Fig Pistachio Tarte Tatin

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.

Duck Confit

The last time I saw Paris . . . I also saw a lot of duck confit.  Buttery, salty, tender, melt-in-your-mouth duck confit.  What is this delicious dish?  It's traditionally a duck quarter (leg and thigh) cooked and stored in its own rendered fat.  Yes, you read that right.  A very rich dinner, duck confit is easier to make at home than you might think.

One of the really tricky tasks for making duck confit is locating enough duck fat (and spending quite a lot of money on it!) to cover your duck quarters.  Thanks to the confit-ing genius Michael Ruhlman, I realized that I could have duck confit anytime by simply using olive oil instead of rendered duck fat in the cooking process.  You'll still need quite a bit of olive oil, but you can purchase it readily at any grocery store.

Plan ahead for making this dish: you'll need to start at least 3 days before you want to eat it.  The waiting time will give you more time to listen to "This Country's Going to War" from the most perfect film to complement a duck dish--the Marx Bros.' Duck Soup (in fact, you'll have time to watch the whole film more than once).  

Ingredients:

--4 duck quarters

--herbes de provence 

--a lotta salt

--about one quart olive oil

Day One:

Place duck quarters in an enamel cast iron pan and heavily salt them.  Sprinkle on herbes de provence with a heavy hand, and then rub in the herbs and salt.  (By the way, you can use any herbs you'd like.  Fresh rosemary and thyme would be great.)  Store covered in the fridge for at least 24 hours.

Day Two:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees F.

Rinse the duck legs in cold water to remove the herbs and salt.  Pat dry.  Repeat with the remaining duck quarters.  Place skin-side-up in the enamel cast iron pan and completely cover with olive oil. 

Bring to a simmer on the stove and then transfer, uncovered, to the oven.  Bake for approximately 10 hours, or until the oil has become clear and the duck legs are resting on the bottom of the pan (different chefs say anywhere between 6-12 hours, but I think 10 hours is just about perfect).

Allow to cool and then transfer--the whole cast iron pan and all--to the refrigerator.  Keep refrigerated in the oil, completely submerged, for at least 24 hours.  Here, the longer the better--you can make these up to 3-4 weeks before you're going to serve them since the oil acts as a preservation method.  But remember, at least 24 hours in the cooled fat before eating.

Day Three:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Remove duck quarters from the fat and scrape off remaining fat (it will have congealed around the meat).  Transfer to a baking dish, skin-side-up, and bake for about 20-25 minutes, or just until the skin is quite crispy.  Remove from oven and serve.  Ohmygod.  It's so delicious, and oh-so-easy.  

Banana Hazelnut Pain Perdu

Sweet or savory brunch?  Often I have trouble deciding.  But this one is decidedly sweet: day-old French bread stuffed with Nutella spread, chopped hazelnuts, ripe bananas, and sprinkled with confectioner's sugar.  

Pain perdu, or "lost bread" in French, is just a version of American french toast.  Typically made with day-old (or so) French bread, this breakfast or dessert is soaked in eggs, pan-fried, and served warm with a dusting of sugar.  My version is a stuffed pain perdu, drenched in a cinnamon-clove egg batter and crisped to sweet perfection.

What song pairs well with a breakfast-time sweet tooth?  Dave Rawlings Machine's "Sweet Tooth," a re-worked version of Mississippi John Hurt's "Candyman."  I love Dave Rawlings' and Gillian Welch's homage to the amazing Delta blues guitarist. 

Ingredients:
--1/2 day-old French baguette (the bread should be hard/stale--it's "lost")
--3-5 tbsp. Nutella spread (to your liking, but I tend to fall on the "more Nutella!" side)
--2 ripe bananas, sliced in thin circles
--1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts
--3 eggs
--1/4 c. whole milk
--1 tsp. ground cinnamon
--1 tsp. ground clove
--2 tbsp. butter
--1/4 c. confectioner's sugar (for dusting)

With a sharp, serrated-edged knife, slice baguette into 1/4" to 1/2" slices.  On one slice, spread Nutella, banana slices, and a light sprinkling of hazelnuts.  Top with another slice of the baguette, making a miniature sandwich.  Repeat with remaining baguette slices, Nutella, banana slices, and hazelnuts.  

Heat butter in a frying pan over low-medium heat. 

While your pan is heating, in a small bowl, whisk eggs, milk, cinnamon, and cloves.  Dip each "sandwich" into the egg batter, submerging it and ensuring that it is fully coated.  Repeat for remaining "sandwiches."  Pan fry for approx. 3-4 minutes per side, or until golden and crisp.  Flip the sandwiches to crisp the opposite side. 

Place a few sandwiches on each plate and dust with confectioner's sugar.  Serve warm.

Crustless Kale Quiche and Sweet Potato Chips

I love leafy greens, especially in the Spring and Summer.  And while I couldn't do "kale only" meals (I need more variety!), I've taken on the challenge of incorporating more of this curly-leafed veggie into some dinner dishes.  

This crustless quiche is super delicious and super easy.  I love a traditional flaky butter crust (don't get me wrong), but this version is a bit quicker and healthier.  A simple blend of eggs, parmesan, kale, andouille sausage, and almond milk, this quiche makes for a great breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  And it keeps pretty well in the fridge, too. 

And if I haven't mentioned it before, I *love* sweet potatoes.  So what better to pair with this egg-based dinner than some homemade sweet potato chips?  For these, I made a salty & spicy "rub" to stand up against the andouille, but you could coat these in any spices you like, including cinnamon & sugar for a sweet treat.  Yum.  

Although kale is featured prominently in this non-pastry pie, it's made rich and spicy with the eggs and andouille.  On that note, here's Tom Waits' "Eggs and Sausage (In a Cadillac with Susan Michelson)" from his 1975 album Nighthawks at the Diner.  

