Easier Than Pie (but not exactly smooth sailing)

I decided to try to make a tart today. Completely on a whim. So on a whim that I was at the grocery store without even knowing I was going to make a tart. Then I saw the cherries and remembered the recipe I photocopied out of this month's Everyday Food on Wednesday and just knew that I had to make it.

So I started dashing around the store and between check-out aisles looking for the magazine since I knew I'd need cream cheese in addition to the cherries, but wasn't sure if it called for cream and anything else I might be missing. I did forget to buy the raspberry jam and realized that halfway home. But when I got home, I found that we had boysenberry jam, so there was nothing to deter me from my tart.

I even have a tart pan that I bought in December to make a peppermint-whipped cream tart that I bought all the ingredients for but never made. (I'm glad I just looked at that recipe. That explains the mysterious unopened corn syrup I keep seeing but don't remember buying.)
But back to the cherry tart. I had everything I needed. So as soon as I finished making the shells for pea salad cups I started on my tart. Then I read the last sentence of the recipe. "Refrigerate at least 30 minutes or up to 1 day."
I was going to surprise Dad with the tart on Father's Day. I guess Father's Day will be a day early now.

And despite having never made a tart before (though this is more of a cheesecake in the shape of a tart), the tart came out looking okay. Though not without some mishaps.
First, the tart pan was 10", but I didn't want to open another bag of graham crackers, and it looked like enough crust anyways.

But what I didn't think of was the filling, until after I'd poured it all in. I could have easily made a little bit more, but then I noticed I was having trouble using my brand-new offset spatula to spread the tart because it was too low in the pan. The pan! I had completely forgotten to remove the tart from the pan! I'm not sure if I was supposed to, but it was getting heavy, and with a graham cracker crust I was worried it would collapse. And the crust was way higher on the sides than the filling. So while removing the crust from the pan, I cracked it in a million places (but I'm not sure where, other than the circumference appeared to get larger - the filling sort of hid the damage, except for along the edges). I tried to get the edges off, but some fell on top of the filling instead of onto the plate. But then my spatula could do its job and spread the filling. I felt better. And once the cherries were put on place and the glaze dabbed on, nobody could be the wiser.

Except that I have a big mouth and just blabbed all about it. But that's okay. I've never been good at keeping my mouth shut about things people wouldn't want to know. Like when I grated my finger along with the zest making cranberry relish for Thanksgiving last year.

Fresh Cherry Tart
makes one 9" or shallow 10" tart
from Everyday Food June 2007, with some changes in preparation (to keep from using a stove)

9 graham crackers (2.5" by 5")
2 tablespoons + 1/4 cup sugar
6 Tablespoons butter, melted
6 ounces neufchâtel cheese or cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 pound fresh sweet cherries, pitted and halved*
1 tablespoon seedless red jam

Preheat oven to 350ºF. In a food processor, pulse graham crackers and 2 tablespoons of sugar until finely crushed. Add melted butter and process until mixed. Press graham cracker crust into a 9 or 10-inch tart pan and up sides with a measuring cup. Bake in oven for 10-15 minutes or until golden browned. Remove from oven and let cool on wire rack. (I'm still not sure if you leave it in the pan or not...)

Meanwhile, in a medium or large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat cream cheese and vanilla on medium speed until creamy. Slowly beat in heavy cream until soft peaks form. Pour into cooled crust and smooth top. Scatter cherries on top.

In a microwave-safe bowl, mix together red seedless jam of choice and 1 teaspoon of water. Microwave on low for 20 second-bursts, stirring between, until liquefied. Dab over cherries with a pastry brush.

Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 1 day.

*The magazine suggests halving and pitting the cherries by running a paring knife around the cherry starting at the stem and then twisting the cherry apart and using the knife to remove the pit. I sort of did that - only I used my pointer finger to pull out the pit.

These Are a Few of MY Favorite Things

And no. They do not include crisp apple strudels or schnitzel with noodles.

What they do include are reading good young adult books and not-so-great teen romances, my camera, Sandy.
Oh, and I forgot to mention: apple-oat muffins and khoresh-e karafs.

When two of your favorites are as diverse as those two, it probably isn't the best idea to try to combine them. But as I mentioned before, the celery in the fridge was calling to me, our stove died (a new one's coming soon) and I don't want to use the scary looking ones upstairs or the burner on the grill (it's hot out and khoresh takes forever!), and Bababozorg is coming in a week, and he is the king of khoresht-e karafs. There's no point in even trying (though maybe I can watch him like a hawk and learn to make it, but I'm impatient.)

