Asparagus Gruyere Tart

This is really simple to make and makes a great splash.  Delicious with a baked ham, salmon or grilled lamb chops!


Ingredients


Serves 4

Flour, for work surface

1 frozen puff pastry

5 1/2 ounces Gruyere cheese, shredded (2 cups)

1 1/2 pounds medium or thick asparagus

1 tablespoon olive oil

Salt and pepper

Directions

1.Preheat oven to 400 degrees. On a floured surface, roll the puff pastry into a 16-by-10-inch rectangle. Trim uneven edges. Place pastry on a baking sheet. With a sharp knife, lightly score pastry 1 inch in from the edges to mark a rectangle. Using a fork, pierce pastry inside the markings at 1/2-inch intervals. Bake until golden, about 15 minutes.

2.Remove pastry shell from oven, and sprinkle with Gruyere. Trim the bottoms of the asparagus spears to fit crosswise inside the tart shell; arrange in a single layer over Gruyere, alternating ends and tips. Brush with oil, and season with salt and pepper. Bake until spears are tender, 20 to 25 minutes.

From Everyday Food, March/April 2003

It's Foodie Friday over at Designs By Gollum and I'm going over for a visit, come along, great stuff!

Tangerine Tart With Cookie Crust

This fabulous tart is from my friend and fellow blogger, Patti Londre, from Worth The Whisk. Patti has previously been a guest blogger on my main recipe blog, Lindaraxa's Garden, last fall. She's a great baker and has a wonderful blog; moreover, she also takes great pictures with her new camera which took forever to come to her door. All of Twitter held its breath until camera was finally on hand!

Tangerine Tart With Cookie Crust
by Worth The Whisk on March 1, 2010

Dinner party at Barbara and David’s – pleeeeze let me bring Tangerine Tart. For more than a decade, I’ve held onto this Sunset Magazine page. You see, the prolific tangerine tree that came with this house disappeared the day our yard was demo’d for landscaping. Waaaaa. Not sure why I never just bought fruit to make the tart; maybe I was insecure. Tangerines can do that to you (juicy? seeds? hard to peel? watery? acidic? good zest?)

This recipe was clipped in the year 2000 from Sunset’s Kitchen Cabinet column of readers’ recipes. Liz Strongman of Seattle is the creator. It’s a tangerine-infused cookie crust, tangerine filling, tangerine whipped cream. Whoa, I am skipping the whipped cream. And adjusted the instructions a bit to be clearer (see my note about pouring the filling).

My road trip to Ojai in search of the Pixie snacking tangerine resulted in a great education from my new friends at Friend’s Ranches citrus growers. For example, the W. Murcutt Tangerine is a luscious cooking citrus. More acidic than Pixie, juicier and a great peel for the “zest” in recipes. But dang, how to remember this variety’s name when standing at Friend’s Ranch farmers market stand? I decided to call it William H. Macy (you know… Fargo, Boogie Nights). Kind of looks like him, all redhead and slightly lumpy-bumpy.

Tangerine Tart with Cookie Crust
Adjusted from Sunset Magazine

COOKIE CRUST

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp. grated tangerine peel “zest”
14 Tbsp. (3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp.) butter or margarine, in chunks
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. In a food processor, whirl flour, sugar and zest to blend. Add butter one chunk at a time while whirling, just until dough holds together. Press over bottom and up sides of a 10-inch tart pan with removable rim. Bake 25 to 35 minutes or until crust is lightly browned.

(NOTE — Instead of taking the hot tart shell out of the oven, have the filling ready to pour straight into the baked crust while still on the rack. This help to avoid a wobbly transfer back into the oven. Larry saw me do the other way, slopped some filling down the cabinet front, and suggested this. Smart.)

FILLING

2 large eggs
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp. grated tangerine peel “zest”
1/2 cup fresh tangerine juice (3 to 4 juicy tangerines, such as W. Murcott variety)
1 1/2 Tbsp. fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup half-and-half (light cream)
In a bowl with a mixer on high speed, beat eggs and granulated sugar until well blended. Add tangerine zest, tangerine juice, lemon juice and half-and-half. Beat until blended. Pour into baked cookie crust. Bake at 325 degrees F. 30 to 40 minutes or until the filling no longer jiggles in the center when the pan is gently shaken. Let cool completely on a rack, about an hour. Makes 8 to 10 servings.

Spring Days at the Lake, Bat Houses and All!

If this is just Spring, I can't imagine what summer is going to be like! The only downside to living at the lake as far as I'm concerned is the fact you are always on vacation mode, no chance of working for a living here.

I can't believe just two weeks ago we had snow on the ground. The beginning of the week was terribly hot, a preview of things to come I'm sure;  but then two days ago the weather changed again and the days have been in the low seventies and 50's at night. Ideal temperature as far as I'm concerned.

The babies are out of the nursery and we are having big fights as to where to place the tubs. My daughter, the agrarian engineer, wants them in front of the house for maximum sun. I, or course, care more about looks and want those ugly pots relegated to the back of the house, were there is plenty of sun and at least, they are out of sight. Let's see who wins this one. I'm going to have to start on the old Cuban guilt trip. We'll see if I still have my touch!  OH, and we got the bat houses up!  Have you ever heard of those things?  I don't want to know anything about them, not a word. 

Bat house going up to keep bugs at bay, or so I'm told..yuck!

A new dock for our neighbor

Lucy keeping tabs on the bat houses!

Mary Alice Park

Picnics are just around the corner

Ready for the ugly blue tubs!

