Blood Orange Margaritas
picture via Smitten Kitchen
Showing posts with label fruit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fruit. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 27
A follow up, which is totally unlike its preceding post
I don't normally just repost somebody else's blogging - seems lazy and vaguely cheaty - but this seemed important. I was talking previously about how we're all in the winter funk - how food is not fresh and cooking is not fun and we are generally cold, grumpy, and uninspired (maybe I'm projecting a bit). I gave you a warm and somewhat wintery meal. Today, in my perusal of favorite blogs, I swung by Smitten Kitchen...and saw that Deb was feeling pretty much the same as I - but had a very different approach. I now want fresh fruity drinks, and you should too. Read, drink, and enjoy.
Blood Orange Margaritas
picture via Smitten Kitchen
Blood Orange Margaritas
picture via Smitten Kitchen
Thursday, April 26
Gotta Have a...Bundt?
Recently, I had one of those "I want to use that pan" moments. Maybe you aren't a person who has acquired a bizarre number of specialized kitchen items, and you don't have these moments. I do. The pan in question was a kinda-vintage butter yellow enameled Bundt pan, acquired either at a yard sale or at the free table in my old apartment building in Hyde Park. Either way, not exactly an investment - but I've had it for a while and had never used it. I also was getting some grief for not baking anything for the office recently, and on top of that - there were little hints of spring here in Seattle. Nothing really dramatic, but enough to trigger my craving for things involving either berries or lemon or both. (This recipe technically uses berry preserves, but I bet if berries were actually in season they might be juicy enough to be smushed up and used on their own.) I had been meaning to look for something...and then one morning in my inbox, via the Food&Wine Daily, there it was: Blueberry Sour Cream Coffee Cake!
Blueberry-Sour Cream Coffee Cake (adapted from Food & Wine Online) [*note from your blogger: this link is a little fluky lately, but I'll give it a try*]
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 sticks (1/2 lb) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
1 cup sour cream
1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup blueberry preserves, plus 1 Tbsp melted preserves
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting
Preheat the oven to 350°. Butter and flour a 10-inch Bundt pan. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, beat the butter until creamy. Add the granulated sugar and beat until fluffy. Beat in the eggs, sour cream and vanilla. Beat in the dry ingredients just until incorporated. [*note from your blogger: USE CAUTION if using a stand mixer. I'd gotten used to recipes formatted for stand mixers, but I don't think this was because my cake had definitely been beat a little two much....cue my father's bad pun about black-and-blue and blueberries here*]
Spread all but 1/2 cup of the batter into the prepared pan. Using the back of a spoon, make a trough in the batter, all the way around the pan. Mix the 3/4 cup of blueberry preserves with the reserved batter and spoon it into the trough. [*note from your blogger: this is tricky. Beware. Mine was a teeny bit messy. Still tasted fine though!*]
Bake the cake for about 1 hour, or until it begins to pull away from the pan and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Invert the cake onto a wire rack, remove the pan and let cool completely. Sift the confectioners' sugar over the cake, drizzle with the melted blueberry preserves and serve. [*note from your blogger: I was making this for the office and my colleagues have been leaning towards slightly healthier things of late, so I skipped the frosting. It was still tasty, and somewhat morning-snack-friendly*]
Blueberry-Sour Cream Coffee Cake (adapted from Food & Wine Online) [*note from your blogger: this link is a little fluky lately, but I'll give it a try*]
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 sticks (1/2 lb) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
1 cup sour cream
1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup blueberry preserves, plus 1 Tbsp melted preserves
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting
Preheat the oven to 350°. Butter and flour a 10-inch Bundt pan. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, beat the butter until creamy. Add the granulated sugar and beat until fluffy. Beat in the eggs, sour cream and vanilla. Beat in the dry ingredients just until incorporated. [*note from your blogger: USE CAUTION if using a stand mixer. I'd gotten used to recipes formatted for stand mixers, but I don't think this was because my cake had definitely been beat a little two much....cue my father's bad pun about black-and-blue and blueberries here*]
Spread all but 1/2 cup of the batter into the prepared pan. Using the back of a spoon, make a trough in the batter, all the way around the pan. Mix the 3/4 cup of blueberry preserves with the reserved batter and spoon it into the trough. [*note from your blogger: this is tricky. Beware. Mine was a teeny bit messy. Still tasted fine though!*]
Bake the cake for about 1 hour, or until it begins to pull away from the pan and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Invert the cake onto a wire rack, remove the pan and let cool completely. Sift the confectioners' sugar over the cake, drizzle with the melted blueberry preserves and serve. [*note from your blogger: I was making this for the office and my colleagues have been leaning towards slightly healthier things of late, so I skipped the frosting. It was still tasty, and somewhat morning-snack-friendly*]
Sunday, November 20
"Can I get that recipe?"
