Sunday Supper's Happy Ending - Pomme Tarte

Another Sunday and I'm wondering just what we are going to make which gives us a lovely dinner and leftovers during the week.  Leave it to me to have criteria attached to making that mere simple decision.  Criteria includes ingredients being in season and "localesque," healthy and something we wouldn't normally tackle during our busy work week.

This particular week, my first weekend at home in weeks where I wasn't pulled in a million different directions revealed I was out of practice of imagining a satisfying home cooked meal.  My busy work week sucked all the imagination right out of me.  The world was my oyster and I just couldn't make a decision....except for what I wanted for dessert.  Behold my inspiration which appeared right under my nose...

Braeburn Apples

"Oyster" being the key phrase, I plotted to have John make his scrumptious Oyster stew which would leave us the room to enjoy my version of a Pomme Tarte.

I think Joy's article on her "Evening in Paris" dinner also inspired my decision on what I would bring for dessert had we lived in the same city.  Voila!  Pomme Tarte.  Time to bring out my Julia Child book for a starting point.

Pre-heat the oven

Julia's pastry recipe is lush but I thought I would go with a lighter version.  I dusted off my Jacques Pepin's Today's Gourmet Light and Healthy Cooking for the 90's cookbook.  His version achieves a very similar outcome. 

Dough Ingredients

3/4 Cup all purpose flour (3 oz)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold
1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
3 tablespoons, ice-cold water

Place the flour, butter cut into 1/2 inch pieces and sugar into the bowl of a food processor.  Process for 5 seconds.

Then add the ice-cold water and process for 5 more seconds.

It may not look like dough yet, but I promise you it is. 

Take the mixture and form into a ball with your hands lightly and place on a piece of plastic wrap.  Place an additional piece of plastic wrap and roll out to the size of your baking dish.

Transfer the flattened dough to a cookie sheet and refrigerate.  This will give it a nice chill while you work on the apple filling.

Apple Filling Ingredients

3 small cooking apples or 2 large ones

Half Lemon

1 tablespoon sugar

Sprinkle of Cinnamon

Sprinkle of Nutmeg

1/3 cup of Raspberry jam

Thinly slice apples.  Squeeze lemon juice on the apples to maintain their delicate color from turning brown.  Lightly cook sliced apples to soften with a tablespoon of sugar and sprinkle of your favorite apple seasonings (i.e. cinnamon and nutmeg).   This is where I'm getting better at winging recipes.

Take rolled dough out of the fridge and place in tarte pan or you could go galette style and put on a cookie sheet and fold the dough over the filling.

Going rogue again from the Julia's original recipe,  I chose a more colorful addition to the already yellow dish and went with Raspberry jam instead of the traditional apricot jam.

My not nearly Julia-like placement of the apple slices: 

Fold dough over (galette style) or flute to the edges.  Bake for 45 minutes in the pre-heated 400 degree oven.

Remove from oven and cool a bit to savour to your heart's content.

Did we have enough for leftovers during the week?  You bet we did since there is only two of us.  Did we enjoy for a weeknight dinner?  I am my grandmother's granddaughter after all.  It has fruit and protein in it...why not?

The JOY of Cooking

A note from Sly

I'm so glad I asked Joy to write this article.  I had no idea there was a time Joy wasn't as talented in the kitchen as she is today.  We all have a  back story don't we?

 

By NEW Guest Blogger, Joy Malaise

The fact I can cook at all is quite a feat, given I learned from my Grandmother, who was, in essence, an awful cook.  She quite successfully taught me how to burn everything.  I didn’t realize that not everyone charred their toast, then scraped it, and THEN put the butter on.  I also thought that bacon snapped when eaten, and that eggs were solid, with no beautiful golden soft yolk.  Chewy pot roasts, and vegetables cooked to mush.   It was just her way.  But she could bake a pie like no one else, from scratch, and with flaky golden crusts.  So there is the yin and yang of my humble cooking start.

I took to cooking at a very young age, always wanting to experiment and always looking for ways to make it “taste better.”  Being from Iowa, we had a bounty of fresh garden vegetables in the summer, which we canned for eating in the long winter months.  I still remember the pop, pop, pop, of the Ball jars in the pressure cooker as they sealed in their goodness.

At 19 young years of age, I loaded up my Ford Maverick, along with my two girlfriends and headed to California to visit my sister in San Diego.  My girlfriends returned back home, but I decided to stay.  And stay.  It’s been 37 years now, so it’s home.   

