Fearless Kitchen

Recipe: Fresh Fig Tart

Recipe Source: Orsini, Fr. Giuseppe.  Italian Baking Secrets.  St. Martin's Press, New York, 2007 p. 140

I know I've mentioned this tart before, possibly in the Chestnut Tart post.  I really wanted to make it in the fall, but I was unable to find fresh figs locally.  At any rate, while I was making the fig jam, my husband happened to be talking to a friend of ours and it turns out that she really, really likes figs.  Who knew?  Anyway, I filed that information away in my mental storage system (which looks like a tornado hit it, trust me) and moved on.  Well, one week I knew that there was a possibility of entertaining this friend and her husband.  While I was doing the food shopping, I noticed fresh figs.  They were even a reasonable price!  I bought them up, brought them home and decided I was going to make the tart. 

Unfortunately I was less than enthusiastic about the way it turned out.  The thing is, the only change that I made (besides using Fearless Sweet Shortcrust Pastry) was to use almond extract in place of vanilla.  That shouldn't have made the custard set up so quickly.  I think that my objection is only to the visual appearance of the tart, but since it didn't turn out the way I intended I was never going to be happy with it anyway.  My guests were quite pleased with it, or at least they said they were, and my husband also enjoyed it. 

Fig Tart (serves 8; approx. cost per serving $0.90/serving)

1 recipe Fearless Sweet Shortcrust Pastry

1 1/2 cups milk

1 1/2 teaspoons honey

1 teaspoon almond extract

7 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch

1 egg

1 egg yolk

12 fresh figs, washed and roughly chopped

Equipment: 

• Aluminum foil
• Pie weights (I use dried beans.)
• Saucepan
• Bowl
• Tart pan with removable bottom

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Press the pastry into the tart pan, making sure to get it up the sides nicely. 
3. Cover the crust with foil and fill with the pie weights.  Bake blind 30 minutes or until done. 
4. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
5. Bring the milk, honey and almond extract to a boil in the saucepan.  Immediately reduce heat to a simmer and simmer 5 minutes.
6. Let cool 10 minutes.  Whisk in the sugar, cornstarch, egg and egg yolk. 
7. Return to medium heat, whisking constantly, and bring back to a boil.
8. Reduce heat and simmer 3 minutes, whisking constantly to avoid scrambling.
9. Remove and cool in the refrigerator 1/2 hour.
10. Add the chopped figs.  Chill 1 hour.
11. Pour the fig mixture into the tart casing.  Smooth it out as best you can.
12. This tart should be cut and served at room temperature. 

Recipe: Apple Lemon Marmalade

Recipe Source: Gardon, Anne.  Preserving for All Seasons.  Firefly Books, Willowdale, 1999 p. 100

This is another of the preserves I made for the Christmas Project.  Personally, I'm not all that into marmalade.  I'm not sure why, but I just never developed a taste for it.  I know that I am very much in the minority in this.  My father-in-law, for example, is a huge fan of marmalade.  I can remember him extolling the virtues of marmalade very early in my relationship with him.  When I was planning which preserves I would make, I decided that I would include some marmalade just for him.  Well, not just for him.  I should have said "with him in mind," because plenty of other people got marmalade!

Anyway, I made only one significant change to the original.  I substituted rosemary for the mint.  My husband is allergic to mint, so I won't put mint in anything that he might ever be exposed to lest he help himself and get sick.  I substituted rosemary - a flavor that I personally prefer to mint anyway - and I left the leaves in the jam to enhance the flavor. 

