Corn, Tomato & Bacon Tart

Corn, Tomato & Bacon Tart

The latest issue of Eating Well has a corn and tomato tart recipe listed that looks pretty darn good. Except they didn't use any bacon and bacon is pretty much essential if you ask me.

So I tried their recipe and I added bacon, shallots and made a few other changes. This is a keeper, especially in the summer when you can get (or grow) really good tomatoes and fresh corn. You could easily serve this with a big salad (I grilled salmon to go with).

Here is the original recipe from Eating Well and listed below is my twist on it:

Crust:
3/4 C whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 C all purpose flour
1/2 t salt
1/2 t pepper
1/3 C olive oil
5 T cold water

Filling:
2 slices of bacon
1 shallot, minced
1/2 C Parmesan cheese, grated
3 large eggs
1 C low-fat milk
1/2 C shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
2 -3 tomatoes, sliced
2 ears of fresh corn
1 T fresh chopped basil
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper

To prepare crust: Combine whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper in a large bowl. Make a well in the center and add the oil and water gradually, stirring until a soft dough is formed. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400. Roll the dough out into a circle and place in a 9" deep pie plate. Line the pie plate with aluminum foil or parchment paper and weight down with beans or pie weights (I used metal measuring cups). Bake for 20 minutes, remove the pie weights and aluminum foil and let the crust cool down for at least 10-15 minutes.

To prepare filling: Chop bacon into cubes and cook over medium heat until crisp. Remove from the skillet and add the shallots. Cook for 1-2 minutes or until the shallots are soft. Set aside.
Shuck the corn and cut the kernels off. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs and milk together and mix in the bacon and shallots. Sprinkle half of the Cheddar cheese over the crust and place half the tomatoes over the cheese. Sprinkle the corn over the tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Add the remaining Cheddar cheese and top with the remaining tomatoes. Pour the egg mixture over the tomatoes. Season with more salt and pepper. Sprinkle the basil and Parmesan cheese all over the top of the pie.

Bake for 40 -50 minutes or until a knife comes out clean. Let rest for 20 minutes before serving.

Slow Cooked Pork Tingas

This is a Rick Bayless recipe from his superb cookbook Mexican Everyday. This is so easy and the flavors are amazing for so little work. I am lazy and I don't prepare the optional last step Rick suggests (draining off the pan drippings, boiling those down, frying chorizo and mixing it all together yada yada). I take the lazy cook's route and eat this after the pork has cooked down to tender deliciousness. Pork tingas make excellent tacos. After I cook the tingas, I serve them on warm corn tortillas with goat cheese, avocado and cilantro.

Slow Cooked Pork Tingas

2 lbs boneless pork shoulder (I used Boston butt) trimmed of fat and cut into cubes
2 cans of diced fire roasted tomatoes (use one 28 oz can or two 15 oz cans)
1-2 chipotle chiles en adobo - cut into strips
1 T chipotle chiles adobo sauce
1 T Worcestershire sauce
1 t dried oregano (I used Mexican oregano)
3 garlic cloves minced
1-2 yellow onions, diced
4 Yukon gold or red potatoes, cut into chunks
Salt & pepper

Into the bottom of a slow cooker, spread out the potatoes and cover them with the chunks of pork. In a medium bowl, mix together the canned tomatoes, chipotle peppers, the adobo sauce, garlic, oregano, Worcestershire, salt and pepper. Pour the mixture over the pork.
Cook on low for about 8 hours or until the meat is falling apart tender.
Drain the pan drippings off and discard. Gently shred the pork. Serve the pork/potato mixture on warmed corn tortillas topped with goat cheese, avocado, cilantro and red onions. You could substitute Mexican queso fresco or feta cheese in place of the goat cheese.

Makes several servings (about 10?). Leftovers are great.

Watermelon Margaritas

This is an easy summer drink to whip up when watermelons are plentiful. It is sweet and fruity with a nice kick of tequila. My husband (who doesn't especially like watermelon) sucked down four of these the first time I made them.

Watermelon Margaritas

1/2 C. sugar
1/2 C. water
2 C. seedless watermelon, chopped into chunks
1/4 C. lime juice (about 2, juiced)
1/4 C. triple sec
2/3 C. tequila
Ice

Place sugar and water into a small pan and bring the pan up to a boil, let the water/sugar mixture boil for 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and cool.

Place the watermelon chunks, lime, triple sec and tequila into a blender and whirl it up. Add the cooled sugar syrup and a handful of ice, blend well. Serve on the rocks, makes about 4 large or 6 average sized servings.

Apricot & Peach Cream Tart

Well, it has been awhile. I can't believe two months have passed since I posted anything. I've been busy. The weather has been so nice in Austin, so when I haven't been working I've tried to get outside as much as possible. Plus I have a crappy camera, so I'm also using that as an excuse for the lack of recipes.

A couple of weeks ago at the farmers market, several farmers offered Texas peaches. Peaches in May are unheard of for this Ohio girl. I found one stand with peaches and apricots. Oh my, I love apricots. I bought enough to make a tart. The key to this tart is the incredible butter crust. It reminds me of shortbread cookies, crumbly, buttery and sweet. This has been my go to tart crust for years, it is nice baked and stuffed with fruit or lemon curd. You can do many things with this crust. So if you don't like apricots and peaches (and really who doesn't?), at least try the crust.


