Dessert Crackers with Custard and Blackberries

What happy things accidents can be! I've been trying to find an easy and 'perfect' way of baking little tart shells because I wanted to make Lucie's Buttertarts for Linda for her birthday. I still haven't succeeded in making the little shells (an ongoing project until I can crack the code, sans the troublesome pie weights), but one of the accidents in my attempts was that they just baked into flaky delicious disks. The following is what I made with them.

1 recipe Cookie Pie Crust

2 recipes Pastry Cream

80 to 90 blackberries

¼ cup chopped 70% dark chocolate

1. Start the Cookie Pie Crust to make the dessert cracker base.
2. While the dough is cooling, prepare the Pastry Cream up to step 5, then set aside.
3. When you've rolled out the dough, cut into disks - I use the top of a standard round plastic container, like a yoghurt container lid, for my cutting shape.
4. Arrange the disks on a large cookie sheet to blind bake, as per the instructions in the recipe, except lightly place a second cookie sheet on top. This will prevent the dough from puffing up excessively. Bake for 10 minutes, then remove the top cookie sheet and bake another 5 minutes or until the crackers start to lightly brown.
5. Allow the crackers to cool completely. 
6. Finish the Pastry Cream by following step 6 of the recipe which is to whisk in the heavy cream.
7. Assemble the crackers by evenly distributing the Pastry Cream in dollops onto the crackers; arrange the blackberries on top of the cream and lightly press into the cream.
8. In a double boiler melt the chocolate and drizzle lightly over the loaded crackers. 
9. You can either wait for the chocolate to set, or serve with the chocolate still semi-liquid. 
10. Have napkins at the ready - it's easy to get smeared with the chocolate!

Asparagus and Brie Quiche

How many delicious ways can one make egg pie? Yes, egg pie. This is essentially what quiche is. I've heard tell a wife who had (or has?) a husband who wouldn't eat quiche (because real men don't), told him one night that she made egg pie. Of course, he ate it and loved it.

1 batch blind-baked pie crust, completely cooled
3 eggs
3 to 4 spring onions
2 Tbsps (1oz/28gr) butter
5 to 8 oz brie cheese
1 cup coffee cream OR ½ cup heavy cream + ½ cup milk
3 to 4 oz blanched asparagus
1 tsp English mustard powder
1 pinch nutmeg
salt and pepper

1. Heat oven to 400°F. Blind bake the crust. Allow to cool completely before using to allow the crust to set.
2. Blanch asparagus about 90 seconds in boiling water. Cool in ice bath.
3. Fry onions in the butter until tender, set aside.
4. Remove the rind from the brie and cut into small cubes.
5. Beat eggs, add cream, milk and cheese and mix together. Add mustard, nutmeg, salt and pepper.
6. Scatter the onions on the bottom of the shell; pour in the egg mix; pattern asparagus as you like on top. (I'll often measure the asparagus spears and cut the bottoms to create a wheel effect, which means I put the cooked and cut ends in first and submerge them in the egg mix, then arrange the asparagus tips on top)
7. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, until the custard sets and is slightly brown.
8. To keep the quiche warm, cover it with aluminum foil and bake it in a preheated oven at 200-250F.

Bacon and Onion Quiche

November 2010 - Bacon, my Jewish friends tell me bacon is the one pork product that has either caused or could cause them to break with kosher. Pork, for my part, is part of my nutritional heritage as a descendent to the Gauls (I base this on the historically accurate documents about a small village that resisted the Romans, chronicled in the works titled "Astérix le Gaulois"). In spite of this, it is also one of the meats that, in my current financially precarious state, I will only buy free range or organic, and have waited with bated breath for the time the happy porker farmers come to the local farmer's market so that I can purchase a few choice packets. As luck would have it, happy pigs are more readily available that I thought, for the local Capers-slash-Whole Foods market carries bacon from happy, outdoor pigs from a local producer. As happy as I am to have discovered this bacon, I nevertheless use it judiciously - its flavour is so strong that it tends to overpower anything else in the dish, which is why I use it primarily as 'lardons' when making hearty winter stews. But for some reason I wanted to make a quiche with bacon and gruyère. After looking around at other recipes, I decided to throw in some onion and dijon mustard as well. And I'm quite pleased with the result - a nice balance of flavours for a warming winter dish where the bacon plays a part in the society of flavours instead of being a corporate raider.

