Musings about Food & the Politics of Food.

TartQueen's Kitchen



Carrot Tart 0

Posted on December 05, 2013 by Sahar

One again, it’s time for Quick Meals You Can Make After Work.

This time, it’s Carrot Tart.  I guarantee you, even the kids will like it.  As well as any meat-and-potatoes eaters in your house. You can make it as a light dinner (or lunch) with just a salad, or, as a heartier meal with wild rice and a green vegetable or salad. (This is also an excellent cold-weather dish, believe it or not.)

Not too many extra notes for this recipe, really.  It’s pretty self-explanatory.  If you don’t have or prefer not to use honey, you can use maple syrup (the real stuff, not Mrs. Butterworth’s), or raw or brown sugar.

And, yes. I did use a frozen pie crust.

 

The Ingredients

The Ingredients

Clockwise from top:

Clockwise from top: ground ginger; salt; fresh ground nutmeg; dry mustard; fresh ground black pepper; allspice

Carrots. I just thought this was pretty.

Carrots. I just thought this was pretty.

 

1 ea. 9-inch frozen pie crust or your favorite savory pie crust recipe

2 eggs

1 c. whole milk or half-and-half

1/2 tsp. dry mustard

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

1/4 tsp. allspice

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

2 tbsp. butter

2 tbsp. honey

4 large carrots, grated (you want approximately 2 c. grated carrots)

2 tbsp. parsley, minced

-or-

1 tbsp. chervil, minced

 

1.  If you are using a frozen crust, keep it frozen until you’re ready to fill it.  If you’re using a from-scratch crust, par-bake the crust at 425F for 15 minutes and let cool.

2.  In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and honey together over medium heat.

Melting the butter and honey together.

Melting the butter and honey together.

Add the carrots and toss in the butter-honey mixture.  Continue cooking until the carrots have softened slightly and all the liquid has evaporated, about 7 – 10 minutes.

Cooking the carrots. You want to cook them until they are just slightly softened. Remember, you're going to cook them more in the oven.

Cooking the carrots. You want to cook them until they are just slightly softened. Remember, you’re going to cook them more in the oven.

Remove the carrots from the heat, spread out onto a plate or other flat surface and let cool for about 15 minutes.

3.  Mix together the milk, eggs, spices, and parsley or chervil.  Set aside.

The custard mixture. In this example, I used parsley. if you use chervil, you'll have a slice anise flavor.

The custard mixture. In this example, I used parsley. if you use chervil, you’ll have a slight anise flavor.

4.  In the waiting pie shell, spread the carrots as evenly as possible over the bottom.

The prepared pie shell. I like to wrap the edges so they won't burn in the oven.

The prepared pie shell. I like to wrap the edges so they won’t burn in the oven.

Carrots in the pie shell. Spread them as evenly as possible.

Carrots in the pie shell. Spread them as evenly as possible.

 

Slowly pour in the custard mixture.

Adding the custard. be sure to pour slowly so the custard can seep into the carrots.  If you pour too quickly it can overflow out of the shell.

Adding the custard. be sure to pour slowly so the custard can seep into the carrots. If you pour too quickly it can overflow out of the shell.

Bake the tart at 375F for 30 – 35 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.  Let sit for about 10 minutes, then serve.

The finished pie. Mmm....

The finished pie. Mmm….

Make this meal as light or as hearty as you like. It's a great cold-weather dish when it's served with wild rice and a lovely green vegetable like green beans, asparagus, or a bitter green like kale or mustard.

Make this meal as light or as hearty as you like. It’s a great cold-weather dish when it’s served with wild rice and a lovely green vegetable like green beans, asparagus, or a bitter green like kale or mustard.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

French Toast 1

Posted on July 18, 2013 by Sahar

French Toast. One of the most decadent meals one could ever hope for. It’s a divine meal for breakfast, brunch, lunch, or, yes, dinner.

Admit it. Breakfast for dinner is the best.

