Birthdays Give Me Cramps

I had a birthday not too long ago. Do you ever get them? They seem to pop up more frequently than they used to. They are also much less welcome than they ever were.

Well, the most recent birthday was looming large on my horizon as I chatted with a friend about a concert I'd been to oh-so-very-long ago. And far away. Well, after our chat, I went nostalgia-tripping and looked up the band on YouTube. I was flat-out amazed to find actual blurry, grainy, footage from the very show I'd been to way-back-when in my old hometown. Really! I kid you not!

What... you're not impressed? Keep in mind that this was back in prehistoric times, when cameras of any kind were not allowed in shows and the video camera that was smuggled in on this occasion would've been a thousand times larger than today's mini-tech toys. So you can see why finding that footage was such a quantum leap back in time.*

Summer's Last Hurrah

Next summer, when we have more tomatoes than we'll know what to do with*... I'll know exactly what to do with them. I will make this tart. I will make this tart over and over and over, all summer long... and we will never tire of it. It's that good. There is so much going on in this tart I can't even begin to describe it. So I won't. I'll just let the ingredients speak for themselves: some homegrown tomatoes, fresh herbs, a smear of homemade mustard, a drizzle of olive oil, tangy goat cheese, a touch of honey... all caramelized, concentrated, cozy and warm, and in the loving arms of a crisp pastry shell.

I rolled the pastry dough out quite thin so I could make two tarts and use up all the tomatoes we had picked. We'll still get more tomatoes over the next few weeks, but not in this quantity. This was summer's last hurrah. Here, baked together in a tart shell, were our Sungold, Early Girl, Juliette, and Sun Kiss, snuggled up cheek-to-cheek.*

Men Who Stare At Goat Cheeses

Fresh goat cheese has such a bright and tangy quality, it's utterly delightful... (yes, there was a sort of a pun in there). A little bit like cream cheese, but tangier... and not so creamy; it's really versatile and pairs perfectly with summer's (and fall's) bounty of fresh fruits and veggies. The next goat cheese I get will undoubtedly find its way into one of the following recipes...

• Goat Cheese, Caramelized Onion and Spinach Quesadilla at fitnessmagazine.com
• Toast with Kumquat Marmalade and Goat Cheese from Serious Eats
• A bunch of  delicious Marinated Goat Cheese ideas at The Kitchn
• Two fantastic looking recipes from the What Katie Ate blog: Cherry Tomato, Basil and Goats Cheese Canapés and a Candied Pancetta, Goats Cheese and Aged Balsamic Salad.*
• I love the rustic ease of a crostata (or galette if you prefer) at any time of year. Here is a Lemon Crostata with Plums and Goat Cheese (oprah.com) and individual Goat Cheese and Grape Galettes (thekitchn.com)

On a recent solo trip to the market, Hubs discovered an aged Gouda made from goat's milk. He discovered it by way of free samples. Not only did he tell me all about it when he got home, but he made a point of showing it to me the next time we were at that market together. That was him hinting. A lot.

Aged goat cheeses need to be treated a little differently than the fresh ones, as they lend themselves best to simpler preparations such as: breaking a piece off, placing in your mouth and chewing slowly. You can optionally choose to follow each bite with a sip of compatible wine. But only if you insist on over-complicating things.

* I just drooled on my keyboard. I hope nobody noticed...

Soft And Bittersweet

The situation in my kitchen early yesterday morning may be the only circumstance where anyone would be upset because their buns were too firm. To paraphrase a favorite movie, "We're going to need considerably softer buns!".* Here's the lowdown: I have two recipes from my mom for hot cross buns. I made one of them last year and it was a smashing success (they were just like mom used to make). This year, I couldn't remember which of the two recipes I had used before.** So I picked one. I may have picked wrong. Or perhaps it was user error and the fault lies in my execution of the recipe in question. We may never know.

Everything seemed to go like clockwork, without a hitch, every step of the way. Uh, except that the dough didn't rise. These were for brunch on Easter Sunday, and well, with yeast breads as well as with Easter, the rising is the most important part. They tasted fine (we ate them all up), but they were firm and dense when they should have been soft and wonderful. Clearly I'll need to make these again soon in order to figure out what went wrong. Oh darn.

One thing that went right was the candied orange peel I made to put in the buns. We were fresh out of candied orange peel, but you just can't have hot cross buns without it. We did have a box of oranges though... so I looked up a recipe and gave it a go. A little messy for sure, but it turned out fantastically well. The only thing better would be to dip them in dark chocolate. But then, what wouldn't be improved by that?

The syrup that the orange peel cooked in, was infused with orange essence and I just couldn't see pouring it down the drain. I used a little of it to sweeten some plain yogurt, then drizzled it over the fruit salad we served. I'll probably try it in my tea next and if it gets warmer out (which I hope will be soon), it would be great in lemonade. It should work pretty much anywhere you would use simple syrup. When all was said and done, the only things I didn't use up were the pith and the membrane from the oranges, and those went into the compost. A little fuss, a little muss, but no packaging, and no waste whatsoever. Sweet.

