Category Archives: foodie erin

Day 10

Posted on August 23, 2011 by applesandswingsets

A childhood memory:

One of my favorite things about my childhood was fruit picking. I grew up in oregon and there were berries and fruit trees, picking your own and going home with it was the norm instead of merely going to the store. My very favorite to pick were peaches. I loved peaches, climbing up in the tree to find the perfect ripe peaches and tossing them down to my mom. Coming home with boxes of peaches that I ate freely while my mom canned them. Peaches smell like my childhood, they smell like summer, they were and remain my very favorite fruit.

I decided to turn my childhood memory into a tart.

Recipe for the tart and the crust follows

Shot in RAW this time, which is a good thing because my settings were off when I did the slice and was able to semi-repair the photo.

Adapted from http://www.sweettarteblog.com/2010/08/twd-crunchy-and-custardy-peach-tart.html

For the Streusel

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons (packed) light brown sugar

2 tablespoons oatmeal

2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

For the Filling

3 large ripe peaches, halved, pitted and peeled*

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 large egg

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon princess cake flour (a delicious baking additive that adds that extra something to your baked goods)

confectioner’s sugar, for dusting

To Make the Streusel: in a food processor, blend all the ingredients together in a small bowl until evenly combined. Cover the streusel tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate it until needed. (Wrapped well, the streusel can be refrigerated for up to 2 days).

Getting Ready to Bake: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Place the tart pan on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat.

To Make the Tart: Slice 5 of the peach halves crosswise. The best way to do this is to place each peach half cut side down on a cutting board and slice it crosswise into thin slices, keeping the sliced half intact. Then lift each half on a spatula, press down on the half lightly to fan it just a bit and place it in the crust, with the edge of the outer peach slices almost touching the edge of the crust, so that you have 5 peach “spokes” and an empty space in the center. Trim the remaining unsliced peach half so it will fit into the center of the tart and, using the tip of your knife, cut a little tic-tac-toe pattern in the center of the peach. Set aside while you make the creamy filing.

Whisk the cream, egg, sugar and almond extract together in a small bowl. When blended, rap the bowl on the counter to knock out the air bubbles, and pour the filling over and around the peaches.

Bake the tart for 10 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 375 degrees F, and bake the tart for another 20 minutes, at which point you should add the streusel.

Remove the streusel from the refrigerator and, using your fingers, break it up into small bits. Carefully pull the baking sheet to the front of the oven (if you can manage to get the streusel onto the tart without removing the tart from the oven and jostling the delicate filling, so much the better, but pull it out completely if it’s easier) and sprinkle the streusel evenly over the creamy parts of the tart.

Bake for another 20 to 25 minutes (total baking time is 50 to 55 minutes), or until the filling is set and the streusel is golden. Remove the tart from the oven and transfer the pan to a rack to cool until barely warm or at room temperature. Just before serving, dust with confectioner’s sugar.

*To Peel Peaches: Blanch peaches for 10 seconds in a pot of boiling water, transfer them to a bowl of ice water to cool, then slip off the skins.

Tart crust http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/11/the-great-unshrinkable-sweet-tart-shell/

The Great Unshrinkable Sweet Tart Shell
Adapted from Dorie Greenspan

My favorite part about this shell recipe and technique is that it doesn’t require pie weights. How cool is that?!

Makes enough for one 9-inch tart crust

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick plus 1 tablespoon (9 tablespoons; 4 1/2 ounces) very cold (or frozen) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg*

1. Pulse the flour, sugar and salt together in the bowl of a food processor. Scatter the pieces of butter over the dry ingredients and pulse until the butter is coarsely cut in. (You’re looking for some pieces the size of oatmeal flakes and some the size of peas.) Stir the yolk, just to break it up, and add it a little at a time, pulsing after each addition. When the egg is in, process in long pulses–about 10 seconds each–until the dough, which will look granular soon after the egg is added, forms clumps and curds. Just before you reach this stage, the sound of the machine working the dough will change–heads up. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and, very lightly and sparingly, knead the dough just to incorporate any dry ingredients that might have escaped mixing. Chill the dough, wrapped in plastic, for about 2 hours before rolling.