I’ll never forget the first time I was asked to bring guacamole to a party and said “sure, how much do you need?” not having a clue what it was. “Oh just a medium sized bowl, should do it”, she replied.  So I went to the supermarket and found some avocados, which felt like rocks to me, and headed home to prepare my guacamole.  I wanted to impress this group, because they were my sister and her husband’s friends and colleagues from the U.S. Navy, and the party was aboard a yacht in Coronado!   I was so young, and everyone else was much older and sophisticated.  I pulled out one of my three pots, and filled it with water to boil.  I tossed in my six hard-as-a-rock avocados and waited fifteen minutes.  When I opened the lid and to test them, not only were they still hard, but there was a green slime surfacing at the top of the water line.  It just didn’t look right.  Given there was no Internet in 1976, and I didn’t own a cookbook that included a recipe for guacamole, I called my neighbor over to take a look.  She burst out laughing and asked what it was I was trying to do.  I told her that I assumed they were like potatoes and when cooked would soften enough for me to peel them and mash them up.  Needless to say, I did NOT bring guacamole to that party and I still have flashbacks of that boiling pot of green slime many years ago.

I worked my way up to casseroles at dinner parties, where I thought adding some chicken to a pan of Rice-a-Roni, and tossing in a few diced carrots and celery was gourmet.  Then shortly after that, a miracle happened.  I got a roommate and she could cook!  Yes …California style.  Her name is Nomah.  She even had a braid of garlic hanging in the kitchen for heaven’s sake!  And she could make homemade cannelloni.  It was magic watching her prepare things, and reading from her cookbooks.  I learned so much from her, and still do.

I got into hosting dinner parties and inviting people over to try my new repertoire of California cuisine.  I got better and better, and accumulated more pots and pans, cookbooks and kitchen gadgets.

Fast forward to Valentine’s Day weekend 2013 and my dinner party aptly themed “An Evening in Paris.”  Yes, I decided to channel Amy Adams, who channeled Julia Child, and made beouf bourguignon from “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.”  My hubby, Gary, bought me the cookbook a few years ago, and while I have read many of the recipes, I had not yet tried making one of her savory meals!

"Midnight in Paris" Helps Set the Mood During Appetizers

Gary went to the supermarket and bought all the ingredients for me, except lardons.  "WTH …lardons?"  Okay, honey, we can use bacon.  Just get some thick bacon.  I trimmed the meat to Julia's precise measurements of 2” cubed, and dried them with paper towels so when they hit the hot oil they would sear and seal in their goodness.  Even using my large Le Crueset roasting pan, it took three batches to get the meat seared.  Our  house was smelling wonderful and it was only 10:30 in the morning! 
    

I had prepared my garlic soup (see my recipe below), chicken liver pate’, and palmierres the evening before, which turned out to be a great idea, realizing how deep into this thing I was getting.  I needed to blanch and ice my haricot verts, so that I only needed to flash fry them in hot olive oil just before serving.  On those lovely beans I made a gremulata of fresh parsley, lemon zest, toasted pine nuts, garlic and Parmesan cheese.  I was able to prep that in advance, and simply toss it in at the end of searing the beans.

Now Julia said that the beef would be best served over noodles or small potatoes.  Knowing how much au jus there would be in the bottom of the pan, I opted for noodles to soak up those layers of goodness.  And it worked.  It was divine!!!!!!!!  And the haricot verts, (recipe compliments of the Barefoot Contessa’s latest cookbook “Foolproof”) were a perfect side dish.  And though we didn’t need it, how could we serve a French meal without a baguette!  

  

Gary took me to Paris for my 50^th birthday, and every single day we went to the bakery and purchased a baguette.  I shall never forget the memory of us walking down the Champs de Elyse with a baguette in our backpack.  But that’s quite another article.

Whether it’s food from a farm in Iowa, or from Paris, France, I’m a good little eater.  I love to eat!  There I go channeling Amy channeling Julia again …

Joy’s Scrumptious Garlic Soup

(makes 6 small cups, perfect for dinner party) 

Recipe is easily doubled for 6 bowls, and can be made the day before and re-heated.  Who doesn’t love that?

  1   TBL Olive Oil

  1   Cup thinly sliced white/brown onion

12   Garlic cloves, smashed

  1   Cup dry white wine

  1   Quart chicken stock

 1    Bay leaf

 2    Cups French bread, 2-inch pieces (crust okay)

 ¾    Cup heavy cream (half/half okay too)

Salt and pepper

½   Cup Gruyere cheese, grated

Heat the oil in a large soup pot, and add onion and garlic.  Cook over medium heat for 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they begin to caramelize.  Add the wine and continue cooking for 10 more minutes.

Add the stock and bay leaf and bring to a bowl.  Reduce the heat, and simmer for 3- minutes.  Add the bread cubes and allow them to soak in the sup off the heat for 10 minutes.

