Chocolate Lavender Tart

This dessert is so fast to make (honestly about 30 minutes), but it tastes and looks amazing! Fancy dessert coming through!!

For crust
5 ounces vanilla wafers (about 40)
3 Tablespoons butter, melted
1 Tablespoon honey
1 Tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder


For filling
1 cup whipping cream*
2 teaspoons dried lavender blossoms
12 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate*
1 Tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 Tablespoon butter


Preheat oven to 350°F.

While butter is melting, grind vanilla wafers in a food processor until fine crumbs form. Add butter, honey, and cocoa powder and mix until well combined. Press crumbs evenly onto bottom (not up sides) of prepared tart pan. Bake until set, about 10 minutes. Cool.

Bring cream and lavender just to boil in small saucepan. Reduce heat to low and simmer 5 minutes.

Place chocolate in medium saucepan. Strain hot cream mixture into saucepan with chocolate. Stir over medium-low heat just until melted and smooth. Add cocoa powder and remaining 1 tablespoon butter; stir until melted and smooth.

Pour chocolate mixture over crust in tart pan. Chill at least 45 minutes (chocolate will be slightly soft after 45 minutes and firm after 2 hours). Cut into wedges and serve.


Notes:
*Original recipe says the tart can be made 1 day ahead, but I've eaten it three days later and it was still wonderful. Cover and keep chilled. Let stand at room temperature 1 hour before serving.


*The first time I made the tart I made this tart with whipping cream and the taste was incredible, but Rob and I thought it was a bit to firm - more like eating a bar of chocolate than a tart. Also, I never have heavy whipping cream on hand, so I tried it a second time with whole milk. Sadly, the tart never set completely. So I am going to keep working the whole milk angle and we'll see if I can't make it work. I'll certainly update the post when I am successful. 


*Original recipe calls for chocolate chips, but I've used both chocolate chips and big chunks of baking chocolate and both have worked well. 

Springtime Quiche

I am pleased to report that almost everything in this early spring quiche was grown in the front yard, purchased at the farmers market (and therefore grown in someone else's yard) or found in the local undisclosed woods. We made it last week and it was an awesome picnic dinner while mushrooming!

Vegetable and Cheddar Quiche
modified from from the cooks garden by Ellen Ecker Ogden
makes 6 servings

Crust:
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tablespoons sugar
pinch of salt
12 tablespoons butter, cut into 1/2 inch slices
1/3 cup ice water, as needed

Filling:
1 cup whole milk
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
1 tablespoon fresh sage
1 tablespoon fresh parsley
pinch of salt
grind of black pepper
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons butter
10-15 stalks asparagus, finely chopped
1 medium leek, white and light green parts sliced
6-8 morel mushrooms, roughly chopped
10-12 stalks swiss chard, thinly shredded*

Make Crust:

Process flour, sugar and salt in a food processor. Cut the butter in with the pulse function until the mixture resembles coarse corn meal. With the machine running, gradually add water until the dough holds together. Gather the dough into a ball and refrigerate 30 minutes to 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375F. Roll crust into an 11- to 12-inch circle, about 1/8 inch thick. Fit into a 9-inch spring form pan (or pie plate). Prick the dough in several places with a fork. Line the dough with aluminum foil and pie beans. Bake until the dough looks set but not browned, about 12 minutes. Remove foil and beans and let crust stand until ready to fill. Sprinkle cheddar cheese evenly onto the bottom of the crust while it is still warm.

Make Filling:

Saute leeks, mushrooms, and asparagus in butter until leeks are soft and just starting to brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Steam swiss chard until cooked through, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain and squeeze as much water as possible from the chard. Add vegetables to the crust, on top of the cheese.

Whisk the milk, eggs, thyme, sage, salt and pepper until combined. Pour mixture over the vegetables in the crust and top with parsley.

Bake until a knife inserted in the center of the filling comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving warm.

*Notes:
I think the absolute key to eating swiss chard is chopping it into thin slices. Before cooking, I shredded the chard into 1/4 inch slices, like when shredding cabbage for cole slaw. And then I cut those slices in half so they weren't too long.