Hot Cross Buns page 56, Sunset Cook Book Of Breads, 1975
Here's a similar recipe, also from Sunset magazine... Orange Hot Cross Buns at MyRecipes.com

Notes: Plum out of currants, I used 1/3 cup each of golden raisins and chopped dried cranberries in addition to the chopped candied orange peel that I made (see below). I also put a tsp of dried lavender flowers in the scalded milk as it was cooling. I liked these changes/additions to the flavor, they were subtle but noticeable. And I don't believe they had anything to do with the dough failing to rise. That just may have to remain a mystery.

Candied Orange Peel, page 679-680, How To Cook Everything, Bittman, 1998

Notes: Recipe called for a small amount of corn syrup but said it was optional. We were out of corn syrup, so I opted not to buy a bottle of it right now and made the recipe without it. There is a lot of the candied peel left. Maybe I'll try dipping it in dark chocolate after all.

* The movie was Calendar Girls and it was the scene in which they were in need of "considerably bigger buns" for the sake of modesty (if that made no sense, go rent the movie and it will).
** This here is pretty much the reason I started this blog in the first place.

Rosemary Parmesan Crackers

Adapted from Parmesan Cream Crackers by Mark Bittman

2 cups flour
1 tsp kosher salt
1 cup packed and grated Parmesan cheese
1 stick unsalted butter
1/2 cup cream
2 tsp finely chopped rosemary
1 tsp each: ground pepper, nice flaky salt for sprinkling

Pre-heat oven to 400°. Pulse flour, salt, cheese and butter in a food processor until combined. Add the cream and let machine run; adding more cream if needed, a teaspoon at a time, until mixture holds together but is not sticky. Divide dough in half and roll out on a lightly floured board until 1/8" thick. Carefully transfer rolled out dough to Silpat (or parchment) lined baking sheet. Sprinkle top of dough with sea salt, ground pepper, and chopped rosemary. Pat toppings lightly with hands. Bake until lightly browned, about 15 minutes, rotating pans half way through cooking time. Cool on a rack. Serve warm or at room temp.

My Notes: These are not as crispy as I was hoping for, but they sure taste good and were quite easy.

Pick A Peck Of Pretty Pink Peppers

After reading this article about pink pepper-berries, I couldn't wait to see if there were any growing at my Mom's house when I visited for Christmas. Just off the back yard, there is a huge and graceful Peruvian pepper tree. That's where my tree-house was when the tree and I were much younger, but I don't ever remember there being pink berries on it.

Turns out that these trees bear little or no fruit if there are not enough female flowers present. Since I've been away though, there has been a new Brazilian pepper tree growing under and among some other plants by the fence, stretching way up high for a bit of sunlight. And there were pink berries on it. Not a lot, but a few.

This scrawny lanky "tree" was a volunteer in the yard, and though I didn't pick a peck* of pepper-berries, I did manage to reach a couple clusters. Next time we'll need to get the ladder out. With these rosy little foraged berries, homemade crusty bread, and some goat cheese, we'll be all set for New Year's Eve! Now if only I had the thyme...

Pink Pepper Goat Cheese Spread

My Notes: This couldn't have gone together easier. I split the goat cheese between two shallow 4 oz. ramekins (truth be told, they were from Trader Joe's frozen créme brulée). No fresh thyme was available, so I used some that I dried myself from our old garden before we moved. The spread smelled fantastic coming out of the oven and tasted great smeared on the homemade bread. The honey really countered the pepper berry perfectly. As easy as this is, I love that it can be made ahead of time and kept in the fridge. Let's see: it's super easy, really tasty, not your average party offering, and it's pretty too. Most definitely a keeper.

*Ever wonder just how many peppers were in that peck that Peter Piper picked? Click here to find out.
Peruvian Pepper Tree (Schinus molle)
Brazilian Pepper Tree (Schinus terebinthifolius)

Parmesan Herb Puffs

Everyone should have a "go-to" appetizer. Something you can make for a party that you know will turn out great without a lot of fuss, and tastes great too. This here's mine. Easy, versatile, and party-licious...

Parmesan Herb Puffs 
adapted from Sesame Seed Puffs, page 76, Williams-Sonoma Outdoor Entertaining, 2005

1 pkg frozen puff pastry sheets
3 Tblsp olive oil
2 tsp sea salt
2 tsp black pepper, ground
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded/grated
2 tsp fresh herbs, minced (rosemary, thyme, etc)

Position racks in middle and upper-third of oven and preheat to 400°. Line two baking sheets with parchment or Silpats.

On a lightly floured work surface, unfold 1 sheet of the puff pastry and brush the top with 1-1/2 Tblsp of the olive oil. Using a pizza wheel, cut the pastry sheet into 16 squares. Without moving the squares, cut each square in half on the diagonal into 2 triangles, for a total of 32 triangles. Sprinkle the surface with half of the salt, pepper, cheese and herbs.

Separate the triangles and using a spatula transfer them to the baking sheet, spacing them evenly. Prepare second puff pastry sheet and bake until golden brown and nicely puffed, about 16 minutes. After the first 8 minutes, switch the baking sheets between the racks and rotate them. Transfer the puffs to a wire rack and let cool for at least 5 minutes before serving.

The puffs can be baked up to 1 day in advance, cooled to room temperature, and stored in an airtight container. Re-crisp in a 450° oven for 3 minutes before serving.

Makes 64 pieces
Serves 10-12