This is one of the most delicious tarts I've ever made. I grabbed the recipe over the summer from an NPR post written by the author of the Nothing in the House pie blog (thanks for this amazing recipe!).
You'll need fresh figs and a nonstick, oven-safe frying pan for this one. Once you've got those, this tarte tatin should be a piece of cake (pun fully intended). What's a tarte tatin, you'd like to know? It's an upside-down tart with caramelized fruit. It got its name from the Hotel Tatin, located a couple of hours south of Paris, in whose kitchen the tart originated.
Here to pair with this delightful tart is the ninth track from my wedding mix tape, the Beatles' "Two of Us." It might be a controversial statement, but this is my favorite love song on any Beatles album. I can just envision the tungsten lighting of a 1960s drive on 16mm film.
Ingredients:
*adapted from Nothing in the House, courtesy of the British Pieminister
--pie crust, rolled and chilled (recipe here)
--15 large figs, stems cut and sliced in half
--3/4 c. granulated sugar
--3/4 c. water
--1/2 tsp. cinnamon
--1/2 c. roasted pistachios
--3 tbsp. honey
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
In an oven-safe frying pan, bring sugar and water to a low boil until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat to medium-high and cook for about 8-10 minutes, or just until your mixture has become a thick, golden caramel syrup.
Turn the heat to a simmer and add the figs. Cook for about 3-5 minutes, or just until the figs have become quite soft (but not mushy). Remove the figs with a slotted spoon and set aside in a small bowl. Add the pistachios to the frying pan and cover them with the caramel. Add the figs back to the frying pan face-down, arranging so that the bottom of the pan is filled but no figs overlap.
Take your pie crust and top the fig and pistachio mixture with it. Tuck it down into the sides of the frying pan so that it forms a sort of top (don't worry about neatly tucking the edges! Just tuck them in as best you can--this is a rustic pie).
Poke a few fork holes in the top of your pie crust and transfer your frying pan to the oven. Bake for about 25 minutes, or just until the pie crust turns a light golden color. Remove from oven. Now here's the trick part: line a baking sheet with parchment, and just as soon as you've taken the pan out of the oven, flip the tart upside-down onto the parchment. Just do it quickly--you can do it!
Drizzle honey over the top of the tart and let cool for about 10-15 minutes before cutting.
Not exactly a pie (you could just as easily make it in a rectangular 9 x 11 baking dish), but I'm calling it a pie here. This nectarine crumble is a delicious dessert, and it can very easily be made into a vegan recipe (just substitute Earth Balance for the butter).
I love crumbles and crisps, and you could easily substitute the nectarines for any wintry fruit. Apples, in particular, can make this a great December or January after-dinner treat.
Here's Gram Parsons singing "I Can't Dance," the third track from our wedding mix and a hit from his album Grievous Angel.
Ingredients:
--6 ripe nectarines, washed and sliced
--1 c. granulated sugar
--juice from one lemon
--1 tbsp. cornstarch
--1 1/2 c. old-fashioned oats
--1 c. all-purpose flour
--1 c. dark brown sugar
--1/2 tsp. cinnamon
--1 tsp. vanilla extract
--6 tbsp. chilled unsalted butter, sliced
--pinch of salt
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large bowl, mix nectarine slices with granulated sugar, lemon juice, and cornstarch. Pour into a buttered pie dish.
In a separate bowl, combine oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, butter, and salt. Mix with your hands until you've got a crumbly, sweet crumble topping. Crumble over the top of the nectarines. (This recipe makes quite a lot of crumble topping. If you like a little less, you may end up with some extra.)
Bake for about 30 minutes, or just until the crumble topping begins to turn a very light golden color. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Like all crumbles and crisps, this dessert is fantastic a la mode.
Next up from the wedding pies? Peach melba pie! This pie is a delicious summery mix of peaches, raspberries, and vanilla. Want it in the wintertime? Freeze some peaches ahead of time in anticipation of warm weather cravings during the snowy months.
With this pie here's the Ramones' "Do You Wanna Dance?" It was initially recorded in the late 1950s, covered by the Beach Boys in the 1960s to much acclaim, and covered again by the Ramones on their 1977 album (and my favorite album), Rocket to Russia.
By the way, underneath the pie is a fabulous textile I brought home from Guatemala this past January.
Ingredients:
--pie crust recipe x2 (available here)
--6 large, ripe peaches, sliced
--juice from one lemon
--zest from one lemon
--1 vanilla bean
--1 c. raspberries
--3 tbsp. cornstarch
--1/4 c. apricot jam
--pinch of salt
--3/4 c. light brown sugar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a bowl, combine lemon juice, lemon zest, vanilla bean contents, apricot jam, salt, and brown sugar. Fold in sliced peaces. Mash raspberries and fold in. Pour into pie shell.
