A Life, Lived

Hello Strawberries!

Strawberry season is finally here in Ontario. For me strawberries mean so many different things - they are the first of the fresh fruit we can get in the area, and they are the harbinger of so many other fresh treats to come in the following months. They signal the start of the jam making season. They indicate that summer is here - woo hoo! They also cause me to stop and remember my grandmother who died of a heart attack after picking strawberries from her garden.

One of my first summer tasks once the school year finished (generally around June 30th) was to go to a local pick-your-own farm with some friends. Pick berries for a few hours and then go home and drink strawberry daiquiris until I passed out. It was the perfect way to start the summer.

Now I am far too lazy to pick my own. I justify it by saying that it isn't worth the savings to crawl around the straw covered earth picking my own berries. It is so much easier to pull up at the farm, pass my money to the attendant, and drive off with a flat of berries.

I've yet to do this but I have brought 9 quarts home from the farmer's market over the past few weeks.  It won't be long before we're on strawberry overload!

I've posted many strawberry recipes over the years. if you have a glut of strawberries and are looking for interesting things to try may I suggest:

• Strawberry Balsamic Martini
• Strawberry Banana Muffins
• Stawberry Rhubarb Cobbler
• Balsamic Roasted Strawberry Ice Cream
• Strawberry Rhubarb Galette
• Strawberry Raspberry Rosé Sorbet
• Strawberry Margaritas
• Strawberry-Rhubarb Cardamom Jam
• Strawberry Basil Martini
• Strawberry and Cream Cheesecake
• Srawberry and Cucumber Soup
• Strawberry Panna Cotta with Red Wine Syrup
• Srawberry Buttermilk Pancakes
• Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie

Spinach and Ricotta Pie

I mentioned yesterday that February is National Pie Month! woo hoo

I must confess that I don't really swoon over pies the way that many do. In fact, I don't really swoon over desserts in general. . . I'd far rather have something savoury.

You'll recall that I was busy trying to use up a oversupply of ricotta cheese throughout the past few weeks. I had one container left when I found this recipe while searching the blogs. I LOVED the great spinach ricotta pies we found on just about every street corner in Greece and was curious to see how it would taste in a regular pie shell instead of wrapped with layer after layer of flaky phyllo.

It turns out pretty darn good!

If you're looking for a savoury alternative to a sweet pie with which to celebrate national pie month you won't go wrong with this!

Spinach and Ricotta Pie

1 9" prepared pie crust
1 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
8 ounce mozzarella cheese, grated
1 cup freshly-grated Parmesan cheese
1 15-ounce container ricotta cheese
3 large eggs, beaten to blend
1/3 cup basil pesto
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350° F

Place a large skillet over medium heat. Sauté the chopped onion in the butter until very soft and translucent, about 12 minutes. Mix in the thawed, squeezed spinach.

Combine remaining ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Add the spinach/onion mixture and stir to combine all ingredients thoroughly.

Transfer filling to prepared pie crust. Bake in the preheated oven for 45 to 55 minutes, until puffed and golden. Let stand at least 15 minutes before serving.

Jamie Oliver's Fig Tart (Crostata di Fichi)

I can remember a few years ago, having recently fallen in love with figs, I went to the store looking for them and left disappointed. Store after store, it was the same. Finally I asked and the clerk looked at me as if I had two heads.

Flash forward a few years and they are EVERYWHERE. It is painful to be ahead of the food curve.

I brought two boxes home last weekend and decided I wanted a fig tart to go with the veal stew with mushrooms that I was making for my Pomodori e Vino recipe challenge. I ended up making this fig frangipane tart by Jamie Oliver.

Frangipane is an almond custard, or pastry creme, which turns slightly cakey and oh-so-buttery once baked. The top takes on a pleasant crunch. As with many French pastry names, it's sounds much more difficult to make than it actually is, as it consists mostly of butter, sugar, eggs, and almonds.

This tart is intriguing because of the fresh thyme and orange zest sprinkled over the top prior to baking. I worried that the flavours might compete with one another to the point that they drowned each other out. I could not have been more wrong.

Paul declared it to be one of the best desserts he has ever had. High praise.

This fantastic tart is one of the things that really sums up Tuscan desserts for me. It's a great way to use ripe figs or stone fruit, with a dusting of cinnamon to bring out the flavour.

