Remember last week when I gushed about the beginning of sour cherry season? Well, the gushing continues. I’ve gone through 3 pounds of cherries so far, and while I know that’s not very much for folks making 12 jars of jam, the cherry pits are accumulating rapidly. Sour cherries have made their way into 5 or 6 different recipes, and I’m just getting started.

Yes, there was jam. Thick, gooey jam that, after just a quick stint in the fridge, got much firmer than I expected it to! And there are pickled sour cherries. Well — there will be pickled sour cherries. They need to sit for a couple days. But in the meantime, I’m feeding my sour cherry craving with slices of this sour cherry almond torte.

(...)
Read the rest of Sour Cherry Almond Torte

© rivka for Not Derby Pie, 2010. | Permalink | 11 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags:

Pies are finicky, finicky things. Taming bursting, juicy berries into a perfect pie is the ultimate challenge of summer, and getting that bottom crust to stay crispy requires nothing short of a miracle. I’ve tried everything: I paint the inside of the bottom crust with egg before adding the fruit, I’ve drained the fruit, tossed it with extra flour, with cornstarch, with tapioca, with playdough, and still — apple pies are fine, but the piece of dough resting beneath those juicy rasp/straw/blue/blackberries just gets suffocated by all that juice.

If you’re reading my pie confession and think, “don’t give up just yet!,” that’s great. I’m ready for help. Have any advice for making the perfect berry pie? Don’t hesitate to share it in the comments. (Mrs. Wheelbarrow, I’m looking at you — I know you’re canning pie filling, and I’d love your tips!) But amid this pie nay-saying, don’t for a second think I’ve given up on crusty summer fruit desserts. Au contraire, mon frere! I have moved on to smaller but better things. Hand pies are the way of the future.

(...)
Read the rest of Jam-Filled Hand Pies

© rivka for Not Derby Pie, 2010. | Permalink | 10 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags:

I find it hard to put a finger on what makes vanilla so special. It’s the girl next door to chocolate’s cheerleader popularity, the “best supporting actor” to every winning cake. Vanilla is so subtle, so modest, it’s easy to take it for granted. Well, don’t.

Since spring produce is in abundance, I’ve been playing around with fruit. You’ve seen me make my new favorite staple, rhubarb curd, and I’ve also whipped rhubarb into a lovely puree with thyme, inspired by yet another recipe on food52. But last week, the season’s first strawberries cropped up, so I shifted gears. I love strawberry season: it rings in the months of shortcake and jam (I made fantastic preserved strawberries with guajillo chilies, based on Amanda’s recipe on Food52). But when the whole market smells like strawberries, it’d be a sin not to serve at least some of the crop fresh and unadulterated. So I made a tart to showcase the sweet tartness of the early berries.

(...)
Read the rest of Vanilla Custard Strawberry Tart

© rivka for Not Derby Pie, 2010. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags:

If you’ve eaten your vegetables — in this salad and this delightfully spring-y side dish and oh, this is quite nice, too, I forgot about it! — I’ve got some dessert for you. It’s Linzer Torte, and it’s such a steadfast ritual in this house, I’m practically embarrassed to have not shared it before now.

In a world where desserts are froufrou and frosted and altogether cupcaketastic, Linzer is a refreshing aberration. It’s dark, dense, and jammy, with not a dab of frosting in sight. Granted, it’s a bit on the fussy side. But between you and me, if you want to skip the whole lattice crust situation and just plop clumps of the dough on top of the jam, it’ll taste just as good. The almond flour dough is spiked with cinnamon, cloves, and lemon zest. There are egg yolks. There is raspberry jam. I’m pretty sure I’ve done my job — you want some, right?

(...)
Read the rest of Linzertorte

© rivka for Not Derby Pie, 2010. | Permalink | 12 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags:

The only thing better than discovering in your fridge the ingredients for a fantastic winter salad is discovering in your freezer the ingredients for a fantastic summer tart in the middle of March. I was looking for the wheat bran I use to make my weekly bread, when I jackpot and happened upon a bag of frozen blueberries in the very back of my freezer. I thought I’d run out of summer berries long ago, but no! I still had some blueberries left (along with a litle bit of sweet corn and a couple precious strawberries — stay tuned.)

When frozen blueberries present themselves, you make something crusty and flaky and oozy with fruit juices: a tart or a pie, either will do. In this case, I’d been eyeing the blueberry tart in cornmeal crust from a new addition to my cookbook shelf: Karen DeMasco and Mindy Fox’s The Craft of Baking, and this seemed like a golden opportunity to try it.

(...)
Read the rest of Blueberry Cornmeal Tart

© rivka for Not Derby Pie, 2010. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags:

Feta Phyllo Torte

Of all the incredibly culinary feats out there (and there are plenty), one of which I’m truly in awe is the ability to consistently serve vegetarian food that fees like a main dish. As I’ve written before, one of the challenges to purely vegetarian cooking is that often, everything on the table looks like a side dish, and there’s no one thing that, when brought to the table, elicits the oohs and ahhs of, say, a whole roast chicken. There are a few people who are particularly excellent at this. One is Deborah Madison, author of Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone (one of my favorite cookbooks to read; I often find myself leafing through it while killing time at Barnes and Noble). Madison understands the challenge of creating a “wow factor” when serving vegetarian entrees, and she conquers that challenge seemingly effortlessly. Her books are endless sources of inspiration for meatless entertaining.

