The Adventurous Eater

Classic Apple Tart

Just a picture for now. This was a weekend of breaking in my tart pan. I made a pumpkin chocolate tart on Friday for a dinner party (delicious) and this apple tart for another friend's housewarming party yesterday.

Updated with the recipe:

CLASSIC APPLE TART (recipe from French Culinary Institute's Essentials of Pastry Handbook)

Pate Sucree  -- Sweet Tart Dough

Ingredients (for three 8 or 9" tarts; approx. 1000 grams)

125 grams powdered sugar

250 grams butter

3 eggs

500 grams cake flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1. In the mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream the powdered sugar and butter until light and fluffy.

2. Add the eggs, one at a time, making sure the mixture is homogeneous after each addition and before adding another egg.

3. Add the cake flour and baking powder all at once.

4. Mix slowly just to combine.

5. Wrap the dough in a disc shape and refrigerate until firm.

Special Instructions:

• If all the ingredients are at room temperature, the mixing will go faster.
• If the eggs are added too quickly or are too cold, the mixture will separate. If this occurs, continue mixing. If the mixture does not become homogeneous after a long mixing time, add a small amount of the flour to bring it back together, and continue the recipe as directed.
• Once the flour has been added, mix as little as possible to avoid developing the gluten.
• This dough may be used for tart shells as well as for cookies.
• Pate sucree can be refrigerated for up to one week and freezes well.
• The scraps of rolled dough may be used a second time, but will be slightly tougher.

Compote de pommes -- Apple Compote

Ingredients (for two 9-inch tarts)

750 grams peeled, halved, cored apples

125 grams granulated sugar

1 vanilla bean, split and scraped

Juice of 1/2 lemon

100 milliliters water

1. Peel, halve and core the apples before weighing them out.

2. Cut the apples into 1/4 inch cubes, keeping the pieces equal in size so that they cook evenly.

3. Place the apples, sugar, vanilla bean, lemon juice, and water into a saucepan. Cover, place over low heat, and cook, stirring occasionally.

4. The compote is finished when the apples are translucent and the water has evaporated.

Special Instructions:

• If the water evaporates before the apples are cooked, add more water or the mixture will caramelize and burn.
• If the apples are cooked before the water has evaporated, remove the lid and stir the compote gently over high heat to evaporate water.
• Spread the compote out on a sheet pan to cool and to stop the cooking. Cover with plastic wrap.

Tarte aux pommes classique -- Classic Apple Tart

240 grams tart dough

425 grams apple compote (half recipe)

2 to 3 apples

Apricot nappage

Preheat over to 350 F.

1. Roll out the dough into a circle approximately 10 inches in diameter and 1/8 inch thick.

2. Line a tart pan or flan ring with the dough and chill the shell.

3. Fill the chilled shell three-quarters fill with the apple compote.

4. Peel, halve, and core the apples.

5. Cut the halved apples across the core in 1/8 inch thick slices.

6. Arrange the halved apple slices around the tart shell, starting from the outside, overlapping the core, and keeping the slices very close together.

7. Fill the void in the center of the tart with scraps of apple before arranging apple slices in the center.

8. Bake the tart at 350 F for 1 hour (on a sheet pan), or until the crust is brown and the apple slices on top are caramelized and tender.

9. Once you remove it from the oven, brush with a lightly coating of apricot nappage/melted apricot jam.

Special Instructions:

• The classic French tarte aux pommes is different from the traditional American apple pie in several ways. Tarts have no pastry covering on top and are cooked in straight-sided tart rings or molds. Pies, on the other hand, are usually covered and baked in pie plates with sloping sides -- in France these are called tourtes.
• It is important to cut the apple slices thinly and evenly.
• The tart may be kept refrigerated for one or two days if brushed with melted butter before baking and storing.
• For additional sweetness and flavor, sprinkle the tart with sugar or vanilla sugar before baking.

Evaluating the final product:

• Once baked, the apples will be well browned and tender.
• The nappage should thinly but completely cover the apples.
• It is important to bake the tart thoroughly, or the crust will not be done in the center.
• The crust should have an even edge.

Super Chocolate Mousse

It's probably obvious, but I haven't been cooking much lately. Work has been so busy and trying to go to the gym more regularly has me eating at odd hours and missing closing time at the grocery store. Fall also signals the time when friends come back in from their beach homes and weekends away and there is more time to spend together just enjoying a meal here and there. And let's face it, sometimes it's just easier (when you are tired and pulled in many directions) not to cook.

I was "pleasantly forced" into some pastry goodness this weekend, however.  Jedd asked that I make chocolate mousse to bring to the 4th anniversary of Sugar High Social Club, aka "treats club", his monthly outing with friends and lovers of all things sweet.

This isn't just any chocolate mousse. This is a chocolate mousse recipe from my time at the French Culinary Institute. SO GOOD. (And so easy. Don't tell anyone.) It made for one of many amazing Halloween treats last night.