Jamie Oliver's Fig Tart (Crostata di Fichi)

Serves 8

15 whole figs, washed
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons water
2 sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves picked
zest of 1 orange

for the shortcrust pastry:
9 tablespoons butter
1 cup icing sugar
a small pinch of salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
optional: 1 vanilla pod, scored lengthways and seeds removed
zest of a lemon
2 large egg yolks, preferably organic
2 tablespoons cold milk or water

for the frangipane:
10oz blanched whole almonds
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup, plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
14 tablespoons sugar
2 large eggs, preferably organic, lightly beaten
1 vanilla pod, scored lengthways and seeds removed
1 tablespoon grappa

First you will need to grease a loose-bottomed 28cm/11 inch tart tin with a little of your butter.

To make your pastry, cream together the butter, icing sugar and salt and rub in the flour, vanilla seeds, lemon zest and egg yolks - you can do all this by hand or in a food processor. When the mixture looks like coarse breadcrumbs, add the cold milk or water. Pat and gently work the mixture together until you have a ball of dough, then flour it lightly. Don't work the pastry too much, otherwise it will become elastic and chewy, not flaky and short as you want it to be. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and place in the fridge for at least an hour. Remove it from the fridge, roll it out and line your tart tin. Place in the freezer for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4 and bake the pastry case for around 12 minutes or until lightly golden. Remove from the oven and turn the heat down to 170°C/325°F/gas 3.

To make the frangipane, blitz 9oz of the whole almonds in a food processor until you have a fine powder and transfer this to a bowl with the flour. Now blitz the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add this to the almonds with the lightly beaten eggs, the vanilla seeds and the grappa and fold in until completely mixed and smooth. Place in the fridge for at least half an hour to firm up. Remove the stems from the figs, score each one on the top in the shape of a cross, then using your thumb push up from the base to open them out.

Spoon the chilled frangipane mixture into the pastry case, then lightly push the figs into the frangipane with the scored side up. Heat the sugar with the water and drizzle this syrup over the figs. Roughly chop the remaining almonds and sprinkle over the top with the thyme leaves and orange zest. Bake in the preheated oven for about 40 minutes, or until the frangipane mixture has become firm and golden on the outside but is still soft in the middle. Allow to cool for about 30 to 40 minutes. Lovely served with a dollop of mascarpone or crème fraîche.

Zucchini Ricotta Galette

Last week a colleague of mine asked me if I had any good recipes for zucchini. I sent a number her way. When I arrived at work on monday there was a bag of zucchini on my desk. Ahh . . I knew someone who had planted a few plats too many! I, who has no zucchini plants, was NOT complaining.

It's been so hot lately that I didn't want to bake anything . . . turning on the oven was 'crazy talk' in my books. Happily the weather cooled this weekend and I thought that I might just manage the oven for a short blast.

I also wanted to use up some stuff from the fridge, we're heading to Chicago today and I throw out food! I needed to use up some ricotta and those zucchini.

Then I recalled a comment that my friend Laura had made on my blog last year about making savoury galettes. Hmmmm Using my good friend google I was able to find a recipe for a zucchini ricotta galette which I modified for my purposes.

Dear lord, this was good! It really was a perfect summer evening meal - light, fresh, and not a ton of work. If you happen to have some zucchini and ricotta laying about - turn on the oven and get busy. I guarantee that you won't regret it.

Zucchini Galette

1 pre-made pie crust (I always have dough in the freezer that I buy from the mennonite ladies in St. Jacobs)
1 large or 2 small zucchini, sliced in 1/4 inch rounds
1 tablespoon Plus 1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup shredded mozzarella (I was out so I used goat cheese)
1 tablespoon chopped basil
2 eggs
1 egg yolk beaten with a teaspoon water

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.

Roll the dough into a round, transfer to a baking sheet that has been lined with parchment paper.

Spread zucchini out over two layers of paper toweling. Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt and let stand for 30 minutes, gently blot zucchini with paper towels before using.

In a small bowl, whisk the olive oil and garlic together, set aside.

In a separate bowl, mix the ricotta, Parmesan, mozzarella (or goat cheese), eggs, 2 teaspoons of the basil and 1 teaspoon of the garlic/olive oil mixture together; season with salt & pepper.

Spread the ricotta mixture evenly over the galette dough, leaving a 2" border. Starting at the outer circle, arrange the zucchini slices in an attractive pattern, overlapping the slices. Brush the remaining garlic/oil mixture evenly over the zucchini. Fold the dough border over the filling and brush with the egg yolk/water mixture.

