To help rally in spring, I made these little gems the other week. It was a small treat to remind us of the warmer days to come. Since getting used to Portland weather, I had forgotten how spring acts here on the east coast. It’s a bit like a finicky child with a precious, cherub face; cold, crabby, and rainy one day only to be greeted by a warm, sunny, smiling day the next. It goes on like this for about a month and at at least here in DC, the heat always comes faster than anyone expects. In Portland, spring was never ending, leaving people to wonder if summer was only a figment of their imagination. But in each case, tasting as much of the spring season in food is a surefire way to either keep hope alive for warmer days or, revel in them.
Easy Strawberry Tartelettes
Wash and prep the strawberries; toss with vanilla and brown sugar until well coated. Place in the prepared pie dough tartlette pans, with their points or ends sticking up. If you need to halve a few to make them all fit, go for it. Drizzle the remaining brown sugar/vanilla onto each tartlette. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 30-40 minutes. Eat warm or cool on their own or topped with a scoop of fresh whipped cream, crème fraiche, or vanilla ice cream.
WARNING: You’ll be able to smell them when they’re nearing done, possibly giving you early and/or intense spring fever. Be prepared to devour.
Apples are in full effect. Everywhere I look it’s apples, apples, and more apples. Not that I’m complaining or anything–quite the contrary. I love apples, especially Honeycrisp. Biting into one of those bad boys and hearing that satisfying crunch, feeling their sweet juices spray out the sides, maybe even dribble down your chin, it is one of the best things about autumn. Sometimes I get overzealous at the market and buy one too many apples. Last week, however, this was not the case. I had to make an Apple Kuchen and an Apple Pie for a photoshoot, so I ended up having quite a few apples and some flaky pie crust dough left over. And there is only one thing that you can do with left over apples and pie dough–another pie? no (I need a little variety)–tartlettes.
This is no simple slice-up-some-apples-and-lay-them-in-a-pretty-circle tart. There is a fantastic layer of something akin to fresh apple sauce underneath that ring of sliced apples. It’s delicious. While there are a few steps involved (true to anything related to Julia Child of which the recipe was inspired by), it’s not as hard as you may think. Personally, I really enjoy the “stacking functionality” of working in the kitchen and how everything can be timed to work right into the next task. It’s so satisfying! And these tartelettes were a testament to that in the best kind of way. First, you deal with the dough then bake it. Second, you slice up the apples and toss them in a mixture. Third, remove crusts from oven and put in those apple slices. Fourth, slice the rest of the apples for the tops of the tarts, toss with brown sugar and lemon. Fifth, take out the apples from the oven, mash them up into a nice, chunky sauce. Sixth, scoop into baked crusts, arrange apple slices on top, sprinkle with sugar. And finally, bake. Of course this is an abbreviated version of which I’ll disclose the entire recipe for you below, but it’s that step by step process that gets me every time. I think I revel in it because so many other aspects to life are so unpredictable and full of unknowns. It’s comforting to know that by following a good recipe, it will come out exactley as expected (as long of course all the other variables are in place, but I could theorize about this forever).
The tartelette and it’s recipe are seducing for so many reasons–and they certainly got me in the best kind of way. They became a sort of temporary respite, giving me time to pause, taste, and think. As well as make something beautiful and immediate–because sometimes creating beauty and a finished product is so necessary, especially when I’ve been focusing on the everyday minutia (boring!) instead of the bigger, more grand picture of life. The tartelette did an amazing job of merging the two, breaking up the daily routine and giving me time to look beyond. Isn’t food amazing?