Apple Lemon Marmalade (makes 14 8-oz jars; approx. cost per serving not available)

4 lemons

3 cups water

3 pounds apples

6 cups sugar

6 rosemary sprigs, leaves only

Equipment:

• 14 8-oz home canning jars, with lids and bands
• Large stockpot
• Boiling water canner
• Large saucepan
• Large bowl
• Ladle

1. Halve the lemons and slice them thinly.  Remove the pits.
2. Put the lemons into the large bowl, cover with the water, and let stand overnight.
3. Transfer the contents of the bowl to the large saucepan and bring to a boil. 
4. Boil until the lemon peel is tender, about 10 minutes. 
5. Meanwhile, prepare your equipment.  Put the jars, lids and bands into the stockpot and cover with water.  Heat to 180 degrees and maintain at 180 degrees for at least 10 minutes.  Fill the boiling water canner with water and heat to 180 degrees.
6. Peel and core the apples, then slice thinly.
7. Add the apples, sugar and rosemary to the lemon and water in the saucepan.  Bring to a boil.
8. Reduce heat and cook until thickened, about 30 minutes. 
9. Ladle the marmalade mixture into the warm jars.
10. Process 30 minutes in the boiling water canner. 
11. Cool, label and store. 

Recipe: Tilapia with Almonds

Recipe Source: Clements, Carole and Elizabeth Wolf-Cohen.  French.  Anness Publishing, London, 2006 p. 88

Some of you may have noticed that I've been a little... slack lately.  I haven't been responding to comments, I haven't been leaving comments on other blogs.  I apologize.  I've cut back on a lot of things out of necessity.  At this point, I have very little energy or stamina.  I rush to get through the things that I absolutely, positively, have to do: check email, write up recipes so I have something to post, walk the dog.  Then I collapse into a heap.  Sometimes I make more food, so I can have more recipes to write up and hopefully not have to have a blank period after the baby gets here.  Sometimes I can't even manage that, or even wash the dishes from the previous night's dinner. 

This recipe is just perfect for when you're in the same boat I am.  (I wasn't just whining.  I promise.)  It is so incredibly quick and easy, and it tastes like you've slaved over it for days.  I used tilapia instead of trout because my husband won't eat whole fish and we had lots of frozen tilapia on hand.  Tilapia is cheap, especially when you buy it that way.  It also thaws quickly.  I probably also used a lot more almonds than the recipe called for, because I love almonds.  This means that the tilapia itself is kind of obscured in the picture, but I've never been much good at doing things in moderation. 

Tilapia with Almonds (serves 2; approx. $1.09/serving)

2 tilapia fillets

1/3 cup flour

4 tablespoons butter

2 ounces (approx.) slivered almonds

2 tablespoons white wine

Equipment:

• Saute pan
• 2 plates

1. Dredge the fish in the flour.
2. Melt half the butter in the saute pan over medium heat. 
3. When the butter is foamy (their words, not mine, but a perfect description of when the pan is ready) add the fish.  Cook until golden brown on each side.  Tilapia fillets are pretty thin and cook quickly, so I'd watch it pretty carefully.
4. Transfer the fish to one of the 2 plates.  Use the other plate as a lid to keep it warm.
5. Add the remaining butter to the pan.
6. Saute the almonds until lightly browned. 
7. Add the wine carefully - I usually turn off the heat when adding booze to a pan, because while I am quite fond of fire I don't necessarily want my kitchen to be engulfed in it.  The risk is small, but I can be a little paranoid sometimes.  Anyway, add the wine to the pan and boil 1 minute.
8. Pour the sauce over the fish and serve immediately. 

Recipe: Whole Wheat Penne with Onion Sauce

Recipe Source: Bugialli, Giuliano.  Bugialli on Pasta.  Stewart, Tabori & Chang, New York, 2000 p. 101

I'm always a little reluctant to use this book, I have to admit it.  It's a perfectly good book with plenty of interesting recipes, but I'm reluctant to give extra publicity to someone with such an objection to "undirected creativity."  I AM undirected creativity and innovation without Mr. Bugialli's guidelines.  My guidelines are my tastes and those of my guests, particularly my husband.  Those are more important to me than adhering slavishly to someone else's vision of what the dish should be.  Unless I'm working on a medieval recipe, in which case I'm trying to showcase the fact that food 1000 years ago didn't have to taste like wallpaper paste, I'm always going to customize my dishes to the needs and tastes of the people I'm feeding.

