Fresh Tart

I'm too fickle to cook very far ahead - I mean, I can eat most things for two days max, then I have to move on.  Not to mention many dishes taste pretty tired the next day (pastas, pizzas, lettuce salads, fish).  But beef works, and is often improved with a day or two of rest.  Particularly the braising cuts, like the three pounds of boneless beef short ribs I slow-simmered over the weekend.  Last night they saw their third iteration (first two below) as meat pies, and oh boy were they good.  This was leftover cookery at its most fun - a bit of this, a little of that.  Puff pastry sheets from the freezer.  One russet potato and one yellow onion from the pantry.  A green pepper from the cooler.  And a generous sprinkle of curry powder for some interest.  I diced everything quite small, sauteed the potato, onion, and green pepper together with the curry powder until tender.  Stirred in the diced beef, seasoned with salt and pepper, let it all cool a bit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then I rolled out the pastry, cut it into generous circles with a cereal bowl, filled and folded the pastry over, and sealed it up with an egg wash.  I finished with an allover brush of the egg wash (or an allover wash of the egg?), then baked the fat little crescents until crispy and golden brown, about 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Result?  Rich, savory deliciousness, especially with braised kale alongside.  The lesson here is that pretty much anything, diced and sauteed into a savory hash, would taste fantastic inside puff pastry.  Doesn't everything taste fantastic inside puff pastry?  Next time you have a spot of roast - lamb, chicken beef, pork, or no roast at all, just vegetables - give it a go, see what you think.

And before that, for my lunch, I restored myself with the most hodgepodge of soups.  I conjured it up on my minus-four-degree walk, in fact, while my stomach rumbled and my face and hands stung from the cold.  Soup!

I started with chicken broth, stirred in a bit of leftover garlicky tomato sauce, then leftover orzo, a swirl of pesto, a handful of spinach, and a couple of tender turkey meatballs (which I make in batches and keep in the freezer).  Basically a healthy, flavorful Italian meatball soup to warm me through and hold me through the afternoon.  Until the meat pies.

Leftovers kind of...ROCK?

Smokin' out there, hooeeey! That's Minnesota for you (us), from mid-60s one week to mid-90s the next, with nary a lovely 70s in between. Sigh. So I'll forgive you (me) for complaining that one week you're freezing your butt off and the next yer sweatin' like a frizzy-haired pig. Or something. Damn!

Good for the veggies, though. I could technically have a baby arugula and frisee salad for lunch (with a simple vinaigrette, lots of freshly ground pepper, and a few fat shaves of Parm) - we'll see. I may hold out for greens from my first La Finca CSA veggie share pick up of the season, later this week. Can't wait!

I guess the heat is appropriate to mark the first day of summer - Nathan is officially done with 5th grade! I'm excited to have more time with him, I love hangin' with my boy. This week is nice and low-key, before the sports (driving) begin. Our plan is to snag some time at the pool, get a few projects done around here, maybe see a movie or two, have some friends over, get some exercise. You know, summer-y stuff!

We kicked off summer break with a lovely dinner at Dad & Susanna's last night, with my sister Etta (in from NYC), Stace & the Coopster, and Nathan & John. Burgers (not the fast-food variety, but elk burgers, given to Dad & Sus by their hunter-friend Ron), roasted veggies, pommes frites, and cake (mmmm, caaaake, Stace made it, white cake with chocolate icing and raspberries, rarrr), after which Nathan announced he'd had the perfect day. School's out, pizza for lunch, and burgers for dinner. That's my boy, measuring his days on the Scale of Tasties!

Hey, I'm back, quick report on the rather feast-y day we just spent. First, we earned our feast by running steps over by Minnehaha Creek - tough work on a hot day, we were pretty sweaty when we were done. Then an impulse stop by Turtle Bread in Linden Hills for a quick lunch. Icy cold gazpacho with fresh crusty bread, now that is a hot-day's lunch. In fact it was so good, we bought lots more gazpacho to take home, and a loaf of bread, and of course an oatmeal raisin cookie, and some honey-toasted peanuts to boot. Then, after some serious swimming (including with John, who snuck in a long lunch to get some time at the pool with us), we headed over to Byerly's and picked up trout fillets for the grill. So...nice healthy feast, eh? Grilled trout, gazpacho, fresh bread, sauteed broccoli (from the fridge), and ripe peaches - oh yes, peaches are officially good, woo hoo! (Buy organic if possible, "regular" peaches are very high in pesticide residue...)

I also whipped up a batch of tender turkey meatballs for the freezer - quick protein for busy nights. (In a toasted whole-wheat pita, with a little olive spread and arugula? Or crumbled onto a corn tortilla with salsa and avocado? Don't even get me started...)

Nice ways to kick off a healthy summer vaca - man, I love me some summer.