Blueberry Amandine Tart

Blueberry Amandine Tart

A little over a week ago, the vegetarian turned 30. In his honor, I wanted to bake something. Now, as you know, I'm not much of a baker, so I needed something reliable and easy. But muffins are boring (and the only thing I bake with any frequency) so I wanted to find something more fun. And that would feel at least semi-seasonal. Something that, for better or for worse, I could feature here.


Searching for inspiration, my first stop was the freezer where I found some frozen blueberries from our frozen farm share. Great, I thought, I'll use blueberries. The next stop was the cookbook shelf, where I saw Clotilde's book, Chocolate & Zucchini. Like many, Chocolate & Zucchini was the first food blog I discovered. I was living alone in Paris, in a garret apartment in the 15th arrondissement. I was a student, studying abroad, and it was my first time living alone and being responsible for all my own meals. While I had neither the funds nor the resources to sample most of Clotilde's creations, I used to sit at my computer, reading about her delicacies while savoring my homemade eggs, lentils or pasta -- my three most regular meals in those days. This was, of course, before I moved to a real apartment in the 1st arrondissement, experimented in the kitchen and started my own blog. Six years and six apartments later (how time flies), cooking for someone who's never seen my Paris (though he was there many moons before we met) and is slowly being introduced into the world of food and expanding tastebuds, it seemed only fitting to return to Clotilde for advice.


The recipe I ultimately settled on was a Blueberry Amandine Tart. Since I don't trust myself as a baker enough to potchke with a tart recipe (and because I couldn't imagine what I would change), I left it exactly as printed in the book. Exact that I used a store-bought pate sablee.


So how was it? Delicious. My only complaint was that the center never quite firmed up. Perhaps this was because my crust was 9-inches, perhaps because my blueberries were frozen. Or maybe that's the way it was supposed to be. Anyway, the almonds were the perfect antidote to keep the tart from becoming too sweet (I thoroughly recommend buying them already blanched rather than doing it yourself. You can find the recipe on page. 188-189 of Chocolate and Zuccini. Enjoy!


Make it a meal: Whenever I make dessert, I want to ensure my diners save room for it! So I make a one-pot meal, usually pasta, to go with it. In this case, I made Spaghetti with Cheesy Tomato Sauce (tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella). And to drink, Champagne Cocktail for me and Electric Lemonade for the vegetarian. Bon appetit!


Links to other blueberry amandine tart noshes:

• Blueberry Amandine Tart from Baked Alaska
• Blueberry Amandine Tart from The Casual Baker
• A Bit of a C&Z Weekend from Chocolate & Zucchini Forums
• Blueberry Kuchen from Lady Gouda
• Seven Questions with Marty Curtis (with a picture of a blueberry muffin) from seven spoons
• Open-Faced Fresh Blueberry Pie from The Kitchen Sink
• Chewy Blueberry Oatmeal Cookies from Dinner with Julie
• Blueberry Boy Bait from Blue Jean Gourmet

Tofu with Cranberry Paste

Tofu with Cranberry Paste

A few days after Valentine's Day, here's part two of my Valentine's Day-appropriate Cornish Hens (and Tofu) with Cranberry Paste. Obviously, today is the tofu version of the recipe. Now, just as a disclaimer, this isn't an entirely vegetarian dish. There is chicken stock in the paste and, when I made it, I cooked the tofu in the same pan as the Cornish hens. If you are cooking for a strict vegetarian, you could substitute the chicken stock with a strong-flavored vegetable stock (or even a mix of vegetable stock and cranberry juice) and if you do, I'd be fascinated to know how it turned out. However, for the sake of total honesty, I'm only writing up what I did. The Vegetarian loved it, with a side of couscous, some cinnamon sweet potato slices and a delirium tremens and I hope you do too. Enjoy!


Tofu with Cranberry Paste

• 1 pound extra-firm tofu
• 1/4 cup + 1/4 cup pistachio nuts, crushed
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper, freshly ground
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 6 shallots, sliced
• 2 tablespoons thyme leaves, fresh
• 1 1/2 cups chicken stock
• 6 ounces cranberries, frozen
• 4 leaves basil

Wrap tofu in a clean dish towel and set on a clean plate. On top, place a colander filled with heavy bottles or boxes (I usually use a bottle of olive oil and a box of kosher salt). Let rest for as long as possible, preferably at least an hour. This removes excess moisture from the tofu and helps it to better soak up the flavors you're cooking it in.

Preheat oven to 350F. Once tofu is sufficiently pressed, slice tofu in half depthwise. Coat both sides in 1/4 

Tofu, ready for the oven

cup pistachio nuts, salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Sear tofu for 2-3 minutes on both sides. Place in a roasting pan, on a roasting rack. Once oven is heated, place tofu in oven and roast for 30 minutes.

