Pasta peas and breakfast veggies

I was out of town over the weekend, subsisting entirely on cookies, bread, and pizza, with a side of ice cream, and Ed was hanging out with his buddies grilling meat, and so this weekend wasn't a great one for eating our veggies. We may have to pickle the mini cucumbers, which actually sounds like a good plan anyway. Ed also picked up some sugar snap peas, snowpeas, and shell peas on his way home from VT last week, along with herbs - Savory, oregano, parsley, sage, thyme, mint. Yum! But our work is cut out for us in the next few days I think.

Last night, Jess and Graham and Andrea made the trek to newton, and Andrea did great, smearing strawberries all over her face while frowning in concentration, sort of like "hmm, I think I like this thing my mom is trying to teach me to eat, but I don't really have a clue how to eat it." We all knew we were playing with limited time before her bedtime, so threw together a quick but tasty pasta dish. This is a formula that works well for all weeknight pasta dishes:

Quick pasta
Put on a big pot of water to boil.

As it comes to temperature, chop an onion and saute in olive oil. Chop some garlic and add to the pan. As those are sauteeing/gaining some beautiful browning, chop whatever else you're going to put in. Graham was shelling peas, and we chopped up a bunch of sun dried tomatoes that Ed had made last fall, plus about a cup's worth of fresh herbs - savory, thyme, oregano.

Once the water boils, salt it heavily, then add the pasta.

At the last minute we dumped in the peas and herbs. Good pinch of salt, and now you're just waiting for the pasta to finish cooking.

Sometimes I get fancy and reserve some of the pasta water, then finish the pasta cooking in the frying pan. That's usually a good plan, and makes the sauce a little more saucy and velvet-y, but I wasn't sure the full pound of pasta would fit today. So we just cooked to al dente and drained it all out. Then when we mixed it together in the frying pan, we did it slowly enough to not spill pasta all over the floor.

Also pulled together a salad of the mixed baby brassica, a head of boston lettuce, and the same dressing of mustard/lemon/dill/oil/salt as last week. The dressing was good, but the salad felt really uninspired. Some feta would have gone a long way.

Overall, quite tasty, and very quick. And Andrea totally made it through the evening all smiles, long enough for us even to enjoy the sponge cake with blueberries that Jess brought!

Breakfast veggies
Another quick way to cook and eat veggies. Again, this works with a wide variety of veggie options, chopping as you cook. This morning I was starving, byproduct of having too much outdoor fun over the weekend, so instead of riding to work and making my usual sad bowl of oatmeal there, I cooked up a scromelette.

I liberated three leaves of chard, a small yellow squash, a handful of snowpeas, a small handful of pasley and a sprig of sage, and two eggs from the fridge.

One glug of olive oil into the pan, and then a clove of garlic to flavor things. Once that smells good, take it out of the oil (lest it burn) and throw in the snowpeas and yellow squash. Let them sit there browning without moving, as you chop everything else. Rip the leaves off the chard, chop up the stems, and throw those in next, giving a good stir of everything. Chop up the leaves, add those on top. Give them an occasional stir until the leaves wilt, a minute or two.

Scooch your veggies to the side of the pan, add a fresh glug of oil, and crack two eggs (assuming you're a two-egg sort of breakfast person). I like my whites cooked and my yolks a little runny. So, fry the eggs for a minute as the whites set, and then start tossing everything together for another minute or two, until you've got a nice mixture of veggies and eggs and the eggs have bound everything together. Toss in the herbs, scrape it all into a bowl, season and devour. Less than ten minutes, and a well-seasoned cast iron pan means basically no cleanup.


This combo would also be really good with mushrooms. Redfire Farm does do mushroom shares, but I can't afford $25/lb for mushrooms in my life.



I really like the little yellow squash. They're small and tasty, and fry up really nicely because they don't have many seeds.





I swung by the farm on Sunday for my season's allotment of strawberries. They're so amazing! Tiny little gems of awesomeness.