So I decided to try to take the flavor of khoresht-e karafs and put it into a muffin. Now using rice instead of oats would have made it better (more like the real deal?), but rice requires the stove... plus, why add an extra cooking step to the muffins?

The only parts of khoresht-e karafs that made it into the muffin are the celery and the parsley, because to be honest, I'm not quite sure what goes into khoresht-e karafs other than that, meat, salt, pepper, and some more green stuff (mint? but I overtrimmed what was growing in the backyard).

But I'll hurry it up and say that Karafs Muffins are yummy. And worth the hour to make them. Though I wouldn't eat them for breakfast necessarily...

Karafs Muffins
makes 10 to 12

2 cups diced celery (about 4 stalks)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1 cup rolled oats (quick might work, but I've never tried. It might make them mushy)
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
pinch turmeric
1 cup plain yogurt
3 fluid ounces (6 tablespoons or 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons) milk
1 large egg
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup finely chopped parsley

Preheat oven to 400ºF and grease 12 muffin cups.

In a large bowl combine flours, oats, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, cinnamon, salt, pepper, and turmeric.

In a small bowl whisk together yogurt, milk, egg, oil, and parsley until smooth.

Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Pour in yogurt mixture and stir until moist. Stir in celery until combined. Be careful not to over mix the batter.

Using a size 12 scoop (or not), divide batter among prepared cups. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until lightly browned and the indentation made when lightly pressing on the top of the muffin springs back.

Greasy Bag

It's summer. Well, not the season, but that span of approximately three months between a year of school and another year of school. FREEDOM! I have more time than I know what to do with (read: time spent doing nothing when there is plenty I could be doing.) Mostly I read cute teen romance novels that require little of my cognitive skills and stay inside the air conditioned house except to walk to the library. That being said I'm not at my sharpest. Nor at a loss for time.

Which I guess somewhat explains how after seeing Ocean's Thirteen and splitting up from some friends I ended up walking home with a white paper bag containing a delicious dinner that contained foods that I only wish I could make at home in hopes that they'd be hotter.

At eight o'clock I faced a dilemma I very rarely face at that time: what to do for dinner. Usually I've either eaten by then, or long ago decided what my plans were. I was standing on a busy street corner, and knew I had to get home since darkness was fast approaching and my (unofficial) curfew is nightfall when I'm out and about. I didn't have much time. Ben and Jerry's looked so tempting - but I know an ice cream sundae was not exactly the healthiest nor satisfying dinner, not to mention it looked a bit crowded. And there's food at home. I just couldn't remember, other than a roasted pepper, cucumbers, zucchini, some mixed greens that may or may not be any good still, celery, and yummy dressing (actually, I remembered the dressing right after I'd purchased my dinner.) I could easily make a meal out of the stuff we had at home, because there's more than just what I listed, but I was too tired to think what I could make out of it, and the frozen meal seemed to similar to my lunch today (which was leftovers from last night's meal-not a frozen meal).

I took the easy way out. I decided on fast food: a falafel sandwich and baba ganoush. can't go wrong with that. (Except for the whole fact that cold falafel sandwiches aren't nearly as yummy as when they just make them and the falafel has just been fried.)

Bran Muffins (sans banana)

I don't have any idea how I managed this. I had a beautifully ugly overripe banana staring me in the face, and searching through the muffin books I checked out from the library last night (not for the first time either), I managed to select a recipe to try that did not involve bananas. Which considering how easy it is to throw bananas into anything, was quite a feat. It took lot of self-restraint to keep myself from chopping up (though it was so soft it would have ended up mashed) the banana and tossing it into the batter.

I just figured maybe I should give the bananas a break since it'll be a while before I make any more apple-oat muffins and maybe should branch out a bit and find another recipe I can love just as much. Though I was considering trying it with celery and allspice... but we didn't have enough yogurt, so it'll have to wait another day. But don't fear, it will be soon, because the celery in the fridge is on its way out.

As for the bran muffins, they shine. And taste like bran muffins, unlike the banana-wheat muffins I usually make (they just happen to contain bran, but are not to be confused with bran muffins. Minus my mistakes (these are not meant to spill over the tops of the muffin cups, and raisins on top-they burn EASILY) that were not in the original recipe from The Ultimate Muffin Book by Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough, this recipe is a keeper.


Bran Muffins
makes 12-18 muffins
adapted from The Ultimate Muffin Book

nonstick spray
1 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1 cup wheat bran
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup honey
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup raisins
1 cup hot or boiling water

Preheat oven to 400ºF and grease muffin tins. Soak raisins in hot water for about ten minutes or until plump; drain.

