lemon and cook over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, stirring until it turns deep golden. Remove from the heat.
To fan the pears, place core-side down on a cutting board and cut into 4 lengthwise slices, leaving the pointy end attached. Arrange cut side up in the pan, fanning them slightly, and placing them close together (fruit shrinks as it cooks).
Roll the pastry out until it’s about as big (or a little bigger) than the skillet; cover the pears and tuck the edge in around them. Cut a few slits in the top and bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden.
Carefully invert the tarte tatin onto a plate while it’s still warm.
October 12 2011 | dessert | 17 Comments »
Two. Maybe three? Four? I can’t remember as far back as Friday.
There were artichoke dip poppers and potato croquettes, and Brussels sprouts (BRUSSELS! Not brussel sprouts. Ahem.) with bacon and candied pecans, and braised red cabbage, smashed potatoes, roasted squash and winter veg and cranberries and plums, and yes a turkey, a turducken and four pies. Five, if you count tonight’s, which was actually a tarte tatin.
I’m not sure where to start.
The poppers? That’s where we started on Saturday, so i’s as good a place as any. I had them at the Jasper Park Lodge last weekend, and swore to make them as soon as possible. (Or as soon as I had people over on whom to pawn them off. Speaking of the JPL, I’ll be at Christmas in November at this time next month! With Michael Smith and Anna Olson! It’s a ton of fun! Who’s coming?)
So it works like this: you take leftover artichoke dip – any kind, really, provided it’s baked and then cooled (read: congealed) so you can roll it into little balls. (Don’t worry about them being perfectly firm; prepare to get messy.) If you’re anything like me, you’ll have to bake a dip expressly for this purpose, because leftover + artichoke dip don’t go in the same sentence around here. If you are like me you’ll eat all the crispy cheese off the top, thinking it won’t matter in the poppers anyway.
You roll them in flour, then egg, then Panko, then send them for a swim in a shallow pot of oil. They get all crisp and golden on the outside, with gooey artichoke dip on the inside. Oh yes.
Here’s a baked artichoke dip recipe, if you need one:
Baked Spinach & Artichoke Dip
If you don’t like your dip chunky, put everything in the food processor and pulse it until it’s as smooth as you like.
1 14 oz. can artichoke hearts, drained and finely chopped
1 package frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1/2 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
1 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese (regular or light – not fat free)
1/4 cup mayo
1/4-1/2 cup grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
1 garlic clove, finely crushed
salt & pepper
grated Parmesan or mozzarella, for sprinkling on top
Preheat oven to 350F.
Pulse the artichoke hearts and spinach with the sour cream or yogurt in a food processor until roughly chopped and blended. In a bowl, mash together the cream cheese, mayo, Parmesan cheese, garlic and salt and pepper; stir in the artichoke-spinach mixture and spread in a shallow baking dish. Sprinkle with cheese and bake until heated through and bubbly, about 25 minutes. Serve warm with tortilla chips or sliced soft, crusty baguette. Or refrigerate until firm to make dip poppers.
To make dip poppers: chill the baked and cooled dip overnight, or up to a few days. Heat a couple inches of canola oil in a pot set over medium-high heat and roll the chilled dip into walnut-sized balls. While your canola oil is heating in a heavy skillet or shallow pot (enough to come almost halfway up the side of the balls) beat an egg in a shallow bowl, and some Panko (crispy Japanese breadcrumbs) or dry breadcrumbs in another bowl and a bit of flour in a third.
When the oil is hot but not smoking (it should sizzle around a bit of bread dropped in), dredge the balls of dip first in flour, then in egg and Panko, and gently drop them a few at a time into the oil. (Don’t crowd the pan, or it will cool the oil down too much.) Cook until golden on one side, then flip and cook on the other. Transfer with a slotted spoon to a paper towel-lined plate and serve warm.
It turned out to be the same technique as the potato croquettes my Aunt Chris, who came to visit from Milwaukee and whom I haven’t seen since I was about 10, made for turkey dinner with the family. She makes them out of potatoes mashed with egg yolk and salt, and rolls them – shaped like a double-long tater tot – in flour, then beaten egg white and dry breadcrumbs.
