Seasonal Tart: Spinach, Dill and Ricotta

I love an excess of a single ingredient that allows me to experiment. Watch what you wish for! Opening day of our CSA season brought 4 pounds of spinach and 8 large heads of lettuce into the kitchen, not to mention a pound of baby bok choy and ½ pound of arugula. All those greens were too voluminous for my fridge. So we started with the easy task: eating spinach right away and wilting the rest to reduce the volume.

I had made delicious homemade ricotta for a big party last weekend, and combined it with lemon zest and herbs. I used the leftovers for this dilly spinach tart, which we ate alongside a lettuce and arugula salad with plenty of snipped herbs and a sprinkling of feta cheese. The combination of young herbs and the season’s first lettuces is magical. A suitably spring-like supper.

Spinach and Dill Ricotta Tart

1 sheet frozen puff pastry

3 eggs

1 c ricotta cheese

¼ – 1/3 c milk or cream if needed

1 c cooked spinach, squeezed dry and chopped

1 tsp lemon zest

2-3 tbsp chopped dill

Optional: ½ tsp salt

Optional: 1 tbsp mixed chopped herbs (lovage, tarragon, chives)

Thaw the puff pastry for about ½ hour. Roll it out slightly and place it in a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom, Run the rolling pin over the top of the rim to cut the dough neatly and save the scraps for another use.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Lightly beat the eggs in a medium bowl. Add the ricotta, combining well. Add milk or cream to thin the mixture if it seems too thick. The amount will depend on the consistency of your ricotta.

Add the remaining ingredients, stirring to combine well, and pour the mixture into the prepared tart shell, smoothing the top.

Bake for 45 minutes, or until the tart is puffed and golden. (It will fall as it cools.) Let the tart cool for 10 minutes before unmolding and serving.

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Blueberry Pie for the Fourth of July

Festive blueberry tarts decorated with star cutouts and red berries are irresistible for a Fourth of July picnic. As blueberries are very plentiful in July, we make all kinds of excuses to serve them. I am not a great fan of most cooked fruit fillings – too gooey – so this technique solves the problem. A small quantity of berries is cooked down with a binder (cornstarch and flour) and cooled. Three times the berries are then added raw, allowing the raw and the cooked to combine in a well balanced, sweet-tart fruit filling for a pre-baked tart shell. The idea for cooking the filling this way came from a “ladies committee” cookbook produced for the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

Blueberry Tart

2 c blueberries, divided ½ c and 1½ c

½ c sugar

1/3 c water

1½ tsp cornstarch

1 tbsp flour

1 tbsp water

Juice of ½ lemon

1 pre-baked tart shell (8-9 inches diameter or 4 x 10 inches rectangular)

Place ½ c berries, sugar and 1/3 c water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. In a small covered jar, shake the cornstarch and flour with 1 tbsp water to combine into a slurry (or stir together thoroughly in a small bowl). Add to the berry mixture, stirring to avoid lumps and cooking for a few minutes until the berries pop and the mixture becomes thick. Set aside to cool.

Add the lemon juice and the balance of the berries and spoon into a pre-baked tart shell.

Crust for pre-baked tart shells (makes 2 8-inch shells)

2 c flour

½ tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

10 tbsp (1 ¼ sticks) very cold butter, cut into ½ inch cubes

1/3 c plus a couple tbsp ice cold water

Place the flour, salt, sugar and butter in a food processor and pulse a couple of times until the mixture is crumbly. With the motor running, quickly add 1/3 c of ice water and turn off motor immediately. Pour the mixture into a shallow bowl and add additional ice water, a few sprinkles at a time, until the dough holds together. Do not over mix. Divide the dough in half and place each half in plastic wrap in the refrigerator (which will relax the gluten) for at least 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Roll out the dough on a floured board (also flouring the rolling pin) and place it into a fluted tart pan. Run the rolling pin across the top of the pan to level the edges. Prick the bottom of the shell with a fork, line it with foil and add dried beans (I’ve used the same ones over and over for years) or pie weights. Bake the tart shell for 10  minutes, remove the foil and beans and bake for about another 10 minutes until just browned. Remove to cool before adding a cooled filling.

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Chicken Pot Pie

With so much snow on the ground, and more to come, we crave warm and comforting foods. Chicken pot pie is one of our family faves, adaptable season by season. It’s typically the end of the line for a roast chicken, when all of the meat has been taken off and the carcass turned into stock. Here I used carrots, parsnips and turnips with the typical celery and onions. Another time, there might be fennel instead, or mushrooms or leeks.  I also vary the herbs, using dill, tarragon or lovage instead of the ubiquitous parsley.

