Recipe: Reconstructed Tarte Tatin

Reconstructed Tarte Tatin with Spun Sugar

This quick tarte tatin-style dessert is based partially on a method by Dieter Schoemer that I read about in Culinary Artistry, which I'll be reviewing soon. I made it as a full size dessert that would serve 4 with ice cream, but you could also do it as individual portions, which I think would be quite striking. The main idea is to cook the crust separately from the apples and caramel so it remains crunchy. I added the easy but cool looking spun sugar topping. You could do this with a normal flaky pie crust instead of puff pastry too.

Reconstructed Tarte Tatin
Serves 4

• 3 baking apples, peeled, cored, and sliced medium
• 1 c. sugar
• 2 T. quince or apricot jam, warmed to a spreadable consistency
• 2 T. butter
• 1/4 t. cinnamon
• 1/8 t. nutmeg (preferably fresh ground)
• 1 pinch sea salt
• 1 sheet all-butter puff pastry, defrosted

1. Preheat oven to 400 degress.
2. In an ovenproof skillet, heat 2/3 c. of the sugar over medium heat, stirring occasionally until it turns into a light caramel. Be careful! Caramel will burn you very easily. Add the apples, toss, dot with butter, and put in oven.
3. Cut a 10 inch circle out of the puff pastry and put on a cookie sheet in the oven.
4. Bake the apples until tender and the puff pastry until golden brown (which will be at different times) and remove both from the oven.
5. In a clean skillet, melt the remaining sugar into a medium caramel and let start to cool in a ramekin.
6. Using a paring knife, cut a rim around the puff pastry, about 3/4" in from the edge to create a "dish" into which to place the apples. You aren't removing any pastry, just letting the center drop.
7. Lay the apples in concentric rings, tucking them under the edge. Glaze with the jam, warming it slightly in the microwave if needed. Pour over the leftover apple cooking juice and caramel, reducing a bit if needed. If you want to add some Calvados, don't let me stop you. Sprinkle with the cinammon, nutmeg, and sea salt.
8. To make the spun sugar, take the tines of a fork, dip them in the caramel and pull vertically. If it is as the right temperature, it will form a thin strand. Carefully use your fingers to stretch it. Lay the strand over the tart and repeat until it looks cool. (There are more technical ways to do this that include adding water, corn syrup, cream of tartar and so on. But I didn't have any problem with this technique.)
9. Serve with vanilla ice cream!

Recipe: Leftover Mujadara Becomes A Quick, Warming Soup

A few weeks ago I posted a recipe for Mujadara and I made it a second time only a few days later, so we had a lot of tasty rice, lentil and caramelized onion leftovers around the house. As much as I love this dish, I couldn't finish them all off. I just happened to have some leftover broth from dried shiitake mushrooms lying around, and it hit me that the two together would make a nice soup. Shiitake broth is a favorite for me because if you have the dried mushrooms in your pantry, you can have a rich stock in just 15 or 20 minutes. I use it a lot as the vegetarian base for stir-fry sauces instead of chicken broth. Here's the soup "recipe", if you can call it that! The savory flavors of the mushrooms and caramelized onions make a rich base for the lentils and rice. As simple as this sounds, it is pretty rapture inducing.

Leftover Mujadara and Shiitake Soup
Vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free
Serves 2

• 2 c. leftover mujadara
• 2 good handfuls of dried shiitake mushrooms
• parsley
• extra virgin olive oil
• sea salt
• fresh ground pepper

1. Put the mushrooms in a microwave safe bowl, fill with water to cover, and microwave about 5 minutes, until they reach a boil. Or do this on the stove. Remove from heat and lest rest about 10-15 minutes, then put through a fine mesh strainer, squeezing the juice out of the mushrooms. You should have a strongly flavored broth, adjust as necessary.
2. Slice the tender parts of the mushrooms.
3. Combine the broth, mushrooms, and mujadara in a pot and bring to a simmer.
4. Serve, garnished with the parsley, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Foraging In Belltown and Downtown Seattle (With Mini-Reviews of Lola, Local Vine, Sazerac, and Wild Ginger)

Catholic Seaman's Club, Seattle, WA

Saturday night. A rare date night, even rarer now that I'm working some restaurant hours. Normally we would plan a dinner someplace nice, but we know we have our first trip to the Herb Farm coming up soon, and it seemed unnecessary to be too specific. Instead we decided to catch a bus to Belltown and just see what caught our eye.

