Archive | November, 2010

Apple Tart

8 Nov

Damn you Ina.  Why do make everything look so easy?  On TV, Ina makes this in, like, less than 5 mins of air time.  Not quite as easy or beautiful as it looked on TV- but still totally doable.  And it doesn’t require a tart pan.  You need to refrigerate dough at least an hour- I left mine overnight.  She warns that it might look like it is burning- but it is really just the sugar burning- and dripping off the pan (put tinfoil underneath or something if u don’t want it to get on your oven- or a rimmed baking sheet perhaps).  Anyway, of course I was still panicking that it was burning so took it out 9 mins early- and it was fine- when i tasted it- it really did just take like burnt sugar, which is delicious- not burnt pastry. I also served w. vanilla ice cream- so good.

A Barefoot Contessa Recipe

Pastry
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon sugar
12 tablespoons (11/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, diced
1/2 cup ice water

Apples
4 Granny Smith apples
1/2 cup sugar
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) cold unsalted butter, small diced
1/2 cup apricot jelly or warm sieved apricot jam [i didn’t bother to sieve- just don’t take brush on the chunks]
2 tablespoons Calvados, rum, or water [i used rum]

For the pastry, place the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Pulse for a few seconds to combine. Add the butter and pulse 10 to 12 times, until the butter is in small bits the size of peas. With the motor running, pour the ice water down the feed tube and pulse just until the dough starts to come together. Dump onto a floured board and knead quickly into a ball. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

Roll the dough slightly larger than 10 by 14-inches. Using a ruler and a small knife, trim the edges- making a neat rectangle. Put the dough on the prepared pan and refrigerate while you prepare the apples.

Peel the apples and cut them in half through the stem. Remove the stems and cores with a sharp knife and a melon baler [I used one of those apple core-ers, you want to core nicely so slices are pretty]. Slice the apples crosswise in 1/4-inch thick slices. Place overlapping slices of apples diagonally down the middle of the tart and continue making diagonal rows on both sides of the first row until the pastry is covered with apple slices [for some reason, I had trouble w. this so made straight lines].  Sprinkle with the full 1/2 cup of sugar and dot with the butter.

Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until the pastry is browned and the edges of the apples start to brown. Rotate the pan once during cooking. If the pastry puffs up in one area, cut a little slit with a knife to let the air out. “Don’t worry! The apple juices will burn in the pan but the tart will be fine!” When the tart’s done, heat the apricot jelly together with the Calvados/rum and brush the apples and the pastry completely with the jelly mixture. Loosen the tart with a metal spatula so it doesn’t stick to the paper. Allow to cool and serve warm or at room temperature.

Cheddar Biscuits & a California Scramble

5 Nov

Some days you are just off your A-game- and screw up every recipe.  And sometimes those days coincide w. inviting your friends (Charlotte & Phil) over for brunch.   Last time I made these biscuits- they were gorgeous- looked exactly like Ina’s.  This time- not as much- I had apples baking on the upper rack so I put these on the lower and ended up burning the bottom- even my parchment paper burned.  So I’d recommend the middle rack.  The apples, which for some un-caffeinated reason, I thought would be fine cooking about 100 degrees over suggested temperature- became applesauce. Interesting mistake w. the scramble.  So, by logic that at omelette stations you see them throwing in the ham before the eggs, I thought I’d do this w. my sausage- sauteing them in the pan before adding eggs.  But for reasons I don’t understand- maybe someone can explain?- this seemed to shift the properties of the eggs- rendering them an entirely different texture.  So the next time- and for the photo- I had to try it again- frying sausage in a separate pan- and adding in once eggs had started to cook.  Scrambles, it should be mentioned, are my favorite brunch item– I love that they have everywhere in SF– and I don’t understand why more NY places don’t have it.  I don’t want an omelette, I want a scramble- and yes, they taste totally different.

Cheddar Biscuits. A Barefoot Contessa recipe.

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, diced
1/2 cup cold buttermilk, shaken
1 cold extra-large egg
1 cup grated extra-sharp Cheddar
1 egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon water or milk
Maldon sea salt, optional

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Place 2 cups of flour, the baking powder, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (I used a food processor w. a dough blade). With the mixer on low, add the butter and mix until the butter is the size of peas.

Combine the buttermilk and egg in a small measuring cup and beat lightly with a fork. With the mixer still on low, quickly add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture and mix only until moistened. In a small bowl, mix the Cheddar with small handful of flour and, with the mixer still on low, add the cheese to the dough. Mix only until roughly combined.

Dump out onto a well-floured board and knead lightly about 6 times. Roll the dough out to a rectangle 10 by 5 inches. With a sharp, floured knife, cut the dough lengthwise in half and then across in quarters, making 8 rough rectangles. Transfer to a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Brush the tops with the egg wash, sprinkle with salt, if using, and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the tops are browned and the biscuits are cooked through. Serve hot or warm.

The California Scramble
Eggs
Chicken apple sausage
Jack Cheese
Avocado

In a separate pan, saute sausage.  Maybe throw in a (hot?) pepper. Mix eggs w. a small amount of milk (Do you know that apparently eggs w. less liquid are more creamy?).  Add salt & pepper.  Heat other pan (Another trick- your supposed to cook them over low heat), add butter.  Add eggs. Start to scramble.  After they take shape, add sausage and cheese.  When done, take off heat, and quickly mix in avo.

Mom’s Cranberry Chutney

1 Nov

Thanksgiving comes a couple weeks early in Brooklyn.  I love this recipe- so as soon as I saw cranberries on the shelf at the co-op, I thought I’d make it.  I’m not sure where my mother got this recipe– I couldn’t find it last year when I looked in all her cookbooks- but luckily one of our family friends, Randi, had it.   Very fast and easy- takes about 15 minutes. Keeps for a while in the fridge.  Oh, and I am going to add this to the category of a– not just for holiday delight- can also use on the aforementioned chick, cran & brie sandwich, w. some turkey cutlets, in yogurt, or on its own.    It is that lovely combination of sweet & tart.  Colorful, beautiful and delicious.  Cranberries, at least the Ocean Spray kind, come in packs of 12oz.  So I think it is a bit more practical to have the recipe in those terms– see parenthesis for reduced amounts.

***Addendum: Last time I made, used only 3/4 cup sugar and still good. Perhaps yielding a more tart than sweet result. Would recommend starting at 1 cup sugar and can add more sugar as desired/to taste. Also made the sub of fresh ginger, chopped finely instead of ground and liked it very much.

16oz fresh cranberries [120z]
2 cups sugar [1 3/4 cup]
1 cup orange juice [3/4 cup-  about 3 oranges]
1 cup raisins [3/4 cup]
1 cup chopped celery [3/4 cup- about 3 stalks of celery]
1 cup red apple [any apple is fine] [3/4 cup- less than 1 apple]
1 tablespoon grated orange peel [3/4 tablespoon, approximate]
1/2 tsp. ground ginger [3/4 of a 1/2 tsp. approximate]

simmer first 3 ingredients for 15 minutes.  Add rest, refrigerate.

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