The sauce is basically a velouté (think béchamel without the dairy) made around the vegetables. Slowly cook the veggies in butter until soft, sprinkle with flour and cook for a few minutes to eliminate the rawness of the flour. Douse with white wine, the magic ingredient that adds flavor, evaporate the wine and add chicken stock. After the mixture is thoroughly cooked, add the chicken, herbs, salt and pepper to taste and cool. I sometimes add milk or cream but it’s not essential. For the crust (I only use a top crust) I use a frozen puff pastry sheet, slightly thawed. While I’ve tried dumplings and conventional crust, this remains the winner.

Chow down. This is “moreish,” meaning you’ll want to refill your plate!

Chicken Pot Pie

I sheet frozen puff pastry (I use Pepperidge Farm)

2-3 tbsp butter

1 onion, roughly chopped

2 carrots, peeled and sliced

2 small parsnips, peeled and chopped

I small turnip, diced

2 stalks celery, stringed and chopped

2-3 tbsp flour

1/3 c white wine

1 c or rmore chicken stock, warmed

1 c or more chopped cooked chicken

Chipped parsley

Optional: 2-3 tbsp cream

Remove the puff pastry from the freezer and let thaw a little while you make the pie filling.

Melt the butter in a wide saucepan and turn off the heat.

As you prepare the vegetables, drop them into the pan. Turn the heat back on and cook them slowly until the carrots are crisp tender, about 5-7 minutes. Add the flour and stir to combine, stirring until the flout has cooked a little, 2-3 minutes (do not let it brown). Add the wine, stirring rapidly to make the sauce base. When the wine has evaporated, gradually add the chicken stock, stirring. Cook the sauce until the raw flavor of the flour has disappeared, adding more stock if it gets too thick. You want it to hold together and not be soupy but remember that the chicken will be added. Add the chicken, herbs, salt and pepper to taste and the cream, if using.

Turn the mixture into a pie pan (I use a 9-inch glass Pyrex pan.) and set aside to cool.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the thawed puff pastry sheet on to and cut off the corners (it’s square). Crimp the edges to adhere to the pie pan. Cut a few slits in the top and place the cut off corners neatly on top. Place in the oven (put a cookie sheet below it to catch drips). Bake for about an hour. Cool for 5-10 minutes and serve.

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Improved Gluten-free Dairy-free Pumpkin Pie

With a great tip from Mark Bittman of The New York Times, I improved the gluten-free, dairy-free pumpkin pie that I made for Thanksgiving a year ago. Last year, the pat-in crust, made from purchased gluten-free ginger snaps, was really ugly. This year, I added unsweetened coconut to the ginger snaps and it worked much better. I also liked the fact that the coconut in the crust complemented the coconut milk in the filling.

Gluten-free Ginger Snap and Coconut Crust

Ginger snaps, ground in a food processor (1 ½ c)

¼ c unsweetened coconut

6 tbsp vegan spread (Earth Balance), melted

Mix all ingredients and pat into 8-inch pie pan. Chill. Prebake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Cool before adding filling and finishing pie.

Pumpkin Pie Filling with Coconut Milk

1 c precooked pumpkin (from a can or roasted mashed from a pie pumpkin

1 c coconut milk

¼ c brown sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1tsp ground ginger

¼ tsp ground nutmeg

1/8 tsp ground cloves or allspice

Pinch of salt

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

Mix all ingredients together and pour into partially baked crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes or until set.

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Pear and Chestnut Tart

This is one of  the most decadent and satisfying desserts that I know how to make. With my new pear and chestnut jam as a base, I think it is even better than the classic version with ground almonds. The new jam perfectly complements the riff on a traditional tart.

For this month’s Tigress Can Jam, I made a delectable pear and chestnut jam flavored with vanilla and lemon. The aroma and taste were amazing. I have been collecting pears for a couple of weeks as the season winds down for the local Bartletts, though the Asian pears will continue to be available since they are nearly as sturdy as apples. With extra pears and jam on my hands, I decided to make a pear tart that’s based on oh-so-many apple tarts.

Instead of the traditional “frangipane,” a mixture of ground almonds, sugar, butter and egg,  which acts as a base for the fruit, I substituted my newly made jam for the sugar and nuts, assuming that the sparkling flavor would also complement the pears. I was right. This was delicious. I glazed the tart with apricot and nectarine jam from the summer, tinged with a little local white Port.

Pear and Chestnut Tart

Tart crust (a version of Jacques Pepin’s method)

2 c flour

1 tsp sugar

½ tsp salt

1½ stick cold butter, cubed

1/3 c + ice water

Pulse the dry ingredients in a food processor to blend. Add the cold butter and pulse to create medium-coarse pieces. With the motor running, quickly add the ice water and stop, Transfer the mixture to a bowl and combine the ingredients quickly with your hands, adding a little more ice water.  Do not over-mix or the crust will be gluey and tough. Gather the dough into a flat patty, wrap it in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

When ready to bake, roll the dough out to the desired thickness (thin is best) and transfer it to a 9-inch removable-bottom tart pan. Refrigerate until ready to bake.