Rhubarb Tart

I love spring and the Farmers Market! Saturday morning was the first Farmers Market of the season and Saturday evening was the Kentucy Derby! What a great day! I bought rhubarb in the morning and took this rhubarb tart to a Derby party in the afternoon. I made this tart what seems like every weekend last spring and so excited to continue the tradition.

We ate the leftovers on Sunday with vanilla ice cream and it was still d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s!

Rhubarb Tart with Brown Butter Streusel
serves 8 to 10
modified from Bon Appetit, January 2004

Crust
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 egg yolk
3 to 4 tablespoons chilled whole milk

Streusel
9 tablespoons butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
3/4 cup almonds
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon molases (or 3/4 cup brown sugar)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup all purpose flour

Filling
2 pounds rhubarb, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices rhubarb (about 4 cups once sliced)
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel

For crust:

Blend flour, sugar, and salt in processor. Using on/off turns, cut in butter until coarse meal forms. Add egg yolk and 3 tablespoons cream. Blend until moist clumps form, adding more cream if dough is dry. Gather dough into ball. Press enough dough into 10-inch-diameter tart pan with removable bottom to make 1/4-inch-thick crust. Pierce crust all over with fork. Chill at least 2 hours*. Bake cold crust at 375F until golden brown, pressing with back of fork if crust bubbles, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and reduce oven temperature to 350°F

For streusel:

Grind almonds in a food processor until they are finely chopped. It is ok to have some slightly bigger pieces, but you are looking for a nice almond meal. Cook butter in large skillet over medium heat until golden*, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Mix in almonds, sugar, and cinnamon. Add flour and stir until moist clumps form. Cool completely. (Crust and streusel can be made 1 day ahead. Cover separately and chill.)

For filling:

Toss all ingredients in bowl to blend. Let stand until filling looks moist, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes.

Spoon filling into warm crust. Crumble streusel over. Bake until filling is bubbling and streusel is crisp and brown, about 1 hour. Cool tart on rack 30 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.


*Notes:
I have to be honest here. I never chill my pie crust for 2 hours. Maybe it would make an absolutely melt my heart pie crust if I did, but honestly I just wouldn't make pie that often if I had to chill the crust for 2 hours. Instead, I stick it in the freezer and give it as long as possible, but usually thats only 15 or 20 minutes.

I have made this tart several times and I think this was the very first time I actually let the butter get brown enough. Just before it gets dark, the butter will start to foam, a lot, whcih makes it hard to see the color. I let it foam for maybe 30 to 60 seconds until, while stirring very quickly with a spatula, I was able to see that the butter was starting to get a deep brown.

St Louis Gooey Butter Cake

So, If there is anyone in the world that does not follow Smitten Kitchen religiously, they are missing out on so many good meals! I made Deb's St Louis Gooey Butter Cake last night for the dinner party and it tastes just as good as it looks. This was an "oh my god, this might be the best thing I've ever tasted and there's not ANY chocolate in it" moment. I will make this again...and again.

We only had 5 for dinner last night and ate half the pan. I also must say that the cake was still very palatable this morning with my cup of coffee. The gooey-ness seems to have lessened, but the taste, oh the taste, is still incredible!

Disclaimer: This is not health food. I haven't figured out the points, but sufficient to say you should not eat more than 1 or 2 pieces. Rob ate 3 last night and thought 4 might make him sick. That being said, I ran out of white flour while making the cake portion and used 1/4 cup whole wheat flour instead. The dessert still tasted amazing. I think next time I will try half white and half whole wheat for the cake and maybe even make it to 100% whole wheat flour. I would stick with white flour for the topping though and I went to the store while the cake was rising and bought more flour.

Here is a link to the original post. You really should go there, she takes some awesome photos.
http://smittenkitchen.com/2010/03/st-louis-gooey-butter-cake/

And here is the recipe with my minor modifications.

St Louis Gooey Butter Cake
makes 24 pieces (which really only serves about 12 people)


For the cake
3 tablespoons milk at room temperature
1 3/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
6 tablespoons butter at room temperature
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

For the topping
3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon corn syrup (recipe says light corn syrup, but I only had dark)
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Confectioners’ sugar, for sprinkling.

Make the cake dough: In a small bowl, mix milk with 2 Tablespoons warm water. Add yeast and whisk gently until it dissolves. Mixture should foam slightly.