Bake the galette until the cheese is puffed, the zucchini is slightly wilted and the galette is golden (about 30 minutes). Remove from oven, sprinkle with basil. Allow to stand for about 10 minutes, then slide the galette onto serving dish. Cut into wedges and serve.

Blueberry Lemon Tart

Paul selected the dessert for our Anniversary meal this year - out of the blue he asked for a blueberry lemon tart. This was a surprise as he hasn't had one before. Not wanting to disappoint him I googled about until I found this recipe on the foodnetwork site. It is by Tyler Florence.

What an amazing finish to our meal it was! The tart came together quickly (and easily) so there was no need to spend hours in the kitchen. When I first checked it the filling wasn't set so I started to worry. . . needlessly it turned out for when the timer beeped it had set just fine.

If you love tart, puckering lemon with a magnificent smooth yummy texture, then this is one you will want to save. Combine that amazing lemon flavour with fresh blueberries and you'll be in a very happy place! I know that I'll be making this again!

Blueberry Lemon Tart

Pastry:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• Pinch kosher salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold, in chunks
• 1 large egg, separated
• 2 tablespoons ice water, plus 1 teaspoon

Filling:

• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 cup fresh lemon juice (about 5 lemons)
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 lemon, zested
• Pinch kosher salt
• 1 pint blueberries

To make the pastry, pulse the flour, sugar, and salt together in a food processor. Add the butter and pulse until the dough resembles cornmeal. Add the egg yolk and 2 tablespoons ice water and pulse again until the dough pulls together. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface into a 12-inch circle. Roll the dough up onto the pin and lay it inside a 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Press the dough into the edges of the pan and fold the excess dough inside to reinforce the rim. Cover the tart pan with plastic wrap and put it into the refrigerator for another 30 minutes to rest.

To bake the shell, heat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Put the tart pan on a baking sheet and prick the bottom of the dough with a fork. Cover the shell with a piece of parchment paper and fill it with pie weights or dry beans. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove the parchment and weights. Lightly beat the egg white with 1 teaspoon water and brush it onto the bottom and sides of the tart shell; set aside to cool.

Whisk together the eggs, sugar, lemon juice, cream, zest, and salt. Add the blueberries to the cooled tart shell and pour the filling over the blueberries. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. The curd should jiggle slightly when done. Cool to room temperature, remove from the tart ring, and serve.

B'stilla (Moroccan Chicken Pie with Dates)

It is funny how our food adventures begin. In this case we saw a picture for a dish that looked interesting. Before we knew it we were on a mission to learn more about moroccan cuisine. We've never had moroccan food before but as we learned more about the sophisticated blend of sweet and savoury that is common in moroccan dishes we knew that we had to try it!

Morocco, considered by many to be the culinary star of North Africa, has historically been the doorway between Europe and Africa - the ebb of flow of peoples throughout history has had a profound impact on the cuisine. Much imperial and trade influence has been filtered and blended into moroccan culture.

Unlike the herb-based cooking to the north, Moroccan cooking is characterized by the use of rich spices. Cumin, coriander, saffron, chiles, dried ginger, cinnamon, and paprika are on the cook's shelf. Harissa, a paste of garlic, chiles, olive oil, and salt, makes for fiery dishes that stand out among the milder foods that are more the Mediterranean norm.

Couscous, granular semolina, is central to Moroccan cuisine and is often cooked with spices, vegetables, nuts, and raisins. It makes a meal in itself or is topped with rich stews and roasted meats.

Lamb is a principal meat -- Moroccan roasted lamb is cooked until tender enough to be pulled apart and eaten with the fingers. It is often topped with raisin and onion sauces, or even an apricot puree. Meat and fish can be grilled, stewed, or cooked in an earthenware tagine (the name for both the pot and the dish).

Savory foods are enhanced with fruits, dried and fresh -- apricots, dates, figs, and raisins, to name a few. Lemons preserved in a salt-lemon juice mixture bring a unique face to many Moroccan chicken and pigeon dishes.

Nuts are prominent; pine nuts, almonds, and pistachios show up in all sorts of unexpected places. Moroccan sweets are rich and dense confections of cinnamon, almond, and fruit perfumes that are rolled in filo dough, soaked in honey, and stirred into puddings

This exotic Moroccan dish was featured in the December Food and Drink magazine published by the LCBO (Ontario wine and liquor monopoly). B'stilla marries both savoury and sweet flavours in a stunning presentation. It can be served hot with a side of sautéed green beans and carrots, or enjoyed cold the next day as lunch with some mixed greens sprinkled with pomegranate seeds.

