Fresh Tart

Fun to make for a crowd - Super Bowl Sunday! - and utterly salty crispy addictive.

Recipe for Trinidad Salt Cod Fritters at Andrew Zimmern's Kitchen Adventures/Food & Wine Magazine.

Two days until Thanksgiving! I'm freaking out a little bit! I do have a turkey, yes. And a loose plan for filling out the rest of the meal, including generous family members bringing a good number of dishes. But if you're sitting at your desk today, sweating a little at the thought of how much there is to do before sitting down on Thursday...I am too.

I suggest not sweating the appetizers, however. To me, Thanksgiving is about the meal, not loading up on heavy snacks, so I'll be offering these nuts, which are massively addictive, and nice to nibble with drinks, but are not appetite-killing.

Recipe for Maple Roasted Almonds at Dara & Co./Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

I should have titled this post, How to Beat a Recipe to Death. Seriously. This is the third time I've posted a variation on it but hey, a winner is a winner, and this one is A Winner. It originated with the lovely blog 101 Cookbooks and I've just continued to play with it.

The first time I made it as written. The second I adapted for bite-sized tarts. This go-round I made it gluten-free and oh wow, it's quite lovely. The addition of almond flour is a big win, adding an extra layer of crunch that is a dreamy pairing with the tangy Parmesan cheese.

I've also started layering in tomatoes of varying sizes for even more visual and flavor impact. Good tomato fun. Treat yourself before our juicy friends are gone for yet another season...oh, I hate to even think of it.

I took this latest version along to one of the highlights of my whole summer - a Tomato Party! Dreamed up and hosted by Heidi Skoog and her husband Kern Nickerson and Heidi's cousin Arianna Skoog, every item on the delicious potluck menu was made from tomatoes!

Heavenly.

Heidi and Kern opened the party with a tomato consomme cocktail, a ridiculously delightful concoction of tomatoes, basil, vodka, olive oil, and salt, slurried together then dripped through cheese cloth into a clear, blushing liquid. Pure essence of summer, those sips, they lingered on the tongue like the very best of kisses.

Mmm.

From there we graduated to juicy Bloody Marys, brought by Dena Alspach, thick with homemade tomato juice and zingy spices.

Better than dessert. Even without a hangover. Yep.

As we sipped and chatted, we dug into Heidi and Kern's tomato/fresh mozzarella salad (dubbed The Mothership, love), a bowl of perfect cherry tomatoes from their crazy-awesome heirloom garden, as well as their version of roasted tomatoes with goat cheese.

Dena brought roasted tomatoes with goat cheese too (great tomatoes, great tomato minds...), and an insane heirloom tomato salad with tomato vinaigrette - yes! We were all soon spooning that dressing over everything, so fantastic and rich.

I so wished I'd taken a stab at a tomato-strawberry ice cream, or some such food fun for a tomato-y dessert, but...next year.

We joked about how a huge blast of tomatoes would mean none of us would be getting colds soon. Or prostate cancer.

Whew.

For now, in case you have a stash of lovely tomatoes on your counter, and you're somehow tired of BLTs, have at this easy, cheesy tart.

End of summer happiness.

Tomato Tart with Parmesan Crust (Gluten-Free Version)
Very lightly adapted from 101 Cookbooks by Heidi Swanson
Serves 8

According to my friend Joy Summers, the nutty cheese crust is like a savory cookie frosted with Mother Nature's bounty. Love.

4 medium-sized, in-season, ripe heirloom tomatoes, mixed varieties (3-4 inches in diameter), cut into 1/4-inch slices
4 small, ripe heirloom tomatoes (1-2 inches in diameter), cut into 1/4-inch slices
8-10 ripe cherry tomatoes of varying colors, cut into 1/4-inch slices
1 tsp. fine-grain sea salt
1/2 c. cold butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
1/2 c. almond flour
1/2 c. gluten-free, all-purpose flour (or whole wheat flour if not gluten-free)
4-oz. chunk Parmesan cheese, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 Tbsp. ice cold water
best quality extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 c. torn basil
freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 350˚F.

