Quick Classic Berry Tart Version 2.0

One night last week, when we were both working a lot and under insane amounts of pressure, we ate this for dinner:

Let me back up. Last Wednesday a great dessert was discovered. We came home at about the same time.

"How was your day?"

"Crazy.  We discovered two errors totaling $7 million. People in my office, both phone lines ringing. You know. How about yours?"

"I did an international wire online that the bank turned into a completely different amount.  I was on the phone with customer service for hours and then I had to go to the bank to fix it. At least, I hope it's fixed."

You've heard of breakfast for dinner. At our house last Wednesday, it was dessert for dinner. And I owe it all to my fellow bloggers. Cristine at Cooking with Cristine chose Dorie's Quick Classic Berry Tart for this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe. And my blogging friend Nancy has influenced me so much that I had both a mini tart shell and chocolate ganache in the freezer. And for an even more satisfying tart, I made this with organic berries from my CSA box:

Good

Better

Great

I had baked the tart shell the night before, so it only took 5 minutes to assemble the tart. 90 seconds in the microwave to melt the ganache, wash and slice a few berries, and assemble. Brushing it with jam was only for show. If I wasn't posting it, I would have skipped that.

We split it for dinner, and both felt much better. We each still had problems to deal with at work, but I think Cristine's pick made an awful day end on a very happy note. Thanks, Cristine! This is definitely in our top 5 Dorie desserts.

CEiMB - Ellie Krieger's Thai Mushroom Salad

Our Craving Ellie in My Belly selection for the week was Grilled Thai Beef Salad. I'm not a huge fan of beef, and I'm chickened out, so I decided to take this one vegetarian and make it with portobello mushrooms. I also had some corn on the cob in the fridge so I grilled that up with the mushrooms.

The marinade/dressing was incredibly flavorful, combining lime juice, soy sauce, red chili paste, garlic and ginger. This is the second Ellie dressing in the last few weeks that I have completely flipped over (the other one was the dressing for the cobb salad, and I mixed up another batch of that one just the other night). I had a huge bunch of Thai basil from my CSA box, and it added an incredibly fragrant hit of flavor to this salad.

This salad was yet another Ellie recipe that I looked at and thought it sounded rather pedestrian, but oh my, the flavor combination was amazing! This one is going into the rotation. I encourage you to try it with the mushrooms or different grilled veggies in addition to or instead of meat (or even a nice piece of swordfish). But if you like steak, try that as it sounds like it would be great.

If you'd like the recipe, check out Jen B's Cooking Carveout as Jen will have it, or you can find it on the Food Network site here.

This will likely be my last CEiMB post as I will be taking a break from active blogging for the month of Ramadan. I'm trying to get a few posts up before Saturday but arrrggghhhh I'm so behind! If you leave a comment here I'll stop by and visit, but this is a good opportunity to get my rampant blog addiction under control! I'll be back after Sept. 20th.

Peace.

Cauliflower Pickles

The last few weeks, my CSA box has included a head of cauliflower. I like cauliflower, but I don't love it. Except when it's made into Alton Brown's Hurry Curry Cauliflower.

Start with a head of cauliflower cut in florets (I used two heads, and not all of it fit in the jar, so I put the rest in the fridge to add as we eat the pickles). Saute the cauliflower with a couple of cloves of smashed garlic, minced ginger and a variety of spices, when slightly tender put it in a glass jar and add rice and cider vinegars (I double the amount of vinegar the recipe calls for--I never have enough to cover all my cauliflower), salt and sugar. Saute until it softens slightly (not tender or mushy!), adding one or two tablespoons of water if the spices are on the verge of burning, and refrigerate for a week to let it cure.

The beauty of this dish is that it's quick to put together and delivers big flavor. You can substitute or supplement it with other vegetables (I've used carrots in the past) and increase or decrease the amount of curry, and still get great pickles. They're a wonderful addition to salads or as a vegetable with dinner after a 100 degree day (like today!)

So the next time you have a head of cauliflower and you want something cool and refreshing, call on this simple and delicious recipe. Mine's in the fridge, and I'm counting down the days until I can pop open the lid and grab a few for a snack.