The recipe might appear complicated at first - rest assured that it isn't. This is another one of those dishes that when you served it to your guests everyone goes silent for a moment or two as they try to imagine the amount of effort that has gone into the impressive looking meal. Rest assured that there is no need to tell them - bask in the praise.

I did! LOL

We made this last night for our guests and it is safe to say that this was the hit of the meal. We served it with a sauteed fennel dish that also married the sweet and savoury and a moroccan couscous recipe that I found on the Bon Apettit web site. Sure both of these were excellent, but it was the wonderful chicken pie encased in flaky phyllo that stole the show.

B'stilla (Moroccan Chicken Pie with Dates)

tsp (10 mL) vegetable oil
4 chicken breasts, bone in, skin on
4 cups (1 L) onions, finely chopped
1 tbsp (15 mL) garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp (15 mL) ground cumin
2 tsp (10 mL) ground ginger
1 tsp (5 mL) ground cloves
1 tbsp (15 mL) ground cinnamon
¼ tsp (1 mL) chili flakes
¼ tsp (1 mL) turmeric
1 cup (250 mL) chicken stock or water
Salt
3 large eggs
1 cup (250 mL) dates, coarsely chopped
¼ cup (50 mL) golden raisins (optional)
½ cup (125 mL) fresh cilantro,
coarsely chopped
½ cup (125 mL) slivered almonds, toasted
8 sheets phyllo pastry
½ cup (125 mL) unsalted butter, melted
Icing sugar and ground cinnamon for garnish

Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C).

In a large Dutch oven, heat vegetable oil over medium-high. Sauté chicken breasts until golden brown on both sides, remove from pot. They will not be fully cooked at this point.

In the same pot add onions and cook until golden, about 10 minutes. Add garlic, cumin, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, chili flakes and turmeric. Stir for 30 seconds.

Place chicken back in pot with onion mixture, add chicken stock and season with salt. Cover with lid, bring to a boil and then reduce to simmer. Simmer over low heat for 20 minutes, and until chicken is cooked through.

Remove chicken from mixture and let cool. When cool enough to handle shred the meat off the bone into bite-size pieces.

Stir chicken together with the contents of the pot, add eggs, dates, raisins, cilantro and almonds. Combine well and season to taste.

Place 1 sheet of phyllo pastry lengthwise on your work surface, brush lightly with melted butter. It does not have to be completely covered.

Place a second sheet on top of this, sideways to form a plus sign. Repeat this process until the 8 sheets have been layered; the last sheet does not need to be buttered.

Place sheets in a buttered 9-inch (23-cm) cake or spring form pan. Fill pastry with chicken mixture and spread out evenly. Enclose by pulling the overhanging pastry up and over the chicken. Brush the top with melted butter.

Bake pie for 40 minutes or until pastry is golden and chicken mixture is heated through.

Serve hot with sifted icing sugar and ground cinnamon over top. Icing sugar is a traditional garnish on this dish.

Sunday Small Bites - Artichokes

The cooks on the slowtravel community forums have been working on a new cooking challenge - instead of each of us preparing the same recipe each week, we are preparing our own appetizer - or Small Bite - that uses a specific main ingredient. So far we have tackled shrimp, crab, sun-dried tomatoes, avocado, goat cheese, smoked salmon, pecans, pumpkin, olives, mushrooms, ginger, cranberries, potatoes, and brie. This week Sharon selected our ingredient and she went with artichoke. Not surprising since she leaves near one of the major artichoke growing areas in the US.

Artichokes present a wee bit of a problem for Canadians - they aren't native. Fresh artichokes that one finds in the store aren't very tasty. The bottled ones that are preserved in oil often taste salty. Because of that I don't often use artichoke sin cooking. Then I heard about frozen artichoke hearts! I picked up two bags when I was in the US on the weekend and I was good to go.

I decided to make a tart that I found on the taste.au website. I didn't follow the recipe exactly - modifying it to go with the ingredients I had on hand.

The results were brilliant - by using thawed, ready to use puff pastry sheets (dear lord, when will they bring THESE to Canada????) the tart is on the table in less than 40 minutes. The combination of olive tapenade, artichoke and feta gave this tart such a wonderful taste! Very easy, tasty and quick recipe.

This makes it a 'keeper'.