This recipe makes two 9-inch tart crusts.

Frangipane

For this particular tart, the filling acts as a cushion between  fruit and  crust.  A typical mixture, again per Jacques Pepin, would include about ¾ c almonds and 1/2 c sugar ground together and mixed with an egg and 1 tbsp melted butter. Here, I used about 1/3 c of my pear and chestnut jam ( 1 4 0x jar), mixed with 1 tbsp melted butter and 1 egg, lightly beaten. Pour this into the cold tart crust and return to the refrigerator while preparing the pears.

Pears

Squeeze the juice of one lemon into a shallow bowl. Peel 4-5 pears, depending on the size. (I used five 3-inch Forelle pears, which were ripe but still firm.) Slice the pears vertically and core them. Cut the pear halves vertically into ¼-inch slices, or a little thinner, dunking them in the lemon juice to prevent browning.

Assembly and baking

Remove the half-filled tart shell from the refrigerator and place the sliced pears on top. Overlap the pears slightly starting at the outside. If they are uneven (mine were), create a center rosette with pears slices forming the edges and chopped up pears in the center. Sprinkle with 2 tbsp sugar and dot with a teaspoon or two of cold butter.

Baking

Bake the tart in a preheated 400-degree oven for about an hour, or until the crust and fruit

are brown and fully cooked. Remove to a rack to cool completely. Remove the tart from the pan as soon as it is cool enough to handle.

Glazing

Mix 3 tbsp apricot jam with 2 tbsp water and 1 tbsp sugar in a small saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove to a bowl to cool, covering with parchment paper to prevent a skin from forming. When ready to apply, add a tsp of kirsch if desired (or in this case a tsp of local port, nothing strong enough to divert from the pears).

When the tart is completely cooled, lightly brush on the glaze, taking care not to disturb the placement of the fruit.

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Paper Chef 49: Seafood Pot Pie with Fennel and Peppers

Prawns, fennel, sweet pepper and passion. Hmm. Lots of possibilities for this Paper Chef challenge. Luckily I shopped for the seafood before a giant winter storm shut us in. One of my passions is to seek and use the freshest, most local, and hopefully organic ingredients. With nothing called a prawn in our markets, I was lucky to find first-of-the-season tiny Maine pink shrimp that were never frozen. While Maine’s not exactly around the corner, it’s a lot closer than Vietnam, which is where some of the other shrimp were harvested. I was also lucky to find fresh scallops from Barnegat Light on the Jersey shore, some 40 miles away.  I already had a sweet bell pepper and a large bulb of fennel, both organic but not too local I’m sure. So I was set to cook when the snow hit.

Another passion, or maybe just an obsession, is to utilize all ingredients to their fullest, cutting down waste. I just can’t imagine shelling shrimp and tossing the shells, or cutting off the woody fennel stalks and discarding them. I sometimes stockpile shrimp shells in the freezer until I have enough for a stock. Same with vegetable trimmings in the refrigerator, though you have to be careful not to create a cool heap of compost in the process. Because the shrimp were so tiny, I had a high volume of shells, which made a flavorful stock. Since I was using fennel in the final dish, I added the stems to the pot along with the usual aromatics.

I braised the fennel separately because I wanted to infuse it with lemon juice, but you could just add it in with the onions and peppers, treating it like celery in a chicken pot pie. BTW, this is a great way to cook fennel in general.

 

Finally, what I care about most when I cook for family and friends, is to make something that they’ll enjoy. For my family, chicken pot pie is a favorite meal, so I thought that, while I might have made a shrimp and fennel chowder, or a thinly sliced fennel and pepper salad with prawns in a passion fruit dressing (sounds good, eh), a comforting pot pie on a blustery day is just the dish to hit the spot.

Seafood Pot Pie with Fennel and Peppers (one 8” pie)

2 tbsp butter

1 onion, cut in small dice

1 yellow bell pepper cut into ½” pieces

¼-1/3 cup flour

¼ cup white wine

1+ cup shrimp stock (see below, or bottled clam juice)

½ fennel bulb, optionally braised in lemon juice and stock (see below)

½ lb tiny shrimp or larger shrimp cut up

3-6 scallops, cut into ½-inch cubes

2 tbsp heavy cream (optional)

1 tbsp or more chopped fennel fronds

Salt and pepper

Flaky pie dough (or frozen puff pastry sheet)

Melt the butter in a shallow pan over low heat and sauté the onions and peppers for about 5 minutes. Add flour, stirring to incorporate it and let it cook slowly for about 5 minutes to eliminate the taste of raw flour. Add the white wine, turning up the heat a little and whisk or stir vigorously to avoid lumps in the flour. Start incorporating the stock, continuing to stir to avoid lumps. Cook slowly for about 10 minutes. The mixture should seem really thick since the pepper and fennel juices will water it down when the pie is baking.