2. To roll the dough: Butter a 9-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom. Roll out chilled dough on floured sheet of parchment paper to 12-inch round, lifting and turning dough occasionally to free from paper. (Alternately, you can roll this out between two pieces of plastic, though flour the dough a bit anyway.) Using paper as aid, turn dough into 9-inch-diameter tart pan with removable bottom; peel off paper. Seal any cracks in dough. Trim overhang to 1/2 inch. Fold overhang in, making double-thick sides. Pierce crust all over with fork.

Alternately, you can press the dough in as soon as it is processed: Press it evenly across the bottom and up the sides of the tart shell. You want to press hard enough that the pieces cling to one another, but not so hard that it loses its crumbly texture.

3. Freeze the crust for at least 30 minutes, preferably longer, before baking.

4. To fully or partially bake the crust: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter the shiny side of a piece of aluminum foil (or use nonstick foil) and fit the foil, buttered side down, tightly against the crust. And here is the very best part: Since you froze the crust, you can bake it without weights. Put the tart pan on a baking sheet and bake the crust for 20 to 25 minutes.

5. Carefully remove the foil. If the crust has puffed, press it down gently with the back of a spoon. Bake the crust about 10 minutes longer to fully bake it, or until it is firm and golden brown, brown being the important word: a pale crust doesn’t have a lot of flavor. (To partially bake it, only an additional 5 minutes is needed.) Transfer the pan to a rack and cool the crust to room temperature, and proceed with the rest of your recipe.

Do ahead: The dough can be wrapped and kept in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or frozen for up to 2 months. While the fully baked crust can be packed airtight and frozen for up to 2 months, the flavor will be fresher bake it directly from the freezer, already rolled out.

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Lunchboxes just got better

Posted on September 23, 2010 by applesandswingsets

We are doing packed lunch for school. The content of most school lunches are not something I really want my kids eating (corndogs and frozen burritos are okay once in a while, not everyday). After watching Jamie Oliver’s food revolution I was even more determined to help my kids eat better.

When school started I started looking at lunchboxes, the Target ones weren’t holding up that well. I started looking at Laptop lunch boxes. They seemed really cool and I liked the concept, I did not however like the price and some of the reviews were pretty mixed. Then I ran into a similar product called Goodbyn. These things are made of awesome. They have compartments similar to laptop lunchboxes but they have different colors, options and stickers so the kids can customize them. They even come with or without ears. My kids love them and Sade’s teacher declared it “only the coolest lunch box ever!”. I like that I can do more than just a sandwich. We do wraps, crackers and hummus, carrots and dip, cucumber salad, the possibilities are pretty endless other than don’t try soup. The price isn’t bad, around 22 a pop. A little more than I wanted to spend, but in the end totally worth it. Oh and they are dishwasher safe.

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Cooking from the garden

Posted on August 2, 2010 by applesandswingsets

I planted 9 different tomato plants, I got a bit over zealous. My sunsugar is giving me nearly a dozen ripe cherries every day. My zebra tomato plant is giving me lots as well and my yellow pear tomato plant is finally starting to produce regularly. Last night for dinner I made some fresh baguettes and then toasted them and made brushchetta. I sliced the tomatoes in half or diced the bigger ones, salt and pepper a little lemon, basil and garlic, a splash of olive oil and balsamic, then let it marinate for an hour the end result was divine.

Now about those zucchinis. I am averaging 2-3 very large ones a week. There is only so much zucchini bread one can eat. So while looking through my Jamie Oliver cookbooks I found a recipe for zucchini carbanara.

It turned out wonderfully, I was even able to use my fresh flowering thyme in it. I love cooking from my garden, I love the taste of hard work and success.

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Gougeres

Posted on February 21, 2010 by applesandswingsets

Gougeres, or as I like to call them, little puffs of heaven. These are pretty simple to make and very versitile. They are a basic choux paste (pronounced shoo paste) with the addition of cheese. You can use different cheeses, I am going to being using Jarlsberg today but I have also used Grueyer and herbed goat cheese (yum!). My Grandmother has used cheddar then stuffed them with chicken salad which sounds yummy too.

To start you want:

preheat your oven to 425

1 cup of water

7 tablespoons of butter (not margarine, and I prefer to use unsalted to have better control over the seasoning but use what you like)

1/2 tsp to 1 tsp of salt (depending on taste and saltiness of cheese)

pinch of sugar

Combine these ingredients in a saucepan, melting the butter then bringing to boil. Remove from heat and dump all at once 1 and a 1/4 cups of flour in the pan.