Apricot & Peach Cream Tart

Crust Ingredients:

1 + 1/2 C. all purpose flour
1/4 C. sugar
1/2 C. butter, cut into cubes
1 egg yolk
1/2 t. vanilla
pinch salt

Place all ingredients into a food processor and whirl it up until the dough is a uniform, crumbly consistency. Press into the bottom and up the sides of a tart pan with a removable bottom. Par bake at 325 for 25 minutes or until golden brown in color. Remove from oven and prepare filling.

crust, prior to baking

Tart Filling:

3 - 4 peaches, peeled and sliced
10 apricots, pitted and sliced
1/2 C. sugar
1/4 C. brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 C. sour cream
1/4 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. nutmeg
1/4 C. chopped almonds

Combine eggs, sour cream and 1/4 cup of the sugar. Beat well and pour into the par baked tart crust. In another bowl gently combine the fruit, remaining sugars, cinnamon and nutmeg. Spread over the top of the tart and scatter the chopped almonds on top.

tart, prior to baking

tart, after baking

Bake at 325 for 45 - 50 minutes or until the custard looks done. Allow the tart to cool for at least an hour and remove the sides of the tart pan. Serve immediately.

Mocha Fudge Pots

I try to limit sweets to weekends, although from reading this blog you might think otherwise. I have a huge sweet tooth. This is the kind of thing you make on a Saturday night or if you are having company over. I pulled this recipe out of Food & Wine Magazine some years back and I never got around to making it. A couple of weeks ago when my husband was running around SxSW like a crazy fool, I took the opportunity to try this out.
Food & Wine call this a chocolate pudding, but it is very dense, thick and rich. More like a chocolate pot. It is very easy to make, you can use a food processor or even a blender to whip this up. Literally takes minutes (plus the chill time).

Mocha Fudge Pots

1/2 cup heavy cream
2 t instant espresso powder
6 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped (I used Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips)
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 t vanilla
pinch of salt
fresh whipped cream (for serving).

In a small saucepan, bring the cream and espresso powder to a boil over medium high heat.

Espresso powder in heavy cream

Meanwhile in a food processor, grind the chocolate and sugar until fine. Add the egg, vanilla ans salt and pulse until it forms a paste. With the machine on, slowly pour in the hot cream in a steady stream. Blend until silky, thick and creamy (about 1 minute).

Transfer the pudding into small ramekins (6 oz size or smaller, demitasse cups would be cute for this also). Transfer to the fridge and let set until firm, about one hour or overnight.

Garnish with fresh whipped cream and serve.


Makes about 4 servings.

The Easiest Lamb You'll Ever Make

I love lamb but it is a pain in the ass to cook. First of all, it is very expensive. Secondly, lamb has to be treated with care or you'll ruin the dish. And nothing sucks more than buying a nice piece of expensive meat and then it turns out badly. Also, you have to baby lamb by cooking it a long time or marinating it forever or both.
I really like this recipe because you just throw everything in the pot, stick it in the oven and walk away for three hours. Nothing to marinate, nothing to brown first. Super easy. And the lamb shanks are tender, falling off the bone good. The cooking liquid and veggies turn into a gravy which is just delicious spooned over the lamb.

Lamb Shanks

4 lamb shanks
2 cups red wine
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup olive oil
1 lemons, cut into wedges
2 15 oz cans of fire roasted, diced tomatoes
1 large bunch of fresh basil
1 t salt/pepper
5-6 carrots, cleaned and chopped into chunks
2 celery stalks, cleaned and chopped into chunks
1 large onion, chopped
4 large garlic cloves, peeled and left whole

Preheat oven to 350. Spray the bottom of a large Dutch oven with nonstick cooking spray. Put the carrots, onions and celery in the bottom of the pot. Place the lamb shanks on top of the veggies. Season with salt and pepper. Pour the wine, balsamic vinegar and olive oil over the meat. Place a whole garlic clove on top of each lamb shank, followed by a large wedge of lemon.

Lamb prior to going into oven

Open the canned tomatoes and pour them all over the meat (no need to drain the cans, pour the juice in also). Cut the basil into thin strips and sprinkle the basil all over the lamb and tomato mixture. Put the lid on and roast the lamb at 350 for 3 hours.
The meat should fall off the bones. It will be very tender and your house will smell amazing.

Lamb after cooking 3 hours

I served my lamb shanks on a pillow of two cheese polenta with oven roasted asparagus. Mashed potatoes would also work well.

Banana Pudding

This is my grandma's banana pudding recipe. She used to make this for major family gatherings, like Easter Sunday or a reunion. As you can see from the ingredients list, this is not for anyone counting calories as it uses a frightening amount of heavy whipping cream and an entire can of sweetened condensed milk. When I was newly married, my grandma mailed me the recipe so I could make it whenever I wanted.

Banana Pudding

1 can of sweetened condensed milk (14 oz)
1 1/2 cups of cold water
small package of instant vanilla pudding (4 serving size)
1 pint heavy whipping cream (this measures 2 cups)
3-4 bananas
vanilla wafers
juice of half a lemon

In a large mixing bowl, combine water, sweetened condensed milk and the vanilla pudding. Mix until well combined. Place pudding mixture in the fridge to chill for five minutes.

Meanwhile, whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form.


Peel and slice the bananas into uniform slices. Squeeze the lemon juice all over the banana slices.
Take several vanilla wafers and carefully place them along the sides and bottom of a large bowl.
place a layer of sliced bananas over the bottom of the bowl.

Remove the pudding mixture from the fridge, carefully fold in the heavy whipping cream. The mixture should feel light, almost like a mousse. Place about one-third of the pudding mixture over the bananas. Continue layering the vanilla wafers, bananas and pudding until you've made three or four layers. Save enough pudding to make a final layer and sprinkle some crumbled vanilla wafers on top.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for several hours. I like to make this the day before serving or at least 8 - 12 hours in advance. The pudding tastes better when the vanilla wafers have time to soak up the pudding and get soft.

This makes about 8 - 10 servings. It probably keeps 3-4 days but it never lasts that long at my house.