Day-old bread soaked in a custard mixture, cooked slowly on a skillet, and served with butter, syrup, powdered sugar, whipped cream, and, even better, fresh fruit.  It’s the kind of meal that makes you want to go back to bed on a lazy weekend. I know I do.

But, is French Toast really French? Well, yes and no.  No one knows the true origins of the recipe.

Dating back to the 4th or 5th Century, Apicius is credited as having the earliest recipe for stale bread soaked in milk, but not eggs, and served with honey.It was named “aliter dulcia” – another sweet dish.

“Another sweet dish: Break fine white bread, crust removed, into rather large pieces which soak in milk. Fry in oil, cover with honey and serve.” –Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome, edited and translated by Joseph Dommers Vehling

There are also references to the recipe in a 14th Century German recipe “Arme Ritter” – poor knights.  In the 15th Century, English recipes for “pain perdu” (French) – Lost/wasted bread (a reference to bread that has gone stale).  A similar dish, “suppe dorate” – guilded snippets – was popular in England during the Middle Ages, although the English might have learned it from the Normans (the French who invaded England in 1066) , who had a dish called “tostees dorees” – guilded bread.

“Take slices of white bread, trimmed so that they have no crusts; make these slices square and slightly grilled so that they are colored all over by the fire. Then take eggs beaten together with plenty of sugar and a little rose water; and put the slices of bread in this to soak; carefully remove them, and fry them a little in a frying pan with a little butter and lard, turning them very frequently so that they do not burn. The arrange them on a plate, and top with a little rose water colored yellow with a little saffron, and with plenty of sugar.”
The Medieval Kitchen, Recipes from France and Italy,

The Oxford English Dictionary cites 1660 as the year “French toast” first made an appearance, in a book called The Accomplisht Cook. That preparation, however, left out the eggs, in favor of soaking pre-toasted bread in a solution of wine, sugar, and orange juice. The Dictionary of American Food and Drink contends that the first egg-based recipe in print didn’t appear until 1870; throughout the tail end of the 19th Century, similar recipes appeared under the monikers “French toast,” “Egg toast,” “Spanish toast,” and even “German toast.”

A highly dubious creation myth holds that French toast owes its creation to an Albany, N.Y., innkeeper named Joseph French. Legend has it that French whipped up a batch of the golden-brown treats in 1724 and advertised them as “French toast” because he’d never learned to use an apostrophe “s.”

Some historical information from: www.todayifoundout.com, www.slate.com, www.wikipedia.org

 

In other words, a lot of speculation. But no one really knows.

Now, on to the recipe.

***************************

A few notes:

1.  Use any type of bread you like.  When I was growing up, my mom used good old sliced white bread.  And it was delicious.  Now, I use my personal favorite, challah (Jewish Egg Bread).  Buttermilk, sourdough, brioche, and country-style are all excellent choices.

2.  Day-old bread is best.  If your bread is too fresh, it will fall apart when you soak it in the custard mixture.  If it is too dry, you’ll never be able to get the bread soaked through enough to have a moist slice of finished toast.

3.  Whole milk. Please.  Cream and Half & Half are too heavy.  2%, 1%, and Skim don’t have the richness or flavor you want. Plus, they won’t stand up to the heat.

4.  If you like, you can add about 1/2 – 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and/or nutmeg to the custard mixture.  I generally don’t, but, if you want to, go for it.

5.  I like to use my electric skillet to make French Toast.  The temperature is steady and easy to adjust as I need to.  If you prefer to use a skillet on the stove, keep the temperature at medium-low.  Yes, it takes a little extra time.  The results are worth it.

 

The Ingredients

The Ingredients

Beautiful Challah Bread.

Beautiful Challah Bread.

 

 

1 loaf day-old bread, sliced into 3/4″ – 1″ thick slices

6 eggs, well beaten

2 c. whole milk

1 tbsp. sugar

1 tbsp. vanilla extract

Butter, syrup, powdered sugar, whipped cream, fruit for serving (one, some, or all of these; up to you)

 

1.  Buy your bread a day or two before you decide to make the toast.  A few hours up to the night before, slice the bread into thick slices and lay out on racks.  This will let the bread dry out without over-drying. (If you slice the bread the night before and are afraid it might get too dry, cover the bread with a clean dish towel.  This will still allow for air circulation but keep the bread from over-drying.)