These have always and will always be my favorite food. Now what else to do with strawberries, because I don't think I can eat through three quarts in the week or so that they'll last, and Ed doesn't feel the same way I do about strawberries. Maybe a fruit tart.

Lime curd

I had two limes that had been sitting in our hanging basket a bit too long, and knew it was time to do something with them. Lime curd. No idea where the idea came from, but once I thought it I knew I had to have it, because lemon curd is one of my favorite foods, so lime curd isn't that far off. I couldn't remember goes into curd, so a little googling later, I came up with this. The reason for the funky egg/egg yolk thing is a compromise between some recipes calling for whole eggs, some recipes calling for egg yolks, and me having very small eggs on hand.

It was delicious. I took a picture of the curd spread on bread, but don't let that fool you. I mostly have been eating this stuff with a spoon out of the jar.

I would double the recipe if you have enough limes. Since I only had two, I made a very small batch. Considering the spoon situation I mentioned above, this is probably for the best.

1 egg

1 egg yolk

2/3C sugar

1/4C lime juice (this was a little short using just the lime juice, so I topped it off with bottled lemon juice I had in the fridge)

Zest of both limes

2tbs butter, in pieces

In a metal bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, juice, and zest. Place the bowl over a pot of boiling water to create a double boiler. You could do this straight on the stove top, but then you risk adding too much heat at once and scrambling your eggs. You want to just slowly bring them up to heat, stirring continuously. If they start to scramble, immediately pull the mixture off the heat and continue to stir.

After 5-10 minutes, the curd should be thickened, and pull away from the edge of the bowl. At this point, lower the heat even more, and stir in the butter, one little piece at a time, melting it slowly into the curd.

Then lick every appliance you used to create the curd. Pack a jar or a tupperware, or use immediately. This stuff is so versatile. You can use it as a layer between cakes, you can fill linzertorte-style cookies, you can swirl into cheesecake, you can spread on bread, you can stir into oatmeal, you can top ice cream, you can fill cupcakes, you can spread onto shortbread, you can bake into a glorious lemon tart, or you can eat it with a spoon. 

Stone fruit cake

I'm not a big cake person. I'll take ice cream, or pie, or cookies, or any other sort of baked good, over cake any day. But, there are some cakes that are very tasty indeed. Rich, lemon-y, Italian cakes with a hint of almond and pistacchio, for example. Anyway, not sure how I came about this cake, but I decided to give it a go, and I'm sure glad I did. I've made it twice now, once with the full amount of sugar and once with a little less, because it was just a bit overwhelming, and I think it's better with the less-sweet version. Then you can really taste the fruit.

I think this has become my go-to cake, at least for the time being. It's quick, easy to remember, and tastes delicious. Give it a shot!

Original recipe

The only change was to use 2/3C sugar instead of 3/4C. And, peaches rather than nectarines, since that's what I had. 

The second time, I had some very ripe plums, so those went in, and boy do they make it pretty, staining the area around the plum purple and tart and delicious. 

It'll look like way too much fruit. It's not; the cake will rise right up over that. You could even add more fruit. I bet this would be real pretty with raspberries.

See? Cake eats up the fruit no problem.


I pretend to myself that if I put a piece of cake on a plate, I will only eat that one piece of cake. The reality involves replacing the piece of cake on the plate as soon as the plate is empty...

Plum scones

I saw this recipe the other day, and I was totally intrigued.  Cornmeal scones sounded like a great way to bring more crunch to the party, and a honey-plum-bay leaf jam on top? I'm sold.  So, like a good little obedient cook I followed the recipe, and I found there were a couple things I'd change.  First, the batter was really loose.  Needs a smidge more flour.  And, there wasn't quite enough cornmeal flavor for my liking.  Time to add more of that! Maybe I can get away with just adding more cornmeal rather than more flour, and that'll dry things out enough. 

The plum jam was fantastic.  I would suggest making 16 scones (so, two rounds that you cut into 8ths) rather than 8, because A) more jam and B) they were a little large. 