Place tomatoes in a single layer on paper towels and sprinkle them with fine-grained sea salt.  Top the tomatoes with another layer of paper towels and press gently.  Let the tomatoes sit until you are ready to use them.

In the bowl of a food processor, grind the Parmesan until very finely grated and fluffy. Remove about 2 Tbsp. of cheese and set aside for later.

Add butter and both flours to the cheese and pulse in short bursts until the dough is sandy-textured with pea-sized pieces of butter.  With a few more pulses, blend in the 2 Tbsp. of ice water.  The dough should start to come together in a ball and when pinched, stick together. Transfer  the dough to a removable-bottom tart pan, then press the dough uniformly into the pan, patting out a 1/4-inch edge as you go.  Place in the refrigerator and chill for 15 minutes.

Pull the crust out of the refrigerator and poke several times with a fork.  Cover the tart with a square of aluminum foil and cover with pie weights. Slide the crust onto the middle rack in the oven.  Bake for 15 minutes, pull the shell out of the oven and remove the pie weights, then gently peel back the foil.  Place the uncovered tart back in the oven, weight free, and bake for another 10-15 minutes, or until it is a deep golden brown color.  Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the reserved grated Parmesan (this will act as another barrier to the tomato liquid).  Place the pan on a rack and let cool to room temperature before filling.

Just before serving, arrange tomato slices on the crust.  Drizzle with best quality extra-virgin olive oil and sprinkle with basil.  Grind black pepper over the whole.  Serve immediately.

I'll confess, the last week has been incredibly difficult. My mom had very serious surgery just last Monday, and my husband John had knee surgery two days later. Things are looking up for both of them, thank goodness, with Mom still hospitalized but slowly improving, and John back at work already today. The body's ability to heal is mind boggling.

I've been amazed by the outpouring of well wishes from friends near and far, in person and online. The social media community is a force of nature, in case you've ever doubted it. My sister Stacey and I have been overwhelmed - in the best possible way! - with loving and supportive messages and offers of help. We are beyond grateful.

I'm the type of girl who loses her appetite when I'm stressed out. But it makes me feel better to cook, so I was glad that in the midst of this craziness, I was making and writing about three different panna cotta recipes that spun out of the Tour de Farm/Celebrity Chef Tour dinner I attended a couple of weeks ago. It turns out that panna cotta is perfect comfort food and it has literally sustained me over the last days.

Funny how things work out.

See this week's Dara & Co./Minnesota Monthly Magazine post for my friend Kris Hase's genius "cheeese course" recipes for Goat Cheese Panna Cotta with Honey & Berries and Sweet Corn Panna Cotta with Bacon & Blue Cheese. Thank you Kris!

So...on to Part II and the pretty details of the Tour de Farm/Celebrity Chef Tour dinner. Despite the bumps in the evening (see Part I), it really was an amazing night. In fact, the whole weekend was a blast, starting on Friday night, when Joy Summers, Molly McNeil, and I stopped by Birchwood Cafe to chat with proprietress Tracy Singleton and to meet National Geographic fellow, sustainable seafood advocate, and chef Barton Seaver. I bought Seaver's book For Cod and Country and had the chance to talk with him for a few minutes about his work and mission. As I left I told him I'd see him not just at Sunday's event, but also for dinner Saturday night at Corner Table, where he and Tour de Farm founder/chef Scott Pampuch were cooking together, featuring a menu of sustainable fish as well as CT's signature local fare.

Debbie and Stu Williams, as well as Rudy Maxa, Ana Scofield, and Ana's daughter Natalie, joined John and me for dinner. We chatted with Seaver and Pampuch, decided to let them choose dishes for us (very wise decision), and had the best meal of the summer: Tomato salad with trout roe. Pickled herring, smoked clams, and basil pesto. Trout cakes with sweet corn. Pork belly with scrambled duck egg. Braised rabbit. Slow roasted salmon with goat cheese butter, baby Brussels, and walnut pesto.

And oh, lovely sweet corn panna cotta for dessert, mmm. Although I didn't realize it at the time, it turns out those creamy dreamy bites were the first of many I'd be maniacally inhaling over the next couple of weeks...but more on that in a bit.