Another, though she may not intend to be (given her well-publicized love of meat) is Melissa Clark, a food columnist for NYT and recipe writer extraordinaire. Reading Melissa’s column, I not-infrequently stumble upon a really new idea for a vegetarian entree. One excellent example is her cornbread and broccoli rabe strata, a vegetarian Thanksgiving main that doubles as a side for the turkey eaters. Another, for a phyllo feta torte, was published just a couple weeks ago, and after reading her recipe, I had an undeniable urge to rush into the kitchen and make it, immediately.

Originally called “No-fear Phyllo Torte,” Clark’s recipe originates in a dinner party hosted by a lauded French literature professor and his Greek wife, for whom phyllo is second-nature. Clark claims intimidation, but her recipe proves her an equal master of this domain. In the torte, made in a bundt pan for a particularly impressive presentation, thin, crisp layers of butter-soaked phyllo cloak a tender filling of feta, cottage cheese, dill and nutmeg. Sound like a spinachless spanikopita? Think again: the finished product is drizzled with honey before serving, for an irresistible hit of sweet to balance the rich, salty torte. Stop me from drooling.

Clark was intimidated when she first saw the torte emerge from the oven, and wondered whether she needed to be Greek in order to make it successfully; I had an all-out panic attack when, just before serving the torte, I realized that I had used salted butter in place of the unsalted butter called for in the recipe. It didn’t matter; I had used less salty Greek feta in the filling, which offset the extra salt in the crust. Other changes I made to Clark’s original recipe include swapping out some of the cottage cheese for extra feta (since cottage cheese generally gives me the creeps, and 3 cups sounded like a lot), upping the level of dill and nutmeg for added kick, and cutting the butter from 3 sticks to 1 (because who needs 3 sticks of butter in anything? and 1 was more than enough to coat the whole torte and make the insides crispy). Other than those changes, I found this recipe absolutely to die for and would make it again in a flash. I actually served it with some homemade rhubarb chutney, which I’ll blog in a future post, and I was really pleased with the combination. The tanginess of the rhubarb brought out the acidity in the feta and the chutney provided a nice textural contrast to the torte. An all-out thumbs up from this happy eater — I recommend you give this a go; your guests will be thankful — and maybe even intimidated.

Sonia’s Phyllo and Feta Torte with Dill and Nutmeg
Time: An hour and a half, plus cooling
adapted from Melissa Clark, inspired by her husband’s friend’s wife Sonya, via The New York Times

Time: An hour and a half, plus cooling

1 1/2 pounds Greek feta cheese, crumbled (I used feta from a local Mediterranean market, but TJ’s carries Greek feta that’s pretty good)
2 cups cottage cheese
3 large eggs
1/3 cup chopped fresh dill
1/4 cup grated Romano cheese (I used Parmesan, which was what I had on hand)
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1-pound box phyllo dough, thawed overnight in refrigerator if possible
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

Greek honey, for serving (Clark says this is optional but I say it’s a must).

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. combine feta, cottage cheese, eggs, dill, 2 tablespoons Romano, the nutmeg and pepper in a food processor and pulse just to combine (Clark says you can also use a large bowl and a fork). Clark also says the mixture should be chunky, but I made mine smoother.

2. Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons Romano into a Bundt pan. Drape a sheet of phyllo on top of Bundt pan, poke a hole into phyllo with your finger where center tube is and push phyllo into pan to line it. Do this with another phyllo sheet, but place it perpendicular to first sheet. The first couple of sheets will seem disorderly and may collapse some, but as you start layering them, the process will get easier and the sheets will keep their shape. Continue adding phyllo sheets in alternating directions until all sheets are used. Edges of phyllo should hang over edges of bundt.

3. Scrape cheese filling into pan, and fold edges of phyllo over filling. Using a sharp knife, poke many holes (at least 20) in dough that reach all the way to bottom of pan. Then pour melted butter over the torte; some will seep into holes, but a fair amount will pool on top of torte, which is fine. I actually poured the butter before poking the holes, and my torte tasted perfectly delicious, so fret not.

4. Place Bundt pan on a baking sheet and bake for about 1 hour 15 minutes, or until torte is puffy and golden brown. Allow torte to cool in pan for 1 to 2 hours before inverting onto a plate and slicing. Serve warm or at room temperature, with honey and/or sweet chutney.

Yield: 10 to 12 servings.

© rivka for Not Derby Pie, 2009. | Permalink | 16 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags:

On my last trip to New York, I stood on the third floor of the Time Warner Center for about an hour just waiting to get into Bouchon Bakery. It didn’t work out — the person we were meeting was on a tight schedule — so we ended up eating salads at Whole Foods. Ever since, I’ve been dreaming of Bouchon. Have you tried their chocolate bouchons? Oh, man. Delish.