Mousse au chocolat

Chocolate MousseIngredients (for 10 servings):

1 egg

9 egg yolks

210 grams granulated sugar

500 grams chocolate, semisweet or bittersweet

750 milliliters heavy cream

Liqueur or other flavoring (I used Grand Marnier)

Procedure:

1. Using a tabletop mixer fitted with the wire whisk, whip the egg and egg yolks until light in color and tripled in volume.

2. Melt the chocolate in a clean, dry bowl over simmering water (bain-marie), or in a plastic container in the microwave. When the chocolate is about half melted, remove it from the heat and stir to finish the melting process. This will make the chocolate liquid but not too hot.

3. In a small saucepot, combine the sugar with enough water to completely cover the crystals. Do not worry about adding too much water since the only consequence will be a longer cooking time.

4. Cook the sugar on high heat to the soft-ball stage (250 F). Clean the sides of the saucepan with cold water and a pastry brush, washing down any crystals of sugar to prevent crystallization. Do not stir the cooking sugar or it may crystallize.

5. When the sugar has reached the correct temperature, turn the whipping yolks to low speed and pour the hot sugar over the whipping yolks. Speed up whip slightly and whip until warm to make a pate a bombe. Allow the pate a bombe to continue whipping until it has warmed to slightly above body temperature.

6. (Ensure chocolate is in a large mixing bowl. I prefer stainless steel.) Remove the pate a bombe from the mixer, pour over the chocolate, and fold into the pate a bombe.

7. Whip the heavy cream to soft peak.

8. Fold the whipped cream into the chocolate mixture carefully -- try not to deflate the mixture.

Final mousse should be light, airy, and very chocolatey. You can cut back the chocolate to 450 grams and still be plenty chocolatey.

Some baker's notes from the FCI:

- when whipping the egg yolks, dont worry about overwhipping them

- when adding the soft-ball sugar to the egg yolks, carefully pour it down the inside edge of the bowl with the whipping egg mixture. try to avoid pouring the sugar onto the whip, which can cause it to spatter (very dangerous!)

- the mousse can be flavored by adding a small amount of fruit brandy or liqueur to the pate a bombe mixture- the chocolate mousse can be piped into glasses, chocolate cups, or used as a cake filling

- if the mousse is to be kept in a container for later use, it will lose volume and become denser

- the mousse will keep in the refrigerator for four or five days and may be frozen indefinitely

Northern Girl, Southern Wedding

If you want to follow along with some of our wedding planning fun, hop over to my new wedding blog Northern Girl, Southern Wedding. It will be my virtual scrapbook of ideas as things evolve (as I know they will!) over the next 18 months til the big day. No final secrets will be given away, but maybe a few tips and fun finds in the world of everything wedding. And even some non-wedding fun, too.

Pennsylvania Gobs: An Alternative to Wedding Cake

Instead of a traditional wedding cake we've toyed with the idea of sharing a favorite childhood dessert of Jedd's - the gob. I, too, have grown to love the gob. On a recent drive back from western PA with a stash of frozen gobs from his grandmother (and as we each took a bite) it occurred to me that this would be a great way to share something personally meaningful at our reception. Especially if we could get a recipe similar to his grandmothers.

Jedd's mom has a bunch of cookbooks from the area and sent me a couple of options to try. I have to say (and so does Jedd) that this one comes pretty close:

GOBS

1/2 cup cocoa

1 cup boiling water

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup shortening

2 eggs

4 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup sour milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix cocoa and boiling water together and set aside to cool. Cream together sugar and shortening. Add eggs. Next add chocolate mixture. Sift together dry ingredients and add alternately with sour milk. Mix well. Finally, add vanilla. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 400 degrees for 5-8 minutes. Yield 34 gobs.

Baking note: I used whole milk instead of sour milk.

FILLING FOR GOBS

6 tablespoons flour

1 and 1/2 cups milk

1 and 1/2 cups vegetable shortening

1 and 1/2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Yellow food coloring (I omitted)

Mix flour and milk in a sauce pan. Cook over medium heat until thick. Set aside and let cool. Cream sugar and shortening together. Beat until fluffy at high speed. Add flour and milk mixture and again beat at high speed until fluffy. Add vanilla and beat on low speed for about 5 minutes. You may add yellow food coloring, if desired. (or any color you want!)Any additional filling may be kept in the refrigerator to be used as cake filling or icing.

Colorful Yellow Cauliflower & Bean Salad

I made this saute (uncooked image above) as a side to scrambled eggs for brunch over the weekend. The vegetable medley includes vibrant yellow cauli-florets, sliced radishes, peas, lima beans, chick peas, fresh corn from the cob, and a couple of cloves of smashed garlic. I sauteed in a little canola oil and unsalted butter. It is seasoned with salt, pepper, and a creole spice mix for a kick.

It keeps for a couple of days and works well as a veggie lunch option. 

The Glorious Macaron Gerbet

There are macaroons. And then, there are macarons.

I first discovered the macaron gerbet (fortunately) while I was learning how to make them in pastry class at the French Culinary Institute here in NYC. While I didn't make the ones shown here (all credit to Madeleine Patisserie in Chelsea) it makes me feel a little better know that I could. If I wanted to. If I had time, space, and focused attention to make such a lovely and colorful range. And the discipline not to each (by myself) the hundreds of individual bite-size morsels that this many distinct flavor batches would produce.