A lot of my cooking lately has been baking-centered, and fruit-specific baking at that. This isn’t something I have always done much of. It was sort of an accident, actually. Over the past four years or so, I developed some bizarre food reactions. A little bit of research combined with a visit to a really great allergist in Princeton, NJ, and it turns out...I’m allergy to healthy things. Okay, not ALL healthy things - but a lot of raw fruits and vegetables. Turns out this isn’t as weird as it seems - not even that uncommon, just under-diagnosed.
I digress. Point is, can’t eat raw fruit. Fast forward to the holidays last year, when I was the recipient of a couple of Harry & David gift boxes...both of which included many fresh, juicy, delicious, pears. Which I can’t eat. What to do? Poached pears sounded so thoroughly unappealing. A little Google hunting produced a fairly simple sounding pear tart recipe (posted in full below), so I figured I’d give it a try.
The first time I made it, it came out looking like total liquid, and I fretted and I knashed and I wrung my hands and put it in the oven again and again. Since the juice was being created by the ongoing liquidation of the pears plus the brown sugar, this obviously didn’t help, but in the end it may actually have made it even more delicious (just as long as you don’t burn the crust).
Bottom line: simple, delicious, and the kind of thing that, if you bring it into the office, your colleagues will ask for again and again and again. Trust me.
Rustic Pear Tart Eating Healthy in 2009. Copyright 2007, Ellie Krieger, All Rights Reserved.
Prep Time: 40 min // Inactive Prep Time: 30 min // Cook Time: 1 hr 0 min
Serves 6
Ingredients
3 medium pears
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch
3 tablespoons light brown sugar [Note from your blogger: I rarely have light brown sugar on hand, so do the old half-and-half of dark brown and white sugar.]
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Glaze [Note from your blogger: I tend to forget to make this...the tart is still delicious either way, although probably not as pretty]:
To prepare the crust, in a medium bowl whisk together the whole-wheat pastry flour, all- purpose flour, granulated sugar and salt. Add the butter and using two knives or a pastry cutter, cut the butter into the flour mixture until you get a pebbly, course texture. In a small bowl combine the buttermilk and ice water. Using a fork, gradually mix the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture. Pat the dough into a 4-inch round and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
In the meantime, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F, and prepare the filling. Peelthe pears, core them and cut into 1/4-inch slices. In a large bowl toss the pear slices with the lemon juice. Sprinkle in the cornstarch, brown sugar and cinnamonand toss until the pears are evenly coated. Set aside.
On a lightly floured surface, roll the chilled dough into a large circle about nine inches in diameter. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and draping the dough over the rolling pin, transfer to the prepared baking sheet. If the dough breaks at all patch it up with your fingers. [Note from your blogger: I haven’t attempted this - haven’t been confident the crust wouldn’t collapse on me with all the liquid the appears - so have been just putting in a pie dish. Arrange and fold as she suggests and it works out fine.]
Arrange the pears in a mound in the center of the dough, leaving a 2-inch boarder. Fold the border over the filling. It will only cover the pears partially and does not need to be even.
Bake the tart for 15 minutes, and then reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F, keeping the tart in the oven all the while, and bake for another 40 minutes, until the pears are tender and the crust is golden brown. [Note from your blogger: at this point, mine often looks like it’s too liquid-y, as mentioned above. Don’t worry about it. Let it cool and the liquid will set. Just be careful to limit the amount of heat it if you serve it warm...which you should.]
