It's nearly spring. Honestly it is! I've been hiding out this winter, re-grouping, thinking on life, looking for a paying job, recovering from the 'HOLIDAYS'. I made it through with my head still intact, although perhaps not on too straight, but I think I needed my perspective skewed a bit!
Back to SPPRING. It's time to start thinking about gardens, vegetables, fresh food..mmm. In an ideal situation you will have planned for your garden last fall, by either tilling and amending the soil or building and filling those raised beds. I had a much smaller garden last spring an decided to enlarge it, tilling, amending and planting by May. It worked out fine, except for a few bug infestations that liked the new, fresh 'playground'. This speedy garden prep does not however allow for the soil to 'heal' and the organic matter you add to thoroughly blend, decompose and leach it's nutrients, those wonderful micro organisms need some breathing space.
I'm not going to get technical, there are ample books and websites out in inter-web-space for that. I want you to think food, what you like to eat. Even if you grow it in plastic tubs on your side porch. In fact, the soil in containers warms up quickly creating great growing temps for many of our favorites, like tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, summer squashes, beans, okra, artichokes (they like cool air, but warm soil!).
There are a few things to consider when planning your garden. First, plants in the Nightshade family, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, potatoes, should not be planted in the same soil for 3 consecutive years. Where you planted tomatoes last year, if you did, should not be used again for the next 3 summers. If you grow them in containers, don't use the same soil, use it for zucchini, or beets, radishes ect. This process keeps things like pests and funguses, like last years blight, at bay. Now, don't start ordering lots of seeds just yet unless you have the space to set up a grow light system. Often starting plants from seed becomes more expensive for the home gardener than buying some plants from a reputable source. Frequently seeds are started too early, then planted too early.. wait, wait.. the soil and air temps will warm up! If you are so eager, like me, start with peas, regular, sugar snap, snow peas, they like the cool temps of mid march. I grow some in the garden up my deer fence and some in tall pots (chimney flue liners really) I have next to an arbor going over our door. I love having sugar snap peas hanging over my head! This is a great time to start spinach, kale and lettuce from seed in pots or in the ground. However, do not 'work' the ground just yet, it's still too fragile and wet, just push some seeds in and hope for warm sunny days! I like my lettuces in big planters, like galvanized steel tubs with holes drilled in the sides, I know the soil is warming up and I can keep them on my patio.
I hope you're becoming inspired here.. but first things first! I will be posting recommendations for blight resistant tomato plants, a good idea this summer, and some places for reliable seeds, in upcoming posts.
Two weeks ago we ate the last of our garden green beans that I had blanched and froze. I sauteed garlic and anchovies in olive oil until the anchovies dissolved, then added a can of tomato puree (unfortunately not my own), a pinch of rosemary, a bay leaf, and let it simmer for 20 minutes before adding the beans. I cooked the beans until heated through and served this over polenta. It was so good. I am glad spring is near!
Just a quick note here. An apology really. I change the format and background of this blog and THOUGHT the print color would change as well. Alas, it did not. I am not inclined to go back and repost everything in another print. SO, I know it's hard to read, but it IS worth it!
Thanks for your understanding.
More posts after thanksgiving. And more stories of cooking for work.
TARTS are glorious! I remember my grandfather, Pepé, making fruit tarts with fresh fruit from his trees in northern California. Nectarine! Plum!
Fig! What bliss! I can still see him pressing dough into a jelly roll pan, sprinkling sugar and laying the fruit. I prefer my tarts like that, with fruit spread in a single layer over a scant amount of sugar, and I make them big.. Because they're impossible to stop eating.
Galettes, shown here, are another version of a tart. Gallete means 'a flat cake', so we can take liberty with interpretation. The dough is rolled in a round, the fruit and sugar centered and the edges folded over and 'pinched'. Sometimes I put a nougatine on top, made with an egg white beaten with sugar and sliced almonds, it bakes into a wonderful candy-like, crunchy topping, that ends up causing pushy fork fights.
I'm giving you an easy, always reliable recipe for this crust. It is different from a Paté Briseé, what many know of as tart dough, or a short crust. This is buttery, puffy, flaky, crunchy and perfect. My husband would like just crust sometime..it's that good. From this base, you can get very creative with your fillings (or, none!) Try pear, apple ( I use this dough for Tart Tatin ), any of the summer fruits or berries. Strawberry is terrific, Strawberry Rhubarb is even better and this summer I discovered how much I adore just Rhubarb, alone, cooked down briefly in a bit of sugar! Next summer try making hand pies with this dough; squares of dough filled with fruit and sugar, then folded into rectangles.. remember these?
The basic recipe is a ratio of 3 to 2 to 1. Flour, butter, iced water..and a pinch of salt.