In full stalker mode this Friday, I started googling Bouchon recipes and came across this little treasure, via Epicurious. It’s a pretty traditional lemon tart, with two exceptions: one, the crust is a pine nut crust. Two, the lemon curd is actually a sabayon. That means that instead of warming the lemon juice and sugar, adding the eggs, and heating until thickened, the eggs and sugar are whisked vigorously while being warmed over a double boiler, and lemon juice is added in stages as the custard thickens.
(...)
Read the rest of Bouchon-Inspired Lemon Tart

© rivka for Not Derby Pie, 2009. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags:

D and I host Friday night dinner pretty regularly. Being the slight lunatic that I am, prep usually starts on Tuesday, if not earlier. I start thinking about themes, poking around online and in my cookbooks for possible main courses, and trying to decide what vibe I want to create. Is this an apps and wine crowd, or more of a straight-to-the-table kind of meal? Are we going meat or dairy? (Usually we do dairy; I simply can’t part with butter for dessert.) Is it cold enough for soup or even a one-pot-meal? Etc.

This past weekend, D and I were so pooped from the long week that we decided to do just the two of us for dinner. Our friends Kira and Dina also wanted something low key, so we decided to combine forces. K and D would bring salad and a vegetable side, I’d make soup, some sort of tart, and dessert. We had challah in the freezer and plenty of wine on the rack.
(...)
Read the rest of Zucchini Ricotta Tart

© rivka for Not Derby Pie, 2009. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags:

I have less than no time to write this post: work is suuuper crazy right now and I’ve hardly had time to cook, let alone write. But how’s this for a teaser: it’s taking me longer to write this post than it did to make the onion tart I’m sharing with you. Really.

As long as you don’t make your own puff pastry, this tart can be put together in no time with just a bit of advance prep work (read: caramelize onions). I had a bit of time one night last week so I caramelized down two whole white onions into a big sweet mush. They served as the main ingredient of this here tart, topped off with some goat cheese, quick-sauteed mushrooms, and a few snippings of chives. That’s it. And with such little effort, the whole thing still got polished off at Friday night dinner.
(...)
Read the rest of Onion Tart

© rivka for Not Derby Pie, 2008. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags:

File this under “unexpectedly delicious.” When I developed the recipe for this tart, I purposefully avoided making the center quiche-like. I wanted a cheesy filling laced with caramelized leeks and onions; a quiche, eggy and milky, is a whole different thing. That said, eggs make things hold together and puff a bit in the oven, so I was concerned that my eggless tart filling would be dense and soggy, and might even disintegrate once sliced. Not so, my friends, not so. This was truly an unanticipated success, and perhaps the best thing on my dinner table last Friday night.
(...)
Read the rest of Whole Wheat Leek and Onion Tart

© rivka for Not Derby Pie, 2008. | Permalink | 8 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags:

Mandy had a very big birthday a couple weeks back, and I made her this tart because every big birthday deserves a Sunday morning assault of chocolate, coffee, and mascarpone cheese. Did I hear you ask for a slice? Sorry folks, this one’s not for sharing.

What this tart lacks in sweetness, it more than accounts for in richness. Put less subtly, this cake isn’t overly sugary, but it packs a fatty punch, yes it does. And lest you think only two bites will be enough, I assure you that real tart fans will have no trouble at all finishing every last bite of one (cough two) slices. And they’ll be licking the crumbs from their plates in between helpings.
(...)
Read the rest of Chocolate Coffee Mascarpone Tart

© rivka for Not Derby Pie, 2008. | Permalink | 12 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags:

I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that everyone loves a good buttermilk biscuit. What’s not to love? buttery rich flavor and mouthfeel, flaky texture, piping hot innards, and now I have to stop because I’m salivating. Back in Israel, D used to get super excited at the prospect of biscuits for breakfast. Now that I’ve discovered my absolute favorite buttermilk pancake recipe, biscuits get less airtime in our house, but I haven’t totally forgotten about them.
(...)
Read the rest of Vintage Breakfast Biscuits

© rivka for Not Derby Pie, 2008. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags:

Few things showcase the rustic nature of fruits and vegetables better than a galette. Essentially a freeform tart, a galette has a hand-folded crust that is folded half way into the center, leaving some of its innards exposed. A galette is by definition slightly asymmetrical, but more beautiful for its imperfection, in my opinion.

I most like galettes with thinly-sliced fillings. If slices are more like chunks, it becomes quite unweildy and difficult to eat. However, packed with thin slivers of apples, spices, and brown sugar, or layered with red peppers, yellow squash, onions, and goat cheese, a galette is both easy to eat and oh-so-delicious.

(...)
Read the rest of Vegetable Galette

© rivka for Not Derby Pie, 2008. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags:

Apple Pie has been done, done, and done again. If you skim anyone’s list of cookbooks or blogs, you’ll find infinite declarations of how to make apple pie. Some claim to have the definitive recipe. Since I have never (to the best of my memory) actually made an apple pie, start to finish, from scratch, I’m certainly not going to promise that the results of this first attempt are worth repeating. However, I can say that I learned a great deal, and I’m positive that this post will impart at least one valuable apple-pie baking recipe (which so many others have discovered before I did): apple pies are best with regular top crusts. The lattice doesn’t trap enough of the steam inside, and the apples either don’t cook through, or don’t get coated with that lovely apple pie sludge. Next time, I’ll forgo the beautiful lattice and stick to the easier top crust. Save your lattices for berry pies and other juicy things.