1 blind baked pie crust, completely cooled

3 slices bacon (thick slices, if thin adjust the quantity accordingly)

1 large onion, sliced into rounds

1 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1 garlic clove, minced

Salt

Fresh ground black pepper

3 large eggs

1 cup coffee cream OR ½ cup heavy cream + ½ cup milk

2 tsps Dijon mustard

¾ cup Gruyère cheese, grated

1. Prepare the blind-baked pie crust. Allow to cool completely before using to allow the crust to set.
2. Preheat oven to 375°F.
3. Chop bacon into lardons (cut bacon into paper-clip sized pieces). Cook the lardons in a big skillet until semi crisp.
4. Remove all but 1 Tbsp. of the bacon fat (to save in use in other recipes) from the skillet and heat over medium heat. Add the sliced onion and cook until the onions are soft and start to brown. At this point, add the parsley and garlic, and cook 1 more minute.
5. Once the bacon has cooled a bit, chop into smaller pieces, and combine with the onion mixture.
6. In a bowl, whisk the eggs until light. Stir in dairy and mustard and whisk again to combine. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
7. In the pre-baked pie shell, sprinkle the cheese on the bottom, then the onion and bacon mixture, and finally smother it all with the egg mixture.
8. Bake the quiche until it's all puffed and golden brown and joyful, about 35 minutes.
9. Serve warm or at room temperature.
10. To keep the quiche warm, cover it with aluminum foil and bake it in a preheated oven at 200-250F.

Fresh Apricot Tarts

1 recipe of Cookie pie crust, completely cooled

3⁄4 pound apricots, pits discarded, cut into 1⁄4" wedges

4 tsps. sugar

1⁄2 cup apricot jam

1. On a lightly floured surface, roll out half the Cookie pie crust to a 1⁄8" thick rectangle, about 6 by 11 inches. Using a 5" round cutter or a bowl, cut out 2 circles; transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough. Using a fork, poke several holes in the crusts to prevent them from ballooning while cooking. Chill the dough on the sheet in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
2. Heat the oven to 400°F and bake the crust until it's pale golden, about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and reduce the temperature to 350°F. 
3. Cool the crust completely before going on to the next step.
4. Arrange the apricots in a fan shape on the crusts. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon sugar on each tart and bake until the tarts are golden and the apricots start to brown, 25 to 35 minutes. As tarts bake, warm the jam in a saucepan. Remove the tarts from the oven and cool. Strain the jam into a bowl and discard the solids; this is your apricot glaze. Brush the glaze on the tarts and enjoy.

Apple Pie with Meringue Cream

I've converted this recipe from French metric, and it seems to work really well. It's not a single-bowl kind of recipe, but it's well worth it. The word"emmitouflée" is used to describe someone well dressed against the cold, but I'm guessing here it means 'slathered' or 'encased' or something of the sort - the apples are under a tasty blanket of sweet meringue.

Les pommes emmitouflées de Grand-Mère

Part 1 - the pie crust

1 cup flour

1⁄4 tsp salt

1 Tbsp sugar

1⁄2 cup (4oz/114gr) butter, cut into pieces

1 egg yolk

1 Tbsp + cold water

1. Follow the instructions for the Cookie Pie Crust, but substitute the vanilla for 1 egg yolk and be careful about the amount of water you add to avoid having a wet dough. Roll out, place in a pie plate and keep in the refrigerator until the filling is ready. Do not pre-bake.

Part 2 - the filling; apples

5 to 6 large apples, firm when cooked

1⁄4 cup (2oz/58gr) butter 

1⁄4 cup apricot jam

1. Peel and core the apples, then slice them into sections about 1⁄4" thick.
2. Melt the butter and get it to froth before adding the apples. Cook until the apples just start to brown. Finally, add the apricot jam and allow to melt completely before taking the pan off the heat.