Take this recipe.  Mr. Bugialli provides variations to make the dish as it is made in Florence and in Campania.  (We will ignore the idea that every housewife in Florence and in Campania makes the dish in an identical way.  I know my own female Neapolitan relatives, none of whom makes her dishes just like any other relative, or just like me for that matter.  I'm just sayin'.)  The Tuscan version is made with butter.  The Campanian is made with a combination of lard and olive oil.  Well, my husband can only tolerate so much butter, and that tolerance had been exhausted in the other dish I was serving that night.  Lard comes from pork.  Even if my husband were willing to eat something cooked in lard - and he's not - the Fearless Fetus has some very strong objections to swine flesh in any form, and as long as we're sharing a digestive system her objections become mine.  Should we then either suffer massive digestive upset in the name of "authenticity?"  Perhaps we should simply not enjoy the recipe?  Sorry, neither was really an acceptable option.  I used olive oil, and you know what?  It came out just fine.  (Minette was suspicious, as you'll see in the second picture, but it really tasted quite good.)  I also ignored the parsley, not being much of a fan of parsley, and I used whole-wheat pasta because I've come to prefer the flavor and to give some added fiber to the dish. 

As a side note to the author, I also happen to really like goat cheese.  In pretty much all its forms (I've seen chocolate-covered goat cheese balls which seem a little suspicious to me.).  So there. 

Whole Wheat Penne with Onion Sauce (serves 4; approx. $1.55/serving)

2 lb red onions, peeled and quartered

1/2 cup olive oil

2 cups white wine

1 cup water

Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

12 oz whole wheat penne

Equipment:

• Large, deep saute pan
• Pot to cook the pasta
• Colander
• Bowl

1. Soak the onions in cold water in the bowl for 30 minutes.
2. Drain, then coarsely chop the onions.
3. Heat the oil over medium heat.  Add the onions and saute 10 minutes, covered. 
4. Stir well, lower the heat, and add 1 cup of wine.
5. Cover.  Simmer 1/2 hour.
6. Add 1 cup of wine.  Cover and simmer another 1/2 hour.
7. Add 1/2 cup of water.  Cover and simmer 1/2 hour.
8. Add the second cup of water.  Cover and simmer 1/2 hour.
9. Prepare the pasta in heavily salted water. 
10. When the pasta is cooked, drain it and mix it with the onion mixture.  If your saute pan is not large enough for this, go ahead and dump the pasta into your serving vessel and top it with the onion mixture. 
11. Serve. 

Recipe: Crusty Squash Casserole

Recipe Source: Bayless, Rick.  Rick Bayless' Mexican Kitchen.  Scribner Press, New York, 1996 pp. 224-5. 

This dish says that it serves 8 people as a side dish, and I'm not going to argue.  Had things turned out the way that they were supposed to, I'm sure that 8 people would have been no problem for this dish.  However, I decided to try to remove the dish from the oven with one hand.  This was not my brightest moment.  More than half of the casserole fell onto the ground.  This is why it looks such a mess in the picture, and not at all like a casserole. 

There were some other changes I made.  Most of them were procedural.  For example, the squash was originally supposed to be steamed, not roasted.  Unfortunately our steamer had an unfortunate meeting with open flame, and was no longer serviceable.  (It did burn quite nicely though!)  I roasted the squash instead.  There were a couple more changes like that.  Finally, despite trying three or four different markets, I could not find chayote, the type of squash called for in the recipe.  I made do with golden acorn squash instead.  Please don't ask me what the difference between a golden acorn squash and a very tiny pumpkin is.  I suspect that it's in the little pointy bit on the end, but I'm not a horticulturist. 

The resulting dish was okay.  It wasn't spectacular, but I think I was probably just in a snit because of the dropped casserole.  There weren't any leftovers, so my husband seemed to get a kick out of it at least. 

Crusty Squash Casserole (serves 8 if you don't drop it; approx. cost per serving $0.80)

3 1/2 lb golden acorn squash

8 ounces fresh poblano chiles

2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

1 white onion, thinly sliced

6 garlic cloves, crushed

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

1 package frozen corn kernels (you can use fresh corn if it's in season.)