Remove the bay leaf, and using a hand-held immersion blender, puree until smooth.  Add the cream and add your seasons.  Garnish with the cheese on top.

 

Our Edible Garden, Part Deux

As predictable as a change in the weather, a little time off, an inspiring vacation and a good read -- these things will generate some new project in my world.

Project?  Back Up the Truck!

The books I pick up usually are in some way tied into my vacation destination.  Logical or not, I feel like I'm eeking a little bit more out of my travel experience if I'm taking in someone else's perspective too.

French Dirt, by Richard Goodman, was just that book on this last trip.  Actually, John read it first and couldn't stop talking about what "we" could do to expand our own kitchen garden.  The next thing I knew, a grand plan was being hatched for a chunk of our backyard.  I better get reading!

John's working on our ambitious plans

Goodman and his girlfriend Iggy rented a 200 year old stone house in the South of France for a year.  The town being tiny, Goodman endeavored to connect with the locals.  After multiple attempts to strike up a meaningful conversation and running low on money, he offers to trade his labor on a farm for firewood.  As he begins to mix with the locals, he witnessed every one's very plentiful vegetable gardens.  So inspired by others, he talks one of his new village friends into loaning him a plot of land for a season.  His readers can't help but share in his trials and tribulations with ultimately gratifying results of having a cultivated patch of his own.

I've always loved gardening, and in the last couple of years amped up my gardening focus on edibles.  Some of you may remember what motivated me do so in my post, Supersize Me... My Way.



Our first edible garden...now producing turnips, snow peas, carrots, lettuce
 and garlic

Enjoying our successes and having taken a Permaculture class last year, I already concluded our yard had so much more potential to be productive.  Hey...we could even save a few grocery dollars over the long run if we did more.  It didn't take too much prodding to get me on board for the next generation of kitchen gardening at the Avey homestead.

No time wasted!  Our first free day off together after our vacation we targeted the spot for our new garden, visualized, debated and removed plants which weren't working anyway.  Later that evening John said, "I can't wait to start digging."  Yes, digging!  Anyone who knows John well knows he doesn't like digging.

But Sammi likes to dig

To the man who uttered those words, I asked, "what have you done with my husband?"  A smile with a glimmer in his eye told me enough.  He is a man on a mission.

Both of us are aiming for a bigger and better vegetable plot than the last one we created.  But, like Goodman, we hadn't calculated the potential issues or consequences that laid before us.  Oops, I meant to say "opportunities."

First "opportunity:"  we no longer have a truck to get wood home.  Delivery?  Delivery costs exceeded the cost of the material!  John went to Lowes early one morning to snag the one and only first come first serve rental truck ... only to have it rented out from under him just 5 minutes before.  Grrr.  Lowe's Delivery guys feel John's pain and they give him delivery for the price of the rental truck.  Woo-hoo and a tip o' the hat, Lowes!

Second brain stumper:  should we or should we not dig out the grass where the future plot will lie?
   

No!  We laid down landscape fabric in the bed blocking grass and weeds before dropping dirt in the raised bed.

Water the plot?  How to get water to the area without reworking the whole sprinkler system?

We installed a portable hose to connect to a soaker hose.  A soaker hose is more efficient and less troublesome to plant leaves.

We needed lots and lots of good soil.  But soil is a very expensive proposition if you buy it buy the bag to fill 120 cubic feet.  Neither of us realized we would have to budget over $600 if we had to buy bags...ouch!  No matter what, dirt had to be delivered to us. 

To overcome the pricey bag option, we ended up buying soil in bulk; it came in less than half the cost and no waste.  Overwhelming when delivered?  Oh yeah!

It became even more overwhelming when we had to manually shovel it in a wheel barrel and then dump it in the new bed.  My sore muscles reminded me of just how much dirt we moved.

It's all been worth it though.  Our raised bed is built and ready for planting all those edibles.

Now the fun part for me.

I'm studying my Edible French Garden book a girlfriend gave me several years back.  It's loaded with tips, plants, guides and recipes.

In the meantime, John's at our favorite nursery, Sperling's in Calabasas.

Remember I said there were unanticipated consequences?   John's incessant talk of our new edible garden inspired his work buddies to jointly build one of their own.  And John being the generous guy he is has volunteered "us" to help them build it!  Oh my little arms....

Confessions of a Bread-aholic

Good bread is the most fundamentally satisfying of all foods; and good bread with fresh butter, the greatest of feasts.  -James Beard

I wholeheartedly agree!!