CEiMB - Vegetable Cheese Stratta and Barefoot Bloggers make Ina Garten's Gazpacho

This week's Craving Ellie in My Belly selection is Vegetable Cheese Stratta, selected by Jenn of A Mid-Life Culinary Adventure (gee, that's what I feel like I'm having!)

This one was such a pleasure to make and eat. It had loads of veggies (a great use of my CSA goodies) and was very flexible (I didn't have an onion, so I substituted scallions; I felt like adding spinach, so I did). It was a great make-ahead, and I ate it for lunch rather than for breakfast. It would even be great for dinner. Since I'm still on my own this week, I made 1/8th of the recipe so I wouldn't have to eat it for 8 meals.

I added some crushed red pepper flakes for a little kick and I used the last of an olive oil rosemary bread. It wasn't whole grain, but it worked well with the flavors, and it was what I had on hand.

After having this for lunch the next day, I regretted making 1/8th of the recipe. It was fantastic! So cheesy and flavorful from the garlic and nutmeg. This one is going into the rotation.

*******

Meryl of My Bit of Earth chose this week's Barefoot Bloggers recipe and it was perfect timing, as summer officially began in the northern hemisphere and many Barefoot Bloggers live in parts of the US and Canada that are already sweltering. We're finally heating up in northern California, so this was still a great option to use summer's bounty.

Thankfully, this one didn't dirty a kitchen full of dishes, just the food processor, a measuring cup and a large bowl. I used some of my Nudo olive oil (which I learned about thanks to Nancy), but I reduced the vinegar and olive oil by half. The only ingredient that came from my CSA was the red onion, although later I realized I could have added diced yellow squash and it would have been perfect. I used orange peppers because that was what I had, and I added a diced small avocado. I ate the first bowl after I made it, and it was good and fresh, but needed more salt (I used low sodium vegetable juice, so I wasn't surprised). I'm thinking about adding hot sauce or cilantro, or maybe both. Ina says this is better after it sits for a few hours, so I'm really looking forward to enjoying it after it cures.

Many thanks to Meryl for a great pick! If you'd like to join us as we cook and blog our way through Ina's cookbooks (and why wouldn't you, her recipes are easy and great!), check out how to join here.

CSA - An Update

My one week CSA challenge is half over and I still have a LOT of veggies left. Here are a couple of the things I've made with this week's fruit and veggies:

Roasted sweet potatoes, carrots, squash, garlic and new potatoes (toss veggies with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and roast in a 500 degree oven until nicely roasted):

Mmmm.... Love roasted vegetables. I've eaten these vegetables with my leftover jambalaya and in salads. Speaking of...

Salad with roasted veggies and turkey with an orange:

I dressed this salad with vinegar and olive oil plus some of the fresh Maille dijon mustard I got when we were on vacation.

I've made a few salads, had cereal and muesli with the golden raspberries (which were amazingly sweet) and strawberries, eaten the oranges for snacks and had a few smoothies with the Swiss chard and spinach.

Here's what I have left:

Eggs (not for long! time to start baking!)

Yellow globe squash

Sweet potatoes

Green glove squash

Broccoli (a lot!)

Carrots (a lot!)

Lettuce (half a head)

Spinach

Part of the problem is I'm alone this week, and I already had leftovers and loads of fruit. I hope to finish the broccoli, spinach, lettuce and carrots before Tuesday. Meanwhile, I'm already itching to know what will be in the CSA box next week, and whether I'll be through with enough of this week's to justify ordering it.

CSA - One week, one box, many opportunities

I have been getting a box from J&P Organics, a local CSA, for a couple of months now. For those of you who haven't heard of CSA, it stands for community supported agriculture. Farmers grow a wide variety of fruits and vegetables and sell them directly to consumers in what is basically a variety pack each week. For those of us who are idealistic, it's a way of helping family farmers survive in a nation of mega factory farms.

I like belonging to a CSA not just because we're helping to preserve family farms, but because you get to have a personal relationship with the farmer, in addition to having organic fruits and vegetables picked at their peak.