Stop #1 - Lola - Tom Douglas' Greek venture in Hotel Andra is one of our favorites, often for brunch. This time I tried one of their several ouzos and we had an appetizer that was uncannily similar to the phyllo wrapped feta and citrus salad I made the other day. Their version had a creamier, non-spicy filling and an arugula and grape salad, and was served with a thyme and honey oil, so the flavors were different but it was plated so similarly it was a bit freaky. We also had their incredibly smooth and garlicky tzatziki which is served with just-baked pita. Like all of Douglas' ventures, Lola is reliable and stylishly excellent.

Stop #2 - So we are walking down 2nd Ave. and out of the blue, there is my friend from Adobe, Kevin, walking his Bijan Frise. No, that isn't a type of lettuce, it is a dog, smarty pants. Turns out he lives in Belltown, and he recommended Local Vine, which is a very stylish and modern wine bar owned partially by Jason Wilson of Crush fame and one of Food and Wine's Best New Chefs of 2006. Definitely very hip. You can order a glass anywhere from around $8 up to something like $2000 for the 2003 Screaming Eagle. Sure. I'll probably settle for some Whimpering Crow but whatever. One fine thing is that you can taste before you commit to a glass. I had a nice Bordeaux and Sarina had a glass of bubbly. We shared the truffled popcorn and speculated about the rather odd customer a few tables away in his all-white cult clothes. I was probably raised by wolves, but I didn't know about the cool trick with the champagne flutes that are etched so that all the bubbles emanate in a tight funnel in the center of the glass. Whoa dude.

Interlude - After watching the baker at Macrina ice a cake, we were peering in the window at the Catholic Seaman's Club (pictured above), a haven for sailors on shore leave and a landmark in Belltown that is a throwback to an era in Seattle's maritime past. We chatted for a few minutes with a gentleman who turns out to be none other than Father Haycock. He told us sadly of how leaves are often only a few hours now, and many of the sailors don't have visas that allow them to safely wander the streets anyhow. Yet another consequence of 9-11.

Stop #3 - When I first started visiting Seattle regularly as a telecommuter for Adobe, like 8 years ago, I'd stay at Hotel Monaco. For some reason Sazerac seemed really cool to me then. Anyhow Sarina mentioned it for some reason, and it brought back memories of their hush puppies so I insisted we cab down there. Man, the 80's called and they want their giant thumbtack wall sculpture back. No more hushpuppies. I had a classic Sazerac cocktail, which turns out to be sweeter than my preferred beverage style. The appetizer pizza was good, but I think this place is kind of due for a makeover.

Stop #4 - At this point we just wanted a quick dessert before grabbing a cab back to the homestead. Wild Ginger was in sight and I was too addled to think harder, though 611 Supreme sounded appealing too. We had a really good chocolate torte and a very moist polenta cake, which I washed down with a pear brandy from Oregon's magnificent Clear Creek Distillery. It has that intensity of an eau de vie with crystal clear pear flavors. Dang.

Wha a fun and romantic date night! We might not have hit the single most interesting four spots in walking distance, but it was a treat to do dinner and drinks as all individual plates at a pace that suited our mood, with a nice stroll in between and no plan needed upfront. And this is a very vegetarian friendly way to dine, since even the most meat-heavy restaurants tend to have a few veggie appetizers.

Details:

Lola
2000 4th Ave
Seattle, WA
(206) 441-1430

Local Vine
2520 2nd Avenue at Vine Street
Seattle, WA 98121
(206) 441-6000

Sazerac
1101 Fourth Avenue
Seattle, WA  98101
(206) 624-7755

Wild Ginger
1401 3rd Ave.
Seattle, WA 98101
(206) 623-4450