Wedding Cake

We went to our friends' wedding this weekend in North Carolina and I just loved the natural beauty and vibrant colors of their spiced wedding cake. Delicious!

Mediterranean-ish: Honey-Soy Chicken Breasts with Cabbage & Mint Salad

I've been in an interesting place with food lately. Well, more interesting for me versus nights of thoughtless cooking due to lack of proper planning (or truly just being too tired to process after getting home from work). My angle lately has been Middle Eastern and Mediterranean-ish. Not fully, but the "essence of". Rustic and homey. Tasty. Using some of the oft-forgetten spices in my cabinet for good things.

This morning I went in, finally, in person,...for jury duty. (Hold on, I bring it back to the food in a minute). I've been putting it off for months upon months. I've been getting called since last fall and today was my 5th postponement. You could say they aren't happy with me right now. But I'll be doing my time in December on the grand jury. (That's kind of beside the point though.) The point is, while I was down there, (of course) my main fear was not knowing the City Hall area so well and not knowing a good, quick, delicious place to eat lunch. My friend Barbara mentioned a place nearby that served an amazing shredded chicken salad with crunchy greens like mint, cilantro, basil, cabbage, cucumber, carrots, shallots, etc. Oh. How I wanted to eat that salad. I was dismissed early and didn't get to try it, but how could I NOT think about that taste for the rest of the day?

While I wasn't going to replicate it in full, I was a little inspired to play with chicken and cabbage and mint tonight for dinner. But I went a different direction and instead of Asian-ish, went somewhere else. With cumin and cayenne and honey and soy on the chicken, and apple cider vinegar and salt on the cabbage with mint. And garlic all around. I love how the flavor combinations from one region of the world can be so completely but also deliciously combined together in the spirit of somewhere else.

Sauteed Chicken with Honey-Soy Glaze (Serves 2)

Marinate 2 lean boneless, skinless chicken breasts for 30 minutes to 2 hours in a whisked combination of:

1/2 cup premium soy sauce

2 TBSP honey

1.5 TBSP lemon juice

2 TBSP oil (canola or olive)

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne

1 teaspoon garlic powder (or 1 minced garlic clove)

Cabbage & Mint Slaw (Serves 4)

In large mixing bowl combine:

1/2 head of green cabbage cut along the grain (1/4 inch strips)

1/4 cup of mint leaves rolled and cut across the grain (chiffonade)

2 garlic cloves, minced

In a separate bowl whisk together 1/4 cup olive oil and 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar, pinch of salt. Mix into cabbage and mint (I just used my hands, its easier). It may need another pinch of salt right before serving.

Turkey Heaven

A tribute to the turkey burger. A burger that often gets a bad rap for its dryness and endearing taste of cardboard. The thing is, it doesn't taste like that if you season it up a bit. I even added some quinoa to mine for added oomph. There are no rules.

These are made from 1 lb of ground lean turkey, herbs, 1/2 yellow onion (small dice), 1/2 cup cooked white quinoa, a little olive oil, salt & pepper. Saute in a pan for a few minutes on each side until cooked through with nice "caramelization" on each side. Squeeze a bit of lemon juice over top. I paired these with a side of sauteed mixed veggies - lime beans, sweet corn, baby peas and sliced celery.

Parsley & Radishes, Barley & Mushrooms

When I was much younger, in the single-digit years, I remember moving to Erie and spending as much time as we wanted with our grandparents there. It was a luxury I didn't know until I was 8 years old. As kids this meant a little bit of time "visiting" but also a little bit of time playing in the back under the pear trees and weeping willow and walking on tip-toes around the front yard light-post patch filled with fresh flowers....and parsley. I distinctly remember the parsley ("don't step on it!" and "bring me a sprig, would'ya?")

There were a lot of taste and smell memories of that old house

and I come across them in unexpected places now and then. Today, as I rinsed a few sprigs of parsley and chopped up the leaves, the hearty aroma broke free and reminded me of the days in the yard and grandpa.

The meal I made reminded me a little of him as well. Not literally but the essence of it. A simple salad with finds from the fridge and barley with sauteed mushrooms and herbs. The only thing missing -- a few slices of beloved salami.

Simple Salad

On a Benriner mandoline julienne 3-4 medium radishes and a few stalks of celery. Add 1/2 cup rinsed garbanzo beans. Add a splash of olive oil and balsamic vinegar and toss, add a pinch of salt and pepper and toss. Add a squeeze of lemon juice if you want.

Barley & Mushrooms

Boil a 1/2 cup of barley in 2-3 cups lightly salted water. In a small teflon pan saute a handful of sliced mushrooms, season with a healthy sprinkle of herbs (dried dill, shallots, parsley, chives, salt and pepper.) Barley will take about 25-30 minutes. Drain and combine with mushrooms and a 1/4 cup of chicken broth in a heated pan; stir.