That said, the sludge that this pie produced (in my humble opinion) perfectly balanced sweet and tart. The apples were soft but still toothsome, and the syrup that oozed from each slice was delightful. By the time the pie was actually gone, the dish needed very little scrubbing, as I’d been sneaking fingerfuls of the goo all along.

Here’s the info about my pie, element by element:

The Crust
It’s fashionable to avoid transfats these days. They’re pretty darn bad for you, and you’re definitely better off with butter. Plus, never growing up with much margarine or shortening in the house, they freak me out a bit, and I tend to associate them with spam and other such delicacies. However, Friday night dinner was meat, so I couldn’t use butter in the crust, and frankly, oil is simply an unacceptable substitute in proper pie dough, so I caved and used margarine. I now understand why people use it, scary as it may be: it produces a perfectly flaky dough that’s neither tough or overly dense. I’d say I’d do it again, but I won’t. Hey, it was good while it lasted.

As for the lattice top, it’s really not as complicated to make as it looks. An instructional video can be found here. Basically, the methodology is as follows: cut 16 1/2-inch strips from your second disk of rolled-out dough. Lay eight of them across the pie in one direction, equidistant from each other. Now, fold every other strip back over itself almost all the way, and lay down your first crossing strip. Unfold the folded strips over, and fold the other strips over themselves (that is, every other strip, but the ones that run under the first cross strip). Now, lay the next strip down. Unfold the folded strips, fold the unfolded strips, and lay down the next cross strip. Keep alternating this way until all strips are laid, and you’ll find a perfect lattice crust.

The apples
People are so particular about which apples to use in a pie. These taste better, these hold their shape better, those are just horrible in pies, etc. I say, there’s no such thing as an apple that’s horrible in pies. They’re all pretty darn good. So I picked up the “seconds” at the farmers market: with a couple of bruises here and there, seconds run about 89 cents a pound — not bad for farm-fresh apples. It turns out that I used a mix of braeburn, honeycrisp, jonathan, and jonagold, and I was very pleased. The verdict? Use whatever’s in the fridge. Just stay away from red delicious which taste less-than-wonderful and macintosh, which get kinda mushy.

The add-ins
I’m a big fan of quinces. The little suckers will give you quite a run for your money if you dare try to peel or (gasp!) slice them up, but once chopped, sugared, and cooked, quinces elevate any old apple pie and impart an unparalleled complexity of flavor. Quinces should be sauteed before added to pie, as they take longer to cook than apples (and are quite unpleasant if undercooked). I like to boil them in a very diluted simple syrup with a bit of vanilla and cinnamon.

Basic Flaky Pie Crust
adapted from The Pie and Pastry Bible (© 1998 Cordon Rose, Inc.) by Rose Levy Beranbaum

(Pastry for a 9-inch lattice pie, a 9-inch deep-dish pie, a 10-inch pie shell, or a 12- to 14-inch free-form tart

• 9 tablespoons unsalted butter or margarine, cold
• 1 1/2 cups (dip and sweep method) bleached all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 tablespoons ice water
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cider vinegar
• 1/8 teaspoon baking powder (optional, and I didn’t use it; if not using, double the salt)

1. Divide the butter into two parts, about two thirds to one third: 6 tablespoons and 3 tablespoons.
2. Cut the butter into 3/4-inch cubes. Wrap each portion of butter with plastic wrap, refrigerate the larger amount and freeze the smaller for at least 30 minutes. Place the flour, salt, and (optional) baking powder in a reclosable gallon-size freezer bag and freeze for at least 30 minutes.
3. Place the flour mixture in a food processor with the metal blade and process for a few seconds to combine. Set the bag aside.
4. Add the larger amount of butter cubes to the flour and process for about 20 seconds or until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the remaining frozen butter cubes and pulse until all of the frozen butter is the size of peas. (Toss with a fork to see it better.)
5. Add the lowest amount of the ice water and the vinegar and pulse 6 times. Pinch a small amount of the mixture together between your fingers. If it does not hold together, add half the remaining water and pulse 3 times. Try pinching the mixture again. If necessary, add the remaining water, pulsing 3 times to incorporate it. The mixture will be in particles and will not hold together without being pinched.
6. Spoon the mixture into the plastic bag. (For a double-crust pie, it is easiest to divide the mixture in half at this point.)
7. Holding both ends of the bag opening with you fingers, knead the mixture by alternately pressing it, from the outside of the bag, with the knuckles and heels of your hands until the mixture holds together in one piece and feels slightly stretchy when pulled.
8. Wrap the dough with plastic wrap, flatten it into a disc (or discs) and refrigerate for at least 45 minutes, preferably overnight. (For a pie shell and lattice, divide it in a ratio of two thirds:one third — use about 9.5 ounces for the shell and the rest for the lattice, flattening the smaller part into a rectangle.)
9. Store, refrigerated, up to 2 days; frozen, up to 3 months.
10. The Pastry Bible’s explanation of what’s goin’ on:

    Pastry flour offers the most tenderness while maintaining flakiness, but it is the addition of vinegar that relaxes the dough without losing flakiness, making it easier to roll, shrink less, and be even more tender. The baking powder lifts and aerates the dough slightly without weakening it, but it makes it seem more tender.