You want to toast it a little in the pan and cook until it forms a ball in the center of the pan, it should take a minute, two at the most.

From there I like to transfer it over to my kitchenaid, this part can be done by hand but I love the efficiency of my mixer. You are going to add four eggs one at a time as you mix it on medium.

It will look like the picture above, a little goopy and globby but eventually it will become smooth.

Now you want to add the cheese, about a cup (I always add more).

Now for the hard part, some people prefer to use a pastry bag, to me that is more trouble and work in the long run. I just use two spoons and lay them out on a parchment lined cooking sheet. (you can also use a silpat, I finally bought one yesterday but have yet to try it out). I can usually get about 16 per sheet on there. After you have them spooned out top them with a little bit of cheese because you can never have enough cheese. Then put them in the 425 degree oven for 8 minutes. After the 8 minutes, reduce the heat to 350 and bake another 22-25 minutes, or until golden and hold their shape. If they are undercooked they will deflate.

They look so yummy sitting there, just waiting for me to eat them. It’s best to serve warm.

The inside will seem a little hollow and maybe slightly doughy, they are just moist and buttery with a nice hint of cheese. I dare you to eat only one.

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Chicken-pot-chicken-pot chicken pot pie

Posted on February 12, 2010 by applesandswingsets

One of my favorite meals to make is homemade chicken pot pie. This isn’t like any other pot pie you have tasted, cream sauce, red peppers, a splash of white wine, this chicken pot pie is absolutely divine. This is a recipe that I originally got from Here. I have done some slight tweaking to the recipe and you may find things to tweak for you and your family, but I promise you will not be disappointed.

Ingredients

1 sheet puff pastry thawed in the fridge. It is very important that this stay as cold as possible, the puffing action is caused by the coldness of the butter met with the heat of the oven.

1 rotisserie chicken shredded(Costco sells really yummy big ones for 5 bucks)

1 white onion or a shallot (the original recipe calls for shallots, I can’t always find them at my nearby supermarket so I substitute with a white onion and it still tastes great.

1 red pepper or if you forget to buy one at the store like I did you can use a jar of roasted red pepper and drain it and slice it, very yummy.

1/4 cup of flour this is where the original recipe and I differ hugely, I found the sauce to be way too thin with their amount so I increased it to have a similar consistency as to a béchamel sauce.

Salt & pepper to taste I like a little more in mine, about a tablespoon of salt and lots of pepper but season to your taste.

1/2 teaspoon tarragon

2 cups of milk

1 cup heavy cream

2 cups peas (I like more) blanched

1 1/2 cups sliced carrots

3 to 4 medium sized potatoes

1/3 cup of white wine

1 egg with a splash of milk for egg wash

shredded Gruyère the most important addition to this recipe

First things first, get your potatoes and carrots sliced and in a pot of water boiling, you want to cook them until almost done. While that is going chop up your onion and sauté in some olive oil (and a pat of butter if you like, I do). If you have a fresh pepper add that with the onion, if using a jar pepper wait until the onion is cooked until soft and translucent. Then add the shredded chicken, cook for a couple of minutes until the chicken is warm.

Now dump in your flour and cook for a couple of minutes to toast the flour and get rid of the starchy flavor it can leave. Next add your milk and cream and seasonings. Cook until it covers the back of a wooden spoon (the wooden spoon test is when you dip the spoon in the sauce then run your finger down the spoon, if your finger line stays the sauce is ready if not cook a little longer).

By now your potatoes and carrots should be just about finished dump your frozen peas in there to blanch then drain the water and dump into the cream mixture. Add the wine, stir and adjust seasonings if needed. Let that sit on low while you prepare your puff pastry.

Take your puff pastry out of the fridge and roll out on a floured counter top. Pour your mixture into the casserole dish and place the pastry sheet on top. Apply egg wash and for my favorite part, sprinkle the top with Gruyère. Place in a 400 degree oven ( they say 425, mine got dark way too quickly and that was without the cheese so I lowered it and had better success) and bake until it is golden and puffy (about 30 minutes).

Doesn’t that look yummy?!

There are never leftovers. Another thing I like to do is make individual ones in ramakins and top with a small square of puff pastry, the kids love it.