I'm not always good about finishing all of the bounty that comes to me in my box each week (and I don't always order weekly, I usually order every other week--because the produce was picked that day, it generally lasts two weeks). In order to spur myself to finish all of the box this week, I'm going to post the contents of this week's box, and post updates daily on how I'm using my veggies (we get less fruit, so I generally don't have a problem finishing that!)

Here's what we got this week:

eggs (available if we want to order them with our box)

golden raspberries

strawberries

yellow globe squash

green squash (maybe tatuma?)

sweet potatoes

new potatoes

red spring onion

Swiss chard

oranges

broccoli

carrots

green leaf lettuce

spinach

M. is gone for a couple of weeks, so it's up to me to finish off this week's box! I'd love to hear your suggestions especially for the swiss chard as I've not cooked with it much before.

For my A.M. pick-me-up, I'm having a Green Monster with about a cup each of chard and spinach, a banana, unsweetened Almond Breeze and a T of flax seeds. Since I'm not yet sure how I'll cook the chard, I decided to add it to a Green Monster to take advantage of its nutritional benefits (it's high in folate, thiamin and zinc, plus lots of vitamins). I first learned about Green Monsters on Caitlin's blog Healthy Tipping Point, and although I thought anything with pureed greens would be revolting, the banana and Almond Breeze add great flavor so you don't even taste the greens. I loved GMs from the very first one I made. It feels virtuous to get in 2 cups of leafy greens without even tasting them!

My usual summer breakfast is muesli:

1/2 cup oatmeal (NOT steel cut)

1/2 cup 1% milk

1/2 cup fat free yogurt (I'm using plain, but I usually use vanilla)

1 T maple syrup

Combine ingredients in a bowl, refrigerate for at least two hours or overnight.

Today, I'm topping my muesli with strawberries and golden raspberries from my CSA and a couple of toasted pecans.

I usually get up around 5:00 AM and have a small snack then eat breakfast at my desk around 8-ish, so this will be all ready for me when I get hungry. With a breakfast this yummy, I'll be ready to face whatever problems crop up (the last couple of days have been insane at work!)

Barefoot Bloggers - Outrageous Brownies and Tuna Salad (a catch up post!)

This week's Barefoot Bloggers recipe was Ina's Outrageous Brownies, selected by Eva of I'm Boring (which she definitely isn't!). They could be outrageous because you start with a pound of butter, add over two pounds of chocolate, a small amount of flour for the amount of butter and chocolate, a half dozen EXTRA LARGE eggs, some walnuts and other ingredients, and bake them in a half sheet pan. I've never in my life made brownies in a sheet pan, but I've never owned a successful catering business, been a policy wonk in the White House, driven a BMW (now a Mercedes) or been married to someone who was a Dean at Yale. Maybe baking brownies in a sheet pan is something one does after achieving these other things in life. Me, I work for a not-for-profit affiliated with a university, am a CPA, drive a Prius, and am joined at the hip with a romantic yet pragmatic electrical engineer. So my brownies are baked in 9 x 13 or 8 x 8 pans. Until I made these.

It's always a joy to make a recipe where one needn't worry about how to utilize the remaining sticks of butter. This recipe dispatches with the whole pound right off the bat, so I don't have to worry about them going bad in my refrigerator. Nor will I be tempted to spread some on toast or make grilled cheese. My hips thank you, Ina!

I didn't get why Food Network considers this recipe "difficult." Maybe they knew I'd be making them at the same time as my Tuesdays with Dorie Chipster-Topped Brownies. I briefly considered chopping chocolate for these, until I came to my senses and realized if chocolate chips were good enough for Ina with her up-market taste, they were certainly good enough for me and my Toyota-bean counter-non-profit-mad scientist life. So I pulled out my best chocolate chips (Ghirardelli) and forged on. Instead of instant coffee, I added the instant espresso powder, even though some commenters on Food Network said it was overpowering (we love chocolate and coffee, so it seemed like a no-brainer).

I wasn't up for buttering and flouring the pan, so I used my secret pal, Baker's Joy. I evenly spread the batter in the sheet pan and put it in the oven for 30 minutes, only realizing after 27 minutes that I was supposed to rap the pan on the oven rack at the halfway point. I didn't do that until 27 minutes in, so I'm blaming everything (including my hip size and falling real estate values in California) on my failure to rap on time. My brownies baked 33 minutes before they tested done. I let them cool on a rack before bypassing the refrigeration part and slicing into the corner. 

