Salad of apple, fennel, toasted pecans and pomegranate seeds

I saw this recipe initially on Simple Bites, and I was intrigued, mostly because I love pomegranate seeds and toasted pecans. I was less convinced about the fennel - I've had fennel about four times in my life. The first time, I was little, and I determined that I hated it. The second time, was last year, and it was roasted, and I decided it was ok. The third time was a few months ago, and someone else was cooking it, and I ate it out of politeness, and it was actually ok. But I've never had raw fennel, and I was worried that the anise flavor would totally turn me off. Luckily, mixed with apple, and in a fruity dressing, it was good!

The best part about this is definitely whacking the pomegranate seeds out of its shell. Cut the pomegranate in half, hold it cut-side down over a large (I repeat: LARGE) bowl, and start thwacking the back of it with a wooden spoon. Use your wrist. The seeds will just pop out, and it is a very good way to relieve tension and release some frustration.

For the pecans, chop them roughly and toast them for 5-10 minutes in a 350F oven. Don't over cook them, as then they'll just be burnt. I usually set the timer for 5min, and then check every minute until they look and smell properly toasty.

Cut up the fennel bulb and an apple, toss all four ingredients together, and you have a salad!

For the dressing, I used leftover apricot juice from the canned apricots I'd used for the tart - they were packed in pear juice, but it was all orange from housing apricots - mixed with some olive oil, salt, and pepper. Pretty simple, although I'm sure a fancier dressing would be just as delicious, if not more so.

Overall, a very tasty salad. Will definitely make again.

Apricot tart with frangipane

Before the World Orienteering Champs, I needed some US Team clothing, and I had missed the order deadline. Kat came to the rescue, because she can't really orienteer anymore (at least to the level she considers worthwhile to do it at, due to injuries), so she sold me a bunch of her US Team clothing. And instead of charging me in full, we made a deal where I'd cook her dinner some night. This sounds like a win-win situation to me, so yesterday I headed down to New Haven for the night, to have some quality girl-time and enjoy some really tasty food.

Given the rainy, cold weather, I was feeling inspired by Belgian cuisine. I decided on a four-course meal, although eventually gave up on trying to pair Belgian beer with each course, because the liquor store I visited was inadequate. The first course was mussels, in a white-wine butter sauce with thyme, and crusty french bread. Then the main course was an endive gratin with ham and gruyere, with boef bourguinon in puff pastry shells. Then a salad with fennel, apple, toasted pecans and pomegranate seeds, and finally, an apricot frangipane tart. The boef bourguinon was actually left over, from the night before, at Peter and Gail's house, so that made the whole thing pretty quick to make. My favorite dish was definitely the tart, so I'm going to start with that recipe, and work backwards!

Apricot and frangipane tart on puff pastry

Frangipane:
3 tbs butter
1/4C sugar
1 egg
1/2C almond meal
1/2tsp almond extract

Apricot tart:
1 can apricot halves
2/3 of a sheet puff pastry

For the frangipane, you basically make a cookie. Cream the butter with the sugar, and then stir in the egg and the almond extract. Then stir in the almond meal. You could also take blanched almonds and grind them up in a food processor, if you don't have almond meal. It makes a loose cookie dough thing.



To assemble the tart, break or cut the puff pastry into long strips (it comes folded in thirds, so if you don't bother thawing it, it'll just crack at the folds, and that makes a convenient size for tarts. Spread some of the frangipane over the frozen puff pastry leaving a little room around the edges, and then plop on some apricots.



Bake at 425 for about 20 minutes, until the edges of the puff pastry are starting to get golden brown. Pull out, let it cool a bit, and eat!

Garlic bread

This was one of those awesome recipes that was super easy, and tasted delicious. You could either make your own bread, or use an existing loaf of bread. We made our own, just because we do things like that. Once the bread was baked, we cut it in half, and spread the open halves with butter, diced garlic, diced chives, and a sprinkle of kosher salt. Then we baked at 400F for another 10 minutes or so, until it was crispy. If it isn't crisping up fast enough, you could broil it. I'd highly recommend making this, because it looked pretty, tasted delicious, and was super duper easy to make. The chives aren't necessary at all, we just had some. You could replace with anything green (parsley, basil, spinach, etc), just because it looks pretty to have green stuff on there. Another addition that would be delicious is grated cheese. Do it.

Bacon Cheddar Chive Biscuits

I made these, and they were scrumptious. I added about two tablespoons of chopped chives. Other than that, I actually followed a recipe! The biscuits were tender and flaky, flavored like bacon and cheese, crunchy on the outside, and pure deliciousness. I had one for breakfast the next day (not sure how any of them survived from dinner, but somehow, there was one leftover), and it was still tender and flaky, though less crispy on the outside. These DEFINITELY got a good Ed-rating. But then again, it's hard to go wrong with good, thick-cut, smoky bacon from Carl's sausage kitchen.



I've reprinted the recipe below, in my words and for my files. But for the true foodie effect, I recommend heading over to pioneer woman and following her recipe. Actually, now that I look at this, I did change some things. Using all butter instead of crisco, and adding 1/4tsp of salt. Oops.

Bacon Cheddar Chive Biscuits
2C flour
1tsp baking powder
1tsp kosher salt
4 tbs frozen butter
1/4C olive oil
10tbs milk
1 egg
1C grated cheese
6 pieces bacon
3tbs chopped chives
1C diced onion

First, deal with the bacon: lay the strips out on a cooling rack, placed over a baking sheet, and bake for 10-20 minutes at 350F, until it is nicely browned and most of the fat has rendered out. Use some of that fat to sweat the onion, with a pinch of salt to help it along. Once the bacon has cooled, crumble it. Bump the oven to 400F.

Mix all the dry goods together. Using the big holes on a cheese grater, grate the frozen butter into the dry stuff. Mix that around with your finger tips (pinch it) for about a minute, then let it be. Stir in the cheese, crumbled bacon, chives, and onion. Mix all the wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Dump the wet ingredients into the dry. Stir just until combined - no more. Plop biscuit-sized rounds of dough onto a greased baking sheet, and bake for 20 minutes.

Enjoy!