Fresh Tart

As I've mentioned, I'm trying to eat as little sugar as possible.  So far, so good, although I absolutely love pumpkin pie and didn't want to miss out this holiday season.  Since pumpkin itself is quite nutritious, I decided to experiment with a classic, cream-based pumpkin filling (the best kind, in my opinion) and see how low I could take the sugar and still enjoy it.  (I've already been baking the filling without crust for years, since it's the custard I really enjoy.)

Three tablespoons of brown sugar turned out to be the sweet spot, nicely complimenting the naturally sweet pumpkin.  I added just a pinch of sugar to the softly whipped cream for the full effect, et voila, a lovely pumpkin custard that will definitely fill a craving for those of you trying to keep holiday sweets to a dull roar.

And in case you're wanting the real deal?  No problem!  The original recipe (with a delicious gingersnap crust enhancement) is here at Joy of Baking.  It's all good.

PS If you're shopping around for a turkey and ideas for roasting it, check my post last week on Dara & Co./Minnesota Monthly for Herb-Roasted Turkey and Gravy, and don't miss Chef Scott Pampuch's excellent Star Tribune video on how to carve it!

Hint-of-Sweet Pumpkin Custard
Adapted from www.joyofbaking.com
Serves 8-10

Note: The custard can also be baked in 4-oz. ramekins.

soft butter
3 large eggs
2 c. fresh pumpkin puree or 1 - 15 oz. can pure pumpkin
1/2 c. heavy whipping cream
3 Tbsp. brown sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
few gratings of fresh nutmeg

softly whipped cream sweetened with a pinch of sugar

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.  Butter a pie plate.  In a large bowl lightly whisk the eggs.  Add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine.  Pour the mixture into the prepared pie plate.  Bake custard for 45 minutes or until the filling is just set (center will look wet; a knife inserted about 1 inch from side of pan will come out almost clean.)  Cool custard to room temperature and serve, or cover cooled custard and chill.

I've always been a coconut fiend, but I am having a particular moment with coconut milk this fall.  I'm pretty much obsessed with it.  Some will caution against coconut milk's saturated fat content, but worry not - the short- and medium-chain fatty acids in coconut milk are great for you.  And oh my goodness the deliciousness!  What it does to beef should be illegal - this is a seriously rich, silky dish, mmm.

You'll notice that the seasonings are a riff on the Quick Coconut Curry with Halibut & Broccoli I posted at Dara & Co./Minnesota Monthly a few weeks ago.  So easy, so packed with flavor, it all translates quite nicely to beef.

I made rice for the family but ate mine as is, alongside a pan of kale braised with a little garlic and ginger.  Very nice together.  I even diced some leftover beef (as is always true of braised dishes, the flavors continue to improve) and stir-fried it with mushrooms and spinach.  I'd be very happy with a steady supply of this just ready to go in my fridge, any time.  Someone get on that...

Beef Braised in Coconut Milk
Serves 6

1 Tbsp. coconut oil (or other oil)
3 lbs. beef chuck roast, cut into 6 pieces, trimmed of obvious excess fat
coarse salt
1 small onion, sliced into 1-inch pieces
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. freshly grated ginger
zest of 1 lime
2 Tbsp. green or red Thai curry paste (available in the Asian foods section of most grocery stores)
1 can coconut milk (do not use the carton-version of coconut milk, which is actually quite watery; go for a can of rich, thick coconut milk)
2 Tbsp. brown sugar (or more to taste)
2 Tbsp. Thai fish sauce (or more to taste)
1 bell pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
juice of 1 lime (about 2 Tbsp.)
2 scallions, chopped
1/4 c. thinly sliced fresh basil

hot rice

Preheat oven to 275 degrees F.  Heat a Dutch oven over medium-high heat.  Sprinkle beef pieces with salt.  Add oil to the pan and when it is hot, brown the beef pieces thoroughly, three pieces at a time, setting pieces aside on a plate as you go.

When all the beef is browned, lower heat to medium, and add onion, garlic, ginger, lime zest, and curry paste and saute for 2-3 minutes.  Stir in coconut milk, brown sugar, and fish sauce.  Settle beef pieces into the pan (and any accumulated juices from the plate) and cover tightly.  Bring to a simmer, then transfer pot to the oven.