Ok, I didn't actually follow the recipe to a T, because it says you should chill your jam for an hour. I just put it straight onto the scones. So what if it's a little runny, it was delicious.

These got a good Ed-rating, and I brought some in to work, where they were also proclaimed delicious.  I'll be making them again, but with the above changes.  I'll let y'all know how that goes...

Pear tart

I really wanted a pear and frangipane tart the other day. I had visions of something that looked like this, but, well, mine looked more like someone was in a rush and didn't bother to clean up the edges of the pie crust, and then dumped a can of pears on top.  Oh well, it still tasted delicious.  I love that almond-y flavor in the cookie-ish frangipane, and the canned pears were the perfect texture for something like this.  I boiled down some of the pear syrup to make a glaze, and I'd say that was pretty durn successful, too.

Overall, this is the sort of tart that is quick and easy to make, and tastes really delicious. Need to make again!

Pear Almond Tart

1 recipe pie crust/pate brise (choose your favorite)

Frangipane: 

1 egg

1/2C almond flour

3 tbs butter, softened

1/4C sugar

1tbs flour

1/2tsp almond extract

1 can of pears

Make your pie crust. Roll it out, make it pretty on the edges if you're into that, and blind bake for 20min at 350F.

In a food processor, combine the butter, sugar, egg, almond meal, almond extract, and flour, until it makes a smooth paste.  

Spread the paste into the pie crust shell.

Cut the pears into pretty wedges and arrange artistically around the pie. Or, randomly dump them on top.

Bake the tart another 20 minutes, until a tester stick comes out clean.

Meanwhile, boil ~1C of the pear syrup until it is thick and sticky.  When the tart comes out of the oven, brush the syrup on top of the tart.  

Try not to consume the whole thing in one sitting.

Rhubarb Tart

I saw this recipe on Epicurious the other day, and it looked so pretty that I wanted to try it.  I also liked what someone had suggested about some pastry cream underneath the rhubarb, so I figured I'd play around with a little frangipane underneath.  Total success, because the sweetness of the almond frangipane offset some of the tartness of the rhubarb. Though, testing the straight-rhubarb vs the frangipane, I sort of liked the tarter one.  Maybe you could make a less-sweet frangipane, but really, I hate to admit this... the epicurious recipe was best when left alone. Crazy!

You start with a sheet of puff pastry. Roll it out, and then layer on the rhubarb (over the frangipane, if you're using that).  For frangipane, I creamed 1/2 stick of butter with 1/4C of granulated sugar, dumped in one egg yolk and 1/2C almond flour, and a dash of almond extract and a pinch of salt. Should make a loose cookie dough consistency.  That was enough for half the puff pastry (which was half the box of puff pastry).  Do be sure to slice the rhubarb at an extreme angle, as the bigger your pieces of rhubarb, the prettier your tart. Also, try to remember to leave a little space between the pieces of rhubarb, so that the puff pastry gets a chance to puff.

The syrup was easy to make, and easy to apply. This was the first time I'd ever used my new pastry brush! Very fun.  Sort of. 

Anyway, after baking, brush on the reduced syrup, and then consume within the first half hour or so - I found that the next morning, while still delicious, the tart was a little soggier.

Tart with frangipane on the left, without on the right. Both delicious!

Strawberry napoleons

Good desserts should include strawberries.  That may be an Alex rule of thumb. To make them great desserts, they should also include chocolate.  Now that you know this, you should invite me over for dessert... Anyway, the dessert that Gail and I finally decided on to close out the chicken-and-rice meal was strawberry napoleons.  I decided that they needed some chocolate drizzled over the top, but other than that I believe we followed a recipe.  Thing was, the puff pastry *really* puffed, and maybe that's the point, but it made it hard to eat.  The following morning I discovered that a better way to eat this dessert is to use the bottom layer of puff pastry like toast, and put the strawberries and cream on top, like jam.  See, healthy breakfast - toast with jam.  And, due to the lack of chocolate drizzle on the breakfast version of this dessert, that's totally a legit breakfast.