2/3 cup milk

1 teaspoon kosher salt

5 ounces grated Monterey Jack cheese

3/4 cup breadcrumbs

1/3 cup grated pecorino cheese

Equipment:

• Roasting pan
• Paper bag
• Skillet

1. Roast the poblanos under a broiler until charred on both sides.  Put them immediately into a paper bag and let them sit at least 5 minutes.  Peel and slice thinly.
2. Preheat your oven to 350. 
3. Peel and chop the acorn squash, discarding the seeds. 
4. Roast 15 minutes or so, until vaguely softened.
5. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in the skillet over medium heat.  Add the onion and cook until browned.
6. Add the garlic, herbs and chiles.  Mix thoroughly. 
7. Add the corn and milk to the skillet and bring to a boil.
8. Add the salt. 
9. Sprinkle half the cheeses over the squash mixture, then top with the pan mixture.  Bake 20 minutes. 
10. Stir the remaining oil into the breadcrumbs.  Top the casserole with the crumbs and the remaining cheeses.  Bake another 15 minutes.
11. Let stand 15 minutes.  Serve. 

Recipe: Turnip Stew (Khoresht-e Shalgham)

Recipe Source: Shaida, Margaret.  The Legendary Cuisine of Persia.  Interlink Books, Brooklyn, 2002 pp. 103 - 5

Mmm... stew.  Nothing seems quite so perfect as the weather gets colder and the nights grow longer.  Persian cuisine is just full of delicious, beautiful, fragrant stews that I simply adore.  This stew is no exception.  It's a variation on a stew that would normally be made with eggplants.  To be quite honest I probably would have preferred it with eggplant, but eggplants are long since out of season.  Turnips, on the other hand, are really coming into their own, and they happen to be one of The Spouse's favorite things in the world. 

I honestly didn't make changes to this recipe.  I didn't need to.  Don't be intimidated by the three pages of recipe indicated above; much of that space is taken up with additional variations on the original so you can enjoy this favorite stew year-round. 

Khoresht-e Shalgham (serves 4; approx. $4.57/serving)

4 lb turnips, peeled and diced

1 bunch chopped fresh cilantro

1 lb lamb stew meat

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 onions, sliced

1 teaspoon turmeric (it's okay to be generous)

3 tablespoons tomato paste

1 14-oz can diced tomatoes

4 tablespoons lemon juice

Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

Equipment:

• Large saucepan or deep saute pan

1. Heat the oil in the saucepan.  Add the onions and cook until golden and softened.
2. Add the turmeric, salt, pepper and meat.  Stir-fry until the meat is browned.
3. Add the tomato paste, tomatoes, cilantro and lemon juice.  Add water to cover.  Cover and simmer 30 minutes.
4. Add the turnips, cover and simmer another 30 minutes.  Both the meat and the turnips should be tender when done. 
5. Serve and enjoy. 

Recipe: Velour Sauce

Recipe Source: Atkinson, Catherine with Christine France and Maggie Mayhew.  400 Sauces.  Anness Publishing, London, 2007 p. 52

I recently learned that we were hosting a dinner party.  It's the sort of thing that I learned about the night before, largely because that's when the party was organized.  (It's okay.  The Spouse cleaned the kitchen, so it's all good.)  I wanted to make a recipe that I found in an issue of Martha Stewart Living, specifically the Winter Herb Canneloni.  I'd decided that I wanted to make it a couple of weeks before, and for various reasons the dish kept getting pushed back.  As a result, the heavy cream that was required for the Parmesan Cream Sauce part of the recipe had gone bad.  (I had a very little heavy cream, but not enough for the recipe.)  I cursed like a New Jersey sailor for a few minutes, and then I thought of an alternative. 

I've used a veloute sauce before, as a base for another dish.  Veloute is a good traditional sauce in its own right and is a base for quite a few other dishes.  I decided that I would use a veloute as the base for my sauce.  The thing is, the dish really wanted cheese in the sauce.  No problem.  I added some cheese to the sauce.  Since the name veloute derives from the velvety texture of the sauce, I decided to call my sauce velour: kind of like velvet, but cheesy. 

Yes, it's a bad pun. 

