New Hairstyles??

Raspberry Tart with Lemon Curd Whipped Cream
adapted from a recipe published in Saveur magazine July | August 2001

For the Pastry:
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 12 tablespoons cold butter, cut into pieces
• 2 egg yolks
• 3 tablespoons heavy cream
For the Filling:
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 1/4 cups lemon curd (recipe follows)
• 1 1/2 pints fresh raspberries, or any combination of berries

1. For the Pastry: Combine the flour, sugar and salt in the bowl of a food prcessor. Pulse to combine. Add butter and pulse until it resembles coarse meal. Pour flour mixture into a large bowl. Beat together egg yolks and cream in a small bowl and add to the flour mixture, and mix with a fork until dough just holds together. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and gently knead several times until smooth. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Roll dough into a 9-inch round and transfer to a 10-inch springform pan (I used a 10-inch ring mold placed on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper). Using your fingertips, press dough evenly into bottom and about 1-inch up the sides of the pan. Prick dough with a fork, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 2-3 hours.
2. Preheat oven to 350˚F. Line dough with aluminum foil, then fill with dried beans or rice. Bake until pastry is set and edge just begins to color, about 25 minutes. Remove foil and beans or rice and continue baking until pastry is golden, about 8 minutes (or longer, to achieve a nice golden brown). Set aside to cool completely, then remove from pan and slide pastry onto a serving plate.
3. For the Filling: Put heavy cream into a well-chilled mixing bowl and beat with a whisk or an electric mixer fitted with a whisk until cream holds soft peaks. Add lemon curd and gently fold together to combine.
4. Fill pastry with whipped cream-curd mixture, then scatter berries evenly over the top.

Lemon Curd

Whisk together 2 egg yolks, 1 whole egg, 6 tablespoons sugar, 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice, and 1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest in a medium mixing bowl until well combined. Set bowl over a medium pot of simmering water over medium-low heat and cook, whisking constantly, until thick, 8-10 minutes. Whisk in 5 tablespoons cold butter, cut into pieces, a few pieces at a time, until completely incorporated. Transfer to a clean bowl, cover surface with plastic to prevent a skin from forming, and set aside to let cool. Refrigerate for up to 2 weeks. Makes 1 1/4 cups.

Gigantes Plaki: Greek Baked Beans

• 1 lb (450g) dried gigantes or lima beans *
• 2 lb (1 kg) tomato, or about 3-4 juicy ones
• 1 large or 2 medium carrots
• 4 fat celery stalks
• 4 bay leaves
• 1 yellow onion
• 6 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup + 1 tbsp good olive oil
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 2.5 tbsp red wine vinegar **
• small bunch dill (about 1/3 cup chopped)
• medium bunch parsley (about 1/2 cup chopped)
• salt and pepper to taste

* Gigantes, also known as elephant beans, or giant beans, are a large flat fleshy legume native to Greece. You can usually buy gigantes at a Greek food store, but in a pinch feel free to use large dried lima beans.

** If you have a highly acidic vinegar you might want to cut back to 1.5 – 2 tbsp.

Put the beans in a large bowl and pour cold water over them to cover by at least 3-4 inches. Let them soak overnight for at least 12 hours.

Drain the soaked beans and discard the water. Put the beans in a large pot, cover them with at least 2 inches of water and add the bay leaves. Bring the beans to a simmer and let them cook away on the stove pot for 45 minutes to an hour, or until the beans are tender but not falling apart.

In the mean time, finely chop up the carrot, celery and onion into a small dice (between 1/8″ – 1/4″). There should be about 1.5 cups of carrot and celery and a cup of onions. Mince the garlic cloves while you’re at it.

n a very large heavy bottomed sauce pan or skillet heat up the quarter cup of olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and sweat them out until the onion is semi-translucent, and then follow with the carrots and celery. Continue cooking until the carrots are tender and soft.

While that cooks, chop the tomatoes up into a relatively small (1/4″ – 1/3″) dice. When the carrots are soft add the tomatoes, tomato paste, red wine vinegar and hot red pepper flakes.

Put a lid on the pan and let it simmer, lifting the lid to stir it every once in a while, for about 30 minutes or until the tomatoes have broken down into a chunky red gravy.

Oh, and this is a good time to pre-heat your oven to 350ºF. I mustn’t forget that!

Discard the parsley and dill stems and finely chop the herbs.

Add the parsley and dill to the stewing tomatoes et al, and season the mixture with salt and pepper to taste.

Discard the bay leaves after the beans are cooked, and drain the beans but reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid. Pour the tomato stew over the beans and add the 1/2 cup of cooking liquid. The mixture should be somewhat thin and saucy, but not really….um….soupy.

Use the remaining tablespoon of olive oil to lightly grease the inside of a 9×13″ casserole dish. Pour the beans into the baking dish and smooth them out with the back of your spoon. Cover the pan with tin foil and tuck it into the center of your oven for 30 minutes.

Turn the heat up to 425ºF, uncover the dish and let the beans continue to cook for another 10 – 15 minutes, or until the center of the top is starting to look a little bit dry and the liquid has thickened up a bit.

You can garnish the beans with just a touch more chopped parsley or dill if you like, and they’re ready to be eaten with some nice crusty bread to sop up all those juices.I actually like to gently toast some crostini and pile the beans on top to eat as a meze or light meal with salad, but that’s just me.

Traditionally Gigantes Plaki is served only slightly warm or at room temperature, but I’m far too greedy to wait until its cooled down. I happily scarf down enormous spoonfuls when its piping hot and fresh out of the oven….but room temperature is good too. And I ate some leftovers for lunch today, straight from the fridge. I wasn’t complaining.