Wait, we were talking about dessert.  Much tastier, because, chocolate.  So, the original recipe called for rolling out the puff pastry, then letting it chill in the fridge for an hour, then baking.  I don't exactly see the point of the extra chilling, even though we did that, so I'm saying you should probably just skip that step.  Anyway, roll out the puff pastry to fit your baking sheet, 1/8" thick, then back until puffed and golden, then cool.  Whip the cream to soft peaks, then add 1 tbs framboise and 2 tbs powdered sugar, then whip to stiff peaks.  Fold in the sliced strawberries, which you should have tossed with 3tbs granulated sugar (maybe 2-3C of berries?).  Use a serrated knife to cut the puff pastry into whatever size you're in the mood to eat (apparently the size I chose was considerably larger than what everyone else at dinner would have chosen... oops).  Put the filling on top of one piece of puff pastry, top with another piece, and drizzle with chocolate, then sprinkle with powdered sugar.  Yum!

Ingredients:

2-3C strawberries

3tbs granulated sugar

2 sheets of puff pastry

1.5C whipping cream

2tbs powdered sugar

1tbs framboise (or vanilla extract)

~1/4C chocolate, to melt and drizzle on top

More powdered sugar for sprinkling on top

I think next time, to make it easier to eat, I'd use the puff pastry as a tart base, and either bake it with the strawberries, or bake with some frangipane filling, then put the strawberries and cream on top of that.  The top layer of puff pastry wasn't entirely necessary.  But this definitely should get made again, it was delicious.

Nectarine season

It's nectarine season!  Fresh ripe nectarines have to be one of my favorite things ever.  A nectarine imported from California is a totally different beast - hard, mealy, and not that sweet (I'm sure it's the importing part, not the California part, that screws them up like that).  Local stone fruit is impossible to beat.  When you bite into a nectarine and the juice just runs down your chin and covers your hands, that's when you know life is good.  Nectarines are a nearly perfect fruit - they pair with meats, they pair with cheese, they're good in desserts, they're good raw... is there any situation where nectarines AREN'T your go-to fruit?  Didn't think so.  Unfortunately, the season here is far too short.  Massachusetts peaches and nectarines are so delicious, but so ephemeral.  Take advantage while you can!  Yum!

Also, a little St. Agur cheese never hurt anything...

chocolate covered strawberries

So, Ed's not a huge fan of my chocolate covered strawberries, because apparently I need to temper the chocolate more. I, however, think they're delicious and amazing, and given that I make chocolate covered strawberries on MY birthday, I'll make them how I want them. This whole chocolate covered strawberries thing is quickly becoming a tradition for my birthday, I like it. Anyway, it's dead simple, and quite delicious.

Melt ~4oz of chocolate in a double boiler. Make sure it's tasty chocolate that you'd like to eat, because you're not sweetening it or anything, let's not get complicated. I think I used 70% dark ghiradelli, and it was delicious. Rinse and dry your strawberries. Stir the chocolate occasionally as it melts, you don't want to overcook it. Once the chocolate is melted, turn the heat down to a level that will just maintain the runny-ness of the chocolate, and start dipping your strawberries. Once they're chocolate covered, put them on a wax-paper-covered plate. If you run out of strawberries but have leftover chocolate, you can pour it onto the wax paper in a little puddle, and stud with any available nuts or dried fruit. Makes an instant chocolate bar.

Put the strawberries in the fridge for ~20min, and the chocolate will harden up nicely. Enjoy! Don't eat them all at once, because you'll get a stomach ache. Not like I'd know this from experience.

Angel food cake and a cardamom-lime fruit salad

Ed wanted angel food cake for his birthday cake.  This is slightly more troublesome than a chocolate cake or something, but I figured it was totally within my capabilities, aside from the whole I-don't-have-a-springform-pan deal.  I figured I would make little mini ramekins of cake, because those would be small enough that the cake couldn't collapse.  This worked.