    Thes secret to success is finely incorporating about two thirds of the butter into the flour, which keeps the flour from absorbing too much water and forming gluten, which would make the crust tough. The remaining one third of the butter is incorporated in larger pieces, which serve to seperate the layers, resulting in the desired flakiness. This pie crust does not shrink or distort as much as the standard all-butter crust because there is less gluten development.

    If when adding the water, you find you need more than indicated in the recipe, chances are you haven’t moisture-proofed the flour adequately (you haven’t used the correct amount of butter or processed it fine enough), leaving the flour free to absorb more liquid. The resulting crust will be flakier but less tender.

    If you find you need less water than specified in the recipe, chances are you divided the butter incorrectly and used too much of it to moisture-proof the flour, preventing it from absorbing an adequate amount of water. The resulting crust will be more tender but not very flaky.

    Flattening the newly formed dough into a disc or discs before refrigerating makes it easier to roll without cracking. The dough is refrigerated to relax the gluten, making it less elastic and easier to roll. Chilling also firms the butter, preventing sticking and the need for extra flour when rolling, which would toughen it. Dough that has rested overnight before baking shrinks less.

11. 

Apple Pie adapted from Deb at Smitten Kitchen

• 3 1/2 lbs apples (about
• 1 quince
• 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise, or one dash vanilla
• 2 cups water and 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons juice and 1 teaspoon zest from 1 lemon
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1. Over medium heat, combine 2 cups water, 1/4 cup sugar, and vanilla. Stir until sugar dissolves. Peel and chop quince, removing the core. Add sliced quince to simple syrup and cook over medium for about 20 minutes, until quince pieces are soft-ish.
2. Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat rimmed baking sheet and oven to 500 degrees. Remove one piece of dough from refrigerator (if refrigerated longer than 1 hour, let stand at room temperature until malleable).
3. Roll dough on lightly floured work surface or between two large sheets of wax paper, to about 1/2-inch thick. Fold dough in half, then over itself again into quarters, and transfer dough to pie plate, placing dough point in center of pie plate and unfolding. Working around circumference of pie plate, ease dough into pan corners by gently lifting dough edges with one hand while pressing around pan bottom with other hand. Leave dough that overhangs lip of plate in place; refrigerate dough-lined pie plate.
4. Peel, core, and slice apples into about 8 slices each. Toss with lemon juice and zest. In a medium bowl, mix ¾ cup sugar, flour, salt and spices. Toss dry ingredients with apples. Add cooked quinces and toss. Turn fruit mixture, including juices, into chilled pie shell and pile heavily in center.
5. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
6. Roll out second piece of dough to 1/2-inch thick disk. Slice into 16 strips, and follow the instructions above for a lattice top. Alternatively, simply lay the second disk atop the apples in the same manner as you lined the pie plate with the first disk. Trim top and bottom edges to ½-inch beyond pan lip. Tuck this rim of dough underneath itself so that folded edge is flush with pan lip. Flute edging or press with fork tines to seal. For a non-lattice top crust, cut three slits on dough top. If pie dough is very soft, place in freezer for 10 minutes.
7. Place pie on baking sheet and bake until top crust is golden, about 25 minutes. Rotate pie and reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees; continue baking until juices bubble and crust is deep golden brown, 30-35 minutes longer.
8. Transfer pie to wire rack; cool to room temperature, at least 4 hours.

© rivka for Not Derby Pie, 2007. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags:

Sunday night was another installment of “Ladies Who Cook….Sometimes.” This month, the theme was “dishes with color.” My attempt was quite the adventure — but I’ll get to that in a moment.

It was all sorts of wet and ugly outside, and our first course of squash and pear soup was a perfect foil to the cold, rainy weather. Not surprisingly, it was our orange/yellow element. We also had beet salad (purple), shells with light cheese sauce (white), pesto bread (green), cranberry bars (duh), and my creation….blueberry tarts.

Now it’s safe to say that by making blueberry tarts, I was intending to bring something blue. That said, the tart dough came out green, the blueberry mixture was a deep shade of purple, and the whipped cream was…um, periwinkle. If you put them all together and mix them up, they’d probably make blue, though, right?

Anyway, what really matters is how they tasted….and that, my friends, was pretty darned good. Especially considering I made them without ever referencing a recipe, I was pleasantly surprised when I bit into one. The filling was slightly sweet, with still-intact blueberries bound together by a substantive but un-goopy sauce and a hefty dose of brandy. I’d make them again in a flash, if only to do the flambé part again!

I’ve posted the recipe below, as usual, along with two other recipes from last night’s event: cranberry bars and squash-pear soup. If you make any of these, it shouldn’t be tough to draw a hungry crowd.