In a pinch, you can have your oven on low and place the sliced bread in there for an hour to quick-dry the bread as well.

Sliced bread.  Nice, thick slices.

Sliced bread. Nice, thick slices.

Drying the bread. The racks help with air circulation so the bread dries evenly.

Drying the bread. The racks help with air circulation so the bread dries evenly.

2.  In a large bowl, beat the eggs.  The need to be beaten well so that the whites, which can be notoriously hard to break down, are completely incorporated with the yolks.

The beaten eggs.  You want to be sure that the whites and yolks are fully incorporated.

The beaten eggs. You want to be sure that the whites and yolks are fully incorporated.

3.  Mix in the milk, sugar, and vanilla.

Adding the milk, vanilla, and sugar.

Adding the milk, vanilla, and sugar.

The custard ready for the bread.

The custard ready for the bread.

4.  Meanwhile, have either an electric skillet preheated to 275F or a non-stick skillet on the stove over medium-low heat.  (f you want to use a little unflavored oil or butter in the skillet, go ahead.  I generally don’t.)

5.  Take the bread, a slice or two at a time, and soak the bread.  Gently press on the bread to make sure the custard mixture is soaking completely through the slice.

Soaking the bread.

Soaking the bread. Gently press down to submerge the bread as completely as possible in the custard. Sometimes, you’ll see air bubbles coming up. That’s a good thing.  It means the liquid is displacing any air in the bread.

Flip the bread over and soak the other side.

Flipping over the bread.

Soaking the other side. When you press down, there should be no spring-back from the bread. Also, the area around the crust is more dense, so you may not get the same saturation as the rest of the slice.  That’s OK.

Carefully lift the bread out, allowing the excess custard to drip back into the bowl.  Lay the bread on a plate and repeat until you have enough to put into the skillet without crowding.

6.  Transfer the bread to the skillet and let it cook until it is golden brown on one side before flipping.  This will help keep the bread from falling apart and cook evenly.

The toast in the skillet. They key to cooking French Toast is low and slow.

The toast in the skillet. They key to cooking French Toast is low and slow.

Ready for its close-up. A lovely, dense, custard-filled slice of Challah. Yummy.

Ready for its close-up. A lovely, dense, custard-filled slice of Challah. Yummy.

Once the bread is browned, carefully flip it over.  Continue to cook the bread until it is golden brown on the other side as well.  It should also “puff” a bit in the center and, when you press it, it should bounce back, like a cake.

After flipping the toast. A lovely golden brown.

After flipping the toast. A lovely golden brown. After a few minutes, the centers should begin to puff up a bit, like a cake.

The finished toast. Notice the density and moistness of the bread. This is what you want.

The finished toast. Notice the density and moistness of the bread. This is what you want.

7.  Keep the toast in a warm oven while you finish cooking the rest.  Serve with any toppings you like and any sides you prefer.

Heated maple syrup and melted butter.  This is my preferred method of dressing my French Toast, waffles, and pancakes. it's just easier.

Heated maple syrup and melted butter. This is my preferred method of dressing my French Toast, waffles, and pancakes. it’s just easier.

Resistance is futile.

Resistance is futile.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spinach & Mushroom Pie 4

Posted on June 14, 2013 by Sahar

Savory pies, or their fancier cousin, quiches, are a great way to use a combination of leftovers, pantry items, and your imagination.  Like with sweet pies, a savory pie can make you use your creativity in new and surprising ways.

Plus, it’s a good, quick meal after a long day at work.

A few tips on making savory pies:

1.  Frozen pie crusts are fine.  That’s what I used in this recipe.  I know some will think it’s cheating, or, at worst, sacrilege, but I think it works perfectly well for this recipe.

2.  Keep the pie crust frozen until just before you’re ready to fill it.  Otherwise, it will become soggy during baking.

3.  Always have whole milk and eggs on hand.  They’ll make the custard, or base, of the pie.  Don’t use 2%, 1%, or skim milk.  They won”t stand up to the heat.