I must confess, I have a love affair with bread.  When the low carb diet came along, I tried to break up with the object of my desire.  A daily struggle, its power over me was much too strong.  Lulled with a glass of red wine, I would resume my relationship.  Giving up on the idea of total exclusion, the experience did leave me more discerning.  Today, I can exercise will power around only so/so bread.  Show me a freshly baked loaf with it's intoxicating fragrance, I must and will give in.  I'm okay with that.

I came into music just because I wanted the bread.  It's true.  I looked around and this seemed like the only way I was go to get the kind of bread I wanted.  -Mick Jagger

Whether it is metaphorical or not, Mick implies really good bread can be expensive.  If you have ever witnessed me singing, you know I would be unsuccessful singing for my bread!  Because my desire is so insistent and potentially costly, my least expensive option is to make it myself.  Therein lies my problem.

Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.  -Henry Ford

Many years back when I first got married, I attempted to make my first loaf.  How hard could it be?  I had witnessed many a successful roll-making sessions with my grandmother.  I pulled all the ingredients together, kneaded and kneaded.  Then I waited for the rise.  It never happened.  What a flop.  Any number of things could have happened like expired yeast, too cold a room, not enough kneading, who knows....  Several more tries and I became discouraged.

Then, one Christmas, a bread maker arrived! 

Oh, what wonderful breads it could make!  Except it churned out tall, box-like loaves looking like an anvil dropped to the ocean floor.  Not what you would call visually appealing.  How to overcome the visual?  I know!  Make the dough in the bread maker where my skill set was definitely lacking and then turn the prepped dough into a loaf shape of my liking and bake in the oven.  That worked for me...for awhile.  It still does if I'm short on time.

Success consists of going from failure to failure without the loss of enthusiasm.  -Winston Churchill

In the last year or so, my desire to make bread on my very own was sparked after reading one of my very favorite authors book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle:  A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver.  She and her family deliberately set out for one year to feed themselves with food they raised or grew themselves.  Short of that, they'd buy ingredients locally.  This meant nothing processed, including their bread.  Every chapter would illustrate another luscious loaf of bread being made along side whatever meal prep was in progress.  The beauty of this was she saved a bunch of money, was confident she wasn't eating preservatives and the bread was tasty.

So inspired, I immediately stopped buying bread in the store.  If I am going to have bread I vowed, I am going to make it myself.  Since that vow which I took in September 2010, I have experimented with many recipes.  Some turned out okay.  Others not so much; think hockey puck.  But I wasn't about to give up.  When I wasn't making bread, I'd read and learn from other people's experiences.  Jeffery Steingarten probably has the funniest account of his pursuit for making the perfect sourdough loaf in his book, The Man Who Ate Everything. 

Thank goodness my husband supports my passions.  He's really hung in there.  And with that support he was finally rewarded with the best loaf I've ever made.  The magic happened when I came across the NY Times recipe for "No Knead Bread" adapted from Jim Lahey/Sullivan Street Bakery.  His approach uses a sparse amount of yeast, many hours dedicated to fermentation and a pre-warmed cast iron dutch oven (I used my Le Creuset). 



The starter doesn't look like much

18 hours later out of the bowl, not kneaded

Going in the oven, pot has been pre-heated

Right out of the oven

Looks and smells promising

Success!

If you too, are in pursuit of a successful bread recipe, I recommend this one, but you do need about 20 hours from beginning to pulling it out of the oven.  The loaf has just the right crispness to the crust with a wonderful softness and airiness on the inside.  Whip out the butter and have yourself a meal!  Oh my...I just made myself hungry.

Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.  -Truman Capote

Organic Farm Stay with Friends Delivers On Downtime

Driving down the scenic Pacific Coast Highway earlier this month from a long spring weekend getaway in Paso Robles, I noted to myself how insanely calm I felt.  The kind of feeling one would get, I imagine, after a good meditation session.

Generally speaking I handle stress pretty well.  As part of the management of my stress I exercise, have hobbies, enjoy good friends and try not to worry about the things I cannot change.  I wish I could say I've also mastered the art of meditation in the traditional sense of the word.  But I have not.  And it is not for the lack of trying.

Meditation can give you a sense of calm, peace and balance that benefits both your emotional well-being and your overall health - Mayo Clinic

Silence my mind while trying to sit still?  Nope...no success; there's so many thoughts that creep into my mind space.  A yoga session of downward-facing dogs and eagle poses is calming...but peace of mind?  I'm too busy concentrating on not falling over!   Plant a bell pepper seedling in my vegetable patch, chop a gorgeous tomato or go in search a great Spanish cheese for my enchiladas?  Yes!  Nirvana!  I am calm, at peace and am in balance with nature and myself.