She tests to see if the oil is hot enough with the handle of a wooden spoon. She says she learned it from Rachel Ray. The oil is supposed to bubble around the handle – I do this with a bit of bread. You need some moisture in there.
We had two great birds this weekend – my Mom roasted a free range turkey (below) from Winter’s out in Dalemead. I tweeted photos of it as it emerged from the oven, which prompted a barrage of questions about how to get it to look like that. Because I didn’t think tweeting out my mom’s phone number was a good idea, I posted some turkey roasting advice – mine along with the good folks at Winter’s Turkeys – if anyone is having turkey trouble.
On Saturday I cooked a locally made turducken from Calgary Co-op – turkey stuffed with duck stuffed with Spolumbo’s sausage. The cooking instructions specified a long cooking time at very low heat (225F?), and so I thought why not do it in the CrockPot? Turduckens tend to be smaller than regular turkeys – or they should be, since they are solid meat. With no carcass or cavity, they’re heavier and feed more than a regular turkey of the same size. Bonus: are they ever easy to carve! Nip off the legs and slice ‘er up like a meatloaf. Beauty,
The turducken tucked perfectly into a 6 qt oval slow cooker – I didn’t add stock or anything – the juices are contained and enough – and it generously freed up the oven to bake things like pies.
But chickens and turkeys done in the slow cooker aint pretty; A quick turn in a hot oven crisped up the skin nicely. Not the best photo – it was dark by the time we ate – but you get the gist.
And yes, more pie! Apple-pear, maple pecan, a sort of new version of cherpumple (more on that later) and Sue’s plum pie, from her very first blog post. Welcome to the inter-web Sue!
I didn’t cram the plums in as neatly – nor as tightly – as she did, partly because I was running out of time, and partly because I didn’t have quite enough plums. (I counted the pits – there were 30.) It still looked fab, and didn’t overflow, as Sue’s did (not that there’s anything wrong with that) – which could be due to the fact that I used a shallow quiche dish instead. The problem with tart pans that have removable bottoms? Whenever I go to use them their bottoms have been removed.
Many dinners, even more desserts. I’ll catch you up on the rest soon.
October 10 2011 | appetizers | 14 Comments »
I may have mentioned I have a ton of chard. It keeps on growing in its raised bed in the back yard, despite the fact that it’s October (!!!). I sauté lots of it, with garlic and chickpeas, but today recalled a recipe that involved feta and currants. Not much of a deviation, I realize, but I assure you it was worth the quick trip down a side street.
I loved this. It was fast and easy. The combo of wilted greens with salty feta and bits of sweet currants was da bomb. I’d love it with lamb. (Salty, quickly grilled chops!) Tonight it was divine with reheated leftover roast chicken. I’d love it on its own. I may make it again for Thanksgiving dinner.
If this dish was a dude I’d say hey, can I see you again?
Braised Chard with Currants and Feta
adapted from Gourmet
canola or olive oil, for cooking
a dab of butter
1 bunch chard
3 garlic cloves, crushed
salt and pepper
3 Tbsp. (give or take) dried currants
1/3 cup crumbled feta (give or take)
Heat a heavy skillet with a drizzle of oil and a dab of butter. Chop the stems of the chard and start to saute them. Chop or crush the garlic and after about 5 minutes, add them to the pan with the chard leaves, torn or chopped. Cook for a minute, then add the currants and about 1/4 cup of water, cover and cook for a few minutes, until the leaves are tender. Remove the lid and cook the extra moisture off, then stir in the feta and immediately remove from the heat and transfer to a bowl. Serve immediately. Serves 2-4.
October 06 2011 | veg | 15 Comments »
If there is one thing I have an abundance of, it’s tomatoes. Cherry, mostly. Between my back yard, my sister’s front yard and the market, there are a ton lazing around my countertop, attracting fruit flies.
And so it was timely when one of you (Sarah!) emailed to say OMG I JUST HAD THE MOST AMAZING THING AT A PARTY! BLOODY MARY CHERRY TOMATOES WITH MARGARITA DIPPING SALT! And because I myself am no stranger to taking the spot right next to the most delicious thing at a party, I thought I’d give these a go. (Warning: you’ll need at least a few days to let these sit and get down with their bad boozy selves in the fridge.)