Part 3 - the topping

1 Tbsp (1⁄2 oz/14gr) butter

1⁄4 cup sugar
3 egg yolks

3 egg whites
1⁄4 cup sugar

1. In a small bowl, cream the butter as best you can, getting it nice and soft, before adding half the sugar and the three egg yolk, one at a time. Beat vigorously until you get some volume out of the mix.
2. Meanwhile, beat the egg whites, adding the rest of the sugar. Beat until the whites become hard peaks - you should be able to rest a teaspoon on top of the whites without it sinking.
3. Add a bit of the whites into the butter-and-yolk cream, then pour this into the egg whites, gently folding so as to retain as much volume as possible.

Final Assembly

1. Pre-heat oven at 375°F.
2. In the chilled pie shell, pour in apple mixture, then top with the beaten egg mixture. Bake for 45 minutes or until the top gets some nice colour.

Apple-Custard Pie

This is part of a perfect marriage. I like fruit pies, Ben likes custard pies. This apple custard pie blends the creaminess of the custard with the pleasant bite of cooked apple. I like vanilla a lot so I always put in a bit more than most, and in this recipe the custard takes on more of a pastry cream texture, with the vanilla lending a wonderful floral quality that marries well with the apple.

Cookie Crust Pie Shell, partially blind-baked (when blind-baking, only bake for up to 10 minutes and try to protect the crust by covering it - the pie will bake an additional 30 minutes and you don't want the crust to overcook)

4 firm apples such as Spartan, Jona Gold, Granny Smith, etc, peeled, cored and sliced thin

1⁄4 cup + 2 Tbsp sugar

Pinch of nutmeg

1 cup heavy cream

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

3 Tbsps (42gr) butter

1. Set the oven rack in the middle position and preheat the oven to 400°F.
2. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, smear the paper with a little butter and arrange the apple slices in a single layer on top (you will likely have to use two cookie sheets to do this properly. The apples have to cook and absorb the sugar which is best done if they're not overlapping). Sprinkle each cookie sheet with 1 Tbsp sugar, powder with the pinch of nutmeg. The amount of time the apple cooks depends on the firmness of the apple - test the slices with a paring knife; if it goes in smoothly, the apple is done. The slices should be tender yet still keep their shape.
3. Whisk the cream, eggs and vanilla together, add the remaining sugar and mix a bit more then set aside.
4. Layer the apples in the pie shell in concentric circles. I tend to make two layers of apples in two concentric circles. At last pour the egg mixture on top. Dot the surface with the remaining 2 Tbsp of butter and bake the pie at 400°F 30 minutes.
5. During the baking, check the crust; if you see it browning too much, remove the pie from the oven and cover the edges of the crust with tin foil, then re-introduce into the oven.
6. Allow to cool completely before serving.

Sweet pie crust

I've published my savory pie dough on this blog, so here's the sweet version. This is such an easy and absolutely delightful dessert pie crust. To enjoy the flavour of the butter and avoid the excess fat, just chant over and over "No Calories Here" while you're making it, to cast a protective spell.

1 cup (150g) flour

1⁄4 tsp salt

1 Tbsp sugar

1⁄2 cup (4oz/114gr) butter, cut into pieces 

1⁄2 tsp vanilla

2 Tbsps + cold water

NOTE: The pastry needs time to cool in the refrigerator not once, but twice, for about 15 minutes each time, and then another 15 minutes to pre-bake in the oven, a total of about 45 minutes.

1. Put the flour, salt, and sugar in a large bowl. Add the butter pieces and pinch with your fingers to create a lumpy mixture with pea-sized pieces throughout. We're not looking for perfection here, just to break up the butter a bit and spread it out.
2. Make a well in the middle, and pour in the vanilla and water. Quickly work in the flour to create dough. Do not over-mix. The bits of butter are what help the crust become crisp and flaky.
3. Pat into a thick disk and refrigerate 15 minutes.
4. Roll out the dough to about 2⁄3 of the usual size, fold in, reform into a ball and roll out again. You can do this one more time if you want before rolling it out completely to line the tart shell. Chill another 15 minutes. These two chilling times are important, because it hardens the little bits of butter in the dough so that it creates minuscule pocket in the crust for that flaking effect.
5. To pre-bake, heat the oven to 400°F. I use weights to blind-bake the shell, this prevents it from puffing up. Line the frozen pie shell with parchment paper, pour in weights (I use beans), just enough to cover the bottom and up the sides. Bake the shell for about 10 minutes like this, then remove the weights and the paper, put the partially-baked shell back in the oven and bake another 5 minutes or until the crust is ever-so-lightly browned.
6. Allow it to cool completely before using to allow the crust to set.

