Pear Almond Tart

Pear Almond Tart, not yet removed from the pan or sprinkled with the final touch of confectioner's sugar

I bought a new baking pan, a tart pan actually, one that I did not yet have in my baking supplies repertoire. Well there's no reason to add a new pan to my stock of baking supplies unless I use it. So what do I do? I start scavenging the Internet for great tart recipes. I've made a couple things in my mighty fine tart pan, but this is the only one I've taken a picture of and also captured the recipe to post in this blog. It's adapted pretty loosely from another blog called Living Tastefully, mostly due to the fact that I like to create (i.e. take risks on) new recipes from what I already have in my pantry and I don't happen to carry cherries, heavy cream, blanched almonds, or kirsch in my everyday pantry (what's wrong with me, right?).

Pear Almond Tart (serves 6)
Ingredients:
For the pastry crust:
8 tbsp butter, melted and cooled, plus extra for preparing tart pan
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp almond extract
1/8 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
1 1/4 cup flour

For the filling:
1 egg, beaten
5 tbsp nonfat milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp flour
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 large can pears, sliced lengthwise about 1/2" thick

Topping:
Confectioner's sugar

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare round tart pan by buttering the pan surface.
2. To make the pastry crust, combine butter, sugar, almond extract, vanilla extract, and salt in a bowl. Add flour gradually until a ball of pastry dough develops.
3. Place dough in prepared tart pan and spread evenly on the bottom surface and up the sides of the tart pan. You can do this by hand, flattening and spreading the dough with your palms and fingers. To keep your hands from being a greasy mess, cover the top of the dough with plastic wrap first and then spread the dough with your hands over the plastic wrap.
4. Pre-bake the pastry crust in preheated oven for 13-15 minutes, until the crust turns a light golden color.
5. To make the filling, beat all of the filling ingredients in a bowl and put aside.
6. When the pastry crust has finished baking. Remove from oven and arrange sliced pears in a circular pattern over the pastry crust, covering the entire surface of the crust. Pour filling onto arranged pears.
7. Continue to bake for another 45 minutes, or until the custard is set and the pastry crust turns a darker golden brown color.
8. Allow to cool in room temperature. When cooled, refrigerate until ready to serve. Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar just before serving.

Equipment Tip: The tart pan helps make this dessert look so good. There's just something so French and so elegant about a variegated crust edge. Ahhhh yes. Most tart pans will come with a removable bottom so you can easily remove the prepared tart from the pan (and witness those beautiful edges, hehe). It's not necessary of course, but it IS pretty. You could use a regular straight edged cake pan, you just won't be able to remove it from the pan without it falling apart.

Sauteed Butternut Squash and Green Beans

Butternut squash makes for the perfect fall dish

Sauteed Butternut Squash (serves 4)

Ingredients:

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 medium onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 butternut squash, cut into 1" cubes

1/2 cup vegetable broth

1 1/2 cups frozen green beans

3 tbsp fish sauce

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

Directions:

1. In a large pan, preheat vegetable oil over medium heat.

2. Add onions and cook until translucent. Add garlic and butternut squash. Cook for 5 minutes.

3. Add vegetable broth and continue to cook until squash is fork tender, about 10-15 minutes.

4. Add green beans, fish sauce, salt, and pepper. Cook for another 5 minutes, just until green beans are warmed through, and serve.

Bruschetta

I served this tasty bruschetta during our last get-together with family and friends and it was a hit. It's easy to prepare and has few ingredients, make it a staple at your next get-together.

Bruschetta (serves about 15 people as light hors d’oeuvres)

2 french baguettes, sliced on a bias into 3/4" inch thick pieces

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Salt, to taste

Pepper, to taste

8 roma tomatoes, seeded and finely diced

1/4 cup basil, cut into thin strips

3 cloves garlic, finely minced

3 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Salt, to taste

Pepper, to taste

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Spread a single layer of baguette slices on 2 baking sheets. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.

3. Toast in oven for about 5 minutes. Remove from oven and place in serving basket.

4. In a large bowl, combine tomatoes, basil, garlic, balsamic vinegar, 1/4 cup of olive oil, salt, and pepper. Place in serving bowl.

Cheese Enchiladas with Verde Sauce

Another one of my pantry staples is whole wheat tortillas and enchilada sauce. Red enchilada sauce is what you’ll see used most often in Mexican restaurants, but you have to try the green enchilada sauce. When it comes to the ready-to-use, canned enchilada sauces, green is the way to go. The red seems to always have an overpowering taste to it that dominates the rest of the dish, that you might as well be sipping the red sauce straight from the can. Ugh!