French Apple Tartelettes adapted from Julia Child’s, Baking With Julia
Apple Compote 4 Granny Smith apples 1/3 cup brown sugar 3 teaspoons all purpose flour pinch of cinnamon (just a little) 1/4 cup fresh, fluffy bread crumbs (I used some from the Honey Oat Bread and it was good) 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out for the individual tartelettes, about 1/8 inch thick. Run your rolling pin across the top to sheer off any excess dough, then peel it gently off. If you need too (and Julia highly recommends) chill the dough in the pans for another 30 mins. My dough was very cold already, so I skipped this part. However if you just made the dough and didn’t have it resting in your fridge or freezer, I would also recommend chilling the dough in the pans for 30 mins. This gives the gluten in the flour a chance to calm down after it’s been handled so much. In turn, you’ll have a flakier, even more divine crust.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Fill each tartelette with parchment paper and dried beans, rice, or pie weights. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the dough turns golden brown. Upon removing from the oven, let cool for about a half hour. Lower the temperature of the oven to 375 degrees F.
While the dough is baking, make the apple compote filling. Peel and core the apples, cut each one in half, and cut each half into 12 pieces. Put the apples into a bowl and toss with the sugar, flour, cinnamon, and bread crumbs. Add a squeeze of lemon juice. Spread the apples on a jelly roll pan and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the apples give up their juices, start to form a sauce, and are soft enough to mash, Scrape the apples into a bowl and mash with a potato masher, fork, or immersion blender. Keep a few small lumps and bumps for texture. Taste and add more lemon juice if needed. Let it cool for about 15 more minutes. Meanwhile, peel, core, and slice a few more apples (about 3, depending how big they are) for the top slices.
Spoon the apple compote into the individual tart pans. Toss the top apple slices with a big squeeze of fresh lemon juice, 1 tablespoon unsalted butter melted, and 1 tablespoon brown sugar. Arrange the slices on top of the apple compote, dot with butter and sprinkle with white granulated sugar. Bake for 25-30 minutes at 375 degrees F.
This tart is at its prime ever so slightly warm or at room temperature. You can cover any leftover tartelettes with plastic wrap and refrigerate it, but don’t expect them to retain their just-baked grace. I personally put the left overs into a large tupperware and it lives on my counter. I didn’t want to take the chances of chilling them and then eating a sad replica of the crisp, warm goodness it originally was.
Bon Appetit!
Food is so inspiring. Especially during these months of abundance, when gardens and orchards seem to be overflowing with their bounty. When I saw all the different varieties of plums at the market last week, I couldn’t help myself. I bought one of each color (or each variety). They ranged in the most beautiful jewel tones I have ever seen. From amethyst to ruby, black opal to peridot, the vibrancy and deep richness of these colors were seducing. At home, I was even more happy when I put them all on a plate together. They happily stared back at me in their vibrant coats, slightly glistening in the morning light. I left them there for a few days, just enjoying their beautiful colors in my kitchen, until I realized that they needed to be eaten together. As one. In a tart.
For this tart, I used the flaky pie dough recipe from Baking with Julia (Child, that is. Have you seen the DVD of her showing you how to do this? It’s fantastic and utterly Julia. Try renting it from your local library!). She is a big proponent of lard–and I must confess–this does help quite a bit with the texture and overall exceptional quality of the dough. If you do use lard, or some sort of shortening, just make sure it’s non-hydrogenated. But for the fruit filling, I went with my instincts–no real recipe, per say. The colors spoke of their flavor, their tight skins hinting at their juiciness. And although the plums were a little tart (not a bad thing when baking fruit!) I just added a scoop of local raw honey, then a few dribbles of vanilla, tossed it together, and baked.
Margit, one of this year’s pietopia winners, pointed me in the direction of a fantastic book by Nigel Slater called Appetite. In it, he describes a recipe as a living thing, “something allowed to breathe, to change its nature to suit our ingredients, our mood, our desires.” Food can really let us tap into our most inward expressions, things we can sometimes have a hard time connecting with for one reason or another. Slater encourages his readers to take in the spirit of the recipe, and to recognize that our ingredients, feelings, and hunger are not variables that can be subjected to a strict formula and “laid down in tablets of stone.” Break the rules, follow your appetite.
