Lime Meringue Tart

I prefer tarts to pies (usually) if I have the choice.
I don't know if it's because they seem fancier and more special to me... I like the size and how they seem so neat. I guess they don't seem as messy as pies- they usually cut sharply and are able to keep their shape. Presentation-wise they behave pretty well.

I like this particular tart because the curd is tart! The thin layer has a concentrated lemon-limeyness and the billowy, sweet meringue on top balances it out quite nicely.

If you don't like meringue, are afraid of or unable to eat uncooked egg whites, are wary of using your broiler secondary to fear of incinerating the top of the tart, or are a tad scared of wielding a kitchen torch (which is actually a lot of fun), by all means you may use whipped cream for the top of the tart. No big deal.

Then again, as I said, kitchen torches are a lot of fun to use...

As long as you're not a pyromaniac and generally safe, it's ok. Plus, there is the added bonus of a toasted marshmallow aroma that wafts up to you as you brown the meringue by hand using the torch.

As you can probably see from some of my photos, my tart shell shrunk when I made it this time. That's because I did not have dried beans or pie weights when I cooked it. However, since the crust was pretty much frozen before it was baked, it didn't shrink too much and the sides didn't fall in either (well... they're sturdier because of the a double layer of pastry which didn't hurt in this instance, either).

You can use key limes here- please feel free. However, if you have ever had the bright idea and experience of juicing a million less-than-walnut-sized key limes to obtain the quantity you would need for a recipe of key lime pie (or something of the sort), you may find that you are able to convince yourself that it is not necessary. Ever again.

If using salted butter, omit the salt in the recipe.

The recipe may look slightly daunting, but you don't have to do it all at once. It can be made over several days. Great for a party or if you're having guests for dinner because it's less stress on the day of.

This recipe cones from the March 2010 issue of Bon Appetit Magazine.

Chilling the finished tart with meringue before serving is very important as it will help to stiffen the meringue so that you can actually cut it and so that it won't slump over after you cut it. When cutting, it's good to have a damp towel on hand to clean the knife between slices.

You will need a 9 inch round fluted tart pan with a removable bottom.

Lime Meringue Tart

8 servings

lime curd

3 large eggs

3 large egg yolks

1/2 c sugar

1/3 c fresh lime juice

3 T fresh lemon juice

1/4 t kosher salt

1/2 c (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature and cut into (roughly) 8 pieces

crust

6 T unsalted butter, room temperature

3 oz cream cheese, room temperature

1 T sugar

3/4 c flour

1/4 t kosher salt

meringue

4 large egg whites, room temperature

2/3 c sugar

1/4 c powdered sugar

1 t vanilla extract

1/4 t kosher salt

Lime curd:

Whisk eggs, yolks, sugars, juices, and salt in a medium metal bowl. Set bowl over medium saucepan of simmering water (bain marie!). Do not allow bottom of bowl to touch the water.

Whisk constantly until the curd thickens slightly and an instant-read thermometer inserted into curd registers at 140 F for 3 minutes, 5-6 minutes total. Do not allow the curd to boil.

After removing bowl from over water, whisk in butter, one piece at a time. Make sure that butter is incorporated before adding the next piece. Strain curd through a fine sieve set over a small bowl. Press plastic wrap directly over the top of the curd and refrigerate at least overnight. Curd can be made 2 days ahead.

Crust:

Beat butter, cream cheese, and sugar with an electric mixer in a medium bowl until smooth. Add flour and salt and beat until just blended. Gather dough into ball and flatten into disk. Wrap in plastic and chill at least an hour.

Can be made a day ahead.

Soften slightly before rolling out.

Preheat oven to 375 F. Roll out dough on lightly floured surface to approximately 11-12 inch round. Transfer to 9 inch tart pan with removable bottom. Press dough onto bottom and up sides of pan. Trim overhand to 1/2 inch and fold over and press so that side of tart crust has a double thickness. Pierce crust all over with a fork. Chill in the freezer 20 minutes.

Line crust with foil. Fill with dried beans or pie weights and bake until crust is set, about 25 minutes. Remove foil and beans and continue baking until crust is golden and cooked through, about 20 minutes longer. Cool completely in pan on wire rack.

Spread curd evenly over cooled crust and chill while making meringue.

Meringue:

Using electric mixer, beat egg whites in large bowl on medium speed until foamy. Increase speed to medium-high and beat until soft peaks form. Add sugars, a tablespoon at a time. Make sure sugar is incorporated before adding next tablespoon. Beat until meringue is very thick and glossy, about 5 minutes. Beat in vanilla and kosher salt.

