Summer's Bounty

The abundance of available fruit changed our planned menu for today. Meg’s unintended purchase of practically every available fruit in the markets this week prompted her to bake bread when she got home and call Sue suggesting an early start to our blog day. The platter includes the following: peach, Anjou pear, star fruit, black apricots (pluots), figs(with and without prosciutto), cantaloupe with prosciutto, bread and candied pecans.   The picture doesn’t do justice to the mouthwatering flavors. They were juicy, perfectly ripe and luscious! Throw in a bottle of Prosecco and you have a wonderful start to a summer meal. Wouldn’t it be lovely to start every day this way?

 

So what had we planned for this meal?  Meg found the recipe for this tart while she was looking for a recipe for fresh lavender cookies. She found the cookie recipe and with any luck they actually may make it to a future blog, but we digress.  The picture of this tart was irresistible, and the ingredient list sealed the deal. 

Tart in progress. 

Tart out of the oven

Goat Cheese Tart

Source: “Cool Food”, Laurel Glen Publishing, San Diego, California

Pastry
1 c all-purpose flour
¼ c olive oil
3 - 4 T cold water

Filling
1 T olive oil
2 onions, thinly sliced
1 t thyme leaves
½ c ricotta cheese
3 ½ oz goat cheese
2 T pitted Nicoise olives
1 egg, lightly beaten
¼ c whipping cream

For the pastry, sift the flour and a pinch of salt into a large bowl and make a well.  Add the olive oil and mix with a flat-bladed knife until crumbly.  Gradually add 3 – 4 T cold water until mixture comes together.  Remove and pat together to form a disk.  Chill for 30 minutes.

For the filling, heat the olive oil in a frying pan.  Add the onions, cover, and cook over low heat for 30 minutes.  Season and stir in half the thyme.  Cool slightly.

Preheat the oven to 350’.  Lightly flour the work surface and roll out the pastry to a 12 inch circle.
Evenly spread the onion over the pastry, leaving a ¾ inch border.  Sprinkle the ricotta and the goat cheese evenly over the onions.  Place the olives over the cheeses, then sprinkle with the remaining thyme.  Fold the pastry border in to the edge of the filling, gently pinching as you go.

Combine the egg and cream, then carefully pour over the filling.  Bake on a heated cookie sheet in the lower half of the oven for 45 minutes or until the  pastry is golden.  Serve warm or at room temperature.


We decided a tomato salad would be the perfect (and prettiest) foil for the richness of the tart. If you are going to make a tomato salad pick the BEST tomatoes that you can find!  The ones we found were bursting with flavor. The addition of some good Italian extra virgin olive oil, a touch of vinegar and fresh thyme rounded out the vinaigrette. Right before serving we add some freshly cut basil. Heaven!

Glorious Tomatoes!

Glorious Grape Tomato Salad
Recipe developed by Sue & Meg For Saturday Night Specials 6/29/2013

2 pints multi-colored grape tomatoes, halved

Dressing:
1 garlic clove, grated
3 Tbsp. white wine vinegar
3 Tbsp. best quality extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp. fresh thyme
Fresh grated black pepper to taste
3 large basil leaves for garnish

Combine dressing ingredients, except basil and toss with tomatoes. Put in a shallow bowl and leave at room temperature for 1-4 hours to marinate, turning once an hour or so.
When ready to serve, top with thinly cut basil.

Dining al fresco

We had planned another strawberry ice cream dessert, then Meg saw the picture of this semifreddo and called Sue. We are nothing if not flexible, especially when it comes to food!  This does not require an ice cream maker and it has pistachios!

Strawberry Pistachio Semifreddo

Recipe by Greg Lofts; marthastewart.com
Serves: 12
Active prep time: 40 minutes; total time 12 hours, 40 minutes

½ c unsalted roasted shelled pistachios
8 oz strawberries, hulled (about 2 cups)
½ c plus 3 T sugar, divided
3 large egg yolks, room temperature
1 ½ c cold heavy cream
½ t pure vanilla extract

Line a standard 5 x 9 inch loaf pan with plastic wrap, leaving a 2 inch overhang on all sides.  Pulse pistachios in a food processor until coarsely chopped (some will break down to a coarse grind).  Transfer to a small bowl; do not wipe processor clean.  Place strawberries and 3 T sugar in processor; puree until smooth and transfer to a fine sieve set over a bowl.  Stir puree, pressing on solids to extract as much liquid as possible; discard solids.

Combine egg yolks and remaining ½ c sugar in a bowl set over a pot of simmering water.  Beat on high speed (or vigorously by hand) until pale yellow and tripled in volume, about 3 minutes.  Transfer bowl to a larger bowl of ice water; stir until mixture is very thick and cool, about 3 minutes.
Beat together cream and vanilla in a large bowl until soft peaks form.  Whisk 1/3 of whipped cream into egg mixture, whisking until smooth, then fold into remaining cream with a rubber spatula just until thoroughly incorporated.

Pour ½ of cream mixture into strawberry puree.  Gently fold together until thoroughly incorporated, then pour into loaf pan and smooth top.  Fold pistachios into remaining cream mixture and pour evenly over strawberry cream, smooth top.  Fold plastic wrap over surface and freeze at least 12 hours and up to 3 days. To serve, peel plastic from surface.  Invert pan onto a cutting board.  Unmold semifreddo, remove plastic, and cut crosswise into ¾ inch slices.

Our unsolicited and biased opinions:

While the flour and olive oil crust for the tart sounded intriguing, it was difficult to work with. We decided to use a pizza stone instead of the hot baking sheet and to transfer the tart before adding the egg and cream mixture. We used a flexible cutting board to roll out the dough. After adding the onions, cheeses and olives we could not get it slide to the pizza stone. Too bad there wasn’t someone to take pictures of our various failed attempts. It could have been funny if we weren’t so hungry. We finally decided to pop the tart into the freezer to firm it up which made it easier to transfer.

Our changes included using the entire 4 ounce package of fresh goat cheese, double the amount of fresh thyme and about ½ cup of Kalamata olives, with excellent results.  

The crust needed more salt – we think a ½ teaspoon. For once Sue followed directions and now we want to change them.

 The semifreddo was outstanding! There wasn’t too much sugar and the freshness of the strawberries came through. And then, there was the decadent pistachio layer. Really, this was one of the best desserts we have ever made. Period.

We split a bottle of Cupcake Prosecco (our first) between the fruit course and the dessert. Sue found it at Raley’s Supermarket on sale (about $12.84) and is heading back for more.

 

 

Welcome Summer! We are so glad you are here!