After precious little sleep on either Friday or Saturday night, I picked up my friends Joy Summers, Shaina Olmanson, and Molly McNeil and we were off for Star Prairie Trout Farm in Star Prairie, Wisconsin, for Sunday's Tour de Farm dinner. I think it's fair to say that Star Prairie is the Lothlorien of Wisconsin farms, watery and elvish and a little bit magical. The sight of the long, communal dinner table - always impressive - was particularly delightful as it twisted and turned amongst crystal clear trout springs.

Did I mention that the weather was perfect? Dry, sunny, warm, clear. No frizz. Even though I stayed for far too long, I didn't score even one mosquito bite. I'm telling you...Lothlorien, for real.

As a Celebrity Chef Tour/James Beard Foundation event, the guest chefs included Seaver, of course, as well as chefs Tim McKee and Andrew Zimmern, with Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl as the evening's sommelier. Yes, I write for Dara, and think she's just the bees knees in every possible way, but those are not the reasons that the highlight of the evening, for me, was the marvel of the wine pairings with the food.

The reason is...the wine pairings were delightful. Interesting, approachable, and just really...fun. Wine fun! Food fun! So good.

Also fun? Sitting next to and chatting with Kris Hase, Tour de Farm organizer (along with Pampuch), as well as TDF website designer, blogger, and photographer. All the stunning Tour de Farm photos that have made you so eager to attend one of these dinners? She took them.

Yeah.

When the lovely sweet corn panna cotta I'd had for dessert the night before at Corner Table showed up alongside skirt steak at this dinner, it kicked off a whole rave about the beauty of panna cotta, both sweet and savory, and how rather easy it is to make, and how it should be invited onto more plates.

See Dara & Co./Minnesota Monthly Magazine for Kris' genius "cheese course" take on Goat Cheese Panna Cotta with Honey & Berries and Sweet Corn Panna Cotta with Bacon & Blue Cheese.

And see below for the Sweet Corn Panna Cotta I had on Saturday and Sunday, a recipe that Thomas in the kitchen at Corner Table came up with for the event. I photographed - and let's be honest, quickly devoured - it with fried sage (up top) as well as a with a sexy strawberry-balsamic-black pepper jam (below) I was lucky to possess, one of the amazing Serious Jams by Heidi Skoog that you will soon be hearing much about...killer stuff.

In case you're counting, that's three versions of panna cotta I've made in the last couple of weeks. A couple of them I made twice. That's a lotta panna cotta friends, and I've loved every spoonful.

Your turn now...hit it.

Sweet Corn Panna Cotta
Via Tour de Farm/Celebrity Chef Tour Dinner
Makes six 4-oz. servings

1 c. whole milk, divided
2 tsp. powdered gelatin
2 tsp. butter
3 ears corn, husked, kernels sliced off cob
1 c. heavy cream
salt & freshly ground black pepper

Pour 1/2 c. of whole milk in a small bowl and sprinkle gelatin evenly over the top to soften it. Set the bowl aside.

In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Stir in the corn and heat, stirring a few times, for 5 minutes. Add the remaining 1/2 c. of milk and the heavy cream. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove pan from heat and let cool for a few minutes. Whisk the milk/gelatin into the warm mixture.

In a blender, puree the corn and liquid together on highest setting to a very smooth puree. Pour the mixture through a fine mesh strainer set over a medium bowl, using a ladle to press out as much liquid as possible. Season mixture to taste with salt & pepper. Ladle into six 4-oz. ramekins. Chill until set, 6-8 hours.

Serve cold in ramekins, or turn out onto plates by warming the bottoms of the ramekins on a plate of hot water for 2-3 minutes and then running a knife around the edges before inverting.

Sweet is good, but salty-sweet is better.

As Minnesota State Fair goers know, grilling makes corn even cornier, drying the kernels a bit and concentrating their flavor to sweet, chewy heaven. Sliced off the cob, tossed with crunchy onion, fresh cilantro, a squirt of lime - and salt of course! - this salsa is just lovely summer food. I thought I'd be tempted to add fresh chiles to the mix but you know what? I think the salsa is better without the heat.

The corn is the salty-sweet star here, just the way it should be.