Spoon meringue in dollops over top of the tart. Spread and swirl decoratively with the back of a spoon or a table knife. Using kitchen torch, brown meringue in spots, creating white and golden peaks and valleys. Chill uncovered at least 1 hour before serving.

Can be made 4 hours ahead. Keep chilled and remove side of pan before cutting the tart.

Portobello Mushroom - Brie Soup

We're having a meatless week.
I thought this soup was going to be for tomorrow, but made it today instead.

... And by the time this gets published, it might BE tomorrow.

I'm definitely going to keep this one!

Once again, a soup with Sherry. I try to do my part to support my local Sherry farmers. Those pitiable Sherry makers need people to keep them in business. What a cruel and tortured life they must lead. In Spain. On the southern coast. In the Mediterranean. Those poor, poor people! It's sad, really- and I feel like crying just thinking about them.

This soup would be great as a "soup and salad" lunch with crusty bread, as a "light" dinner (which does not mean fat free in this instance), or as part of a multi-course dinner.

However, it is getting a little warm (in my opinion, anyway) for this type of soup.

WARNING: it is very rich! Next time I make it will probably be in the fall. When I do- just so you know- I think I'll be using half and half instead of the cream per the original recipe (let's say I thought about using half and half, but there was none to be found over here and I did not want to go to the store... conveniently enough, there was cream at hand because you MUST have it for the necessary potato gratin on Easter).

I'll probably also throw a few fresh thyme sprigs into the onions when sauteeing (and remember to pull the stems out before serving the finished soup).

The original recipe calls for almost double the butter and brie. "Yes, good!" some of you might say- but it's not always what you're looking for. Some of the numbers/proportions/sizes have been played with (for instance, I usually find that butter in many recipes can be reduced quite a bit), but I think it turned out really well.

Don't let the monstrously huge mushrooms scare you (grrr).

Chop the mushrooms as finely as you wish or use something smaller if you would like. Just so you know though, portobellos have such a great meaty flavor. To use the mushrooms, wash, break the stem off at its base, and chop both stem and cap.

The original recipe was found in the St. Louis Post Dispatch. This particular recipe is an adaptation of the original- Tea Room in the Valley's Mushroom-Brie Soup.

If you're looking for mushroom broth, it can be found at Whole Foods.

Portobello Mushroom - Brie Soup

8 (1 c) servings

4 T butter, divided

1 lb portobello mushrooms (or assorted mushrooms), chopped

4 oz brie cheese

1 lg onion, chopped

2 1/2 T flour

2/3 c Sherry

4 c mushroom broth (or vegetable or chicken)

1 medium potato, shredded

1 shallot, finely diced

4 oz shredded Swiss cheese

1 c heavy cream (*or half and half)

1 T fresh chopped chives, scallion, or parsley

kosher salt

fresh ground black pepper

In large saute pan, melt 2 T butter over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring constantly until softened and fragrant. Set aside

Remove and discard rind from brie. Dice and set aside to come to room temperature.

In large saucepan over medium heat, melt the last 2 T butter and add onion, stirring frequently until translucent, about 5 minutes. Whisk in flour, cook and stir about 5 minutes until flour (making a roux that will thicken the soup). Whisk in Sherry and simmer about 5 minutes (try to scrape any residual flour off the bottom of the pan) until Sherry reduces and thickens with the onion/flour mixture.

Stir in mushroom broth, potato, shallot, brie, Swiss cheese, cream, chives, 1 t salt and several grinds of pepper. Stir in sauteed mushrooms. Simmer until potato is tender and soup is heated through, 10-20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with extra parsley or chives for garnish.

Chocolate Truffles

I LOVE to travel and I love France... very beautiful and so charming.
But, I'm not going to lie- I don't really know much French.

The extent of my French language education ended almost 25 years ago. Needless to say, Natalie does not remember too much of that information from way back when. Then again, the education couldn't have been all that extensive. I know there are people who read this who could probably back me up on these memories.

It occurred over several years in my Montessori classroom... (you'll have to imagine the chime-y flashback music here)

Madame Niven (who was actually British and, if you really want to know I have no idea if she was in some way related to David) would waltz in wheeling her "trolley" (which, because she was British, could certainly not be called a "cart"). The trolley housed her supplies.