Traditions start somewhere - Tarte à la Citrouille a Papa

I just called home to ask my dad for his special pumpkin pie recipe. I always thought it was a recipe passed on from one generation to the next. My mom answered. Papa was in the bathroom and since she knew where it was written down, she'd get it for me. My sister's family was there with their little dog and so after I'd had the chance to say 'hi' and chat a bit with them, my mom came back and said she was tired so she just read the recipe out to me in English - whoa, wait a minute, why is it in English? We're a French family after all. Apparently it isn't an ancient family recipe, it's something my mom found on the back of a tin label and my dad took over making it. Like many straight men of his generation, there were only certain things a man could do in the kitchen and retain his manliness - barbeque being one of them - and pumpkin pie was ok  because he'd use pumpkins from their garden. The original recipe is apparently called "Magic Pumpkin Pie", but to me, it will always be La tarte à la citrouille de Papa:

1 pie crust recipe (TRY Pate Sablee and Pate Brisee)

2 cups (480g) pumpkin, mashed (to roast a pumpkin, 350F oven, cut in half, scoop out middle, oil cut edges, cut edges down bake for 50 minutes or until a knife easily pierces the skin. Cool, scoop out flesh, mash or puree in a blender)

1 1/3 cups (300g) sweetened condensed milk *(1)

1+1 egg, beaten

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. ginger

3/4 tsp. cinnamon

1. Pre-heat the oven to 425F.
2. Refrigerate the pie crust for at least 10 minutes. 
3. Blend all the ingredients together in a bowl. No need to worry about sequencing, just slop it all together and blend until completely smooth and incorporated.
4. Brush the entire pie shell with a thin layer of egg wash, bottom and edges. The protein from the egg will seal the crust for a better crumb when cooked.
5. Don't let the egg-brushed shell sit, immediately pour the pumpkin mix into the pie shell.
6. Initially, bake for 10-12 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350F and bake another 30-35 minutes.
7. Cool, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving.

*(1) (I am testing out a recipe to make my own sweetened condensed milk)

Savory Pie Crust

I've always searched for the perfect pie crust recipe. I hate the idea of using vegetable shortening; there's something trashy about it. I'm due to try pork lard or goose fat. My mother used olive oil which is an interesting idea, but more often than not it makes for a tough and bready crust. But butter, ah, golden sun of the edible fat world, butter is perfect. It creates this lovely, erm, buttery pastry, suitable for savory or sweet dishes (just add a tbsp sugar and 1/2 tsp vanilla for sweet crusts).

1 cup (150g) flour
¼ tsp. salt
½ cup (4oz/114gr) cold butter, cut into pieces
2+ Tbsps. cold water

1. Put the flour and salt in a large bowl. Add the butter pieces and pinch with your fingers to create a crumb texture. The secret to a good crust is to have small globules of butter throughout the dough; really cold (but not frozen) butter helps with this.
2. Make a well in the middle, and pour in the water. Quickly work in the flour to create a dough. Do not over-mix; again, this is to prevent overheating the butter from the heat of your hands so that it stays solid as little pockets of fat in the dough.
3. Pat the dough into a disk, wrap it in plastic, and refrigerate for about 15 minutes.
4. Roll out the dough to about 2/3 of the usual size, fold in, reform into a ball and roll out again. You can do this one more time if you want before rolling it out completely to line the tart shell. Chill another 15 minutes. These two chilling times are important, because it hardens the little bits of butter in the dough so that it creates minuscule pocket in crust for that flaking effect. Chill for another 15 minutes.
5. To pre-bake: Heat the oven to 400F. Poke holes in the bottom (I use a fork to do this). To use pie-weights (sometimes called "baking beans") to help the crust retain its shape, line the uncooked crust with parchment paper and fill with the pie-weights. Bake the shell about 15 minutes, remove it from the oven and take out the pie-weights and parchment paper. 
6. Allow it to cool completely before using to allow the crust to set. Then the crust is ready to be filled.