Bake for 2-3 hours, or until beef is falling apart (or "fork") tender.  Remove beef pieces to a cutting board.  Set pan over medium heat and when it simmers, stir in bell pepper and simmer uncovered for a few minutes until pepper is tender.  Stir in lime juice and taste sauce for seasoning - add more fish sauce for saltiness, more sugar for sweetness, more lime for sourness.  Stir in scallions and basil.  Pull beef into bite-sized pieces and add back to the pan.  Serve with hot rice, if desired.

These homemade crackers couldn't be easier or faster to make.  Who knew that nothing but seeds, water, and salt could make such a lovely, crisp cracker?  These have an intense and rich sesame taste, which I love, and which is particularly delicious with savory and cheese spreads.

I'm particularly enjoying them with cottage cheese for a late-afternoon snack.

I found the recipe on Mark's Daily Apple via Girl Gone Primal, who also provides a recipe for shrimp pâté to serve with the crackers, mmm.  I'll be bringing these around for various upcoming holiday parties, oh yes.

Sunflower Sesame Crackers
From Mark's Daily Apple via Girl Gone Primal

Note: Girl Gone Primal provides directions for soaking the seeds first if you're so inclined.

1 c. raw sunflower seeds
1 c. raw sesame seeds
1 tsp. coarse salt plus more for sprinkling
3-4 Tbsp. water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  In a food processor, process the sunflower seeds for 2-4 minutes or until very finely ground and flour-like.

Add the sesame seeds and pulse a few times, then slowly add the water (note: start with 3 Tbsp. of water, add more if necessary) until seed flour comes together in a thick dough.

Between two pieces of parchment paper, roll out the dough to 1/8" thick (cracker thickness).  Remove the upper piece of parchment.  Lightly score the dough into desired cracker shapes.  Sprinkle lightly with coarse salt (and/or other herbs/seasonings).

Bake until golden and crisp, about 15-20 minutes.  Allow to cool thoroughly before gently breaking into pieces along score lines.  Store in an air-tight container.

You might have passed right by celery root (also known as celeriac) at the store, thinking it looked anything but edible.  I admit, it freaked me out the first time I shopped for it, but I trusted the description I'd read (pleasantly mild celery taste, texture similar to a potato, overall effect of savory, delicious with cream and/or cheese) and went for it.

I've been very, very glad ever since.

Despite its gnarly appearance, celery root is quite easy to peel, revealing a pale green interior and a lovely, celery-meets-tarragon fragrance.  Slice it thin and layer it into a gratin.  Or chop and simmer with leeks to make this creamy, luscious soup.

In addition to being delicious, celery root just happens to be a very low carbohydrate vegetable, making it a lovely stand-in for potatoes if you're mindful of such things (I am).  I topped the soup two ways for the pics - above, with sliced scallions and crispy bacon; below, with a drizzle of walnut oil and toasted walnuts.  If you're thinking cheese could be happy here, you're so right...

Did you notice that this recipe provides one more option for using creme fraiche?  Given that it's 1) magical with eggs, 2) dreamy with fruit, 3) heavenly as a pan sauce, and now 4) divine swirled into soup, let's make 2011 the Year of Creme Fraiche!

Celery Root & Leek Soup
Serves 4 as a main course, 6 as an appetizer

3 Tbsp. butter
1 leek, pale green & white parts only, sliced thin
2 cloves garlic, minced
Kosher salt
2 celery roots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
a few gratings of fresh nutmeg
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
6 c. water or chicken broth
1/4-1/2 c. creme fraiche
freshly ground black pepper

garnish ideas:
crispy bacon & sliced scallions
toasted nuts & a drizzle of nut oil (i.e. hazelnut, walnut)
shredded Gruyere cheese

In a large saucepan over medium-low heat, melt butter.  Add leeks and garlic, with a light sprinkle of salt, and saute until leeks are becoming tender, about 8 minutes.  Add celery root, nutmeg, and dried thyme.  Stir in the water and 1 tsp. of salt (if using chicken broth, add less salt, to taste).  Bring soup to a simmer, then turn heat to low and cover.  Simmer for 30 minutes or until celery root is very tender.  Puree soup in batches in a blender, then stir back into the pot.  Stir in creme fraiche.  Season to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper.  Serve with your favorite garnishes.

I first wrote about this recipe a few weeks ago when I described our trip to San Francisco.  My friend Maud's brother Arthur made a delicious kale salad for us, and I couldn't wait to make it at home and post it for you.  In the process of raving about it on Facebook, I found out that the recipe originally came from Maud and Arthur's sister Abigail!  She claims she didn't make it up herself, but I'm happy to give her credit for introducing it to me via Arthur.  She said that Arthur added the nuts (a good addition).