I used a pastry cutter to design the pie crust top. You could do the same (see photo), or simply add a rolled pie crust on top and cut in a few venting slices.
Cover the crust for the first 30 minutes of baking. Remove crust cover
and continue to bake for another 25-30 minutes, or just until crust
becomes golden in color. Remove from oven and allow to cool. This pie is
great with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
I've been terribly absent from my blog over the last few months, but with good reason! I spent the last month in India (sweets from South Asia will appear very, very soon), and in the months before that, I made 16 pies for my wedding!
Before the new year, I'm going to try to post each one of those pie recipes for you on Spoonfeeding Casanova. And lucky for me, I'll be able to pair each one with a song from our wedding--as wedding favors, we made a mix CD for all of our guests. First song up? The sixth track on our playlist: The Velvet Underground's "She's My Best Friend."
This pistachio cardamom pie is one of my favorite recent creations. It mimics some of the ingredients of a classic pecan pie, but it takes a fabulous Middle Eastern twist. In fact, it's completely inspired by the massive amounts of baklava I enjoyed in Istanbul a few years ago. Did I mention it would be a delicious treat for any new year's eve party? (By the way, this pie is the one in the top left corner of the table in our "pie cutting" photo.)
Ingredients:
--my homemade pie crust, rolled and ready to go (available here)
--3 large eggs
--1/2 c. light brown sugar
--1/4 c. granulated sugar
--1 c. light corn syrup
--1 tsp. ground cardamom
--2 c. chopped pistachios
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
In a large bowl, whisk eggs, sugar, corn syrup, and cardamom. Line the bottom of your pie shell with the pistachios. Pour the wet mixture over the pistachios and bake for about 35 minutes (or until the center begins to puff up). Remove from oven and allow to cool.
On the menu at nearly every restaurant in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, fish amok (a fish curry) might just be the national dish of Cambodia. It's traditionally served in a banana leaf or coconut, but those shells are hard to come by in the U.S. As such, my fish amok is an Americanized version of this classic, but it's still pretty special.
While I was in Phnom Penh, I bought some "amok" spice at the Russian Market.
But if you don't have a packet of amok spice, don't worry! You can make your own. You'll need:
--3 tsp. galangal root powder (order some here)
--3 tsp. lemongrass powder (order here)
--2 1/2 tsp. kaffir lime leaf powder (order here)
--1/2 tsp. garlic powder
If you already have your amok spice from Cambodia, you're ready to go. In 1979, the Concerts for the People of Kampuchea (in London) were benefits for Cambodia in the aftermath of the Khmer Rouge regime. Here's Elvis Costello & the Attractions' "The Imposter" from Concert for Kampuchea, a film that brought together a bunch of the performances from the Concerts for the People of Kampuchea. (Oh, how I love Elvis Costello.)
Ingredients:
--2 white fish filets (I used cod, but haddock or a similar fish would be just as tasty)
--3 tbsp. amok spice (if you're making your own with the ingredients I listed above, you've got exactly enough for this recipe)
--1/2 tsp. chili powder
--2 cans coconut milk
--1 c. water
--2 tsp. finely chopped fresh ginger
--1 tsp. key lime zest (the zest of about 3-4 key limes)
--about 1 1/2 tbsp. salt
--1/4 c. sweet chili sauce (you can use less if you like it less spicy)
--black pepper to taste
--3 c. steamed white rice
Before you begin, chop your fish filets into approximately 1" cubes and set aside.
In a saucepan, bring coconut milk, water, fresh ginger, and lime zest just to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and whisk in the amok spice and the chili powder. Add the sweet chili sauce, salt, and black pepper, continuing to whisk until combined.
Add your fish and simmer for about 8-10 minutes, or just until the fish is cooked through and flaky. Remove from heat and serve immediately over white rice. By the way, I reserve my "zested" key limes and squeeze the juice over the white rice before serving.
Now, if you ordered this dish in Cambodia, it would likely be a steamed curry served in a banana leaf. But this sounds like a pretty good alternative, right? Enjoy!
I love alfajores (who wouldn't?). The delicious combination of dulce de leche, toasted coconut, and cornmeal-style shortbread is almost too much to handle. So why not turn this delectable cookie into a larger dessert empanada? My thoughts, exactly.
These empanadas couldn't get much easier. Make your empanada dough, roll it out, fill it with dulce de leche, and top with a toasted coconut sugar.
It has nothing to do with South America or empanadas, but one of my superfluous summer goals for 2014 was to listen to more early Black Sabbath. I found their self-titled debut album on vinyl yesterday in Richmond at Steady Sounds, so here's "N.I.B.", live from Paris in 1970.