In a small bowl stir together the honey and boiling water to make a glaze. When the tart is done remove it from the oven and brush the honey glaze all over the top of the fruit and crust. Transfer to a plate to cool slightly. Cut into 6 wedges and serve warm or a room temperature.
I digress. Point is, can’t eat raw fruit. Fast forward to the holidays last year, when I was the recipient of a couple of Harry & David gift boxes...both of which included many fresh, juicy, delicious, pears. Which I can’t eat. What to do? Poached pears sounded so thoroughly unappealing. A little Google hunting produced a fairly simple sounding pear tart recipe (posted in full below), so I figured I’d give it a try.
The first time I made it, it came out looking like total liquid, and I fretted and I knashed and I wrung my hands and put it in the oven again and again. Since the juice was being created by the ongoing liquidation of the pears plus the brown sugar, this obviously didn’t help, but in the end it may actually have made it even more delicious (just as long as you don’t burn the crust).
Bottom line: simple, delicious, and the kind of thing that, if you bring it into the office, your colleagues will ask for again and again and again. Trust me.
Give this one a try...more baked fruit recipes to follow!
Rustic Pear Tart Eating Healthy in 2009. Copyright 2007, Ellie Krieger, All Rights Reserved.
Prep Time: 40 min // Inactive Prep Time: 30 min // Cook Time: 1 hr 0 min
Serves 6
Ingredients
Crust: [note from your blogger: I completely skip this crust business...Trader Joe's makes a terrific frozen crust that looks and tastes homemade. Defrost, roll out, and you're done. But if you're so inclined, this one came with the recipe...]
1/2 cup whole-grain pastry flour or regular whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2 tablespoons lowfat buttermilk
3 tablespoons ice water
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2 tablespoons lowfat buttermilk
3 tablespoons ice water
Filling:
3 medium pears
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch
3 tablespoons light brown sugar [Note from your blogger: I rarely have light brown sugar on hand, so do the old half-and-half of dark brown and white sugar.]
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Glaze [Note from your blogger: I tend to forget to make this...the tart is still delicious either way, although probably not as pretty]:
1 teaspoon honey
1/4 teaspoon boiling water
1/4 teaspoon boiling water
Directions
To prepare the crust, in a medium bowl whisk together the whole-wheat pastry flour, all- purpose flour, granulated sugar and salt. Add the butter and using two knives or a pastry cutter, cut the butter into the flour mixture until you get a pebbly, course texture. In a small bowl combine the buttermilk and ice water. Using a fork, gradually mix the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture. Pat the dough into a 4-inch round and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
In the meantime, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F, and prepare the filling. Peelthe pears, core them and cut into 1/4-inch slices. In a large bowl toss the pear slices with the lemon juice. Sprinkle in the cornstarch, brown sugar and cinnamonand toss until the pears are evenly coated. Set aside.
On a lightly floured surface, roll the chilled dough into a large circle about nine inches in diameter. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and draping the dough over the rolling pin, transfer to the prepared baking sheet. If the dough breaks at all patch it up with your fingers. [Note from your blogger: I haven’t attempted this - haven’t been confident the crust wouldn’t collapse on me with all the liquid the appears - so have been just putting in a pie dish. Arrange and fold as she suggests and it works out fine.]
Arrange the pears in a mound in the center of the dough, leaving a 2-inch boarder. Fold the border over the filling. It will only cover the pears partially and does not need to be even.
Bake the tart for 15 minutes, and then reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F, keeping the tart in the oven all the while, and bake for another 40 minutes, until the pears are tender and the crust is golden brown. [Note from your blogger: at this point, mine often looks like it’s too liquid-y, as mentioned above. Don’t worry about it. Let it cool and the liquid will set. Just be careful to limit the amount of heat it if you serve it warm...which you should.]
In a small bowl stir together the honey and boiling water to make a glaze. When the tart is done remove it from the oven and brush the honey glaze all over the top of the fruit and crust. Transfer to a plate to cool slightly. Cut into 6 wedges and serve warm or a room temperature.
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