TWD - Quick Classic Berry Tart

I'm back from vacay.  You're thrilled, right?  Thought so.  I always have a fabulous time on vacation, but am always happy to get home, too.  Except for the unpacking part.  Hate that part.  It leads to the laundry part.  Which I try to avoid.  Hence, the unpacked bag still sitting in my bedroom right now.  Hopefully, I'll tackle that by the weekend.

I did find time to get this week's TWD selection made, however.  I've been eyeing this tart in Dorie's books for a long time.  I love fruit tarts and this one is deeeeelish!  Although, I think this crust could make feet taste good.  So flaky and almost impossible to screw up.  Even for me.

Although Dorie recommends eating this the same day it's made, someone in the P&Q section recommended lightly brushing the baked crust with melted white chocolate if you wanted to assemble the tarte a little in advance.  And while I thought this wouldn't last long here, that just sounded like a great idea.  White chocolate on anything sounds like a great idea, right?  It was.  I also added a half teaspoon almond extract to the pastry cream, because that sounded like a great idea too.

Thanks to Cristine of Cooking with Cristine for hosting this week.  Loved the pick.  Check out her site for the recipe.

TWD - Toasted Coconut Custard Tart

People have strong opinions about coconut.

Most of the people I offered this tart to last week felt the same about coconut as they did about Jake picking Vienna-Sausage. Eeek! (Who thinks that one's gonna last? Anyone?)

I was floored because I looooove coconut and so does Mr. B........L.O.V.E.S. it. So, needless to say, he wasn't disappointed in the least when I couldn't give any of this away! He said he'd man-up and eat the whole thing so I didn't feel bad.

What a guy!

And thank goodness, because if he didn't eat it all I probably would have. This was simply amazing. Thanks to Beryl of Cinemongirl for this week's selection. You must check her site, get the recipe and make this yourself.

Black Bean Tart with Chile Crust

We love Mexican food here at Casa Buker so when I saw this recipe while going through old Gourmet magazines, I figured it would be a hit. Especially the crust. When I read the ingredients for the crust, I was sold.

I was right. The filling was everything I thought it would be.....cheesy and crunchy and beany.....but the spices in the crust really pulled it all together.

Topped with a little Lime Sour Cream and you've got yourself a great brunch tart.

Try this one.

Black Bean Tart with Chili Crust

Gourmet, January, 1996

Crust:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon paprika (I substituted Hot Pimenton)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 stick (1/2 cup) chilled unsalted butter, cut into bits

2 tablespoons ice water (I needed a little more than three tablespoons in order to get a workable dough)

Filling:

1/2 pound dried black beans, picked over, or 3 cups canned black beans, rinsed and drained (I used canned)

1 bay leaf

1 medium onion, chopped

2 tablespoons sour cream

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

a 10 oz package frozen corn, thawed

1 red bell pepper, chopped (about 1 cup)

1/2 cup fresh cilantro sprigs, chopped

1 1/2 cups coarsely grated Monterey Jack (about 6 ounces)

2 fresh jalapeno chilies, seeded and chopped fine

1/2 cup chopped scallions (about 2)

Preheat oven to 350 F

Make crust:

In a bowl with a pastry blender or in a food processor (duh...I used the food processor!) blend or pulse together flour, spices, and salt until combined well. Add butter and blend or pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add ice water and blend or pulse until incorporated and mixture forms a dough.

Press dough evenly onto bottom and sides of a 10-inch tart pan (I buttered mine) with a removable, fluted rim and chill 15 minutes or until firm. Line shell with foil and fill with rice (or pie weights). Bake shell in middle of oven until edge is set, 8 to 10 minutes. Carefully remove foil and rice and bake crust 10 minutes more, or until golden. Cool crust in pan on a rack. Crust may be made 1 day ahead and kept at room temperature, covered loosely with plastic wrap.

Make filling:

In a bowl soak dried beans, if using, in water to cover by 2 inches overnight or quick-soak and drain. In a large saucepan combine soaked beans, bay leaf, onion, and water to cover by 2 inches and simmer, uncovered, 1 to 1 1/4 hours, or until tender, adding more water if necessary. Drain beans, discarding bay leaf and cool. (I skipped that step since I used canned beans. Me = lazy!!)

In a food processor puree 1 cup cooked or canned beans with sour cream until smooth and season with salt and pepper.

In a skillet heat oil over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking and saute corn with salt and pepper to taste, stirring, about 2 minutes. Cool corn.

In a large bowl stir together corn, whole beans, bell pepper, coriander, Monterey Jack, jalapenos, and scallions and season with salt and pepper

Spread bean puree evenly onto crust and mound with remaining filling, pressing gently. Bake tart in middle of oven about 20 minutes, or until hot and cheese is melted. Let tart cool in pan on a rack 15 minutes.