Anyway, I did a few things differently from the original and from the last time I did this.  For starters, instead of chicken stock or turkey stock I used Lemony Vegetable Broth, because that's what I had on hand.  To minimize the number of dishes I used I heated that stock up in the microwave.  This gave the finished product a delightfully lemony flavor that I personally really enjoyed.  I also had a couple of tablespoons of heavy cream but no light cream, so I used that. 

Velour Sauce (makes about 2 cups)

1 pint Lemony Vegetable Broth

2 tablespoons butter

1 ounce flour

2 tablespoons heavy cream

3/4 ounce grated pecorino cheese

Equipment:

• Microwave
• Saucepan

1. This recipe is unusual for me in that it involves the use of the microwave.  That's because I had to thaw the Lemony Vegetable Broth, not having done it the usual way as I didn't know I'd need it.  Use the microwave to defrost and heat your broth, but don't let it boil.  If you'd rather do this on the stovetop in a saucepan (which would be my first choice, believe me) go for it. 
2. In the saucepan, melt the butter.
3. Stir in the flour.  Stir constantly over a moderate heat until the color becomes that of "pale straw." 
4. Remove the pan from heat and stir in the hot stock. 
5. Return to heat and bring to a boil.  Stir constantly until the sauce thickens. 
6. Reduce heat to a very low simmer and cook until reduced by a quarter.  Stir it every once in a while.
7. Just before serving, remove from heat.  Stir in the cream and cheese.  Stir until the cheese is nicely melted.   

Recipe: Himalayan Potato Curry (Shogok Goptse)

Recipe Source: Cramer, Marc.  Imperial Mongolian Cooking.  Hippocrene Books, New York, 2003 p. 168

I served this as a side dish one recent Sunday.  It was substantial enough that I could have served it as a main dish, and that's a good thing because I wasn't at all fond of the main dish.  I'm always fond of potatoes, though, so this really worked out well for me!  It's very mildly flavored and very filling. 

Himalayan Potato Curry (serves 4; approx. $2.19/serving)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 teaspoon fenugreek

6 garlic cloves, crushed

2 onions, finely chipped

1 14-oz can diced tomatoes

1/4 cup mushroom soy sauce

1 tablespoon minced ginger

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 tablespoon cumin

2 pounds potatoes, thinly sliced

1 cup water

1 bell pepper, thinly sliced

10 ounces finely sliced mushrooms

6 scallions, chopped

Equipment:

• Large heavy saucepan with a lid

1. Heat the oil in the saucepan.
2. Add the fenugreek seeds and cook until they splutter.
3. Add the garlic and onions.  Cook, stirring, until golden.
4. Add the tomatoes, soy sauce, ginger, turmeric and cumin.  Cover, reduce heat and cook 5 minutes.
5. Add the potatoes and water.  Cook 15 minutes, covered.
6. Add the bell pepper and the mushrooms.  Cook 5 minutes then remove from heat. 
7. Add the scallions and serve. 

Recipe: Scrambled Egg Tacos

Recipe Source: Bayless, Rick.  Mexican Everyday.  W. W. Norton & Company, New York, 2005 pp. 210-1

This is the recipe that justified my making the roasted tomatillo salsa I posted recently.  One frankly unpleasant side effect of pregnancy is fatigue; another is pain.  I find that I have to really pace myself on both or I wind up not capable of making dinner.  The thing is, I'm really bad at judging my own limits, especially when they keep changing every day.  As a result, while I will plan to cook at home pretty much every day, we find ourselves eating a lot more takeout than I'd like and throwing away more spoiled food than I'm comfortable with. 

When I was drawing up my menu for the week I tried to minimize that kind of waste.  I looked for foods that would keep beyond a couple of days - no meat or fish, since my postage stamp sized freezer can't accommodate more additions.  Eggs were a great idea, since they're always useful and will keep more than a few days.  Scrambled eggs might be a traditional breakfast food, but they make a great choice all day long. 

I made a few changes.  I increased the garlic and chiles, used canned tomatoes instead of fresh (since it was November), and omitted the cilantro (I had run out.)  The avocado I had was softer than was good for cutting, but was still tasty, so I mashed it instead with some lime juice.  I was less than thrilled with the corn tortillas I bought, but other than that this dish came out quite well. 