Turn off heat, add the pre-made fennel and the scallops and shrimp. Pour into the pie plate that you will use for baking and when cool, adjust seasonings and add the chopped fennel fronds. Top with a piecrust, slit in a few places so that the steam escapes. Bake 45-60 minutes in the middle of the oven, with a baking sheet below in case it overflows. Let sit for at least 15 minutes before serving.

Shrimp stock (1 scant quart, used 1/3-1/2 of this in the pot pie)

Shells from 1 lb shrimp, or more, rinsed

Olive oil, very small amount

1 carrot, diced

1 medium yellow onion, diced

1 stalk celery, diced

5-6 peppercorns

3-4 stalks fennel, diced (optional)

A few fennel seeds (optional)

Approximately 2 quarts water

Salt

Sauté the shrimp shells in a little oil until they are opaque (other types will turn pink; the ones I used started out pink). Add the vegetables and stir to coat. Add peppercorns and fennel see, if using. Add water just to cover and simmer, partially covered for about 45 minutes. If the mixture seems watery, cook it for another 15 minutes. If you are not using the stock right away, cool it quickly and refrigerate.

Lemony Braised Fennel (used half of this in the pot pie)

I bulb fennel

Olive oil

Juice of one lemon

Chicken stock or water

Salt to taste

Trim the bulb, cut it in half vertically, core it and make thin vertical slices. Reserve the fronds and the stalks for another use (or if the stalks are not too woody, slice them and include them with the slices). Heat a little olive oil in a deep pot, add the fennel slices and sauté for 5-6 minutes, allowing the slices to brown a little. Add the lemon juice, reduce the heat and let the fennel stew for a few minutes, until the lemon is absorbed or cooked down. Add the stock or water, barely covering the fennel and braise, partially covered until cooked to the consistency you like. (Note, because I was mixing it with the potpie filling, I didn’t cook it fully.) This took about 10 minutes to cook.

 

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Gluten-free Dairy-free Pumpkin Pie, so who said it had to be pretty too

Figuring out how to make a pumpkin pie dairy-free is not hard, given the possibility of using soymilk or unsweetened coconut milk as a substitute for cream or half-and-half. Figuring out a compatible crust is harder. The piecrust that I made last Thanksgiving emulated a whole-wheat crust but was crumbly to the point where I felt it belonged on the beach. It tasted like that too. I was about to repeat the mistake this year when, in the midst of baking the apple pie that was to precede Mr. Pumpkin in the oven, E reminded me that I had had aspirations to make a gluten-free gingersnap crust. So she ran out to the only open grocery store and picked up a bag of gluten-free cookies. We tossed together the new crust and pre-baked it, not losing much oven time on a busy day. It wasn’t the prettiest of pies, but it was good, and a good start for future experiments. Next time, I will think ahead and make my own gingersnaps.

As for the pumpkin, I used a good quality organic canned pumpkin puree. The sugar pumpkin that I had on hand would have been watery despite roasting it to concentrate the flavors. The other alternative would have been to roast a cheese pumpkin or sweet potatoes, both of which have more body. That too will wait until next time. The cheese pumpkin on our counter is just too gorgeous to give up.

Gluten-free Dairy-free Pumpkin Pie

1 ½ cups pumpkin puree (1 15 oz can)

½ cup brown sugar or ¾ cup granulated white sugar

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

½ tsp ground allspice

¼ tsp ground cloves

Fresh grated nutmeg

1 tsp salt

1 cup unsweetened coconut milk (not light)

3 large eggs

1 pre-baked gingersnap piecrust (see below)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Stir the sugar, spices and salt into the pumpkin puree.  Stir the coconut milk thoroughly to eliminate any lumps and combine with the pumpkin. Slightly beat the eggs and add to the puree, until just combined. Pour into the pre-baked and cooled piecrust and bake for approximately 50 minutes.  The edges should be set and the center somewhat jiggly. It will set up as it cools.

Gingersnap Pie Crust

8 oz gingersnaps, or about 30 small cookies, 2 cups when pulverized

2 tbsp white sugar

1/3 cup dairy-free shortening (I used Earth Balance)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pulverize the gingersnaps in a food processor, to yield 2 cups. Add sugar and shortening and process until the mixture holds together and is clumpy. Pat the mixture evenly into a 9-inch pie pan and bake for 8-10 minutes until set but not overly brown. Set aside to cool before filling and baking.

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