I followed this recipe, except I cut it in half.  I also used less sugar... it was easier to just use 3/4C than to add in the extra 2 tbs.

If you follow all the steps in that recipe I linked to, you will have a successful angel food cake.  The one thing I did change is that I buttered and sugared the bottom of the ramekins (but not the sides!), so that it would be easier to remove the cakes once they were cooked.

I also put the extra batter into the heart-shaped pan.  This mostly worked, though the middle of the cake was a little deflated after it cooled.  Still tasted delicious, though.

The topping was a fruit salad in a cardamom lime sauce.  I put the juice of a lime, a tablespoon or so of sugar, and the seeds from a cardamom pod into a saucepan, and boiled that, while stirring, for ~5min.  This made it all thick and syrupy.  It was delicious.  Then I poured the syrup over a small fruit salad of a kiwi, ~4 strawberries, and half a starfruit.  That sat that marinating while we ate dinner, and the strawberries turned the syrup all pink.  Once we were ready for dessert, I dumped the fruit on top of some whipped cream on top of the angel food cake, and poured more syrup on top.  Delicious!  I could have eaten that all day long.  

Peach sangria

No photo... but this was worth making again.  Patrice and Rich were staying with us before Tiffany's wedding, and we decided that sangria would be the perfect accompaniment to go with lunch, and I'd just gotten back from Littleton with 4 quarts of peaches... perfect!

1 bottle of cheap pinot grigio
1 bottle of bubbly water
2 peaches, sliced into eighths or so
1 handful of mint
~1/4C simple syrup
2 shots berry vodka (peach or vanilla vodka, our other home-made concoctions, would also work here... as would triple sec)

The berry vodka was an inspiration after I'd made these amazing blackberry lime squares - I had to juice a whole bunch of mixed berries, and it felt like a shame to just throw out the discarded seeds and pulp, so I put them in a mason jar and covered with vodka.  Now we have purple berry vodka!  I did the same thing with a peach as we were making this sangria, since I think that will also be pretty awesome.  We don't really *drink* vodka, but I do use vanilla vodka in pie crusts, and I'm sure a peach vodka could work there, too.  Also, sangria.  'nuff said.

Anyway, Patrice muddled the mint with the simple syrup, and then we dumped everything else into the pitcher, and deliciousness came out.  It was a beautiful pink color, too, because of the berry vodka.  Basically, it was amazing.  Will make again.

Grilled peaches

It's that amazing time of year that lasts for a month or less - peach season in New England!  My mouth just started watering again.  Peaches are so amazing when they're fresh off the tree.  And so crap when they've sat in a cold warehouse forever.  mmmm.  peaches.

Anyway, I showed up to Sunderland last week with nothing but my computer, a pair of running shoes, and a bag o' peaches, and we had the most amazing peach dessert ever - grilled peaches, covered with a raspberry sauce.  Good enough that all three of us were licking our plates.

This is a simple recipe.  I suppose it is one of those recipes that totally just shows off the ingredients.  Maybe this would work with crappy, out-of-season peaches.  But is that even worth it?

The grill was already hot, so it didn't take long to re-heat up.  Cut the peaches in half, remove the pits. Then cook the peaches flat side down for 5-10 minutes, until you've got little black lines on that side.  Flip them, and fill the pit holes with a mix of melted butter and brown sugar and a dash of cinnamon.  For 3 peaches, I had ~1tbs melted butter and ~1tbs sugar.  Grill the peaches round side down for another 5-10 minutes, remove before the skin gets too charred.

Meanwhile, put a handful of frozen raspberries, with a spoonful of sugar, into a pot, and cook those until they're thawed and the berries are all mushed up. Don't bother straining the raspberries.  Dump raspberry sauce on top of peaches, and eat immediately.  Then lick the plates, lick the pot, lick the spoon... 

Edit: I have grilled peaches at this house before.  They were delicious with ice cream, too.  I bet ice cream and raspberries would be even better!  Next time...