The children in the classroom would have to head over to the side of the room where an "ellipse" was taped to the floor. Boys would traipse over in their navy blue pants and shoes with white shirts, the girls in gray and white finely striped dresses with sailor collars (complete with little red stars on the corners in the back) and burgundy colored shoes. We could not, mind you, sit in a circle. Oh no, no mere ovals for us either. We sat in an ellipse.

Madame would take out her props and we would learn our vocabulary: colors, shapes, numbers, and the odd necessities for all children such as s'il vous plait, merci, bonjour, au revoir, la poupee (doll) and bonbon (bonbon). The bonbons she showed were not real- they were just colored tissue stuffed into waxed paper with the ends twisted to look like sweets. She had told us that some of the "older" girls has made them for her. For all I know, "older" could have meant third graders.

By the way- my apologies to the French speakers as I do not know how to obtain accents for my letters at this time.

Sadly, one does not go somewhere in France and have an extensive conversation based on colors, numbers, and dolls. Maybe this conversation would be possible in a doll making factory... but the conversation would be pretty short.

My vocabulary has been increased over the years by random French words (not quite sure where many came from) as well as French food words, and although I am able to recognize them, I am not always up on the pronunciation.

I can understand more than I can speak! Maybe I get points for that.

Still, I will not say I am a French speaker by any means.

I took Spanish in high school and college because I thought it would be more useful to me.
I now wish I knew more useful French. I cannot blame this one on Madame Niven- I dropped the ball (but how much blame can a 5-year-old take without knowing how life would turn out? Then again, I was not 5 in high school...). Learning French is on my list of things to do, and I have been meaning (or at least very seriously thinking) to get myself some French lessons- or Rosetta Stone.

It's so sad how for the most part Americans don't know any languages! Many figure they don't have to since everyone else in the whole world is supposed to learn English. Right-o. Keep thinking like that and you will go far my friend.

It seems that in France, for the most part, if you at least try to speak some French, the French people will usually help you. You may feel a little silly, but that's ok. Many of them know English anyway. Just keep your dictionary handy. "Rude American" is definitely not the way to go.

So, anyway, I'm going to go ahead and go back to basics here.
French Chocolate Truffles are pretty easy fare- they seem so impressive though, and they can be sooo good.

You just melt chocolate with hot cream to make a ganache, let cool, roll into balls and toss in cocoa powder. Because they contain so few ingredients, it's good to obtain the best chocolate you can (and by "obtain" I mean buy or trade, not steal).

Chocolate truffles are called "truffles" because they are similar in appearance to the (still wonderful, but not chocolate) fungus truffles that grow near the roots of oak trees, hunted by pigs, and covered in dirt.

P.S. Yes, I know some of you may be concerned that it is still Lent, but I'm giving you this information so you will be prepared for after Lent.

Chocolate Truffles

makes 25-35

8 oz chocolate (Ghiradelli chocolate is pretty good stuff and found in most groceries- and I prefer something darker, such as 60%)

1 T butter

1/2 c heavy cream

Chop chocolate finely and place in a small bowl. Heat cream with butter to simmer in a small saucepan. Pour cream over chocolate and let sit 5 minutes. Stir chocolate and cream until smooth (you have ganache!). Pour into 8x8 inch pan and refrigerate about an hour.

Use a melon baller, small ice cream scoop/cookie scoop, or two spoons to scoop and shape into rough ball shapes.

Toss truffles in cocoa powder to coat.

Eat, but do not inhale cocoa powder (or refrigerate in an airtight container if not serving).

Options:

2 T liqueur (Amaretto, Frangelico, Cointreau, Chambord, Brandy...) stirred into chocolate after it has been incorporated into hot cream and prior to refrigerating.

Chopped nuts, shredded coconut, melted chocolate (for a "shell"), powdered sugar, and sprinkles can be used to coat the truffles instead of cocoa powder.

If using something like nuts- it would be easier if you would first melt some extra chocolate, coat the truffle, and then roll it in nuts.

If you plan to coat in chocolate, after rolling ganache into balls, place on sheet pan and refrigerate 20-30 minutes. This will make it easier when dealing with the melted chocolate.

Pasta with Scallops, Lemon, and Garlic

When you live alone (or even if it's just a couple people) cooking can be a bit difficult. To make things easier, we sometimes resort to cans of soup, tuna, or ramen noodles. Whatever we can find already "finished" in the cabinet because it's such a hassle to get things out and make a mess for so little.