Brandied Blueberry Tartlets
makes 22 tartlets

Tart Dough (adapted from Tartelette)

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 stick and 1 Tbsp. butter
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 drops blue food coloring, if you’re so inclined

Blueberry Filling:

• 1 pint blueberries, washed and dried
• 2 1/2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. flour
• 2 Tbsp. butter
• a generous splash (1/4 cup) Brandy

Make Tart Dough:

1. In food processor, combine butter, flour, and sugar. Blend until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add egg yolk, and pulse until dough comes together. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 45 minutes, until no longer soft.
2. Unwrap chilled dough and hit a couple times with a rolling pin to soften. Take thumb-sized pieces and press them into tartlet molds. Using your thumb and forefinger, press the dough up the sides of the molds.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
4. Now, make the blueberry mixture: In a shallow pan, combine butter and flour to make a roux (melt the butter and stir it around in the flour; this will thicken the blueberries). Add blueberries, and toss to coat. Add sugar and stir until dissolved. Now, add brandy, all at once. At this point, you can either: a) shake the pan around over a gas flame until the flame licks the edge of your pan and the brandy catches on fire, or b)take a match to the brandy and let it burn, baby!
5. Once the flame has burned off all the alcohol in your brandy the blueberry mixture should be well emulsified and ready to use. Turn off the stove.
6. Anchor the tartlet shells by piercing them a couple times each with a toothpick. This should prevent them from puffing up. Pre-bake the shells for 10 minutes, or until golden.
7. Meanwhile, whip your cream (and add some blue food coloring if you want to be wacky).
   Fill baked shells with blueberry filling, and top with whipped cream. Don’t get them all over your face, now!

Cranberry Bars from Sara Rahnama

• Makes 12-18 bars
• 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 2 cups whole wheat all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 3 cups fresh cranberries
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tbsp lemon zest
• Confectioners sugar for dusting

1. Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle.
2. Line a 9-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, leaving anoverhang.
3. Blend butter, flour, salt, and 1/2 cup sugar in a foodprocessor until mixture begins to clump together. If the mixture is toodry, add up to 1 tbsp cold water. Press into bottom of pan.
4. Bake until pale golden and sides begin to pull away from pan, 25 to 30 minutes.
5. While crust is baking, cook cranberries, remaining 2/3 cupsugar, lemon zest, and water in a 2-quart heavy saucepan over mediumheat, stirring occasionally, until berries burst, 6 to 8 minutes.
6. Pour cranberries over crust and bake until edge is golden, about 25minutes.
7. When the bars have cooled completely, sift confectioners sugarover top. Lift out of pan using overhang and cut into squares.

Butternut Squash Pear Soup From Joey Loewenstein
(from Noteworthy Two, A New Recipe Collection from the Ravinia Festival)
Serves 6-8

• 1 and ½ quarts chicken broth
• 2 and ½ pounds butternut squash, peeled, seeded, in 2-inch pieces
• 3 ripe pears, peeled, cored, quartered
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 medium shallots, peeled, chopped
• ½ t. nutmeg
• ½ c. half and half
• salt and pepper to taste
• 6-8 T. sour cream, optional
• 1-2 t. cinnamon, optional

1. In large pot, heat chicken broth. (We used vegetable broth and it worked great….so for all you kosher folks out there, vegetable broth works just fine!)
2. Add squash, pears, onion, shallots,and nutmeg. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes or untiltender.
3. In food processor, puree mixture in small batches (OR, BETTER YET, GET A HAND BLENDER. TOOK ME 2 MINUTES! CAREFUL, THOUGH, NOT TOSPLASH! TURN THE BLENDER ON AFTER YOU PUT IT INTO THE MIXTURE).
4. Return to pot, stir in half & half, salt & pepper. Cook over low heat untilhot. Serve with dollop of sour cream and sprinkle of cinnamon.

© rivka for Not Derby Pie, 2007. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags:

Having spent 22 Thanksgivings with my family, I’ve seen my fair share of crowded dinner tables, overstuffed tummies and packed fridges. This year will be no exception. As promised, the array of dishes that my mom and I made for Thursday’s feast is so vast, turkey simply will not be missed. We planned a menu with something for everyone (and too much for any one person) to eat. Below, I’ve outlined every step of our process, complete with shopping lists, directions, and substitutions for those with allergies or dislikes. I hope this comes intime for your prep, and as always, I’d love any and all feedback on recipes, readability, etc. Happy shopping, cooking, and eating!

SHOPPING LIST

Squash Stuffed With Red Quinoa, Pears and Cranberries

• 1 red onion
• 2 firm pears, any kind will do
• 1 stalk celery
• ¼ cup pecans
• 1 bunch fresh thyme
• 1 small container apple juice (total ½ cup)
• 1 small container vegetable broth (total 2 cups)
• 4 delicata squash, depending on size, or substitute butternut squash
• 1 box red quinoa; can substitute regular quinoa or wild rice

Jalapeno-Fruit Chutney

• 2 jalapeno chilies
• 1 package dried apricots
• 1 package cranberries
• small package crystallized ginger (total 1 Tbsp)
• white and brown sugar (total ½ cup of each)
• cloves, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg – whichever you have

Cornbread Broccoli Rabe Strata

Note: we made half a recipe, in a square pan; we’re guessing people will love this, but they’ll only take one helping. It’s pretty rich!