Olive, Artichoke, and  Feta Tart

1 sheet ready-rolled puff pastry, just thawed
(1/2 cup) black olive tapenade 
3/4 cup cooked artichoke hearts, drained, quartered 
1/2 cup feta, crumbled
1 cup natural (plain) yoghurt
2 eggs, lightly whisked
2 tsp coarsely chopped fresh basil
Salt & freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 425. Line a fluted tart tins (9 " round or a rectangle tin), with removable bases, with pastry and trim any excess. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes or until pastry puffs and is golden. Remove from oven. Cover pastry with a clean tea towel and push down on the base with your hands to flatten (be careful as the puff pastry is full of HOT steam!).

Spread base with tapenade. Top with artichokes and feta.

Whisk the yoghurt, egg and basil together in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Pour egg mixture over the artichoke/feta mixture. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes or until just set.

 Remove from oven. Cut into wedges and serve immediately.

Cranberry Pecan Tarts

Most people seem to love pecan pie - that amazing gooey treat that is a southern favourite. I wonder how many people have been lucky enough to have tasted it made with the addition of cranberries?

Some complain about pecan pie because to them it is just too sweet. No, I don't know any of these people but I have heard about them. Apparently these folk are as rare as educated folks who would vote for Stephen Harper. If you have one of these odd ducks in your family then this may be the dessert for them - the cranberries provide a tart contrast to the sweetness of the filling.

We made these tarts last Sunday and were impressed with them. They were easy to make and the taste was as close to perfect as you could get. The addition of the orange zest was particularly inspired and really helped to contrast the sweetness of the filling. The other thing that we liked is that they weren't a huge pie - you could have one of these tarts at the end of a large meal and it is just the right size to finish the meal with a touch of something sweet.

If you're looking for something to finish off your Thanksgiving meal these might be the way to go . . .

 Cranberry Pecan Tarts

1 sheet refrigerated pie pastry
1/4 cup fresh or frozen cranberries, thawed
1/2 cup pecan halves
1 egg
3 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons corn syrup
1-1/2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon grated orange peel
Whipped cream, optional

Cut pastry sheet in half and roll each half into a 7-in. circle. Transfer pastry to two un-greased 4-in. fluted tart pans with removable bottoms. Trim pastry even with edges.

Layer the cranberries, vanilla chips and pecans in each pastry. In a small bowl, beat the egg, brown sugar, corn syrup, flour and peel until smooth; pour over tops. Place pans on a baking sheet.

Bake at 400° for 15 minutes. Cover with foil; bake 15-20 minutes longer or until crust is golden brown and filling near center is set. Cool on a wire rack. Serve with whipped cream if desired. Yield: 2 servings.

Tomato Pie

Normally I would not have given this recipe a second thought. I rarely attempt those that have prepared mayonnaise as one of the main ingredients. However, since Elise, author of Simply Recipes, was sharing it I thought 'hmmm'.

Once Paul saw the picture he declared 'you have to make that!'

He couldn't care a less if there was mayonnaise or anything else in the pie for that matter!

Given the glut of tomatoes we had in the fridge and the fresh basil in the garden this was the perfect thing to make for dinner on Friday.

We both agreed that this was delicious!  It was easy to make and came together in next to no time - the flavour was incredible - in fact, one would assume that far more time over a hot stove was needed to turn out an amazing treat like this - my kind of recipe!

Enjoy!

Tomato Pie

• 1 9-inch pie shell
• 1/2 yellow or red onion, chopped
• 3-4 tomatoes, cut in half horizontally, squeezed to remove excess juice, roughly chopped, to yield approximately 3 cups chopped tomatoes
• 1/4 cup sliced basil (about 8 leaves)*
• 2 cups grated cheese (combination of sharp cheddar and Monterey Jack, or Gruyere or Mozarella)
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon (or more to taste) of Frank's Hot Sauce (or Tabasco)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

*To slice basil, chiffonade them by stacking the leaves on top of each other, roll them up like a cigar, starting at one end slice the "cigar" crosswise in thin slices.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Place pie shell in oven and cook for 8-10 minutes or longer until lightly golden. If you are starting with a frozen crust, you'll need to cook it a little longer. If you are using a homemade crust, freeze the crust first, then line the crust with aluminum foil and pre-bake it for 20 minutes, then remove the foil and bake an additional 10 minutes.

Squeeze as much moisture as you can out of the chopped tomatoes, using either paper towels, a clean dish towel, or a potato ricer.

Sprinkle the bottom of the pre-cooked pie shell with chopped onion. Spread the chopped tomatoes over the onions. Sprinkle the sliced basil over the tomatoes

In a medium bowl, mix together the grated cheese, mayonnaise, Tabasco, a sprinkling of salt and freshly ground black pepper. The mixture should be the consistency of a gooey snow ball. Spread the cheese mixture over the tomatoes.