Using an electric mixer with paddle attachment, cream butter, sugar and salt. Scrape down sides of bowl and beat in the egg. Alternately add flour and the milk mixture, scraping down sides of bowl between each addition. You could switch to a dough hook at this point, but I stuck with the paddle attachment and it worked just fine. Either way, beat the dough on medium speed until it forms a smooth mass and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 7 to 10 minutes.

Press, stretch and nudge dough into a buttered 9-by 13-inch glass baking dish at least 2 inches deep. Cover dish with plastic wrap or clean tea towel, put in a warm place, and allow to rise until doubled, 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

Make the gooey topping: Heat oven to 350 degrees. To prepare topping, in a small bowl, whisk corn syrup with 2 tablespoons water and the vanilla. Using an electric mixer with paddle attachment, cream butter, sugar and salt until light and fluffy, 5 to 7 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl and beat in the egg. Alternately add flour and corn syrup mixture, scraping down sides of bowl between each addition.

Spoon topping in large dollops over risen cake and use an offset spatula to gently spread it in an even layer. Bake for approximately 30 until the top of the cake is a golden brown and does not jiggle. Cake will rise and fall in waves and have a golden brown top, but will still be liquid in center when done. Allow to cool in pan before sprinkling with confectioners’ sugar for serving.

Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

We had a small foods dinner party last night and I tried to recreate this incredible goat cheese and "red" sauce dip I had a couple of weeks ago at a tapas restaurant in Chicago. I thought it was made from tomatoes and red peppers (the color really tipped me off) but unfortunately I didn't pay enough attention to the subtle flavors....this is a good challenge for me!

Same, this was not, but this was a really good and flavorful and versatile sauce that i will definitely make again! I already have lots of ideas about how to use the leftovers. These ideas include: pasta (this sauce was made to be poured over pasta!), grilled zucchini (I can't wait for spring!), couscous with roasted root vegetables, and over polenta. I also want to try thinning it down with some olive oil and vinegar and trying it as a salad dressing. The only thing I will consider playing around with next time is garlic. I love garlic and think this sauce could handle one or two cloves.

The sauce recipe came from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison with a few minor modifications. The dip and other concoctions and toasted pita chips are my own.

Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
modified from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, by Deborah Madison
makes about 2 1/2 cups

3 red bell peppers
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, minced
3 Tablespoons chopped basil (or 1 1/2 teaspoons dried)
1 teaspoon dried marjoram (or 1 Tablespoon fresh, chopped)
salt
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup crushed tomatoes
1 Tablespoon tomato paste
2 cups vegetable broth or water
2 to 3 teaspoons white wine vinegar (optional)
1 Tablespoon butter (optional)

Roast peppers in an oven on broil. Watch closely and remove peppers when skin starts to look loose and parts have turned brown. Run peppers under cold water until cool enough to handle and peel the skin off. Then, coarsely chop the peppers.

Place the olive oil, onions and half the herbs in a medium skillet. Place the skillet on the stove and warm pan on med-high heat. When the oil is warm, add the peppers and 1/2 teaspoon salt and cook until the onion is soft, about 10 minutes. Add the wine and cook until its syrupy (about 5 minutes), then add the tomatoes, tomato paste and broth. Simmer, covered. for 25 minutes.

Puree the sauce in a food processor (or blender).

This can all be done ahead. At least a few hours ahead of time, but I am guessing it's more like up to a few days ahead of time. I'll let you know as I use the leftovers this week.

The recipe then says: Season to taste with vinegar and butter. Reheat before serving and stir in the remaining herbs at the last minute. I forgot to do both of those steps! But I will try them next time :)

I set the sauce aside and went about making other dishes for dinner. Then about 30 minutes before the guests arrived, I put the sauce in a 6-inch round oven proof dish and placed slices of goat cheese on the top. I baked the sauce in the oven at 350F for about 20 minutes, until the cheese melted slightly and the sauce was bubbling.

In the meantime, I made pita chips. Cut each pita into approximately 8 wedges. Lightly brush them with olive oil and salt (this is optional). Bake in the oven at 350F for 3-4 minutes, then flip the pita chips and bake for another 3-4 minutes or until they are toasted and crunchy.