• olive oil
• 1 head garlic (you’ll only need 1 clove for this)
• crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 lb. broccoli rabe, or rapini — those big leaves with what look like little broccoli florets
• 1 red pepper
• 1 small container kalamata olives (total ¼ cup)
• 1 quart whole milk
• 8 eggs
• whatever you need to make cornbread – we do from scratch, but there are easy mixes out there as well
• 1 container ricotta cheese OR farmer cheese (we did farmer cheese, and prefer it)
• 1 block gruyere cheese (6 oz. total)

Mushroom Soup

• 1 ½ lbs. mushrooms of any kind (we used a mix of white, baby bella, cremini, chanterelles and shitake. If you’re on a budget, use baby bella and cremini, which run much cheaper than chanterelles and shiitake.)
• 8 cups of broth (we bought two cartons of no-chicken broth, which was perfect)
• 5 shallots
• 2 cloves of garlic (one head of garlic will suffice for all the recipes we made)

Squash Stuffed With Red Quinoa, Pears and Cranberries
Quinoa adapted from “Cranberry Pear Wild Rice Stuffing” by Nava Atlas, chutney adapted from this recipe in delicious living magazine
Serves 8-12.

Red Quinoa:

• • 2 cups vegetable broth or no-chicken broth
  • 1 box red quinoa (approximately 2 cups)
  • 1 red onion, diced small
  • 1 celery stalk, diced small
  • 2 medium firm pears, cored and diced
  • ½ cup dried cranberries
  • ¼ cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts
  • 1 tsp. fresh thyme (can substitute ½ tsp. dried thyme)
  • ½ cup apple or pear juice
  • 4 delicata squash, or substitute butternut

Fruit Chutney:

• • 1 cup dried apricots
  • 1 ½ cups water
  • ½ tsp cinnamon
  • 1 Tbsp. crystallized ginger, chopped
  • ¼ tsp. cloves
  • ¼ tsp. allspice
  • 1 package cranberries
  • 2 jalapeno peppers

For the Quinoa:

1. Bring the broth to a simmer in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the quinoa and cook according to the directions on the package. (We cooked ours over medium heat for ten or so minutes, then turned off the heat and let it steam the rest of the way.)
2. Once the heat has been turned off, add the diced pears and cover the pot, allowing them to par-cook with the quinoa.
3. Meanwhile, sauté onion and celery in a couple Tbsp of olive oil over medium heat, until soft and translucent. Add thyme, and continue to sauté. (Here’s the truth: we let the onion and celery go on a bit too long, and it got a bit charred…and delicious. I highly recommend charring the onion and celery!)
4. Add the cranberries, onion/celery/thyme, pecans and apple juice to the cooked quinoa, and toss. If needed, add salt and pepper.

For the Squash:

1. Slice squash lengthwise, and remove seeds. (If you save them, you can prepare them this way.)
2. Roast squash, upside down, in a pyrex with an inch of water in the bottom. For delicate, 30 minutes is plenty; butternut need about an hour. Remove squash from the oven when you can easily pierce their flesh with a fork.
3. Fill the crevices of the squash with the red quinoa filling.

For the Fruit Chutney:

1. Bring 1 ½ cups water to a boil and pour it over the apricots in a small bowl. Leave for ten minutes; this will reconstitute the apricots. Keep the liquid when done!
2. Meanwhile, roast the jalapeno peppers under the broiler until the skin blackens and develops blisters, 10-15 minutes. (If you have a gas stove, you can char them over an open flame much more quickly.) Remove them from the oven and insert them into a brown paper bag. Allow them to steam in the bag for 5 minutes, then remove them and slide their skins off under running water. Chop them into a fine dice; they should total about 2 Tbsp.
3. Into a pot on medium heat, add apricots, jalapeno, cranberries, crystallized ginger, spices and the leftover liquid from the apricots plus enough extra water to total 1 ¼ cups. Allow all of the ingredients to simmer until cranberries start to pop and the mixture gels, about 15 minutes. Remove from the heat, and allow the chutney to set.
4. Top squash and quinoa with a dollop of the chutney, and serve some alongside as well.

Alternative recipe:
Add chickpeas to the quinoa, and mix in some salsa with the fruit chutney for a more savory topping.

Mushroom Soup
Adapted from this recipe on Epicurious

• 1 ½ lbs. assorted mushrooms
• 5 shallots, diced
• 5 cloves garlic, chopped
• 3 Tbsp. olive oil
• 6 cups broth
• salt and pepper as needed

1. Rinse or wipe mushrooms clean, then pat dry; chop roughly into two or three pieces each. Save two or three mushrooms, which you can later chop and use as a garnish.
2. Sauté shallots and garlic in olive oil until soft and translucent.
3. Add mushrooms and sauté over medium-low heat until mushrooms start to emit liquid, about 10 minutes.
4. Add half the broth, and allow to simmer for 15 minutes.
5. Remove mushrooms and shallot pieces with a slotted spoon and put into a food processor. Puree them with 1 cup of broth until smooth. Return to the pot, add the rest of the broth, and simmer 15 more minutes. Remove from heat.
6. Serve warm, with mushroom garnish.

We also made:

• pumpkin bread
• pumpkin pie (my mom did this before I arrived, but I imagine her recipe is pretty standard)
• pumpkin cheese cake (I’ll be getting this recipe soon!)