They were...OK. Seriously, these aren't going to lead to world peace (there's a cookie for that) or even a cure for cancer, though they are tasty and chocolaty. I found the espresso flavor to be too prominent, and the texture was meh, but again, I assume that's due to my delinquent rapping and lack of refrigeration. This fact alone did not prevent me from sampling a couple more small slices from the pan...I was trying to be sure, just for your sake. I have a brownie that I believe is more ethereal than these, one which I've never shared with you but will have to in the future.

Thanks, Eva, for a wonderful pick!

I also made Ina's Tuna Salad (selected by Kate of Warm Olives and Cool Cocktails) this week. This one was supposed to be posted while we were on vacation, and I'm just now getting around to making and writing about it. We loved the dressing (though next time I would cut back on the salt and add more wasabi). I grilled the fish instead of sautéing it). I was doing three other things at the same time, so I sort of overcooked the tuna. It wasn't rare at all. I served it over lettuce from last week's CSA. It was phenomenal, and I would definitely make it again. Especially since this one gives the cows a day off--no butter or cream required!

Curried cauliflower and chickpea stew

I had some cauliflower, spring onion and sugar snap peas in my CSA box, and some leftover coconut milk in the freezer from our Tuesdays with Dorie Mango Bread. I had torn this recipe out of Bon Appetit after seeing Teanna at Spork or Foon? post on it. I boosted the curry powder and added garlic and sugar snap peas, though this recipe is basically a blank canvas, so you can add whatever vegetables you have available. It's also versatile, since I used significantly less coconut milk than the recipe called for since that was what I had on hand. I served it over brown rice, and it was fantastic. We had huge servings, and didn't even put a dent in it. I don't know how Bon Appetit calculates how many servings are in their recipes. I can see where this might serve 4 linebackers but not 4 normal sized people with office jobs. I mean, if I just add up the solid ingredients, it checks in at almost 30 ounces per person...that's practically 4 cups, before serving it over rice! I can't even eat 4 cups of watermelon.

This was so good, it's going into the rotation. When I was thinking about that earlier today, I realized there is no such thing. I say it all the time here on my blog, but truly, I don't have a list of go-to recipes that are versatile, tasty and don't fail me. So I'm making one! Stay tuned for that. I think it will be an eye opener for me (how does one justify the frequent use of popcorn as a "go-to" dinner??)

Curried Cauliflower and Chickpea Stew (adapted from Bon Appetit via Spork or Foon?)

Serves 4 linebackers, 6-8 normal people

2 tablespoons vegetable oil (I used olive oil)

2 /1/2 cups chopped red onions

6 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons hot curry powder

6 cups cauliflower florets (from 1 medium head)

2 cups sugar snap peas

2 15 1/2 ounce cans garbanzo beans (drained and rinsed)

2 10 ounce cans diced tomatoes with green chiles (I used Ro-Tel)

10 ounces lite coconut milk (the recipe called for 14 ounces, but I only had 10; it worked out fine)

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Lime wedges

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions and saute until golden, about 6 minutes. Add the garlic and saute for 2 minutes. Add the curry powder and stir for 1 minute. Add the cauliflower, garbanzo beans, sugar snap peas, tomatoes, and coconut milk. Stir to combine. Bring to boil, then reduce heat to medium-low. Cover (I didn't, but you may have a cover that fits your large saute pan) and simmer until the cauliflower is tender, about 10-15 minutes (depends on how al dente you like your cauliflower). Taste and add salt and pepper as needed. Serve over hot rice and garnish with cilantro and lime wedges.

Have you entered my first-ever giveaway? I brought back a box of chocolates from Paris for my first give away. Check it out here and leave a comment on the original post to be entered.