In a large bowl, whisk together flours, bran, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, brown sugar, and honey for about 2 minutes until smooth. Whisk in buttermilk, applesauce, oil, and vanilla extract. Add raisins.
Stir liquid mixture into flour mixture until just moist.

Fill muffin tins 2/3 of the way full. Bake for about 15 minutes or until browned and springs back lightly when touched in center (or the toothpick method- with a crumb or two). Remove from pan and cool on cooling rack.

So... This is how I study

Bananas. I know, they aren't exactly a fruit I should be proud of loving - for environmental and political reasons. While supposedly they're cleaning up their act, banana growers don't exactly have the best reputation. They harm biodiversity, use pesticides that kill the rain forest and those who work around them...
Not to mention UFCo, and their bananas, led to the CIA intervening in a decent government and replacing it with none other than an oppressive one. Those problems still aren't resolved...

However, those little potassium powerhouses are perfect for baked goods... and I'll admit, I put them in almost everything. Not to mention they go great in cereal when they're almost ripe, and as they get riper, oatmeal, and then overripe- puree or mash them and toss them into just about anything where they can hide or dominate.

I even keep some in the freezer from times when I've bought them but had other fruits around to eat. I'm not going to throw out bananas that have so much left in them.

While banana bread is no longer at its peak of popularity, I can totally see why it was. Though I'm much more of a muffin girl, the first scratch-made muffins I made were banana-nut. Though I usually make banana-wheat with chocolate chips because its fun to have a treat every once in a while with chocolate in the muffins.

Banana-Wheat Muffins
makes 10-12 muffins
Adapted from Vegetarian Times, March 2006
I think they are tastier using hand chopped bittersweet chocolate instead of the mini-chocolate chips because it has a smoother texture. If I don't have enough bananas once they're all mashed, I also sometimes top it off with applesauce (you lose some flavor though).

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1 tsp. baking power
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (2 to 4 ripe bananas)
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup wheat bran
3 Tablespoons oil, such as walnut oil
1 large egg white
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/3 cup (50 g) miniature chocolate chips
a handful or two of walnuts, if desired

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease 12 muffin tin cups.

Combine flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.
Combine bananas, buttermilk, sugar, wheat bran, oil, egg white and vanilla in a medium bowl; stir until blended.
Add banana mixture to flour mixture and stir just until moist. Add chocolate chips and stir until distributed.
Divide batter among prepared cups (I use a #12 scoop). Top with walnuts, if desired. Bake 13-17 minutes, or until golden brown and spring back when touched in center. Remove from pan and cool.

Rhubarb, anyone?

The farmer's market started up yesterday. I'll be honest though, it is known for its doughnuts, and I had to give them a try. But the verdant stalls also caught my eye.It is finals week though, sp I didn't want to buy all the delicious things, like fresh garlic and green onion, because I wasn't sure what I'd be doing as far as cooking this week and didn't want anything to go to waste. I also only bought 1/2 lb of rhubarb, planning to use it for dessert. But I got sick so it was put off until tonight.

My cousin approved of it, and thought having it with her ice cream was like "fresh strawberry ice cream." I thought the texture and sourness seemed almost like I'd just cooked up some raspberries.

I'm hoping though that there's still rhubarb next week since it is probably coming to an end soon, because this is definately worth making... I'm thinking topping my waffles with it.


Rhubarb-Strawberry Compote
makes ? cups, but enough to use as a topping for 6-8 people
Prep: 5 minutes Cook: 10-15 minutes

1 lb rhubarb
1 pint strawberries
1-2 Tablespoons sugar
ice cream, to serve

Cut rhubarb into about 1-cm thick slices crosswise. Toss into a saucepan with about a tablespoon of water over medium-high heat and cover. Reduce heat to low when it starts to boil and stir occasionally.
As rhubarb starts to cook, quarter the strawberries. When rhubarb is softened, add strawberries and stir occasionally until soft and thickened.

Update:
The sauce is also good on waffles, even if the waffles themselved aren't wonderful, or over pancakes. I heated it up before topping the waffles with it.

Lemon Brownie Bites

I'm on a lemon kick. I realize it is not exactly the right time of year, but that is the problem with the globalization of food trade - convenience kind of takes over and its hard to control eating seasonally because there's nothing to help me do it (except the nastiness of out of season peaches, the best ones are usually grown nearby.)

Lemon Brownie Bites
makes about 27 mini brownies

1/4 lb (1 stick) unsalted butter cut into tablespoons, plus more to grease foil
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
zest of one lemon
about 5 tablespoons lemon curd, optional

Preheat oven to 350º. Put water in saucepan on stove to come to a simmer. Grease 27 mini-muffin cups (or two 12-cup pans and just have some extra batter leftover, or fill them more)

In a small bowl whisk cocoa powder and flour together.