One day I wanted something good and "real", but wasn't sure what I wanted. I didn't feel like going out or driving somewhere, not even the grocery which I actually walked to since it was about 2 blocks from my apartment. So, I looked around to see what I could find. I threw together this pasta and it turned out to be really good!

While brainstorming I was lucky enough to have some frozen (tiny!) scallops which I ended up thawing inside a plastic bag in a sink of warm water. I hadn't thought to leave some in the fridge to thaw before I left for work that morning.

This is one of those recipes that can be made to taste (more of this, less of that...). The recipe can easily be made for more or less people- just increase or decrease the proportions. I actually used to double a single-ish portion (which was never really exact anyway) and take half for lunch the next day.

For example: for the purposes of this post the bag of scallops was 16 oz (1 lb.) and said it had about 5 servings. I was cooking for 3 people, so I decided to use about 3/5 of the bag. Nothing exact. I used about 2/3 to 3/4 of the 1 lb box if pasta I had. See? No rocket science here. Just fractions.

When I made this, I used what I had around. If you don't have or don't like spinach, it's ok. I would say it might be good to have some parsley in there for color though.

If, when everything is all finished, you think it needs more lemon juice- just sprinkle it on. Adjust things as you see fit.

Using both butter and olive oil can be a good thing- butter for the flavor, and olive oil because it has a higher smoking point and will not burn as easily. However, if you want to use just one (no problem with that), go for the olive oil. This oil, along with lemon juice, liquid from the scallops and the flavors you add, essentially becomes your pasta sauce.

I'm not so much a fan of spaghetti, linguini, and angel hair pastas. Especially not the angel hair because, personally, I feel like it chokes me...

I really prefer the shapes- because they look interesting and because I like the texture. I also think it performs much better al-dente-wise than the spaghetti-style pastas.

So, these scallops are "fresh frozen" at sea. It make me wonder if they have a giant flash freezer on the boat. How do those things work, anyway? Do you need electricity for something like that? It sounds dangerous out in the middle of the ocean. They probably have a lightening rod on the boat too- life on the edge, I'm sure.

Maybe it's solar powered... or it uses a gasoline-powered generator...

BUT, maybe they just sail with tons of liquid nitrogen or dry ice. Catch them, clean them, throw them in the deep freeze.

It's not really something I ever looked into seriously as I wasn't so keen on becoming a deep sea fisherman. It was something I sort of wondered with fish sticks a long time ago (how one would freeze something on a boat)- but the occupation of "fish sticks" wasn't really on my radar.

Maybe that one (along with my fishy naivety) has something to do with a general lack of "sea" in the Midwest.
Hmmm.

Lemon, Scallop, and Garlic Pasta
Serves 3-5

2/3 lb. pasta of your choice

3T olive oil

3T butter

3 garlic cloves, minced

2/3 lb. scallops

zest and juice from 1/2 large lemon (2-3 T juice)

1/2 t kosher salt

fresh ground pepper

Parmesan (fresh grated if you have it)

3 oz fresh baby spinach (approximately 3 handfuls)

2 medium tomatoes, large dice (or cherry tomatoes, halved)

Bring pot of salted water to boil, add approximately one serving of pasta and cook per instructions on package. Do not overcook pasta!

Place cleaned spinach in large bowl and set aside.

Melt butter with olive oil in small frying pan over medium heat. Add minced garlic and saute for a minute, but do not let the garlic brown. Add scallops and cook about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Turn off heat. Add lemon juice, zest, salt, a good grinding of fresh black pepper and toss with scallops.

Drain pasta and toss with scallops and sauce in pan. Pour scallops and sauce into bowl with spinach. Spinach will wilt with residual heat from pasta. Fold in tomatoes. Serve with fresh grated Parmesan and pepper to taste.

Note: Scallops and sauce should stay warm for a little while- and if you need to, you can add the salt and pepper and just keep them in the pan on low or warm heat. Prior to adding pasta to pan, stir in lemon juice and zest.

Tangerine Sorbet

Sometimes you need a light little dessert OR something really sunny and citrusy (there seems to be a theme going on here...). Might I suggest a tangerine sorbet?

This may be just what you want- it's just the kind of thing I want now that spring is here. Not that the weather reflects this at the moment...

It's is great served with crumbly shortbread or lacy and crispy tuiles.

If you have an ice cream maker, great- definitely use it (it will take less time and attention this way). If you do not happen to have an ice cream maker, you could pour the sorbet base into a 9x13 inch pan, place in the freezer and stir every 20 minutes or so until it's the right (slushy/sorbet-y) consistency, pour into a container and stir in the rum. The purpose of the rum is to make sure the sorbet does not freeze rock hard!