Crustless Kale Quiche:

--3 large leaves of kale, stems/center veins removed

--9 large eggs

--1 link andouille sausage

--1/3 c. unsweetened, unflavored almond milk (you could also use soy or any other dairy milk, including half & half for a richer taste)

--1/4 c. parmesan cheese, plus some for dusting

--1 tbsp. salt

--2 tsp. pepper

--1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

--a few sprays of extra virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a food processor, pulse kale, eggs, andouille, milk, parmesan, salt, pepper, and 1 tbsp. olive oil.  Pulse until chopped and combined.  Spray olive oil into a 9" pie dish and pour egg mixture in.  Bake in top rack for approx. 50 minutes, or until center has set.  For the last 5 minutes of baking, sprinkle additional parmesan on top of the quiche.  Remove from oven and allow to cool before slicing.

Sweet Potato Chips:

--1 large sweet potato

--1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

--1 tbsp. salt

--1 tbsp. paprika

--1 tsp. ground coriander

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Wash the sweet potato well.  I like to leave the skin on mine, but if you don't, remove it before slicing.  Using a mandoline (or a sharp knife), slice the sweet potato into very thin "chips."  Place chips in a bowl and coat in olive oil and spice mix.  On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, arrange chips in a single layer (don't allow them to overlap--they won't get crispy!).  Bake for 10 minutes on a lower rack, and then move to the top rack for another 10 minutes for the chips to crisp.  Remove and serve.  (If you have extra chips, store in an airtight container.)

Sweet 'n Savory Fig Profiteroles

I've been thinking about making savory profiteroles (also known as gougères) for quite awhile now.  I love the combination of a buttery, flaky crust with a filling that's both sweet and salty.  Since there are few fresh fruits available during these January days, I decided to use dried figs as the base of this hors d'oeuvre.  

A buttery shell with a fig, mascarpone, ricotta, and honey filling.  (I am crazy about honey.  There are so many different kinds, exhibiting different flavors and colors, and it's amazing to me that wooden boxes full of little honey bees yield this natural sweetener.)

Since profiteroles are better known as "cream puffs" in America, I decided to pair this snack with a "second-hand song".  I love the sweet sadness of the original, but Dinosaur Jr.'s cover of the Cure's "Just Like Heaven" rocks. 

Profiteroles: (I adapted this pastry shell from Ina Garten's recipe--thanks, Ina!)

--1/2 c. whole milk

--4 tbsp. butter

--pinch of salt

--1/2 c. flour

--2 eggs

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. 

In a saucepan, combine milk, butter, and salt over medium heat.  Once the butter is melted, add flour and quickly stir with a wooden spoon.  Once a dough has formed in the saucepan (approx. 2 min), remove dough to a large bowl.  Using dough hooks on your hand mixer, combine eggs, one at a time, into the mixture until you have a thick dough.  

Line a pan with parchment paper.  Spoon the dough into a pastry bag with a round tip, and pipe 1-inch mounds onto parchment paper, approx 1.5 inches apart.  (Your dough should make about 8-10 profiteroles.)  Once you've piped your puffs onto the baking sheets, dip the tip of your finger in water and smooth all edges of the profiteroles so that they look like soft-edged mounds.  Bake for approx. 20 min, or until tops are golden brown.  Remove from oven and allow to cool.

Fig Filling: 

--10 dried figs

--8 oz. mascarpone

--1 c. ricotta 

--1/2 c. honey (I used local wildflower honey, but any will do.  You can search for your own local honey producers here!)

--1 tsp. cinnamon

--1 tsp. ground cloves

--1 tsp. ground cardamom

Cut stems from figs.  Place figs in glass bowl and pour boiling water over figs so that they're covered.  Allow them to sit in the boiling water for approx. 10 min, or until softened.  Drain and remove figs to a food processor, and pulse until you've made a fig paste.  Add mascarpone, ricotta, honey, and spices to food processor and pulse until you've made your filling!

Once the profiteroles have cooled, gently cut off their tops with a sharp knife.  Spoon in 2-3 tbsps. of filling per puff, and then replace top.  Yum!!

Macadamia Macaroons

When daydreaming, my mind sometimes drifts to coconut desserts paired with nuts and chocolates.   I first made these cookies last year and brought some of the extras into the English department.  A professor tried one and sweetly described these as the non-fiction version of Marcel Proust's madeleine.  Needless to say, my heart was warmed.  

I wish I knew whether this dessert could magically spark memories of both time and loves (lost), but in lieu of promising you such an edible entity, I can supply such a song.  One of my own "madeleines," so to speak, has forever been Leonard Cohen's "Lady Midnight".  And while it can't kindle an olfactory memory, on a winter night, I love a pretty song paired with a whimsically warm coconut treat.   

Ingredients:

--1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk

--1 bag (14 oz.) sweetened shredded coconut

--1/2 c. white chocolate pieces (yes, I love white chocolate)

--1/2 c. chopped macadamia nuts

--2 eggs whites, at room temperature

--pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  

In a medium bowl, combine egg whites and pinch of salt.  Beat the egg whites on high speed until they form medium-stiff peaks.  In a separate large bowl, combine coconut, sweetened condensed milk, white chocolate, and macadamia nuts.  Slowly fold in the stiffened egg whites (do not mix!).  

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.  Using a 2-inch ice-cream scoop, place macaroon "scoops" approx. 1/2 inch apart on the parchment-lined baking sheets (I usually place 8 scoops per sheet--the recipe makes 16 macaroons).  Bake for 30 minutes, or until the tops are toasted. 

Allow to cool.  Enjoy warm or chilled (I recommend sampling both!).