Place chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over simmering water. Stir occasionally until just melted, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Whisk in sugar and salt until smooth; whisk in eggs. Gently whisk in flour, cocoa powder, and lemon zest just until smooth. Do not overmix.

Using a small scoop fill mini-muffin tins about 3/4 of the way full with batter. If desired, top each with 1/2 teaspoon of lemon curd.

Bake for about 15 minutes or until toothpick comes out with just a few crumbs.

Let cool in pan for about 10 minutes and remove.

Semi-Homemade with...

Sometimes it is ridiculous the things that we make and the shortcuts we take. Though I suppose that this one makes a bit of sense. The cake is the most time consuming part. But its not the same without the lemon zest in it, and you can't add that back after its done.

Remember the lemon curd that I keep mentioning and using. It's going to stick around. (Don't worry, its a fresh batch. It only makes about a cup.) I've decided I like it, and it makes a wonderful filling or glaze. Tonight, it was a glaze. Or a quasi-glaze-icing topping. I don't know what you'd call it.

Whatever it is, it doesn't get any simpler than this. The lemon curd only takes about 4 dishes and 20 minutes to make, and it can be made ahead of time.

Angel Food Cake with Lemon Curd
serves 8 (depending on size of slices)
active time: 1 hour or less!

15-oz store-bought angel food cake, or make your own
2/3 cup lemon curd
2/3 cup whipping cream
1 pint fresh berries
lemon zest, to garnish

Invert cake or cut it out of the pan or whatever is necessary to get it out. Cover top and sides with lemon curd.

In a small or medium bowl, whip whipping cream until peaks form. Fill center of cake with whipped cream.

Garnish with berries and lemon zest.

Sorry Mom...

Mom and I were at the store a while back and while standing in line to check out, the May issue of Cooking Light started calling to Mom with its cover of a gorgeously grilled tuna steak and white bean salad.
Mom gave in, and since then has made a few things from in it. She wanted to make the tuna, but on Sunday I decided to make it Wednesday, even though I knew Mom would be out of town.Fortunately, its worth making again. The salad part at least (with maybe a bit more dressing); the tuna wasn't bad, I just didn't really like it, though maybe it was a bit overcooked. But I was too scared to cook the tuna, and they weren't cut very evenly. I also left them in the marinade a bit too long.

Grilled Tuna with White Bean and Charred Onion Salad
from Cooking Light May 2007
Serves 4

Tuna :
1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
4 (6-ounce) tuna steaks

Salad:
1 medium Vidalia or other sweet onion, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
olive oil
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup chopped seeded peeled cucumber
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon capers
1 (15-ounce) can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
6 cups mixed salad greens


Prepare grill.

Combine the first 6 ingredients in a large zip-top plastic bag. Add tuna to bag; seal. Marinate in refrigerator 30 minutes, turning once. Remove tuna from bag; discard marinade.

Place onion slices on grill rack and brush one side of each with olive oil; grill 5 minutes on each side or until tender. Cool and chop.

Place tuna on grill rack. Grill 2 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness.

Combine vinegar and next 5 ingredients (through garlic) in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk until blended. Add onion, cucumber, parsley, capers, and beans to vinegar mixture; toss to coat. Arrange 1 1/2 cups salad greens on each of 4 plates. Top each serving with about 1/2 cup onion mixture and 1 tuna steak.

More Uses For Lemon Curd

The lemon curd, reminiscent of the lemon squares that I used to have when I was little (long gone, along with the brownies Granma loved so much I'd have to bring her a large box full every time I'd see her), was still remaining in the fridge. We'd been eating it, little by little, spreading it on the angel food cupcakes and topping off poppyseed cake with it for breakfast.

But the lemon itself was so wonderful and concentrated, what better way to show it off than to make it the main attraction. All it was missing was the skimpy vehicle to hold it. Maybe a nice, crisp, melt-in-your-mouth puff pastry shell.
Which I had every intention of making (out of prepared puff pastry dough of course), but that didn't happen. Whole Foods was sold out and I was not going to let shortening/hydrogenated oil laced puff pastry to suffice. So prebaked filo shells took their place (though I really would have rather made the puff pastry shells in a mini muffin pan ).

Despite that, they were a hit (among all 9 people who have tried it), and needless to say, simple (well, once the easy curd was made).

All you need is some little tart shells, a teaspoon of lemon curd, and a raspberry, and voila. There you have it.