The kale in the salad is raw, yet tender, because it sits tossed with some lemon juice for a bit (the acid tenderizes the greens).  In fact, I kept leftovers in the fridge overnight and enjoyed it completely the next day.  Abigail notes that it is always popular on buffets - as we all know, it's not easy to find a green salad that can sit nicely (and even improve) on a buffet!  I'm thinking...Thanksgiving.  Yes.

I brought some to Debbie & Stu the Wine Genius' home last week and had Stu asking me for the recipe over the weekend.  I've got a nasty double-whammy sinus infection/pneumonia going on - grrr - so I've been a little slow posting this.  But here it is!  I made it for myself today, in fact, adding garlic to give my immune system a kick in the you know what.

I also added fresh dill, since I love fresh dill with lemon juice and feta cheese.  You could add your favorite fresh herb, or none at all, per the original recipe.  Thanks Arthur and Abigail!

Abigail and Arthur's Kale Salad
Serves 4

1 large bunch Lacinato kale (also known as Dino kale - it's crinkly, like dinosaur skin!), center ribs removed, leaves cut into thin strips (chiffonade)
1 shallot, sliced thin
1 1/2 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 small clove garlic, minced (optional)
1/2 tsp. Kosher salt + more
1/3 c. pine nuts or chopped walnuts, toasted
1/3 c. crumbled feta cheese
1/2 cup small dill sprigs (optional)
freshly ground black pepper

About one hour before you plan to eat, put kale and shallot in a large bowl.  In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, and 1/2 tsp. salt.  Pour the dressing over the kale and toss to coat thoroughly.  Let sit for one hour.

To serve, add toasted nuts, feta cheese, and dill sprigs to salad and toss thoroughly.  Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

OK, assuming that you used about 1/2 cup total of creme fraiche for Part I: Softly Scrambled Eggs and Part II: Sauteed Apple with Honey, you should be all set to finish off the container with this dish.  And if not - who cares?  This chicken is so obscenely delicious that it would totally be worth throwing away the rest of the container for!  Bonus: It's as easy as putting on lipstick, so tuck this in your back pocket for when your in-laws are in town and you want to impress.  (But really, just make it tonight.  So.  Good.)

I asked the kind butchers at Whole Foods to bone - but leave the skin on - four chicken breast halves for me.  All chicken breasts should have the skin on as far as I'm concerned - it's the best part and makes for a much more tender piece of meat, and if you don't want it, just toss it!  But I'm in the minority here, as I am on most things, so you'll have to either bone the breasts yourself or ask your butcher to do it for you.  Of course you could make this dish with boneless, skinless breasts but...you'd miss the skin!  Especially when it gets utterly, shatteringly crispy and golden brown, protecting the tender meat beneath.

The sauce is just lemon and creme fraiche.  And oh, the golden bits from the pan, very important.  Rich, creamy, addictively tangy - you can't screw up this dish and can't not adore it either.

The green beans are sadly the last of the season, at least here in Minnesota.  I boiled them until just-tender and tossed them with a little walnut oil, toasted walnuts, and mushrooms sauteed in butter with shallots.  It was all so pretty together.  I will miss good green beans.  Until next June...

The chicken?  We'll be eating it all winter!

Amanda Hesser's Lemon Chicken
Serves 4

1 1/2 Tbsp. butter
1 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil
4 whole chicken legs with thighs attached (I used skin-on, boneless chicken breast halves)
coarse sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
1/2 c. creme fraiche

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Heat a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat.  After 3 minutes, add the butter and oil.  Season the chicken generously with salt and pepper.  Place the chicken, skin side down, in the skillet and brown well on both sides, turning once.

Transfer the skillet to the oven.  Bake for 15 minutes, or until the juices run clear when the chicken is pierced with a knife.

Return the skillet to the stove top.  Transfer the chicken to a platter and keep warm.  Remove all but 1 Tbsp. of fat from the skillet.  Place over medium heat, add the lemon juice, and stir to scrape up any pan drippings.  Simmer for 1 minute, then add the creme fraiche and lemon zest and stir until melted and bubbling.  If the sauce is too thick, add a few tablespoons of water.  Pour the sauce over the chicken and sprinkle with additional pepper.  Serve hot.

Happy Friday everyone!  Just in time for the weekend, here's another quick idea for using creme fraiche.  If you, like I, try to eat as little sugar as possible, then creme fraiche can be your new best friend.  Want to add the creaminess of ice cream to a bowl full of berries?  A small dollop of creme fraiche fits the bill in the loveliest way, adding the richness of ice cream for about 50 calories and no added sugar.