I’m telling you, man. Rustic peasant food is where it’s at.

Tomato and Squash Skillet

Vegetarian Tomato and Squash Skillet

(This was approximately one serving for my dinner and would serve two as a side dish)

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 jalapeño, seeded and minced
• 1 large clove garlic, minced
• 1 small yellow squash, cut in half lengthwise and sliced
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• 1 tomato, diced
• 1 tablespoon fresh cilantro, chopped

Heat the olive oil, jalapeño, and garlic in a skillet over medium heat. Cook until the garlic is fragrant.

Add the squash to the skillet and season with the cumin, chili powder, salt, and pepper. Continue to stir fry for 4-5 minutes, until the squash is tender and cooked.

Add the tomato and cook for an additional minute, until the tomato is heated through. Serve garnished with the chopped cilantro.

http://www.mykitchenaddiction.com/2009/07/tomato-and-squash-skillet/

Zucchini and Tomato Gratin

We’ve reached that magical point in the summer where the tomatoes are starting to ripen. For a couple days we brought in only a handful of sweet cherry, grape, sun gold, or yellow pear tomatoes, but in the last few days we’ve brought in almost nine pounds of tomatoes and have more on the way. As long as something devastating doesn’t happen (knock on wood) we’re set to have a good crop of tomatoes. Right now we are harvesting Early Girl, Brandywine, Mr. Stripey, Cherokee Purple, and Roma, and we have some other varieties that aren’t ready yet but should be soon.

On the other hand, the zucchini is not doing so well. We had a cold wet spring that went all the way through the end of May and slowed plant growth, plus the plants can’t seem get on a coordinated flowering schedule. Zucchini needs both male and female flowers open at the same time in the morning for pollination, and we’ve only had one flower open at a time. So we are stuck buying zucchini for now but still hopeful that we’ll get at least a few zucchini from the garden this summer.

The basil is starting to perk up after toughing out the really wet spring. The plants looked like they wouldn’t thrive but have finally taken off. One of the parsley plants was lost to the overwhelming rains but the other seems to have survived and is slowly coming around.

This dish is my take on a classic that is easy to prepare and full of some of our favorite flavors. We layer the tomatoes and zucchini and tuck basil chiffonade and chopped parsley in between the layers, then top it off a drizzle of olive oil, sautéed onions and garlic, and a sprinkle of grated Parmesan. It’s simple, healthy fare that works as a side dish or a light main course.

This is my contribution to Grow Your Own, the blogging event that celebrates the dishes we create from foods we’ve grown, raised, foraged, or hunted ourselves. MomGateway is our host for this round, so be sure to visit the blog for more information about submitting your post. Posts are due on August 15. If you are new to the event, you can read more about the rules for participating at the Grow Your Own page. We hope you will join us!

ZUCCHINI AND TOMATO GRATIN

Makes one 3-quart casserole.

Equipment

3-quart (2.8 liter) baking dish
10-inch heavy skillet

Ingredients

1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
3 (6 to 8-inch/15 to 20 cm) zucchini, thinly sliced on the diagonal
2 pounds (~900 g) tomatoes, thinly sliced
10 basil leaves, cut in chiffonade
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
pinch of sea salt
2 or 3 grinds fresh black pepper

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F/175° C.

2. Warm the skillet over medium heat and add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Sauté the onions until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté for another 2 minutes. Remove from heat.

3. Lightly brush the bottom of the baking dish with olive oil. Arrange zucchini slices around the bottom of the pan, then add a layer of tomatoes. Sprinkle on the chopped parsley. Repeat with another layer of zucchini and another layer of tomatoes, then sprinkle on the basil chiffonade. Add the final layer of zucchini, then the tomatoes.

4. Arrange the onions and garlic around the top of the casserole. Sprinkle on a pinch or two of sea salt and a few grinds of black pepper. Drizzle the remaining olive oil around the top and sprinkle on the Parmesan cheese.

5. Bake in the preheated oven for 45 to 60 minutes. At the 45 minute mark the zucchini will be tender but not soft, so bake longer if you want it very tender. Remove from the oven and allow to rest about 5 minutes before serving. There will be plenty of juice in the bottom of the pan, and you can drizzle it over the top for more flavor.

http://www.andreasrecipes.com/2009/07/31/zucchini-and-tomato-gratin/

Salmon with a Balsamic Glaze, Saffron Mashed Potatoes and Sauteed Spinach

Salmon with a Balsamic Glaze, Saffron Mashed Potatoes and Sauteed Spinach

SERVES 2

Ingredients:

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup water,
1/4 cup chicken broth
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons brown sugar, packed plus
2 salmon fillets, skin on (center cut)
salt & freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons olive oil






Preparation:
(I always want to type H after that)

1. Stir together balsamic vinegar, water, lemon juice,
and brown sugar in a small bowl.
2. Pat salmon dry and season with salt and pepper.
3. Heat oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium high heat,
not smoking. Increase heat to high, add salmon skin side up,
and sear until well browned, about 4 minutes. (I like my salmon fairly rare)
4. Turn fish over and sear until just cooked through,
3 to 4 minutes more.
5. Transfer salmon to plates and carefully
add vinegar mixture to skillet (liquid will bubble vigorously and steam).
6. Simmer, stirring, until thickened and reduced to about 1/3 cup, about 2 minutes.
(I think it takes a little longer than two minutes, just keep an eye on it, you'll know)
(I also made the glaze in a separate pan, am glad I did)
7. Spoon glaze over salmon.
8. Serve, eat,and finish with an ice cream bar.

http://kathleenjbade.blogspot.com/2009/07/salmon-with-balsamic-glaze-for-two.html