Ingredients:
For the dough:
--3/4 c. all-purpose flour
--1/2 c. yellow corn flour (not to be confused with cornstarch!)
--2 tbsp. granulated sugar
--1/2 c. butter, chopped and chilled
--1/4 c. ice water
--1 egg yolk
For the rest:
--1/4 c. turbinado sugar
--1/4 c. sweetened coconut
--1 egg, beaten
--1 jar dulce de leche
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a food processor (or in a bowl using a pastry blender), combine the dough ingredients. Immediately roll out onto a floured surface until the dough is about 1/8" thick. Cut the dough into circles with a diameter of approximately 6-8" (you can use a small plate or saucer to do this). Place the circles between parchment and chill in the fridge until you're ready to use them.
Now for the topping. In your food processor, combine 1/4 c. turbinado sugar and 1/4 c. sweetened coconut. Pulse the sugar and coconut mixture until it's very finely ground. Set aside.
Remove your empanada dough circles from the fridge and fill each with about 2 tbsp. dulce de leche on one side of the circle. Fold the dough over the dulce de leche filling, creating half moons. Now you need to seal the empanadas. To make a braided seal, or repulge, take a look at this short video. (*Note: if you're having trouble making the braided seal, you can pinch the edges firmly.)
Brush your egg wash over the tops of the empanadas and generously sprinkle your sugar and coconut mixture. On a parchment-lined baking sheet, place 6 empanadas at a time. Bake for approximately 25 minutes. If the crusts are turning golden, they're overdone. You only want the coconut to begin to toast before you take them out of the oven. When they're done, remove from oven and allow to cool before serving (the filling will be *extremely* hot!). Store in an airtight container.
I had so many delicious noodles in Hong Kong, and I've been doing my best to do justice to those spicy bowls back in America. Some of my favorite noodle shops--Good Hope Noodle in Mong Kok, Mak's Noodles in Central, and Ho To Tai Noodle Shop in the New Territories--serve fried egg noodles with BBQ pork belly. It's amazingly good. So I took a stab at my own version.
Using some Chinese five spice, s&p, fresh tomatoes, vinegar, olive oil, soy sauce, and just a few tablespoons of some Texas-style sweet and tangy BBQ sauce (I said this was a take on the dishes I had!), I whipped up a sauce to accompany the noodles and pork belly. You'll need a few hours to make the pork belly, but once it's done this dish is quick and easy. And you can even cook up the pork belly the day before you're planning to make your noodles.
Want some music to go with those Hong Kong noodles and pork belly? Here's Siouxsie and the Banshees' "Hong Kong Garden."
Ingredients:
--pork belly
--1 lb. Chinese egg noodles (I prefer the super skinny kind, and you can find them at an Asian grocery)
--1/2 tsp. Chinese five spice
--3 tbsp. soy sauce
--1 medium-sized tomato, pureed
--1 tsp. pomegranate vinegar (you could use a simple balsamic vinegar instead)
--2-3 tsp. olive oil
--2 tbsp. Texas-style BBQ sauce (feel free to make your own too, of course!)
--1 tsp. salt & pepper
--1-2 tsp. coarse sea salt
Preheat oven to 475 degrees F.
You're going to make the pork belly first, and you'll need to make it at least 3-4 hours before you plan to start on the noodles.
Score the skin/fat of the pork belly with a very sharp knife, being careful not to cut into the meat. Sprinkle the coarse sea salt over the skin and rub in, pushing the salt into the score marks. Pour about 1 tsp. or so of the olive oil over the skin and rub in thoroughly.
Place the pork belly on a roasting rack in a roasting pan, and place in the hot oven for 20 minutes, or just until the skin begins to bubble. Turn the heat down to 325 degrees F and continue roasting for about 2.5 hours, or until the meat begins to easily pull apart. Depending on the size of your pork belly, you'll need to keep an eye on it and adjust accordingly. Once it's done, remove from the oven and allow it to rest, covered with foil, for at least 20 minutes.
Onto the main dish. In a small bowl, combine the Chinese five spice, soy sauce, tomato, pomegranate vinegar, BBQ sauce, about 1 tsp. or so olive oil, and 1 tsp. s&p. Whisk together to combine, then set aside.
In a medium-sized pot, boil your egg noodles for just about a minute and a half, then drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside for just a few minutes while you get the pork belly ready.
When your pork belly has cooled, slice and chop into about 1/2" strips. Over medium heat in a sauce pan, fry the pork belly to crisp it up, about 5 min. Once it's sizzling, add the sauce mixture and continue to fry for another minute or two. Add the egg noodles. Cook for another minute or two as you mix the noodles with the pork belly and sauce, just until everything is crispy and ready to serve. If you have more noodles than you can eat, this dish makes for some great leftovers.