This recipe comes from Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. It was suggested by a very Italian boss of mine once upon a time and it's frequently a go-to for Italian recipes over here.

Tangerine Sorbet

1 c sugar

Zest of 1/2 orange and 1/2 lemon (without digging into the white pith)

Freshly squeezed juice of 2 large or 4 small tangerines

Juice of large or 2 small oranges

Juice of 1 lemon

1 egg white

3 T rum

Place sugar and 1 c water in saucepan. Turn on the heat to medium and stir from time to time until the sugar has dissolved. Pour the syrup into a bowl.

Add zests as well as tangerine, orange, and lemon juices. Mix well with the syrup and allow mixture to become completely cold.

Lightly beat the egg white until frothy, and stir into juice mixture.

Pour mixture into ice cream freezer and freeze per manufacturer's instructions. When done, transfer to container with a tight seal, stir in the rum, distributing it thoroughly. Close the container and freeze at least an hour (or even longer).

When ready to serve, you can place scoops in hollowed and frozen tangerine shells.

Slice off the tops of tangerines, scoop out the segments (you can use them for the tangerine juice in the recipe), and freeze at least an hour.

I happened to use some really tiny clementines for tangerine juice- they're great, but gave me very small shells to serve the sorbet in (not that you must serve it in them...)

If you do want to use the shells, freeze them after you've cleaned them so they're ready when you want to serve the sorbet.

Lemon Curd

So... I love lemons.

When I cook a full several-course meal, I usually use lemons in there somewhere.

Lemon in salad dressing, lemon with chicken or fish, lemon in a sauce or jus, lemon spritzed on vegetables, lemon in dessert...

It's a pleasant sort of addiction, and there's nothing offensive or illegal about it.

If I go to a restaurant I will normally ask for water with lemon. I then proceed to squeeze the wedge in my water, my eye, and on anyone who might be sitting near me. I can assure you that whoever it might be feels happy and all the fresher for the nice lemony shower.

Lemon curd is a way I can make something lemony that will last a little longer than many other things (technically, it should last about 2 weeks, but I don't know that it's ever had the chance over here). You can make it a little ahead and use it with dessert (like on top of a slice of pound cake with strawberries and a dollop of whipped cream).

It's also great for "teas" or one of those things where everyone is supposed to contribute a snack of some sort.

It's great on toast, with scones, or served with whole strawberries, fingers of pound cake, and graham crackers for dipping. You could use it between layers of a layer cake or as the filling for mararons. It would be nice to have a little dollop on top of vanilla ice cream and sprinkled with blueberries. It may sound a little strange, but we also like it with ginger snaps and pretzels at my house.

You could also pour this into mini tart shells- I don't go for a larger tart because it's not thick enough in my opinion. If I did use it in a tart I'd pre-bake the shell, pour in the lemon curd, and bake it again to set it a little better. I'd probably cool it completely and then refrigerate a while to make sure it was solid enough to cut.

This recipe will make about 3 cups and is adapted from the Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten.

(Before cooking)

(After cooking)

It also works great with limes!

Either way, when choosing citrus fruit, try to find fruit that's heavy for it's size. That way you'll have a better chance of having plenty of juice. It can be so disappointing to cut open a dried out lemon with practically nothing inside. And it LOOKED so good on the outside...

If you don't have unsalted butter lying around, just use the salted kind and omit the additional salt in the recipe.

Lemon Curd

3-4 lemons

1 1/2 c sugar

1/4 lb. unsalted butter at room temperature

4 extra large eggs at room temperature

1/2 c fresh lemon juice (from 3-4 lemons)

1/8 tsp kosher salt

Finely zest 3 lemons into the sugar you have placed in a bowl and stir (try not to include any of the bitter white pith that's just below the zest). Cream butter in another bowl (or in the bowl of a stand mixer). Add sugar and lemon to butter and mix together until incorporated and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, and make sure each is incorporated before adding the next. Pour in the lemon juice and salt and mix until combined (it may not look too pretty at this point, but it gets better as it cooks).

Pour mixture into a 2 qt saucepan and stir constantly (so you don't get scrambled eggs) over low heat until thickened, about 10 minutes. This should happen at about 170 degrees F- just below a simmer (get out the thermometer if you're uncomfortable about deciding the appropriate thickness). Remove from heat, pour into jar/bowl etc. and refrigerate.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!