CEiMB - Thai Style Halibut with Coconut Curry Broth

This week's Craving Ellie in My Belly selection was chosen by Liz of The Not So Skinny Kitchen. We love Thai food, and I had a jar of red curry paste in the pantry that's been calling to me. I picked up a pound of halibut at Trader Joe's, and modified the vegetable selection to utilize the sugar snap peas and zucchini that came in this week's CSA box. I also used some homemade chicken stock from the freezer. I nestled the veggies in with the halibut so they could cook in the wonderfully spicy broth. It almost took longer to chop the shallots than it did to put together this dish. Served with brown rice, it was a delicious and satisfying weeknight dinner. I wasn't together enough to get a photo of this one when it was fully cooked or plated, but hopefully you get the idea. It was a huge hit! Even though I used less fish, I made the same amount of broth so I could stretch out the sauce and serve it with other proteins.

Be sure you check out Liz's blog for the recipe, or better yet, bring home the book we're cooking from, The Food You Crave by Ellie Krieger. It's jam packed with great, healthier recipes like this one. 

CEiMB - Spaghetti with Turkey Meatballs in Spicy Tomato Sauce (or, how to make a healthy lunch)

This week's Craving Ellie in Your Belly is brought to us by Oddball Oven Mitt (what a great name for a blog!)

This one came at the perfect time for me. I've been so busy at work and at home that my meal prep is almost at zero. I look in the fridge every morning on my way out the door, see tons of food, none of it suitable for lunch (ginormous celery root, anyone?) and leave empty handed. Once lunchtime arrives, I rush out to the Student Union and grab something that's not very healthy. I opted for orange chicken the other day, and all afternoon I felt ill. Too much MSG and simple carbs made me crash around 3. After an intervention by my trainer, I spent a couple hours that evening making the meatballs for this dish, and prepping the haul from my CSA box to allow easy portability (and readiness for snacks!) The next morning, I made the sauce and packaged up several lunches for the week, along with some basil to snip on with my scissors and some (not freshly grated) parmesan cheese. Big sigh of relief.

Enough about my lunchtime angst and back to the dish. I was excited to make this one because we love spaghetti with turkey meatballs. I purchased all the necessary supplies at Trader Joe's (love that place). I didn't notice that the fire roasted tomatoes were with green chiles, a la Ro-Tel tomatoes, but we like it spicy so I wasn't worried about using them and the chipotle chile. I keep canned chipotle chiles in a ziploc bag in the freezer, and break off an appropriate piece whenever I have a recipe that calls for some. Ditto tomato paste. I made the meatballs while watching TV and doing other veggie prep, and even though I broiled them like Ellie says to do in the cookbook, they burned got very brown. They were hard and dried out and I was a little bummed. I let them cool, packed them up and went to bed.

Before work the next morning, I threw together the spicy tomato sauce. I am learning not to doubt Ellie, because she's always right and it annoys me when she proves my mental taste buds are defective. Because I was doing three things at one time (of course finishing none of them), I managed to burn make the onions very brown. So I added the garlic and cooked it a few moments, then added the rest of the ingredients over the next, oh, 20 minutes. Then I checked the recipe and realized if I was going to stretch out the cooking time like that, I should at least let the golf balls turkey meatballs simmer in the sauce. I simmered the turkey meatballs for a few minutes, and let them languish in the sauce while I started three other things, and even finished two of the things I started before. Sweet!

So, you all know that I *heart* Ellie, but I think the portion sizes are wrong on this recipe. Either that or my measuring cup is defective. Or I bought the bottomless box of spaghetti by accident, the one that they make for households with teenagers and their football player friends. I have so much leftover spaghetti, I could make a spaghetti dinner. What's that? I just made a spaghetti dinner? Oh.

I almost danced into work that morning, with my Ellie meal in hand. When it was time for lunch, I nuked it for two minutes, added the parmesan cheese, and sat down to enjoy. The sauce had transformed the burned nicely browned turkey meatballs, and the flavor was fantastic. Spicy but with a hint of sweetness from the tomatoes. This is one I'll look forward to every day.

If you'd like to join us in cooking through Ellie Krieger's recipes, visit Craving Ellie in My Belly and check out how you sign up. It would be great to have you cooking along with us. Don't you want to open your fridge and know you have a healthy, tasty Ellie meal to take to work?