Remove rim of pan and serve tart warm or at room temperature with lime sour cream. Serves 6-8.

Lime Sour Cream

1 cup sour cream

2 teaspoons fresh lime juice, or to taste (I used juice of one lime)

In a bowl whisk sour cream and lime juice with salt and pepper to taste. Sauce may be made 1 day ahead and chilled covered.

Fig, Hazelnut and Pecorino Crostada

I'm not sure where I read about it, but I came across a fabulous recipe resource this week in the form of food52. food52 is a collaboration between Amanda Hesser, a long-time food writer for the New York Times and Merrill Stubbs (I think that's her last name??), also a food writer and chef. After several months of working together on a cookbook for the Times, the came to realize that the best recipes come from US....the home cook!

So they have put together food52 where every week (currently in week 17) they offer up a couple of themes and invite home cooks around the internet to submit their best recipes involving that theme or ingredient. If you're a member of the site (it's free) you get to vote. At the end of 52 weeks (get it....food52??) they will have a complete cookbook that will be published by HarperStudio. Genius, right?

So that's where I found this recipe for last night's dinner party appetizer....Fig, Hazelnut and Pecorino Crostada. This week's theme was "your best recipe using figs". I love figs, so that immediately caught my eye, but when I read that the crust had rosemary in it, I knew I'd be making this.

The dough came together easily in the food processor and with the addition of the rosemary it smelled delish. I made mine the day before and refrigerated it overnight, but it can also me made the same day as long as you chill it for at least an hour.

The fig jam is made by stewing dried figs in a rosemary-infused simple syrup for 10 minutes and then adding it to the hazelnuts in the food processor and grinding into a jam-like consistency. That can also be made ahead if needed.

Slice a granny smith apple on top.

Fold the pastry over the edges and brush with an egg wash. I made mine a few hours early and stored in the fridge until I was ready to bake it.

Bake it for 50 minutes, sprinkle on the cheese and finish baking until the cheese is melted. I confess that I didn't have Pecorino and substituted grated Parmesan instead, but it was still amazing.

This is a perfect mix of sweet and savory and could easily be served as an appetizer, with a cup of coffee for breakfast or afternoon break, or with a little ice cream for dessert. Amazingly versatile.

I highly recommend trying this one out and also bookmarking food52 and making it one of your weekly websites!

Here's the recipe:


Pie Crust:

1 1/4 cup All Purpose Flour + more for rolling
1 teaspoon Sugar
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Rosemary (chopped)
1/2 cup Butter (Unsalted) - Very cold and cut into pieces
2 to 4 tablespoons Ice Water
1 egg mixed with 1 teaspoon water (egg wash)

Filling:

3/4 cups Water
3/8 cups Sugar
1 sprig Rosemary
16 Dried Figs, Halved
3 tablespoons Brandy
1 Lemon
3/8 cups toasted hazelnuts
1 Granny Smith Apple, cored and sliced
Approx. 2 ounces grated Pecorino Romano

Make the Dough: In a food processor, pulse flour, sugar, salt, and rosemary to combine. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal with a few pea-sized pieces of butter remaining. Sprinkle with 2 TB ice water; pulse until crumbly but holds together when squeezed (it won't look like it will hold together until you squeeze it). If necessary, gradually add up to 2 TB more water). Don't over mix. Flatten into disk and wrap tightly in plastic. Refrigerate until firm, at least one hour and up to 3 days.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, add the water, sugar, and sprig of rosemary. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer until sugar dissolved.

Add the figs and brandy to the simple syrup. Bring to boil and simmer for 3 minutes. Turn off the heat and let sit for 10 minutes.

Remove the rosemary sprig and discard. Remove 2TB of the syrup from the pot into a small bowl and add the juice from 1/2 of the lemon. Set aside.

Pour the remaining syrup/fig mixture into the food processor. Add the hazelnuts and the juice from the remaining half of the lemon. Blend, pulsing a few times, until a coarse puree. Set aside.

Roll dough into a round (or whatever shape it ends up in - this is rustic dish). Place on baking sheet (or silpat on baking sheet).

Spread the fig/hazelnut mixture on the crust leaving a 1.5-2 inch border. You may have some jam left depending on how big your dough round ended up. Feel free to eat directly from the bowl or save for your morning toast. It holds up well.

Toss the sliced apples with the reserved simple syrup/lemon juice mixture. Layer the apples over the fig/hazelnut mixture.

Fold the dough border over the edge of the filling, pleating if you are so inclined. Brush the crust with the egg wash.

Bake in a 350 degree over for about 50 minutes. Remove from the oven, sprinkle the pecorino evenly over the apples (again the amount of cheese may vary depending on how big the dough round ended up). Return to the oven for about 10 minutes until the crust is golden and the cheese is melted.

Cut and enjoy.