Apparently I've been in need of a super injection of calm, peace and balance given my notice of how I felt at the end of the trip.

Good friends of ours met up with my husband and I in Paso Robles.  The four of us had no agenda other than to stay at an organic farm, do a little wine tasting, eat good food and enjoy each other's company.  Before we ever made it inside our "Bungalow" accommodations, the gas BBQ at the front door usurped all of our attention.  Within moments of its sighting, the four of us determined we were going to make our own great dinner  one of our nights there.  Hence our agenda was set.

Fellow Farm Resident, a Jacob Sheep

All the gourmand choices lay before us in this fertile area.  The next morning over our farm prepared breakfast we learned from our hosts there was a Farmer's Market that very day.  They guided us to a sustainable Fish Market, for the star of our meal.  Of course, over 200 wineries to choose from for our accompanying beverage.  Along the way, we tripped upon an artisan's cheese store.  And lucky for us, our friend who is always anxious to try his Italian, charmed a fellow Italian baker for a sweet ending treat. 

View from Still Waters Vineyards

Speaking Italian

What a luxury to take the time to really appreciate our seasonal choices. In my usual day in and day out routine, I rarely can spend an entire day devoted to such endeavors. The meal turned out to be exquisite and well earned.  It required all of our senses to pull it off (the whif of wine, touching for the firmness of a tomato, the inspiring sight of the seasonal vegetables and our salmon, and the listening of the first crackle of our risotto frying in the pan).   The journey of the day was really where our memories will lie.

So why is it I experienced a so similar an outcome to meditation?  Traveling to a new environment puts ourselves in a novel situation.  Our brains have no choice but to think differently.   There is focus and heightened awareness of our surroundings.  No room for habitual ways of thinking.  And by traveling with friends or family,  making it to a destination together, there is a sense of camaraderie and accomplishment that forges deeper ties.

If you want to recreate some or all of our weekend, here's the links to our destinations:

Hollyhock Farms Bed & Breakfast
Templeton Farmer's Market
Pier 46 Seafood Market
Le Vigne Winery
Still Waters Vineyards  (spectacular views and of special note, fine olive oils)
Vivant Fine Cheeses
Artisan  (a lovely American Bistro if you want a night out on the town)

Kitchen Stocking Stuffers, Now Why Didn't I Invent That?

“What in the world?”
It was my first question when I saw these hanging in a kitchen store display window in Vancouver.  Were they very oddly shaped Popsicle forms?  A Canadian's idea of a joke?

I must know so I ask the proprietor of the store about her display.  Her answer to my question?  A banana case!  No question her strategy of hanging these in her front window, got people like me in her store.

With the holidays upon us and always on the lookout for the perfect stocking stuffers, kitchen gadgets are my favorite item to give and receive.  But I'm not so sure about this one.  I have never personally had a problem transporting a banana in my lunch, but then again I try not to whack my lunch around like it was a hockey puck.  After doing a bit of research, these cases were actually designed in Japan as part of a vast array of bento box gear items.  What's a bento box?  Think of it as a Japanese version of a lunch pail except that it has many compartments that make it easy to store food.  The Japanese are masters of creating items with a less-is-more approach.  Sometimes designed with understated elegance or in the case of this container, very quirky.

It's difficult not to marvel at the creativity of the human race.  When there is a need, people in this world find inspiration and develop a solution.

Take peeling the skin off garlic for example.  At first glance I had no idea what Santa left me one year. This pliable, not very pretty tube gave me no clue to its brilliance at disrobing a clove of its papery skin.  If you're like me when cooking, my recipes almost always call for a couple of cloves of garlic.  Pop a clove in the cylindrical rubber tube, give it a firm roll with the palm of your hand and low and behold a beautifully naked specimen.  (Yes, I'm still talking about the garlic)

Have you ever needed to grab the handle of a pot on the stove or the lid off a hot item but the potholder not within reach?  My solution up until last year was to grab a kitchen towel with the associated risk of catching it on fire.  Santa must have been peaking through the window because last year he left me little rubber grippers.  Why didn't I think of that?  I have them right next to stove in a drawer -- always at the ready.

If you (Santa) are stumped by what to fill in a cook's stocking, perhaps I've given you some ideas about finding some very inexpensive, useful gifts.  Or at the very least, creating a stir of giggles with a mystery kitchen gadget on Christmas morning.

You actually may be thinking right about now, "I must have that Banana Carrier!"  Since I'm a mind reader, here's your access to getting your very own along with the garlic peeler and holders:

Banana carrier
Garlic peeler
Pinch holders

Now that I'm out of stocking stuffer ideas, do you have any you'd like to share?  If so, feel free to leave a comment.