While tofu is cooking, add shallots to pan and saute 6 minutes, mixing shallots well with any pistachio nuts that fell into pan. Stir in thyme, then deglaze with chicken stock, using a wooden spoon to get all the nuts from the pan. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. 

In a food processor, combine remaining 1/4 cup pistachios, cranberries and basil. Add shallots and pan drippings. Pulse 

Cranberry Paste

until all is a uniform texture.

Serve tofu with at least two tablespoonfuls of cranberry paste. You will have plenty left over!

Links to other tofu cranberry noshes:

• Leftover Cranberry-Soy Sauce Sticky Sweet Tofu Steaks from Healthy. Happy. Life.
• Toasted Tofu Sandwich with Cranberry & Arugula from Gluten Free Cooking School
• Cranberry Fruit Muffins from Tofu for Two
• Spelt-Oat Cookies with Chocolates and Cranberries from Tofu for Two 
• Vegan Turkey Breasts from Albion Cooks

Cornish Hens with Cranberry Paste

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CSA Week 3: Cold Blueberry Garlic Almond Soup

Week 3 of our CSA and another very exciting haul. It's still been extremely rainy here, so no fruit share yet, but we've been promised a double share next week. (Yikes; I mean, yay!) But we have some lovely vegetables again, still more springy than summery, but no complaints here. And things that I can't usually find in Chinatown. So...what did we get? 1 (very small) head of broccoli, 1 head of lettuce, 3 beets (with their beautiful greens still attached), 2 heads of garlic with the thick green stalk still attached, 1 pound swiss chard and 1 bunch mint.

Once I brought everything home and stored it properly to last the week, I began thinking about what to make for dinner. What most excited me about this haul was the garlic. I'm a really big fan of what I call "fresh garlic" since it's the garlic I prefer to eat raw. So it's my garlic of choice for pestos and uncooked sauces (before I discovered garlic scapes, of course). But I've been making lots of sauces lately so I started thinking about a cold soup. Then the Boy and I started discussing whether people eat beets raw so I did some research, decided that they do and garnished my soup with some chopped beet. This soup was inspired by Cold Garlic Almond Soup from Anne's Food.

While very tasty, I never did completely get rid of the almond meal texture. Any suggestions? And the addition of blueberries is the reason for the stupendous color.

Cold Blueberry Garlic Almond Soup

• 3 slices bread (I used whole wheat), crusts removed
• water
• 1/4 bag almond slivers (3-4 ounces)
• 1 cup blueberries (I used frozen)
• 2 cloves fresh garlic
• 1 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 1/2 tablespoons blood orange olive oil
• 1/4 tablespoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
• 1 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
• 2 cups water
• 1 tablespoon cream sherry
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted
• 2 tablespoons raisins
• 1/2 beet, peeled and chopped

Tear the bread into about 9 pieces. Submerge in a bowl of cold water and let soak for 30 minutes. Squeeze out as much water as possible and remove bread to bowl of food processor. Add almonds, blueberries and garlic and process until smooth, scraping down the sides as necessary. Add olive oils, salt, curry powder, pepper, water, sherry and vinegar. Process again until as smooth as possible (and perhaps you'll find a way to get rid of the coarse almond texture, perhaps by straining the soup through a cheesecloth-lined strainer?). Transfer to a glass bowl, cover, and chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve (1-2 hours).
Before serving, mix together pine nuts, raisins and beet in a small bowl as garnish. Serve soup and invite diners to sprinkle garnish on top. Enjoy!
Links to other garlic noshes:

• Roasted Garlic from Simply Recipes

Strawberry Muffins

I would never even begin to consider myself a baker, but there is something wonderful about making a batter, putting it into an oven and watching it puff up into something sweet and delicious. I always feel such a sense of accomplishment after baking and I find it more magic than cooking. I know what will happen to a roast or a fish when I put it in the oven. It will cook and the meat will be flavorful and (hopefully) moist. When you take a trout or a duckling out of the oven, it looks browner, but not much different from when you put it in.

Baking is different. You have to measure everything exactly; no "a pinch of this and a spot of that." At least for me, I have to follow a recipe almost to the letter and not improvise as I go along. However, in some ways, the payback is greater. I'm never really sure what's going to happen, so when it works, it's even more exciting than cooking savory foods.