Strawberry lemon buttermilk cake

Ali made this amazing buttermilk strawberry cake the other day (ok, back in May or June or something like that), and then she left a thing of buttermilk in my fridge.  I used it in many things, but ultimately, the only option was to make another lemon buttermilk cake.  I can't find the exact recipe I used, but this one is close enough, and the cake really was good.  Moist, dense, lots of zing from the lemons and buttermilk, and packed with strawberries.  Hard to go wrong!

If you follow this recipe from epicurious, you'll get close.  I remember I used a full lemon's worth of zest, and 3 eggs, but only 3/4C sugar.  And I think I used olive oil, not butter... I can't remember.  Should have written this down earlier!  I'll have to ask Ali if she can remember the recipe, but that epicurious one is certainly worth a go =)

These were strawberries, tossed with some sugar and some basil.  Good enough on their own, they barely needed the cake!

Definitely plop some whipped cream on top!

Simple sangria

Because some days, all you want for dinner is fruit and chilled wine.  Ed was experimenting with mint juleps, and it turns out I don't like those.  So, I made myself a glass of sangria, so as to not feel left out.  Usually, we'll make a pitcher, and I like to mix in bubbly water and something a little harder, but today, I just wanted fruity wine.  It was a cheap bottle of something or other, a pinot grigio I think, from Marty's 2 for 10 shelf.  It worked perfectly for a refreshing drink of melon balls, mint leaves, and frozen strawberries and raspberries!  The fruit was quite delicious after, too, all wine-soaked and soggy.  Yum.

Blackberry lime bars

I saw a recipe here the other day, and I knew I had to make it.  I successfully made these blackberry lime bars, but when the original recipe said that it cut out some sugar because she likes tart lemon bars, I should not have done the same thing.  The bars ended up a tad bit too tart.  Definitely still in the range of edible food, but I think they would have been a bit better with more sugar!  No Ed-rating for these, since he knows he doesn't like lemon bars, so wouldn't even try them.  But they were my potluck contribution for the NEOC meeting, and people there seemed to like them.  Though of course that's not a fair test, because nobody will tell you that the food you brought is crap.  Except Ed.  But, I thought they were delicious.  Also, PURPLE!!

Blackberry Lime bars:

Made enough to fit a 9" diameter round pan

2 egg whites

1 egg

juice from 12oz frozen blackberries (~2C)

zest of 1 lime

2/3C lime juice

3/4C sugar (this is the original amount, not the too-tart amount)

2/3C flour

1/4 tsp salt

Shortbread crust:

1 stick butter

1/4C sugar

1tsp vanilla extract

1C flour

1/4tsp salt

Preheat your oven to 350F.  Ideally, butter a pan and put down some parchment paper.  If you have no parchment paper, butter the pan extremely liberally, and then dust with flour.  Liberally.  

To make the crust, cream the butter with the sugar, then add everything else.  Once it's cookie-dough consistency, press into the pan with your finger tips.  Poke a bunch of holes with a fork.  Bake for ~20min, until it's just beginning to brown on the edges.

Turn down the oven to 325F.

Mix all the filling ingredients in a big bowl with a whisk.  Pour into crust.  Transfer to oven and bake for ~30min.  Take it out once it no longer looks liquid when you jiggle the pan.  

Cool completely, then refrigerate for 3-4hrs.  Don't try to cut these guys until they are COMPLETELY cool.  I warned you... 

You can sprinkle powdered sugar on top if you want.  

Puff pastry tart

This is an old one, but delicious enough it's worth posting nonetheless.  The last WM5D meeting, which really is just a party, I made a fruit tart the easy way.  Well, two fruit tarts.  The crust was just puff pastry, and the topping for one was frozen mixed berries, and the other was apples.  Topped with whipped cream, this was pretty tasty.  Six of us had no trouble polishing off both tarts!

Ali attacks her tart like a predatory bird.  Velociraptor?