Recipe for Grilled Corn Salsa, via fellow Minnesota Food Blogger Angharad Guy/Eating for England, on Dara & Co./Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

Recipe for Bacon Jam at Dara & Co./Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

This is the same Creamy, Fluffy Hummus - The Way It's Supposed To Be recipe I posted a few months ago, except substituting black lentils for the garbanzos.  That's the thing with hummus - you can make it with whatever bean you have on hand and it will always be lovely.

As true as it was when I first posted it, the secret to fluffy hummus is to emulsify the tahini with the lemon juice before you start whipping in the beans.  I give a basic outline for the seasoning, but you can adjust it to you suit your own favorite flavors.

Make a meal of it by serving with warm pita bread and a big salad.  Spread the hummus on the pita, pile some salad on top of that, take huge bites - serious yum.  For those of you avoiding grains, the creamy garlicky goodness that is a properly prepared hummus makes a delicious dip for radishes, cauliflower, and peppers.

You could even saute the vegetables in a bit of olive oil first until tender-crisp, pile the warm vegetables on top of a simple green salad, finish with hummus.  You'll get an incredibly satisfying warm/cool, crunchy/creamy, sweet/salty thing going on.

(Also see Using a Pot of Beans Part I: Poached Egg Over Lentils, Bacon & Cabbage and Using a Pot of Beans Part II: Almost-Instant Vegetable Bean Soup.)

Creamy, Fluffy Lentil (or Any Bean!) Hummus
Makes about 2 cups

1/4 c. tahini
juice of one lemon, about 1/4 c.
1/4 c. water or more
1/2 of a whole preserved lemon, seeds discarded (I find jars of whole preserved lemons at Whole Foods), minced (optional)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 c. extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
2/3 c. cooked lentils (or other beans)
2 tsp. ground cumin
2 tsp. smoked paprika
1/2 tsp. ground chipotle chili powder (optional, if you like spiciness; if not, skip it)
salt & freshly ground pepper to taste
toasted sesame seeds (optional)

Add tahini, lemon juice, and water to the bowl of a blender.  Blend on high until the tahini becomes very fluffy and pale colored.  Add the minced preserved lemon (if using) and garlic and blend until pureed.  Add some of the the olive oil and lentils, a little bit at a time of each, blending until completely pureed before adding more.  Add a little bit more water at any point if hummus seems too thick.  You want it to be creamy and the consistency of mayonnaise.

Heat a small skillet over medium heat.  Add cumin and toast for a minute or two, just until fragrant and toasty smelling.  Do not burn it.  Remove from heat and immediately scrape it into the hummus.  Add smoked paprika and chili powder (if using).  Blend to incorporate.  Taste and adjust seasonings and salt (you'll need less salt if you used the preserved lemon).  Grind in some pepper.  Blend again.

Scrape hummus into a serving bowl.  Drizzle with additional olive oil and sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.  (Can be made ahead; cover and chill, bring to room temperature before serving.)

I'm a salty girl, always, but I think my cravings are even more intense in the winter.  Lately I've been plucking little balls of fresh mozzarella cheese from their whey bath, sprinkling them with salt, and popping them in my mouth like cherries.  Good Lord they're good that way - who needs tomatoes and basil?

Sort of my way of saying screw you to winter.

Another way (other than devouring a multi-course feast, below)?  Have a party!  Nothing tastes better with salt than wine and chat with a room full of girls, especially foodie girls who blog:

Food For My Family/Shaina
I Had A Delicious Time/Kelli
I Am Baker/Amanda
The Snyder 5/Molly
A Farm Girl's Dabble/Brenda
Cafe Cyan/Crystal

All made their way through the cold and into my kitchen where we ate, drank, gossiped, and laughed our butts off because Molly Snyder and Amanda Rettke are two of the funniest people on the planet.

Yes, I served them plenty of salt - salami, egg salad, ricotta cheese, roasted tomatoes, bacon-wrapped dates, crostini, almonds, olives, and...bagna cauda.  Have you had it before?  It means "hot bath" in Italian and is a salt-lover's dream come true.  Bagna cauda is really nothing more than anchovies, butter, garlic, and olive oil, warmed together and served with raw vegetables for dipping.