Scrambled Egg Tacos (serves 4; approx. $2.20/serving)

6 garlic cloves, peeled

3 fresh chiles (I used 2 cayenne and 1 serrano), cut into 3 - 4 pieces each

1 white onion, roughly chopped

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 14-oz can diced tomatoes

8 eggs

1 pinch kosher salt

1 avocado, mashed

12 corn tortillas, warmed

3/4 cup Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

Equipment:

• Food processor
• Skillet or saute pan

1. Start the food processor running.  Drop the garlic and chiles into the food processor one at a time, letting each piece get finely chopped before adding the next.
2. Add the onion, then pulse until the onion is very finely chopped.
3. Heat the oil in the skillet over medium heat. 
4. Add the onion and chile mixture and cook, stirring, until the mixture starts to brown.
5. Raise the heat slightly and add the tomatoes.  Cook until the tomato liquid evaporates, stirring frequently. 
6. Beat the eggs with the salt.  Add to the skillet and cook, stirring, until the eggs are done to your taste. 
7. Scoop into a serving bowl.  Serve with the avocado, salsa and tortillas alongside. 

Recipe: Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

Recipe Source: Bayless, Rick.  Mexican Everyday.  W. W. Norton & Company, New York, 2005 pp. 154 - 5

New England can be a funny place to be a gardener.  I'll assume that proper farmers have been doing it for generations, or at least decades, and often have degrees in the subject, but for those of us whose experience is limited to the backyard it's sometimes a very confusing place to be.  Last year we got no produce at all, except for two tomatoes and one hot pepper.  On the same plot of land this year we had bumper crops of everything except cucumbers.  We had a sudden frost that necessitated quick harvesting of everything outside, and then the weather got warm.  Suddenly, we found ourselves with a bumper crop of tomatillos. 

Now, this sudden crop of tomatillos was surprising for two reasons.  First, it showed up in mid to late November.  We don't expect to get anythingin November except goose droppings.  Second, it's not like tomatillos are a native New England crop.  We planted them more as an experiment - hey, we like these, let's give it a shot and see what we get.  I guess that there are other things that we ourselves grow, like tomatoes and hot chile peppers, that are native to more hospitable climates, but those have been bred for generations to tolerate our weather here.  Tomatillos only got to be trendy relatively recently, at least around here.  Why are we suddenly overrun with them?

Not that I'm complaining.  I love tomatillos and I love having fresh produce that I don't have to fight my way through crowds of self-entitled suburban housewives to get to.  And it's especially satisfying to have such a thing when you didn't expect to get anything at all - kind of like Christmas a month early, really.  To use them, I decided to make a Rick Bayless dish that called for a roasted tomatillo salsa.  Now, I could have bought a salsa verde in a jar, and I'm quite fond of the Frontera brand for that sort of thing.  But salsa from a jar cost something like $4.39 or something like that the last time I bought it.  You'll note that, since the tomatillos were for free, the cost per ounce was much lower!  I doubled the quantity so that I could use up more of the tomatillos, freezing what was left over. 

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa (makes about 24 ounces; approx. $0.12/ounce)

16 ounces tomatillos, husked, rinsed and halved (this is about 8 tomatillos)

6 garlic cloves, peeled

4 chili peppers (I had chiles we grew ourselves, but they were unlabeled.  I think there were two serrano and one cayenne.)

2/3 cup roughly chopped cilantro

1 white onion, finely chopped

Kosher salt to taste

Equipment:

• Blender
• Saute pan

1. Put the tomatillos and the garlic into your saute pan, cut side down. 
2. Brown over medium-high heat until the tomatillos are well browned, then turn over and brown the other side.  The tomatillos should be quite soft, and you'll be surprised at how much they shrink.  At least, I was surprised by how much they shrank.
3. Pour the tomatillos, garlic and accumulated juices into the blender.  Add the chiles, cilantro and 1/4 cup water.
4. Process to a puree. 
5. Add the onions to the salsa, pour into a serving bowl and serve.