Sunday was a particularly unproductive day for work, so I decided the only way to fight my feeling of uselessness would be to bake. I had some strawberries languishing in the fridge from my Fruit Salad and a muffin tin that was just waiting to be used. So I decided to make Strawberry Muffins, using my newest cookbook (and as of then untested), Canyon Ranch Cooks. This cookbook has gorgeous pictures and has foods that remain more or less healthy, so the recipe called for half Whole Wheat Flour, half All-Purpose Flour and there was Non-Fat Yogurt and no Butter. Because I had no Whole Wheat Flour, I used only All-Purpose. Other than that, I remained very faithful to the recipe. The muffins came out delicious. While not sweet, they made a wonderful breakfast and would have been perfect with tea and a little cream. But I suppose that defeats the purpose of being Healthy Food.

Strawberry Muffins

1 1/2 cup All-Purpose Flour
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 Egg
1/3 cup Milk (I used 2 %)
1/3 cup Nonfat Plain Yogurt
2 tablespoons Canola Oil + for coating muffin tins
1/3 cup Turbinado Sugar
1 cup Strawberries, chopped and hulled

Preheat oven to 350 F. Dampen a paper towel with Canola Oil and coat cups of a 12-cup muffin tin.

In a large bowl, combine Flour, Baking Powder and Salt

In a medium bowl, combine Egg, Milk, Yogurt and Canola Oil, then add Sugar, mixing well.

Create a well in the dry ingredients, then slowly add the wet. Mix well until everything is combined well and there are no lumps. Add fruit and stir until evenly distributed throughout batter.

Place 1/4 cup of batter in each muffin tin and bake about 15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Remove muffin tin from oven and place on a rack to cool. If desired, sprinkle muffin tops with a pinch of Cinnamon and/or some Sugar for a burst of added flavor.

Makes 12 Muffins.

Update: Barbara, from Winos and Foodies, liked these so much she made them over the weekend, with a spoonful of Nutella inside.

Recipe and Breakfast and Vegetarian and Dairy

Cannette rotie aux fraises et rhubarbe

Because of moving and traveling, my entry for Blog Appetit is late. Also, because Blog Appetit is a French blogging event, this entry will be in French. If you don’t speak French and want the recipe anyway, I'll e-mail or post the translation.

Quand j'ai vu que le theme de ce Blog Appetit etait fraises et rhubarbe, j'etais un peu decue. Je ne suis pas tres forte avec les desserts et cette combinaison me semblait etre vraiment parfait pour un dessert. Neanmoins, j'ai reflechi et j'ai cree cette sauce des fraises et de la rhubarbe pour une cannette rotie. C'etait vraiment delicieux !

Cannette Rotie aux fraises et rhubarbe

Cannette

1 Cannette entiere
2 gousses d'Ail + 2 gousses d'Ail
1 tige de Basilique + feuilles d'une autre
Sel et Poivre Noir
1 brin Romarin + feuilles d'un autre
6 + 6 brins Thym
250 g Pommes de Terre, coupees en des

Faire chauffer le four au 180 C. Vider la Cannette et la nettoyer. Avec vos doigts, arracher autant du gras que vous pouviez. Creer un espace entre la peau et la viande. Ecraser ensemble 2 gousses d'Ail, feuilles d'une tige de Basilique, Sel, Poivre Noir, feuilles d'un brin de Romarin et feuilles de 6 brins de Thym. Mettre ce melange dans l'espace cree entre la peau et la viande de la Cannette. Mettre le reste des Herbes, Sel, Poivre et 2 gousses d'Ail dans le creux [cavity] de la Cannette. Mettre la Cannette dans un plat de verre qui va dans le four. Le plat doit etre assez large pour la Cannette et les Pommes de Terre. Mettre la Cannette dans le four pour 1 heure.

Apres 1 heure, mettre les Pommes de Terre dans le plat avec la Cannette et cuisiner le tout pour encore 30 minutes, jusqu'a ce que le jus de la Cannette soit presque clair.

Quand la Cannette cuisine, faire la sauce :

Sauce
1 Oignon, coupe en des
4 Clous de Girofle
2 gousses d'Ail
10 Baies Roses
1 brin Romarin Sel
1 + 1/2 tasses Jus de Fraises
2 tiges Rhubarbe, coupees en morceaux
1 barquette Fraises, coupes en moitie

Mettre l'Oignon, les Clous de Girofle, les Gousses d'Ail, les Baies Roses, le Romarin, le Sel, 1 tasse du Jus de Fraises et le Rhubarbe dans une casserole au feu moyen. Le mijoter pour environ 20 minutes, jusqu'a ce que le Rhubarbe soit tendre. Ajouter la 1/2 tasse de Jus de Fraises et les Fraises et laisser le tout mijoter pour encore 5 minutes. Si vous voulez que la sauce soit plus epaisse, la mettre dans un Cuisinart [blender en anglais].

Pour servir :

Mettre la sauce au-dessous de la Cannette. Enjoy !