Tart Dough
3 cups flour
2 cups cubed butter, 10 oz. put in freezer for 20 minutes
1 cup cold water, with ice cubes in it..so about 5-6 oz water
1 tsp. salt
Place flour, salt, butter and half of the ice water (no ice) in food processor and pulse briefly. You want the dough chunky with butter. add the rest of the water and pulse just until the dough starts to pull together, but not completely. Dump the dough onto waxed paper, parchment or plastic and mush into a disc. wrap this up and refrigerate for 1/2 hour before rolling out. This recipe will make one 12x18 jellyroll pan or two smaller tarts.
see the chunks of butter? This is what makes the tart puffy and crunchy, when all that fat melts in layers..mmm.
It is best to bake this dough at 400〫
A good winter tart is cream cheese and jam, preferably homemade! Use 4 oz cream cheese, or goat cheese, spread on the bottom of a dough round (1/2 the recipe) and top with any good jam you've got.
Pear is a wonderfull fruit for fall and winter tarts. Roll out 1/2 the dough into a round, sprinkle with sugar, then add thinly sliced fruit. pull these sides of the dough in and pinch it all around. Bake these tarts for 30 min., check and bake a bit longer until a golden crust is formed.
Tart Tatin is another way of baking a tart. Baked with the dough on top then flipped at serving.
6 oz butter
1/2 cup sugar
thinly sliced apples or pears
1/2 recipe tart dough rolled and kept in fridge until ready.
In a heavy oven proof skillet, I use a Le Creuset pan, melt 4oz butter with 1/4 cup sugar until melted and beginning to caramelize. Add sliced fruit in single layers, making a pattern if you wish, this is the top of tart! Once bubbling comences, the fruit is cooking a bit, add the other 1/4 cup sugar and bits of the 2 oz butter (If you prefer a sweeter tart, add more sugar here. )
Remove from heat, place dough round on top tucking sides INTO pan around fruit. Place pan on a baking sheet to catch overflow and bake at 400 for 30 minutes, check and bake until crust is golden.
Let this cool a bit, while it's still warm though, loosen sides of crust gently with a knife and carefully flip out on to a plate.. Voila!
I haven't been around for a bit. I have taken a job cooking (okay, personal chef-ing) for an older couple, I need work and they need home cooked meals. It's just part time, but I must work the kinks out of it. Like anything new we start, there are kinks. For instance, I didn't realized that they eat different food from each other,I can only imagine from so many years of eating out, that requires some creative balancing on my part. One eats lots of salmon and is gluten free. The other does not and isn't. Did I mention I am cooking it all at my home and delivering it to them? Well, I am. And toss that in with cooking for my family, you get it. I am working the kinks out.
It's interesting interviewing people to find out what they like. It's all so subjective. I thought everyone likes baked Macaroni and Cheese, right? Polenta? Chicken soup? Hmm. Roast Chicken? (with absolutely no fat on it, maybe.) Lentils,yes.I asked many questions and got "make that for him, he likes that" and "I love Broccoli and Salmon.Do you want some Olive oil? It's organic." cute.
I've made Roasted Cabocha Squash soup, so good, with toasted cumin and coriander seeds infusing the milk, not cream, for the base ( even though she once felt sick from squash soup somewhere, I knew my chances where slim, but I tried convincing her it was the cream that made her sick, not the Squash.) A short grain rice pilaf with shitake mushrooms, slivered bok choy, garlic, ginger, and grilled red onions. served with grilled Salmon ("oh, I'll eat both peices, I don't think he'll eat any"). Today I brought over a very veggie filled Minestrone Soup, with rice pasta. and Chicken roasted with cherry tomatoes and olives (skin removed, all fat drained off.) I used those same roasted tomatoes in the creamy polenta I made along side, a tiny bit of parmesan for flavor (cheese is on the not liked list). Organic Broccoli sauteed in olive oil with garlic.
They were not home when I dropped off the food, so the verdict is out.
One thing I know for sure, flourless chocolate cake is in the near future!
Tart dough and tarts are coming. Promise!
There are a few things to consider when planning your garden. First, plants in the Nightshade family, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, potatoes, should not be planted in the same soil for 3 consecutive years. Where you planted tomatoes last year, if you did, should not be used again for the next 3 summers. If you grow them in containers, don't use the same soil, use it for zucchini, or beets, radishes ect. This process keeps things like pests and funguses, like last years blight, at bay. Now, don't start ordering lots of seeds just yet unless you have the space to set up a grow light system. Often starting plants from seed becomes more expensive for the home gardener than buying some plants from a reputable source. Frequently seeds are started too early, then planted too early.. wait, wait.. the soil and air temps will warm up! If you are so eager, like me, start with peas, regular, sugar snap, snow peas, they like the cool temps of mid march. I grow some in the garden up my deer fence and some in tall pots (chimney flue liners really) I have next to an arbor going over our door. I love having sugar snap peas hanging over my head! This is a great time to start spinach, kale and lettuce from seed in pots or in the ground. However, do not 'work' the ground just yet, it's still too fragile and wet, just push some seeds in and hope for warm sunny days! I like my lettuces in big planters, like galvanized steel tubs with holes drilled in the sides, I know the soil is warming up and I can keep them on my patio. 