Or, if you're having a hard time putting your hands on good berries (there goes the season, sniff...), try this quick-n-lovely sauteed apple, one my favorite fall treats.  In 10 minutes your house will smell of cinnamon and your mouth will be full of soft warm apple, creamy and slightly sweet with a drizzle of honey (that's a jar of heavenly Ames Farm Dutch Clover in the background).

The creme fraiche melts over the apple slices, gah, so incredible. Top with a few chopped almonds for crunch.

Sauteed Apple with Honey & Creme Fraiche
Serves 1

1 tsp. butter
1 apple, cored and sliced thin
shakes of cinnamon
1 Tbsp. creme fraiche
honey (optional)

In a large non-stick skillet over medium-low heat, melt butter.  Add apple slices and a few shakes of cinnamon and stir to coat.  Cover the pan and cook the apples until nicely soft but not falling apart, stirring a few times, about 8 minutes.  Serve warm apple slices topped with creme fraiche and a drizzle honey, if using.

Here's a...thing.  Due to health problems I'd been experiencing for the last couple of years (puffy eyes/hands, fatigue, joint pain), and given that I'm otherwise totally healthy (blood pressure and cholesterol-wise), I started experimenting with eliminating various foods from my diet.

I started with nuts, then eggs, then dairy.

I felt exactly the same.

And then...I eliminated gluten/wheat, about a month ago, and I haven't looked back.

Puffy eyes - gone.  Fatigue - gone.  Joint pain - gone.  I feel fantastic, I look like myself again, and so far at least, it's been the easiest dietary change I've ever made.  It helps that I'd developed a subconscious aversion to pasta, bread, and even beer, because it was making me feel like hell.  I watch my son & stepdaughter tear into a baguette, and while they're happy as clams, I feel sick to my stomach for them.

For those of you who feel not only fine but great eating wheat and other grains, don't worry - I'm still going to include the same variety of foods here on Fresh Tart that I always have.  The rest of my family eats plenty of grains without consequence, and it's not hard for me to make them the dishes they still love and just adapt them for myself.

I'm personally coming to the conclusion that there is no one right way to eat, that diet is very individual.  Some people thrive on grains, others feel awful (like me!). Some are sickly without meat in their diets, some can't tolerate it at all.  (Everyone likes fruit and veggies, right?  Ha!)  I think we should all skip daily doses of sugar, soda, and processed and junk foods, but I've always felt that way (therefore this blog!).

I'm alone in that thought in this household, by the way...

Bottom line: You'll still find all varieties of fresh, real foods here.

In the meantime, if you're a coconut lover like I am (obsessed!), check out these grain-free, gluten-free coconut pancakes that I found from the Mark's Daily Apple website (a great resource for grain-free, gluten-free ideas).  They have an almost macaroon-like texture, lightly sweet from the coconut itself, and are utterly heavenly with ripe berries.  I layered in some cottage cheese because that's always how I eat pancakes, but you could easily skip it and just go for the berries.

On another note, I was recently Twitterviewed (interviewed on Twitter!) by Joel E. Carlson, a local social media guru and consultant.  I had coffee with him a couple of weeks ago and he is one of the nicest, easiest to chat with people in town.  Follow him on Twitter @JoelECarlson.

And if you're interested, check out the transcript of my interview on his site, Joel's Views.

Grain-Free Coconut Pancakes
Adapted from a recipe by Adam Kayce on Mark's Daily Apple
Serves 8

2 eggs
1 can coconut milk (not the light version; Taste of Thai brand is nice)
1 c. unsweetened shredded coconut
1/2 c. almond meal
1/2 tsp. of almond extract (or cinnamon)

sliced berries
cottage cheese (optional)

In a medium bowl, lightly beat eggs with a fork.  Add coconut milk, coconut, almond meal, and almond extract, and stir until evenly incorporated.

Cook pancakes on a greased nonstick griddle, keeping in mind that 1) it's easier to handle smaller pancakes; I make them silver-dollar size, 2) the pancakes need to be cooked on the first side until they're almost dry, with nicely browned egdes, before flipping them, and 3) the pancakes are very tender, so flip gently.  After the first one or two, you'll have the hang of them, they're not difficult to handle, just a bit different than a typical pancake.

Serve hot with sliced berries, and cottage cheese (if using).

Note: If you don't use all of the batter, it keeps nicely in the fridge for up to a week.