We will also be making:

• cornbread broccoli rabe strata (recipe from the New York Times; we’re making half a recipe, and baking it in a square pan.)
• sweet potatoes two ways: with marshmallows, and with lime syrup
• a greek salad
• cranberry-etrog sauce
• apple-cranberry pie
• pecan pie

If I’m forgetting anything, it’s hard to tell. See why it’s so hard to miss turkey with this thanksgiving feast?

© rivka for Not Derby Pie, 2007. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags:

It is super-duper chilly this morning and fall is finally setting in. Crisp air in my face and the crunch of leaves beneath my feet give me a serious hankering for some pumpkin soup!

But this post is about tartlets.

Everyone makes muffins; nobody makes tartlets. Yes, they’re not as quick and easy to make as muffins are, but they’re so much cuter and (IMHO) more delicious. Can’t compare muffins and tartlets? Yes, yes I can. I just did! Tartlets > Muffins. Make some tartlets!

Here’s the good thing about the tartlets I make: they’re delicious. Ok, just kidding — they’re also not as time-consuming because the steps overlap with each other, as follows:

make the dough (about 5 minutes in a food processor)
make the filling while you refrigerate the dough
make and bake the tartlet crusts while you refrigerate the filling
let the tartlet crusts cool while you get the filling ready to pipe
fill tartlets and serve

See? Not so bad.

And the lemon curd filling is really not too hard to make. It does involve some pot-watching and some vigorous whisking, but it’s worth the effort; whatever extra filling you have after finishing the tartlets is wonderful eaten out of the bowl, just so.

Today’s post is about the lemon tartlet in the background of the picture above; the tartlet in the front of the picture is a posting for another day.

Lemon Curd-raspberry tartlets
makes about 25 tartlets.

Tart Crust: taken from Tartelette
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 stick plus 1 Tbsp unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
1 egg yolk

Blend dry ingredients with a hand or stand mixer. Add butter and blend until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add egg yolk; blend until dough comes together. Wrap in plastic, and refrigerate while preparing ingredients for the tart.

While the dough refrigerates, prepare the curd:

zest of 2 lemons
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs

1. Bring the zest, lemon juice and sugar to a simmer in a small saucepan.
2. Meanwhile, beat the 2 eggs until light.
3. When all the sugar has dissolved, add some of the hot lemon juice mixture to the eggs by the spoonful while beating the eggs, to temper them (in order to ensure that they don’t get scrambled.)
4. After you’ve added about 10-15 spoonfuls of the hot liquid and successfully incorporated it, pour the egg mixture into the saucepan with the rest of the lemon juice mixture, and bring to a simmer (not a boil) over medium heat until it thickens, about 5 minutes.
5. Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate until cooled completely, at least 1 – 1.5 hrs.

Back to the tarts…

After about half and hour, the tart dough should be just chilled enough that it can be worked with, but will not disintigrate. Take a walnut-sized piece of the dough in your hand, roll it gently into a ball, and, using your thumb, press it into a tartlet mold (in my case, I have a tartlet pan wth 24 molds). Try to ensure that the dough is spread evenly throughout the mold. This will make for even baking.
“Dock” the dough by spearing each tartlet a couple times with a fork – this ensures that they’ll keep their shape as they cook. Bake the empty tarts in a 350 degree oven for 10-15 minutes, until golden.

Assembly:

Scoop cooled lemon curd into a plastic bag, and cut off the very tip of the bag. Hold the bag just above the inside center of a tartlet, and squeeze, raising the bag as the tartlet fills. Repeat for each tartlet.

Top with either fresh raspberries or (as I did) frozen raspberries that I cooked down with a bit of sugar.

Enjoy!

© rivka for Not Derby Pie, 2007. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags:

In 1982, in an article by Phyllis Richman profiling Kern’s Kitchen, The Washington Post featured a recipe for Not Derby Pie. My mom took hold of this recipe and never let go — she made it very often and it was an instant hit among friends. Admittedly, I was a nut-hater at the time, and the pie didn’t much strike my fancy. I did, however, manage to eat the entire bottom layer of two slices and pick through the nougat a bit before calling it quits. Once I discovered how fantastic nuts are, this pie quickly climbed high on my favorites list. It’s one of my go-to recipes for Friday night dinner parties, and an unfailing success.

© rivka for Not Derby Pie, 2007. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags:

Rhubarb is finally, finally in season … it’s about time.

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 stick plus 1 Tbsp unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
• 1 egg yolk

• 3 stalks rhubarb, cleaned and cut into 4-inch-long slices
• 1 piece of the rhubarb thinly sliced (for the tart’s center)
• about 12 nice strawberries, cleaned
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar, more for dusting
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• grated zest of one orange
• powdered sugar for dusting, optional

Slice strawberries one at a time, and arrange, fanned out, between the rhubarb slices. Sprinkle the whole thing with the sugar mixture.

• 1 cup sliced almonds (I prefer toasted but raw is fine too)
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• pinch salt
• half a stick of butter
• 1-2 Tbsp. flour

© rivka for Not Derby Pie, 2007. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: