Showing posts with label tart. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tart. Show all posts

Friday, August 17, 2012

Cherry Tomato Sweet Pepper Mozzarella Tart



This summer, I had the pleasure of cooking for my mother- and father-in-law at least a couple of times every week.  The challenge was to make beautiful, appetizing meals that would entice my father-in-law, who is in hospice care, to eat.  This particular dish was beautiful to look at and delicious as well.  We were so excited because, for the first time in ages, he cleaned his plate!  If you don’t believe me, check this out.  

Yes, we were so excited, we actually took a picture!

Give this lovely tart a try and see if your family doesn’t clear their plates as well.

Ingredients
For the crust:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (I used unbleached but normal flour will do.)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons shortening (Crisco is my preferred but I have had to use butter in some countries where Crisco is not available. It works but the crust is not as flakey.)
2-3 tablespoons of cold water

For the filling:
3 medium onions
Olive oil
Sea salt
Pepper
1 1/2 oz or 40g pine nuts
8 oz or 225g mozzarella balls or bocconcini
10.5 oz or 300g red cherry tomatoes
10.5 oz or 300g yellow cherry tomatoes
4 orange mini sweet peppers
Small bunch fresh thyme

Method
Put the flour, shortening and salt together in one bowl. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut the flour into the shortening until you have small crumbs.




Add the cold water a tablespoon at a time, blending with the tines of a fork, until the mixture forms a soft dough which can be rolled into a ball.  



Wrap the ball in cling film and chill in the refrigerator for at least half an hour.


When you are ready to bake, either roll out the dough and fit your pan or, if you are at your mother-in-law’s and you don’t have a rolling pin, slice the dough into thin pieces.  


Lay them in the pan and quickly press them into a crust.  




Trim the edges with a sharp knife and turn the trimmed pieces over.  Press them in to make a nice even edge.  Cover with cling film and put it in the fridge until you are ready to bake.  (If baking immediately, you can skip this step.)  If you are using a ceramic pie plate or casserole, take it out when you start preheating your oven so the ceramic dish can warm up a little.  Some dishes cannot safely go directly from the refrigerator to the oven. 



Okay, ready to bake?  Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.

Slice your onions thinly and put them into a small pot with a good drizzle of olive oil, a sprinkle of salt and freshly ground black pepper.



Cook the onions down slowly over a medium heat until they caramelize and are nicely browned.  Stir frequently and make sure not to let them burn.  Set aside to cool.




Cut your sweet peppers into pieces about the same size as the cherry tomatoes.  



Toast your pine nuts in a small skillet over a medium flame.  


Shake the skillet often to keep them toasting evenly.  This should take just a few minutes.  Be careful not to let them burn.  Set aside to cool. 



Pull the leaves off of all but a few of the thyme stems, reserving some of the thinner stems for adding in whole, with leaves, before baking.

In a big bowl, start to assemble your tart filling.  Add in the cherry tomatoes, cut peppers and mozzarella balls.


Sprinkle liberally with the thyme leaves and some sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.


Add the cooled caramelized onions and stir thoroughly.   


Pour the filling into the pie shell.  

Top with the reserved thyme and the pine nuts.


Bake the tart for 45-50 minutes or until the crust is crispy and browned and the mozzarella balls are melted completely.


This is a great vegetarian main course but would also be delicious served in smaller slices with grilled chicken or salmon.  I served it with poached salmon with creamy caper onion sauce on a bed of mixed greens. 


Enjoy!


This post is part of the improv cooking challenge,  brainchild of Kristen at Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker.   Perhaps you’d like to join us?  



Friday, October 14, 2011

Lemon Lime Passionfruit Cream Tart


Expat. Expatriate. Person who lives in a country that is not his or her own native land.  I have figured out over my last 25 years as same, that the term expat is not widely known among people who do not live overseas or travel extensively.  Those who are familiar with the term often have some exaggerated preconceived notions of what it means and they usually involve a fancy lifestyle and living high on the hog. 

I cannot deny that there are many advantages to expat living, especially if one is sent somewhere wonderful (And here I quote my friend, Valorie, who, upon being told that my family was being transferred from our mutual location of Balikpapan, Indonesia, to Paris, France, exclaimed, “People don’t LIVE in Paris, Stacy!  They go there on holiday!) but there are also disadvantages.  The biggest one is saying goodbye to people we have worked with, cheered at school sporting events with, parented our children with, grown to love. 

This is a long and very round about way of saying that I went to a going-away party last night.  And the only thing that eases the pain of saying of goodbye is good food and good drink. And spending the evening laughing with good friends.

Here’s what I brought along:

Lemon Lime Passionfruit Cream Tart

This recipe has three parts but don't be alarmed. None of them are tricky. We will blind bake a crust though, which just means we are going to bake it for a little bit before we put the filling in. 


Ingredients
For the crust which fits a large 11-inch tart tin:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup shortening (Crisco is my preferred but I have had to use butter in some countries where Crisco is not available. It works but the crust is not as flaky.)
5-6 tablespoons of cold water
1 egg for the egg wash after the crust is blind baked

For the filling:
8 large eggs
1 1/2 cups or 340g caster sugar
1/2 cup or 120ml double cream170g of passionfruit pulp in syrup (which is just a dab less than 150ml or a little more than a1/2 cup) or the same volume of fresh passionfruit pulp plus an extra 1/2 cup or 115g sugar) 
1/3 cup or 85ml lime juice
1/2 cup or 120ml lemon juice

Confectioner's or powdered sugar for sprinkling

For the optional topping:
5-6 fresh passionfruit
1 tablespoon cornstarch or cornflour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon of butter



Method
Put the flour, shortening and salt together in one bowl. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut the flour into the shortening until you have small crumbs.




Add the cold water a tablespoon at a time, blending with the tines of a fork, until the mixture forms a soft dough which can be rolled into a ball.   




Flatten the ball into a patty and wrap it in cling film and chill in the refrigerator for at least half an hour.


When you are ready to bake, preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C.  Roll the dough out into a circle to fit your pie pan.






For more information about this handy rolling bag, check out my quiche recipe.  You can, of course, do it the old-fashioned way but it will be easier to insert in your tart pan if you roll it out on some parchment or waxed paper. 




Put the inside of your tart pan on the dough or the whole pan if that's what you are using. 





Center the rim part and put your hand under the whole thing.  Flip the crust over and remove the rolling bag or your parchment. 



Gently ease the crust into the tart pan. 





Turn the edges over and crimp them to make them look nice.  Poke the crust all over with a fork to help it stop puffing up when baking.



Cut a piece of parchment paper the width of your tart pan.  Fold it in half and then in half again.



Now fold it one side to the other so it has a point, as if you were making a paper airplane.


Fold that in half again so the point is very pointy. 


Trim the paper to the diameter of your pan and open up to reveal a circle. 



Push this gently into your crust and top with dried beans or ceramic baking beads. 


Bake for around 10 minutes.  Meanwhile, start the filling.

Whisk together the sugar and eggs in a bowl.  Set aside.  



Remove from crust from the oven and allow to cool slightly. Turn the oven down to 350°F or 180°C. Remove the beads.


Beat your spare egg from the crust ingredients and add a splash of water.  Apply it to the crust with a brush. This eggwash will keep the crust from getting soggy when the filling is put in it. 



Give the egg-sugar mixture another good whisk and slowly stir in the cream and the juices.




Put the cooked tart shell back into the oven and then pour the filling into it – This helps reduce spillage.



Bake for around 40 to 45 minutes or until the filling is set, but still semi-wobbly just in the middle. Give the baking pan a gentle shake at 40 minutes and, if too much jiggles, leave it in again for 10 minutes and test again.  Just the very center should wobble.


After cooling for an hour, the semi-wobbly filling will have firmed up to the perfect consistency; soft and smooth. If you cut it before it has had time to rest it will pour out or be extremely gooey.

Now we are ready for the topping. (You can skip this step and serve with just a sprinkling of confectioners' or powdered sugar but it sure looks pretty and tastes good too.)

Cut the passionfruit open and gently scrape the pulp out into a fine sieve, over a bowl to catch the juice. You don’t want to get the white part of the peel, just the pulp.  



Let it drain for a few minutes then pour the juice into a small pot.  Whisk in the cornstarch and sugar and make sure there are no lumps before putting the pot on the heat.


Turn the heat on, to medium, and keep adding in the juice that is dripping into your bowl from under the pulp as the mixture warms.  Whisk constantly until the sauce starts to get hot and thicken ever so slightly.



 Add in the pulp and cook until it is thick but still pourable. Take the sauce off the heat and whisk in the teaspoon of butter. 


Pour the sauce on top of the tart and spread it around.  Allow to cool completely before trying to serve.




Enjoy!

This recipe was adapted from Jamie Oliver’s Lemon Lime Cream Tart in The Naked Chef, now available, apparently, in paperback or, if you prefer, the version I have.