Our tomatoes

The ugly blue tubs!

Our dock this weekend

Look at that sky!

I haven't seen a dogwood in almost 15 years!

Sometimes I feel I live in Little Red Riding Hood's house in the woods!

I have a 30 day free subscription to Adobe's Lightroom and now I don't know how to remove that stupid sign.  Great app but I hate to read directions.  Next time I'll try to be more professional!

Easter Leftovers...Ham And Green Eggs

Try this for breakfast or brunch made with leftover ham from Easter.  Makes a great lunch entree also for The Ladies Who Lunch!

Don't forget to check out 10 Recipes for Leftover Ham  in Lindaraxa's Garden and the Smoked Ham, Gruyere & Caramelized Onion Frittata!

I have been asked to tag along with my friend Libby of Libby Wilkie Designs and visit Designs by Gollum for Foodie Friday, so come along too!

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon butter

2 large shallots, finely chopped

1 (10-ounce) box frozen chopped spinach, defrosted in microwave and liquids drained

1/3 to 1/2 cup heavy cream, eyeball it

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Freshly grated nutmeg, to taste

8 slices ham or prosciutto di Parma

8 eggs


Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a medium skillet over medium heat, heat the extra-virgin olive oil and the butter and sweat the shallots a few minutes. Add the spinach and stir in the cream, season with salt, freshly ground black pepper and a little grated nutmeg. Cook the spinach, stirring occasionally, until the cream has thickened, 5 minutes. Adjust seasoning to your taste.

Fold each slice of ham or prosciutto in half and line the nonstick cups with 1 slice of meat each. Spoon a heaping tablespoon of the cooked spinach into each of the cups, then crack an egg into each, making sure it stays whole (hint - if you're worried about breaking the egg yolk, crack the egg into a small bowl first, then pour it into the muffin cup). Season the tops of the eggs with salt and freshly ground black pepper and bake in the oven until set, about 15 minutes. Allow the baked eggs to cool in the muffin cups for a couple of minutes before removing them from the pan. Serve immediately.

Recipe courtesy Rachel Ray

Easter Leftovers...Basic Ham & Bean Soup

This is an alternative to Split Pea Soup and a great way to use those leftovers from your Easter Ham!

Check out Easter Leftovers...10 Things to Make with your Easter Ham on  Lindaraxa's Garden. my main recipe blog!


Serves 8-10

Ingredients

1 pound dry great Northern beans

8 cups water

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 ham hock

1 cup chopped carrots

1/2 stalk celery, chopped

1 cup chopped onion

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 teaspoon mustard powder

2 bay leaves

2 cups chopped ham

1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper

Directions

 1. Soak the beans overnight. Discard the water and add fresh water to pot.

2.Place on top of stove and bring the water and beans to a boil on high heat.  Place the ham bone, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, mustard and bay leaves in the pot. Stir well, bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 60 more minutes.

3.Remove ham bone and discard. Stir in the chopped ham and simmer for 30 more minutes. Season with ground white pepper to taste.

Roast Chicken With Caramelized Shallots

With simple recipes like this, there really is no excuse for not cooking dinner at home. Except for the shallots, which you can pick up when you buy the chicken, you should have most of these ingredients in your pantry.  Shallots give any dish a wonderful taste and they have the added advantage of lasting quite a while if you keep them in the refrigerator.

I use a whole chicken cut into eight pieces; two legs, two thighs, and I cut each breast piece in half, crosswise, keeping the wings attached. You could also just use eight of your favorite chicken pieces.


If you are coming up to the lake for the weekend, , this is a great recipe to make on Friday night.

   

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients

3 tablespoons olive oil

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon soy sauce

4 large shallots, peeled and minced

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

One whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces

one generous handful of coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley


Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 425ºF (220ºC).

2. In a large baking dish, one which will hold all the chicken pieces in a single layer, mix the olive oil, vinegar, soy sauce, shallots, and some salt and pepper.

3. Toss the chicken in the mixture, so they're completely coated with the shallots. Turn the chicken pieces so they are all skin side up.

4. Roast the chicken for about twenty minutes, until it starts to brown on top. Turn the pieces of chicken over. Scrape any juices and shallots over the chicken that may be clinging to the pan, and bake for another twenty minutes, or until the pieces of chicken are cooked through and the shallots are well-caramelized.

5. Remove from oven and toss in the chopped parsley, then serve.

Adapted from French Farmhouse Cookbook (Workman) by Susan Herrmann Loomis and David Leibowitz

Cocktails On The Lake

A new tradition started this weekend with our neighbors and friends, my daughter and me...  cocktails on the lake at the end of the day.  I am so thrilled to me invited, they are all half my age!  Some of us get there early, fish for awhile and then come back to the dock to pick up the stragglers...or should I say, those who still work for a living.  My poor daughter has a long drive home and she's usually the last one to arrive, but what a great way to unwind!

I'm still recovering from last night so I didn't go back out today. I don't think I can handle this every evening, or every weekend for that matter...these kids can drink! Sometimes I forget I can't do the things I used to twenty years ago, but I'm still willing to try.  It's so much fun to be out with the young!

Leaving our cove

 

L'Heure Bleu, my favorite time of the day!

Here come the neighbors !

First customers

Wonder what they have for snacks...

Uhm, Cheetos, my favorite!

My new young friend!

Hey, it's getting late, kids must be getting hungry!

Nice people, let's come back tomorrow!

Happy Easter, y'all!