Moving!

For the sake of the few who read this, I am moving my blog to www.waitingforsunday.wordpress.com. I just like Wordpress better. And it gives me a chance to start over. Who couldn't use that? So please, check it out.

Strawberry Mascarpone Tart

I always debate about desserts. There are only two of us, and Brian and I don't need to eat a whole cake. And Brian doesn't have much of a sweet tooth, so then I end up eating three-fourths of the cake. Not good for my bottom half.


But every once in a while I find something that gets his attention. This Strawberry Tart is my newest find. It may look complicated, but it's really not so bad. Trust me.


For Crust:
1 1/4 C all-purpose flour
3 T sugar
1/4 t. salt
7 T butter, cut into small pieces

Preheat the oven to 375.
Mix these together in a bowl with your fingertips. I tried using a fork, but it doesn't work for me. Mix just until it resembles a coarse meal.

1 egg yolk
1/2 t. vanilla
1/2 t. lemon juice
3 T cold water

Stir these together in a class or coffee cup. Then drizzle it over your flour mixture and stir with a fork until the mixture comes together.

Knead with floured hands on a lightly floured surface until a dough forms, then gently fold over and knead 4 or 5 times. Press into a small disk. Place in the center of the tart pan (I used a pie pan, since my tart pan and cheesecake pans have both gone on vacation, apparently.) Cover with plastic wrap, and use your fingers to press the dough to cover the bottom and sides of the pan.


**At first, I wasn't going to do this, because it seemed silly. But I decided to try it, and it was made the crust so easy! I always have a hard time with press-in dough, it ends up with holes, but this was perfect! Please don't skip this step!**

Freeze the dough for 10 minutes. Line the pan with foil and bake until the edge is pale golden, about 20 minutes. Carefully remove the foil and continue to bake until the shell is deep golden all over, about 20 minutes more. Cool in the pan for at least 45 minutes.


For Topping:
1 1/2 lb strawberries, trimmed and sliced
1/3 C sugar

Stir these together in a bowl and let stand, stirring occasionally, 30 minutes.

For Filling:
8 oz mascarpone cheese
8 oz cream cheese**
2 T sour cream
2 T half and half
1/4 C powdered sugar
1 t. lemon juice
1/2 t. lemon zest
3/4 t. vanilla

**The recipe originally called for 2 cups of mascarpone cheese, but the stuff is so expensive I just couldn't bring myself to do it. So I substituted with the cream cheese, sour cream and half and half.**

Let the mascarpone and cream cheese sit out for a while to get soft. Then whisk all of the filling ingredients together.


Topping, Continued:
3/4 C ruby port

Strain strawberries in a colander set over a small saucepan, returning berries to their bowl. Add the port to the saucepan and boil until the liquid is reduced to about 1/4 cup, 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a small bowl and cool slightly.

Assembly:
Spread cheese mix in the cooled crust. Top with strawberries and drizzle the glaze over. Chill for at least 1 hour, if you can wait that long!

This Week's Menu

In an effort to be better about actually posting recipes and such, I plan to post the week's recipes. Hopefully, I'll also be better about sticking to my menu, too. So, this week we are having:

Oven-Fried Chicken with Roasted Potatoes
Swiss Chard with Bacon and Walnuts
Strawberry Tart

Really Homemade Pizza
Spinach Salad

Oven-Roasted Salmon with Fennel and Dill
Assorted Veg

I usually only plan 3 meals for a week, since with only two of us leftovers fill up the off nights. But just in case I need a filler, I always have the makings for waffles or pancakes on hand. We love having breakfast for dinner.

Okay, recipes and some pics to follow.

Basil Cubes

Basil is one of my very favorite herbs. Besides being tasty and versatile, my favorite thing is how when I'm desperately tired of winter, a little basil brings the scent of summer back to me. I've been feeling that way lately. Not that we really had much of a winter here, but still. I'm itching to start planting things. Last summer I had these huge basil plants in my front yard; almost every other day I could go out in the evening and harvest bowls full of the leaves. It was amazing how huge the plants were. And then I could smell it on my hands all night long.

However, I was really at a loss as to what to do with all that basil. I gave a lot of it away, along with some tomatoes, but people started to get tired of it. So I made basil cubes.

In a food processor, mix up your clean basil with a little bit of olive oil, then scrape it out into an ice cube tray. Freeze for a couple of hours, then seal them in an airtight container. The cubes are the perfect size to pull out for a quick pesto or to drop in some soup.

I also tried drying some, but in my opinion the flavor holds up much better when frozen. You could use this method to save the excess basil when you buy it fresh at the store.

Easy Pesto Recipe
2 Cups Basil Leaves, or 4 or so cubes, thawed
3 good-size garlic cloves, peeled
1 Cup shelled walnuts or pine nuts
1/2 Cup olive oil
1 heaping Cup grated Parmesan Cheese
Salt and Pepper

Combine the basil, garlic and walnuts in the bowl of a food processor. With the motor running, slowly drizzle in the olive oil. Turn the motor off, add the cheese, a big pinch of salt and a bunch of pepper. Process briefly to combine, then scrape out into a bowl and cover until ready to use.

This makes enough pesto for two meals for us, so I freeze half of it. The other half I usually just toss with some hot pasta and top with grilled chicken. Sometimes I add a little ricotta cheese, too. It's also great on bruschetta, or on some hot steamed veggies. Enjoy!

More Bread

I love making bread. So far, though, I have encountered two problems.

One, it makes me eat a lot more bread. There is just no comparing store bread to homemade. It's better for you, it makes your house smell wonderful, and it just takes so incredibly good. But I'm going to have to start running or something.

Two, it's very unpredictable. So far I have successfully made potato bread, wheat bread, and pita. I have failed at sourdough and wheat bread. The same wheat recipe came out wonderful the first time and refused to rise the second time. I could understand failing the first try and then fixing it, but no, I had to do it backwards. I think the difference is where I chose to rise the dough. In my successful breads I put the dough to rise on the dryer. Our house stays cool all the time, so putting it in the kitchen just isn't warm enough for the little yeasties. But the dryer works perfectly. The problem is that I don't always have enough laundry to keep up with my bread demands.

Bread

I went to a bread making class on Saturday. I really didn't learn very much about making bread, since the teacher was very scattered and kept walking off into the kitchen while he was talking. But I was still super inspired to make bread. It takes time, sure, but it's so worth it. Homemade bread, even when it's not great, is so much better than what you can buy. So I bought a big fatty bread book, The Bread Bible. It's a little intimidating, but I've made it to the third page. So far, so good.

New Obsession

My new favorite chef/cookbook author is Jamie Oliver. Yes, the Naked Chef. I love the way he approaches food, and his recipes are great. I love the way he writes, too. You should check him out.