4.  If you’re using a cooked filling in the pie, make sure it’s cooled off before you put it into the crust.  Otherwise, it will begin to melt the crust too early and/or cook the eggs too quickly.

5.  Cheese is always good.

6.  When you bake the pie, take it out of the oven when it has a slight wobble in the center.  Let the pie sit for 10 minutes before cutting.  This will allow the pie to settle and finish setting up in the center without overcooking the eggs,

 

Now, to the recipe.

***********************

The ingredients

The ingredients

A whole nutmeg seed.  Like most spices, it's so much better to buy the whole seed and grate or grind just what you need.

A whole nutmeg seed. Like most spices, it’s so much better to buy the whole seed and grate or grind just what you need.

A grated nutmeg seed.  It smells wonderful, looks really tiger-stripe cool, and lasts a long time.

A grated nutmeg seed. It smells wonderful, looks really tiger-stripe cool, and lasts a long time.

For my money, the perfect nutmeg-grating tool: the mini Microplane.

For my money, the perfect nutmeg-grating tool: the mini Microplane.

The flavoings: fresh rosemary, black pepper, salt, fresh ground nutmeg

The flavorings: fresh rosemary, black pepper, salt, fresh grated nutmeg

 

2 tbsp. olive oil

1 c. sliced mushrooms

1 c. spinach, chopped (if you’re using baby spinach, don’t worry about chopping)

1 c. whole milk or half-and-half

3 eggs

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. rosemary, chopped

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

1 c. shredded Gruyère cheese

1 ea. frozen 9-inch pie shell

 

1.  Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat  to 425F.  Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with foil (this is to transport the pie to and from the oven).  Tear a long piece of foil in half lengthwise; fold each piece in half again lengthwise.  You will use these to wrap the edges of the crust before you add the filling. (The foil will keep the edges of the crust from burning in the oven.)

2.  Heat the oil in a large skillet over rmedium-high heat.  Add the mushrooms, a pinch of salt, and saute until they soften, about 5 – 7 minutes.

Sauteing the mushrooms.

Sauteing the mushrooms.

Add the spinach and cook until it just begins to wilt.

Adding the spinach. In this example, I actually used a spinach-arugula salad mix.  It worked very well.

Adding the spinach. In this example, I actually used a spinach-arugula salad mix. It worked very well.

Remove the skillet from the heat and let the mixture cool. (To cool the filling faster, take it out of the pan and  spread it onto a plate.)

3.  In a large measuring cup or medium bowl, mix together the eggs, milk or half-and-half, rosemary, nutmeg, and salt & pepper.  Set aside.  This is the custard mixture.

The custard mixture.

The custard mixture.

4.  Take the pie crust out of the freezer and place it on the baking sheet.  Take your two reserved pieces of foil and wrap them around the outer edge of the pie crust.  There will be some overlap.  Be sure the foil doesn’t go down the sides of the crust where the filling will be.

The wrapped pie shell.

The wrapped pie shell.

5.  Line the bottom of the crust with the grated Gruyère.

Mmm... Gruyere.

Mmm… Gruyère.

Next, spread the spinach-mushroom mixture as evenly as possible over the cheese.

Layer #2.

Layer #2.

Lastly, slowly over the custard to fill the pie.

Pour the custard mixture over slowly so it has a chance to soak into the spaces around the cheese and vegetables.

Pour the custard mixture over slowly so it has a chance to soak into the spaces around the cheese and vegetables.

Ready for the oven.  Be sure to put it in immediately after filling the crust.

Ready for the oven. Be sure to put it in immediately after filling the crust.

6.  Place the pie in the oven and bake for 25 – 30 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean and there is a very slight wobble in the center of the pie.  Let the pie stand for about 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

How can you resist this?

How can you resist this?

Enjoy!

Nice lunch or a light dinner. Either way, you can't go wrong.

Nice lunch or a light dinner. Either way, you can’t go wrong.

 

 



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