Mixed Berry Tart

I keep seeing beautiful berry tarts and had to try one myself. I used almost the same crust recipe as I did for the heirloom tomato tart, with the addition of a little sugar and vanilla extract. The filling was cream cheese and dash of Half & Half, all topped with a mix of fresh blueberries and raspberries. I'm still working on perfecting the crust but it was decadent and delicious.

MIXED BERRY TART

For the crust:
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick (8oz) cold butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2-3 Tbsp cold water


For the filling:
1 package (8oz) cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp Half & Half
Approx 1 1/2 cups of mixed berries I used blueberries and strawberries


For the crust:

- Add the flour to a food processor and pulse until incorporated

- Add the sugar and salt and pulse again

- Chop the butter into 4 chunks and add to the flour mixture. Process until the mixture starts coming together in small, pea-sized shapes

- With the processor running, stream in the vanilla extract and just enough water so that the dough comes together this time I used the whole 3 Tbsp and the dough as a little too wet

- Turn the dough out on counter, form into a flattened disk, cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes

- Return the dough to the work surface, using plenty of flour to make sure it doesn't stick. Roll out the dough to about a quarter of an inch thick and 10-11 inches in diameter. Transfer to a tart pan. I still cannot get this too work. It was worse this time than last. I ended up putting the  dough directly into the tart pan and flattening it out against the bottom and up the sides with my hands. It worked. 

- Top the crust with a sheet of parchment paper, fill with dried beans and return to the fridge for at least another 30 minutes.

- Preheat oven to 350

- Bake the tart with the parchment paper for about 20 minutes. Remove the paper and beans and cook for another 5-10 minutes until the crust is a nice golden brown. Let cool

For the filling:

- In a mini food processor, blend the cream cheese and sugar. Stream in the vanilla extract and half & half and process until perfectly smooth.

- Spread the cream cheese mixture into the cooled shell

- Top with your berries, chill in the fridge, slice and serve

Vanilla Ice Cream with Chopped Plums and Basil

I'm coming into my last week of class and I've been working almost non-stop all weekend. Luckily, I have Jason to take care of me and cook me dinner! He had been pouring through the cookbooks for inspiration and came up with an incredible spinach and goat cheese taco with a grilled chicken breast and pepita sauce. Incredible. Then, dinner was topped off by this simple, perfect summer dessert. I've been eating a lot of stone fruit recently and the plum - basil combination was divine. I'm not usually much of a dessert person but a little bit of this made me very happy. Make sure to buy some high quality vanilla ice cream!

Vanilla Ice Cream (we used Ben & Jerry's)
1 - 2 ripe plums
8 - 10 basil leaves
sprinkle of sugar

Dice the plums, chiffonade the basil, mix together with just a sprinkle of sugar and serve over a scoop of ice cream. Believe me, it's delicious!

Cake & Coffee

For the dessert portion of our meal, I have invited a guest blogger, aka my husband Jason, to describe his mad baking and molecular gastronomy skills!

Dessert was based on the Scrivo family phrase "Cake and coffee" which I understand to be a way to finish a meal, a celebration, or any of a myriad of Scrivo family events.  My vision was to update the typical cake and coffee with playful dessert based on some other gelees I have been making recently.

The cake part was simple.  Amy had given me a madeline pan for Christmas, and I had only used it to make savory madelines.  The cake would be the first sweet madelines from the pan.  My friend and partner in this menu, Matt Freeman, executed most of the chocolate madeline recipe.  The coffee part of dessert was a coffee with cream and sugar gelee topped with a vanilla cream foam served in a coffee cup on the plate with the madelines.  It became a coffee you eat with a spoon.  The dessert afforded me an opportunity to break out the molecular gastronomy kit that Amy had given me for Christmas 2009.

Chocolate Madelines

50g all purpose flour
45g unsweetened cocoa
pinch salt
2 eggs
100g sugar
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
butter to butter pan

--  Butter madeline pan and place in the refrigerator

--  Sift flour, cocoa, and salt together

--  Blend the eggs and sugar together with an electric mixer.  Fold in the flour and then the melted butter.