For the apple tart, I peeled and cored the apples, and then cooked them with sugar and butter for ~30min, until they were soft and simmering in their own juices and tasting pretty intense and delicious. Spread on the puff pastry crust and cook according to the directions on the package.  I forget how long that took.  

For the berry tart, I thawed a package of mixed frozen berries.  I spread the berries on the tart, and boiled down the juice until it was thicker and more intense.  That one was also pretty delicious.  I recommend making both of these.  If you're feeling super ambitious, you could cut the puff pastry into squares and fold it in half, to make a turnover, but the ratio of filling to crust was just about perfect with the tart.  

Go forth and make pie!

Fruit and yogurt parfait

I swear, we actually cooked things in March, but I guess I'm a bit back-logged right now. However, I just made the most wonderful dessert/breakfast/snack EVAR, and it looked pretty, so I figured I'd post it. Fruit and yogurt parfaits are delicious, and this was no exception. This one may be healthier than what you'll pick up at Starbucks or whatever, if only because of what goes into it (or what doesn't go into it), but sugar levels and whatnot are all at your control. Go nuts! Or not. This concoction was reliant on the fact that I always have some of the ingredients on hand - like plain yogurt, frozen raspberries, and oats. But you could go out and buy the stuff.

No Ed-rating, as he wasn't here to test it. I don't know how he feels about eating out of a wine glass...

Fruit and Yogurt Parfait

Prep time: ~20min

3/4C yogurt, any variety

~3/4C chopped strawberries or other fresh fruit

2Tbs tablespoons of frozen berries, thawed (keep the juice!)

1/4C oats

~1tbs walnuts, chopped

~1tbs shredded sweetened coconut

~1tbs flax seeds

First, make the crunchy topping. Spread the oats, coconut, flax seeds, and walnuts on a baking sheet, and bake for ~10 minutes at 350F, until the coconut is lightly brown, and the oats have some crunch to them.

Then chop the strawberries, or other fresh fruit. I suppose apples, pears, bananas, melon, mango... well, other fruit, would work. I happened to have strawberries.

Put strawberries in cup of some sort. Or bowl. Doesn't really matter, as you're just going to stir it all up and eat it soon, anyway, but the glass was pretty.

First layer of yogurt. I used plain yogurt, sweetened with some maple syrup. Also, I put down a layer of crunchies before this layer of yogurt.

Then a layer of frozen fruit, thawed. Dump the juice right on top.

The rest of the yogurt on top of that.

And then dump some crunchies on top! At this point, you can eat it - I like to keep the bowl of remaining crunchies next to me, so that as I get through that layer, I can add more. If you add them all at once, they go soggy, and this concoction is way tastier with the changes in texture.

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!

Grilled peaches

The western mass renegade O' group was having a post-France dinner, mostly with a French theme, and I was on dessert. Since the French eat a lot of fruit for desserts, peaches seemed like a good idea, but I was torn between grilled peaches and peach melba. Grilled peaches won out, because I'd never grilled fruit before, and it sounded really tasty, and Gail also liked the idea. Phil was disappointed to not be having peach melba, so next time, it'll be that!

This was pretty simple, but I'm guessing it's pretty depending on having some really good peaches, since you aren't cooking them all the way through. I found my at Clarkdale, a farm up in Deerfield, and the taste test revealed that they were pretty awesome peaches. You also need butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and a grill.

6 peaches
2 tbs butter
2 tbs sugar
1tsp cinnamon

Rinse and halve the peaches, leaving the skin on. Heat the grill to medium-hot, oil the grill, and put the peaches flat-side down on the grill. Cook for ~5-6min, and then flip. Meanwhile, melt the butter and mix with the sugar and cinnamon. Once you've flipped the peaches, spoon some of the sugary butter mixture on each one, and let them cook for another 5-6 minutes. I figured they were done once I could insert a fork almost all the way through to the skin.

Take them off the grill, and serve immediately with ice cream. We found that Hagendaas dulche de leche was particularly tasty, but vanilla will work in a pinch. Enjoy!