Try this quick recipe for cheese enchiladas with verde sauce. It’s yummy and super simple!

Cheese Enchiladas with Verde Sauce (serves 2)

Ingredients:

1 large can of green enchilada sauce

4 whole wheat tortillas

1 small can of black olives, sliced

Block of sharp cheddar cheese, sliced into 1/4" thick slices (8 total slices needed)

1 can of white northern beans, rinsed

1 cup muenster cheese, shredded

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Pour 1/2 cup of green enchilada sauce into a square baking dish and spread evenly on the bottom of the pan.

3. Pour 1 cup of green enchilada sauce on a pie plate. Take a tortilla and dip both sides into enchilada sauce. In the center of the dipped tortilla, add 2 slices of cheddar cheese, 1 tsp of black olives, and 2 tbsp of northern beans. Roll tortilla from one edge to the other, in the shape of a burrito and place edge-side down in the square baking dish. Repeat this step for the remaining tortillas.

4. Pour remaining green enchilada sauce on top of the rolled tortillas. Make sure you pour the sauce on the ends of the tortillas as well, or the edges will get crunchy in the oven. Sprinkle muenster cheese evenly over the tortillas.

5. Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes, or until cheese topping is melted completely.

Serving Tip:

For a healthier and super easy side dish alternative to the usual refried beans and Mexican rice, place some frozen corn in a bowl, season with smoked paprika, salt, and pepper, and microwave until corn is just heated through.

Vegetable Couscous

I'm a huge fan of quick, easy cooking. That's why I always have couscous in my pantry. Nothing is better than a dinner that cooks in less than 10 minutes including prep. You could easily make couscous into a full meal by adding your protein of choice, maybe some diced leftover chicken, mini-meatballs, or some shrimp.

Couscous is pretty easy to find in any grocery store's rice/grains aisle. And you'll actually often find them already prepared with flavor packets. Those are good options too, but it's just as easy to flavor regular whole wheat couscous, which is often cheaper than the pre-mixed boxes. Try this couscous recipe as a side dish to any protein.

Vegetable Couscous (serves 4-6)

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups vegetable broth

2 tbsp butter

1/2 cup onion, diced

1/2 cup yellow squash, roughly diced

1 cup frozen chopped broccoli

1 cup roasted sweet potatoes, diced into 1/2" pieces

1 1/3 cup whole wheat couscous

1 1/2 tsp curry powder

1 tsp salt

Directions:

1. In a medium pan over medium-high heat, add vegetable broth, butter, onion, yellow squash, and broccoli. Bring broth mixture to a boil.

2. Stir in couscous, curry powder, and salt. Remove from heat and cover for 5 minutes.

3. Fluff with a fork and serve.

Preparation Tip: I cheated slightly to make this recipe a 10-minute recipe. I actually had some leftover diced sweet potatoes from the other night that I re-purposed in this recipe. A quick substitute for the roasted sweet potatoes is zapped sweet potatoes. Just pop a sweet potato in the microwave for about 3-5 minutes, just long enough to soften them. Allow to cool, then dice.

Lemon-y Fresh Hummus

I’ve become a huge fan of all sorts of dips and sauces. Traditional basil pesto, sun-dried tomato pesto, hummus, olive tapenade; they’re all sooooo good. It’s easy enough to buy them prepared at our local specialty food store, but it’s also really easy to make at home too. What’s easier than putting all of the ingredients in a food processor, no slicing or dicing required whatsoever, and pressing a button?

This recipe is technically not hummus I suppose, since there’s no tahini paste in it, but it’s my lighter version of hummus. The parsley and lemon juice add freshness to the dip and the bold taste of garlic is to die for.

Lemon-y Fresh Hummus (serves 6)
Ingredients:
1 can garbanzo beans/chickpeas, rinsed
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup fresh flat leaf parsley
Juice of 2 lemons
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Directions:
1. Combine all of the ingredients in a food processor. Process until smooth.
2. Serve room temperature or chilled, with some toasted pita chips or tortilla chips.

Currant Scones

It's been awhile since I last baked, and I felt a slight baking itch today, so I decided I'd make some scones. I enjoyed an excellent blueberry scone at one of Chicago's farmer's markets last weekend, and a blueberry scone sounded really good, but then I didn't have any blueberries. Hmmph... so I made currant scones instead.

I used a recipe from Better Homes and Gardens which, judging from the perfectly-firm-exterior-and-pillowy-doughy-center outcome on my first attempt at the recipe, will be my go-to scone recipe from now on anytime I want to create my own new twist and variation to the usual scone. You have to try it!