Recipes are wonderful frameworks, places that we can see how others are combining flavors and textures. But they don’t need to be always followed strictly by the book. Even with baking, there is wiggle room for adding or simplifying recipes and tastes. Pie dough, in particular, becomes something that you follow the recipe in the beginning, but then you get to know it with your hands. How the feeling of the butter and the flour should be between your fingers, how a little bit should taste on your tongue. The recipe simply helps get you to that place of certainty with your own hands. Do you ever find yourself stressed out in the kitchen because you missed an ingredient, didn’t follow an instruction to the T, or didn’t stir the dry into the wet all at the same time? Try starting with something simpler in nature. Something that doesn’t take ten pots and twelve bowls to make. Something that speaks to you because you want to taste that specific flavor. And it doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, sometimes the more simple the recipe is, the easier it is to over-under do something, because there are less ingredients. But that’s OK. Take a deep breath and try again. And taste it along the way! You’ll be amazed by your results.
Summer Plum Tart 6-8 summer plums, varying colors and shapes 3 tablespoons fresh honey 1 capful of vanilla extract 1 carton fresh raspberries
Wash, slice, and throw out the pits of the plums. Toss them with the honey, vanilla, and raspberries. Set aside.
Julia’s Flaky Pie Dough 5 1/4 cups pastry flour or all purpose flour 1 tablespoon sea salt 1 1/2 sticks (6 oz) cold unsalted butter 1 3/4 cups shortening (non-hydroginated, Spectrum is a good brand) or lard 1 cup ice water
To make the dough by hand, mix the flour and salt together in a large bowl. Add the butter and, using a pastry blender or your fingers, cut it into the flour until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Be patient–this takes a while. Break up the shortening and add it in bits to the bowl. Still working with the pastry blender or fingers, cut in the shortening until the mixture has small clumps and curds. Switch to a wooden spoon and add the ice water, stirring to incorporate it. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and fold it over on itself a few times–don’t get carried away. The dough will be soft, but it will firm sufficiently in the refrigerator.
To make the dough in a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, put the flour and salt into the bowl and stir to mix. Add the butter and mix on low until it is cut into the dry ingredients and the mixture looks coarse and crumbly. Add the shortening in small bits and continue to mix on low. When the mixture is clumpy and curdy and holds together when a small bit is pressed between your fingers, add the water and mix only until it is incorporated. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and fold it over on itself two or three times, just to finish the mixing and to gather it together. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or as long as five days.
Note: Julia spent so much time on her recipes, perfecting them, each word a necessary step, in order to give people a chance to make food delicious in their own homes. Notice how she wants you to really look at it (clumpy, curdy) and to feel it (press between your fingers) in order to understand what it is your are doing. Give it a try! Getting your hands dirty is not only rewarding, but fun. And you can always wash them when you are done:).
On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a circle about 1/8 inch thick and fit it into a 9-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom. Press a little of the overhang against the edge of the pan so that it produces a small ledge protruding over the inside of the pan. Place partchment paper down in the center then pour in a lot of dried beans until it is very full. This will help keep the sides of the tart on the sides, instead of sliding down to the center. Bake at 375 F for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown. Let cool while you make the filling or check your email.
After slightly cooled, pour the fruit filling into the center, making sure to get all the juice from the bottom of the bowl. Bake at 375 F for about 40-45 minutes, or until the fruit is nice and juicy, maybe even a little crisp on some of the edges. Enjoy!
ps–for some more fun photos of Pietopia this year, check out the Portland Farmer’s Market Flickr link! There are some really good ones 
.