Place in oven and bake until browned and bubbly, anywhere from 25 to 45 minutes.

Let sit for 10 minutes prior to serving.

Serves 6.

Cranberry Tart with Polenta Crust

Have you voted in the photo contest? Only 3 days to go!

Four of our trip pictures have been entered in a photo contest run by the good folks at easycar.com. Oh happy day - all four photos are currently in the top 10 out of 371 photos. You can vote for each by clicking here, (remember 10 is a good vote! *smile*)  here, here, and here.

Yes, you CAN vote for all four photos.

You can only vote once from any given IP address - this means you can vote once for EACH pic from both at home and at work! If you have two computers networked at home, you can only vote on one of them, however. If you have a Blackberry though, that is a third vote. If you send these links to friends, relatives, or people who bug you with unwanted e-mails - just think of the of votes! It boggles the mind.

Heck, do what I do - vote at every hotel, conference centre, and friend's house in which you find a PC attached to the internet. Don't be shy at all. :-)

---

I wanted something a little diferent for dessert on Christmas day. I knew that after a huge meal we wouldn't want anything too substantial. I had lots of cranberries in the freezer so I finally decided upon this tart from Gina dePalma's cookbook Dolce Italiano. I knew if Gina developed the recipe it would wow our guests.

It did!

This cranberry tart has a slightly sweet filling, punctuated by puckery cranberries.  The polenta crust is a whiz -- especially for those like me who would rather by pass the dough.  Rest easy, this one comes together in a snap and rolls out beautifully and the filling comes together in mere minutes. Serve your tart at room temperature or slightly warm.  

This colorful tart is a showstopper for the holidays.

Enjoy!

Cranberry Tart with Polenta Crust
adapted from Dolce Italiano: Desserts from the Babbo Kitchen,
by Gina DePalma

Cranberry Tart Filling
Makes One 10-inch Tart, 8 to 10 Servings

Polenta Tart Crust (see below)
3 cups fresh cranberries
1 cup granulated sugar
¾ cup light corn syrup
½ cup heavy cream
3 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon kosher salt

Preheat the oven to 350 F. and position a rack in the center

On a floured board, roll the tart dough into an 11-inch circle 1/8-inch thick.Transfer the dough to a 10-inch tart pan with fluted sides and a removable bottom by rolling the dough around the pin like a carpet and then rolling it on to the pan. Press the dough into the bottom and sides of the pan, then trim it so it is flush with the top of the pan. NOTE - be sure that the tart pan has sides at least an inch to 1 1/2 inches high.

Chill the tart shell while you make the filling.

Sort through the fresh cranberries to make sure there are no stems, bruised or soft berries.

In a medium saucepan, stir together the sugar and corn syrup.

Place over medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Add the cranberries and continue to cook over medium heat until the berries just begin to soften and pop, about 2 minutes.

Pour the mixture into a shallow bowl to cool for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally to dissipate the heat.

In another bowl, whisk together the cream, egg yolks, vanilla extract, flour, and salt.

Pour this mixture over the cranberries and stir gently.

Pour the filling into the prepared tart shell.

Place the tart on a large baking sheet to catch any drips and bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until the crust has turned golden brown and the filling is set; it may jiggle slightly but should not be liquid.

Allow the tart to cool completely on a rack before carefully removing the sides of the tart pan.

Serve at room temperature or slightly reheated.

Wrapped in plastic, the tart will keep in the refrigerator for a few days

Polenta Tart Crust

This dough is especially good with berries, cherries, and plums, as the chewy texture and yellow hue provide a colorful contrast to soft, succulent fruits.

Makes one 10-inch tart shell

1 ¼ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
½ cup instant or fine polenta (cornmeal)
¾ cup sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Freshly grated zest of 1 lemon or orange
½ cup (1 stick/4 ounces) unsalted butter, cold, cut into ¼-inch cubes
1 large egg
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Place the flour, polenta (cornmeal), sugar, salt and lemon zest into the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine them. Add the cold, cubed butter to the bowl and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse sand and no large lumps of butter are visible.

In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, olive oil, and vanilla extract.

Add the wet ingredients to the food processor and pulse just until a ball of dough forms.

Form the dough into a disk and tightly wrap in plastic.

Chill the dough until it is firm enough to roll, at least 1 to 2 hours.