I set out radishes, peppers, carrots, and cauliflower, but it was the cauliflower I hit the hardest, after everyone left, when the bagna cauda had been sitting in a warm fondue pot long enough for the butter solids, garlic, and anchovies to have toasted into an insanely delicious sludge at the bottom of the pot.  It turns out that cauliflower, with its lovely bumps, is a perfect sludge-delivery vehicle.

I might pay later for eating almost an entire head of raw cauliflower dipped in anchovy butter...

...but so far I'm feeling pretty good.

Bagna Cauda
From Bon Apetit, December 1992, via Epicurious.com
Serves 6

From the website: Literally translated as "hot bath," this dipping sauce for vegetables often appears in many Italian homes as part of the Christmas Eve buffet. Although cardoons (an edible thistle related to the artichoke but resembling celery) are traditional, celery makes a fine substitute and any combination of vegetables will do. In Italy, the routine goes like this: Vegetable pieces are dipped into the sauce (a fondue-style fork will help) and then eaten, with a slice of bread held underneath to catch the drippings. Once the bread is soaked with sauce, it's eaten, too. Then everyone starts over. It's fun for a party appetizer no matter where you live.

3/4 c. olive oil
6 Tbsp. (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
12 anchovy fillets
6 large garlic cloves, chopped

Assorted fresh, raw vegetables, cut into bite-size pieces
1 1-lb. loaf crusty Italian or French bread, cut into 2-inch pieces

Blend oil, butter, anchovies, and garlic in processor until smooth.  Transfer oil mixture to heavy medium saucepan.  Cook over low heat 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.  (Sauce will separate.)  Season with salt and pepper.

Pour sauce into fondue pot or other flameproof casserole to keep warm.  Serve with vegetables and bread.

Yes, that is fried cheese.

It is every bit as delicious as you'd think it would be - crunchy and melty, a little salty and sweet, pretty much to die for. Thank you Melissa Clark - I asked for her new cookbook for Christmas, In the Kitchen With A Good Appetite, and I've been consistently thrilled since I opened it.

Peppery arugula is a lovely foil for the creamy cheese, as is the citrus dressing, which offers nothing less than a bite of sunshine on a cold, winter's day.  Somehow this salad manages to be at once comforting and yet refreshing, no easy feat.

I used almond flour to make it gluten-free.  You could instead use gluten-free breadcrumbs (and just skip the flour).  Have the greens ready to go so that you can serve the salad as soon as the crispy-molten cheese emerges from the oil.

An oh, tuck the dressing recipe in the back of your mind because you're going to want to eat it on pretty much everything.

Pan-Fried Cheese with Anchovy-Date Salad
From In the Kitchen With A Good Appetite by Melissa Clark
Serves 4-6

1 medium orange
1 large lemon
4 large diced dates (about 1/4 c.)
6 anchovy fillets, minced
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1/4 c. plus 1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 c. all-purpose flour (I used almond flour)
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 c. plain bread crumbs (I skipped these)
8 oz. fresh mozzarella, sliced into 1/4-inch thick rounds
Extra-virgin olive oil or safflower oil, for frying (about 3/4 c.)
Bitter leafy greens, such as arugula, watercress, and/or radicchio, for serving

To make the anchovy-date dressing, zest and juice the orange and lemon, reserving 1 Tbsp. of the lemon juice and 2 tsp. of the orange juice.  Place the zest and reserved juice in a medium bowl and stir in the dates, anchovies, and garlic.  Slowly drizzle in the olive oil while whisking until the dressing comes together.

To make the cheese, place the flour on a plate, the egg in a bowl, and the bread crumbs on a separate plate.  Coat each slice of cheese in the flour, dip in the egg, and then coat in the bread crumbs.  (Note: I just dipped the cheese in the egg and then coated with almond flour.)

Heat about 1/2 inch oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Using tongs, dip 1 cheese slice into the oil.  If the oil sizzles slightly, it is ready.  Working with 2-3 cheese slices at a time, fry the cheese until golden brown, 15-20 seconds per side.  Transfer the slices to a plate and dab off the excess oil with a paper towel.  Repeat with the remaining cheese slices.

Serve the fried cheese hot on a bed of greens topped with the anchovy-date dressing.