--  Fill each mold about 3/4 full with the batter, and place in the refrigerator.

--  Heat oven to 425F and bake for 7 minutes.

--  Dust with powdered sugar if desired.


Coffee Gelee

300 ml coffee with cream and sugar
2 g carageenan

--  Make the coffee.  Flavor with cream and sugar to desired dessert flavor.

--  Pour coffee solution into a pan on the stove.  Bring to a boil and add carageenan.  Whisk to dissolve.

--  Transfer coffee to individual mugs and let cool on the counter until no longer steaming.  Move to refrigerator and let gel.  Should be ready in about 45 minutes.


Vanilla Cream Foam

Milk
Vanilla extract
Lecite

--  Put milk and a few drops of vanilla extract into a bowl.  Add lecite.

--  With an immersion blender skim the surface of the milk to create bubbles.  If the foam does not hold add more lecite and repeat.

--  Spoon foam on top of coffee gelee and dust with cinnamon.

Pecorino, Honey & Orange Zest Dessert

This summer we returned to Tuscany for our wedding anniversary trip. 

Our first day we stopped at the Cantinetta dei Verrazzano in Florence.  It is a wine bar owned by the Cappellini family who own the Castello di Verrazzano.  It was our first time and we were lucky enough to be seated at one of only 2 outside tables.  The day was gorgeous and we were hungry and eager for our first glass of Chianti (it just doesn't taste the same in the states).  We were also tired and slightly dazed from the travel.  Luckily our waiter spoke impeccable English and took quite a liking to us.  We let him surprise us with wines and even help with the food selection, including a dessert we didn't even order!

Now Florence is not known for their bread.  At some point in history the Tuscans took the salt out.  If you want bread go to France.  However, the rustic whole grain bread of this dessert was delicious and we were stunned with the simplicity of it. 

Jason surprised me this Friday with a re-creation of the dessert!  Tears almost welled up in my eyes as he laid the plate down in front of me.  All the memories of that simple meal came flooding back. 

PECORINO, HONEY & ORANGE ZEST DESSERT

A good, rustic whole grain bread

Soft pecorino

Honey

Orange zest

Black pepper

Take a slice of bread.  Top with a slice of the pecorino.  Drizzle with honey and sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper and orange zest.

Sounds too simple to be true?  Believe it. 

Blueberry Betty

The blueberry. Or Vaccinium Corymbosum. Whatever you call them, blueberries are quite the rage these days. I see recipes with blueberries everywhere.

This past Saturday making plans to have dinner with friends we were told to bring dessert. Now, dessert is not really my thing. For those of you who have eaten dinner at my house you know that dessert is often a BYO affair.

But looking at all the beautiful blueberries inspired me to try my hand at my mom and aunt's famous Blueberry Betty. Every summer at my aunt and uncle's place in Michigan we would go to the market to great fresh Michigan blueberries for the betty.

Now, there may be a lot of sugar and butter in this recipe, but don't judge me too harshly. It's dessert and it was a dinner party. And it is chock full of all the antioxidant benefits that blueberries impart. And it's always a hit. I bought a 5 pound box of blueberries so there have been 2 betties made for gatherings and some vegan blueberry and raspberry ice cream chilling in the freezer.

BLUEBERRY BETTY

-enough blueberries to fill a 9x12 pan

-lemon

-1 scant tsp cornstarch

-1 stick butter (I pull it out 30 minutes or an hour before to soften on the counter)

-1 cup sugar (I use half brown and half white)

-1 cup flour

Put the berries in the pan, squeeze the juice of one small lemon over them and sprinkle less than a tsp of cornstarch and mix it all up. The cornstarch just helps hold the berries together, you can use tapioca if you have it.

Mix the butter, sugar and flour. Spread this crumble over the top of the berries.

Bake at 375 for about 30 minutes or until the crumble has started to brown. Let cool before serving.