These past few weeks, I’ve sorely missed being in the kitchen. The solace, the flavors, the smells, the space that let’s me be totally present in the here and now. Yesterday, I realized how much of a void I felt for my creative outlet as I came home from another meeting. And it just kind of hit me, too–like a tsunami wave. Yes, it was fierce and hard and it jolted me back to myself. It was a wake up call to bring more balance back into my daily routine. Sometimes, I think it is necessary to inundate oneself in something while learning a new skill or getting something off the ground–those can be seriously all-encompassing procedures that don’t necessarily leave a lot of room for much else. But wouldn’t it be interesting to challenge that notion? What if we were to give ourselves the gift of 10 minutes, 30 minutes, or an hour a day, no matter what the circumstances? I’ll have to get back to you on this one after I try (try being the key word here!) it out.
The tsunami swept me into my kitchen where I decided to make a tart. I got a new tart pan a few months ago, but had not yet had the chance to use it. Now was the perfect time to make use of it! Sometimes when I want to get into the kitchen just for the sake of getting my hands dirty, I will consult others to see if they have any particular cravings: others meaning most often Andrew. Blueberry was easily decided upon (he has a serious affinity for blueberries!). So I got out our frozen blueberries, lots of butter, and set to work. And it felt great!
I used a historic recipe for both the crust and the tart itself from the Dungeness Crabs and Blackberry Cobblers cookbook by Janie Hibler. (I made these cookies from it a while ago, this book is an absolute gem of Pacific Northwest goodness–the abundance of fresh, local, and seasonal recipes are outstanding!). The original recipe was extremely blueberry–a purist type of tart–Andrew’s favorite. The blueberries simply burst in your mouth and the creamy texture of the custard took on the blueberry notes, complimenting the whole fruits. I made it true to the historic recipe–and it was excellent–but of course it got me thinking how I could tweak it a bit next time. I know, I know, why mess with a good thing? Sometimes though, I just can’t help myself from trying/wondering, and then going ahead and doing!
Really old recipes can sometimes overdo the amount of cream, butter, and sugar. This was for several reasons including not letting those perishables go to waste by using them in baked goods and also as a means to show wealth. Don’t get me wrong here, this recipe is good. But I couldn’t help wondering, is it necessary to use so much cream and sugar get the same flavor sensations, textures, and overall mmmmm-factor? Not always. So below I will give you the original recipes with some variations I’ve tried which I think modernize it in a way. They still use all the good butter, cream, and sugar, but maybe varying amounts or different types.
Favorite Tart Pastry, by Janie Hibler
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 egg
1 tablespoon heavy cream
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream the flour and butter (you can use a food processor or your stand mixer for this). Add the egg, cream, lemon juice, sugar, and salt and mix well. Place the dough on a floured surface and roll out to 1/8 inch thick. Carefully fold the dough over the rolling pin and transfer to the tart pan. Push the dough into the corners with your fingers. Trim off the excess dough by running the rolling in over the top of the tart pan. Prick the bottom and sides of the pastry with a fork and bake it for 8-10 minutes.
*variation: I would add a little more lemon juice, squeeze a whole half lemon in there.
Blueberry Cream Tart
The original recipe also called for Blackberries, but I thought blueberries would be just as good–and they were!
Make Favorite Tart Pastry
2 1/2 cups blueberries
1 cup heavy cream
1 beaten egg
1 cup sugar
Preheat oven to 350 F. Sprinkle the blueberries over the prepared crust and set aside. Blend the cream, egg, and sugar together. Pour over the berries. Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes.
*variations: Try using brown sugar, and only about 3/4 cup–maybe even a half cup.
*If you use more sugar, squeeze some of that left over lemon juice over the berries before you pour the cream mixture on top, this will give it a good balance so the sugar doesn’t feel like it is just sitting on your teeth!
*Sprinkle a little cloves or cinnamon into the cream mixture–these spices are nice in the fall or winter with your frozen berries–and compliment the berry flavor wonderfully.
*You could probably do with 3/4 cup cream, although I haven’t tried this. It would just make it more custardy and less cream-like–it would be a texture preference for you.
Cheers!
(You can still see the steam coming off this piece fresh from the oven:)