Italian Sausage Pie or, What to eat when you're bumed

Yesterday we came home from a beautiful spring day to find that our kitchen window had been forced open and our computers stolen (I'm uploading this post on an ancient laptop that has already crashed three times, won't work if you put in the battery, and needs its belly rubbed before going the sleep!) There's the inconvenience of losing computers and the danger of personal information on them falling into the wrong hands, but what is even more disturbing to me is that they entered through the kitchen - my sanctuary, the space from where I make my home... homey. And on top of that, my entire repertoire of recipes that I'd altered to my liking are gone. Gone!
Ah, well, I don't want to stay with these feelings, so a little comfort food will help, not just to eat, but to make, to fill my desecrated sacred space with warm, appetising aromas, to welcome light back into our home. I now have the opportunity to rebuild, rediscover and re-invent.
An old favourite is Italian Sausage Pie, a recipe I found on Recipezaar that is both delicious and comforting.

1 pie shell, blind baked, completely cooled
3/4 lb Italian sausage, sweet or hot
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 small onion
3 eggs
1/2 cup crème fraîche, cream or milk
1 cup shredded mozzarella or Gruyère
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Before turning on the heat under a skillet, add the oil and the onion. Remove the casing from the sausage and break up into crumbles in the skillet.
2. Turn on the heat  and cook until the onions are soft and the sausage starts to brown. This is usually when most of the moisture from the sausage has evaporated. Drain any excess fat and  and spoon this mixture into the blind baked pie shell.
3. Meanwhile, in a bowl, beat together the eggs and the cream, then mix in the cheese, salt and pepper; pour this over the sausage mixture.
4. Bake at 350F for 35 minutes, or until the custard sets and it tests clean with a knife.
5. Allow the pie to cool a few minutes before serving.
6. To keep the quiche warm, cover it with aluminum foil and bake it in a preheated oven at 200-250F.

Lemon Cream Pie

The universe has conspired to force me to write about Laura Calder's Lemon Tart. I've made it a few times now and it just seems to be improving every time. The recipe's been sitting on my computer for days, but I always had other things to write about. My experience today was a clear sign from the Divine Heavenly Chef that good things need to be recognised.

This morning, when I left to go to work, there was some left over from the night before. Throughout the day I'd think about having a piece when I got home as a snack, with some of the strawberry cream I'd made to go along with it. Waiting for me, on the kitchen counter, was the empty pie plate and some crumbs and a dirty fork. My husband Ben had decided to snack on the same delicacy I'd been day-dreaming about all day! Below is the recipe. I haven't changed a thing because it's perfect as it is, although, like Laura, I like my lemon tarts, well, tart. Add more sugar if you prefer yours sweet.
Now, I call this a pie because I bake it in a pie dish (which has sloped sides). You can choose to bake it in a tart dish (straight or square sides), but I don't recommend you bake it as a galette (dough folded over the edge of the filling and baked on a cookie sheet) since the custard is likely too liquid to hold the shape.

1 recipe for Cookie pie crust, blind baked, completely cooled
2 whole eggs
4 egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar (155g) more to taste
3/4 cup lemon juice
2/3 cup crème fraîche or heavy cream

1. Heat the oven to 325ºF. 
2. Beat together the eggs, yolks, and sugar in a bowl. 
3. Add the lemon juice.
4. Whisk in the cream.
5. Strain into the shell.
6. Skim off any surface foam, and pop any bubbles.
7. Bake until just set, about 30 minutes or until the center sets. Let cool before serving.

NOTE: The first time I made this was for Valentine's day, and I cut the pie with heart-shaped cookie cutters. It was very pretty, but I hadn't thought it out - the cookie cutters are old tin ones (very wabi sabi) and reacted with the lemon in the tart to give it a metallic taste. The moral is that it is a good idea to use the tart to cut out cute shapes, but make sure that the cookie cutters are made of non-reactive material.