So what you do is make this divine brine by first pureeing and straining the essence of big, juicy beefsteak tomatoes. They will be painful to whiz it up, unless you really have a lot of them, but totally worth it. You mix them with vodka and tequila and onion and lemon and Worcestershire to make a bloody good Mary brine.
Then poke a bunch of cherry tomatoes all over with a bamboo skewer. Don’t worry, they won’t fall apart. Honest.
Put the tomatoes and the brine in a big jar and let them sit for at least 3 days. Then mix up some margarita dipping salt -good coarse salt and lime zest- and bring the jar to a party. You will have to demonstrate what to do – dip A into B – or as Sarah put it, “dip the little boozy bombs into this salt/lime grit mixture – like a healthy margarita!” Your friends will get the hang of it. They may also get a little tipsy.
Thanks Sarah! (Who also, by the way, said she makes apricot jam and substitutes Captain Morgan’s for the lemon juice. Sounds like another post!)
Bloody Mary Cherry Tomatoes with Margarita Dipping Salt
from O, the Oprah magazine, via Delish
4 cups cherry tomatoes
2 large regular tomatoes
1 large onion, chopped
1 Tbsp kosher salt
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup tequila
1/2 cup vodka
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2-3 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp Tabasco sauce, or to taste
Margarita Dipping Salt:
1/4 cup good quality flaky sea salt
zest of a lime
1/4 tsp white pepper
With a wooden or metal skewer, stab each tomato ten times; place in a glass bowl.
Puree the tomatoes, onions and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pour it into a fine sieve set over a bowl and push on the solids, getting out as much of the liquid as possible. Discard the solids (or save them for soup!). Add the zest and juice of the lemons, along with everything else (except the margarita salt) to the tomato juice. Pour the mixture over the cherry tomatoes and refrigerate for up to a week, but at least 3 days.
To serve, spear each tomato with a toothpick or wooden skewer and set in a shallow bowl with some of the liquid (spears up so they don’t get wet!). Serve with margarita salt for dipping.
October 04 2011 | appetizers | 5 Comments »
This here? My Favourite View From a Porta-Potty.
Remember when I used to post what I ate for dinner every night? Yeah, me too. Now when I fall asleep or need to meet a deadline (not nearly as much fun as propping my laptop up in bed and recounting our evening meal – OK, maybe the sleeping part is) and a day or two slips by, the events of the day before yesterday seem so day before yesterday. But I don’t want the weekend to slip by unreported. Even though I didn’t actually cook anything. I didn’t actually cook anything!
(Dinner tonight was roast chicken, roughly smashed potatoes and some baby zucchini, quickly fried up in a skillet with oil and garlic. There, now you’re up to speed.)
We skipped out for a quick getaway to Jasper – the highway 93 is as stunning as any I’ve ever driven, and yet we had only seen it in winter. I imagined it would be gorgeous in fall, and it was. Just completely. (I’d show you, but it was raining.)
Our destination: the Jasper Park Lodge. One thing I love about this place is that you can go and then just hang on the property – you never have to leave. Well, you do on Sunday at checkout.
We sat by the fireplace and ordered bison burgers and mushroom ravioli with crème fraîche. We played ping pong. We high-fived a bear.
I even snuck away to their brand-new spa. For research purposes, of course.
We rented a canoe and paddled around the lake. Which I didn’t manage to document because a) it was rainy and b) we were in a boat, after it had been raining. You understand. I was willing to get my butt wet, but not my camera. (Yes, I have taken to using the word butt. W thinks it’s hilarious.)
Even rain can’t put a damper on your weekend when this is the view from your cabin window.
And I was introduced to artichoke dip poppers – the best use of leftover artichoke dip (apparently it exists) I’ve ever seen. I’ve baked one tonight for the express purpose of poppers tomorrow. It probably won’t matter that I picked off and ate all the bubbly cheese on top.
October 03 2011 | eating out | 14 Comments »
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