Archive | Dessert RSS feed for this section

Welcoming Fall with apple plum crumble…and a new project

27 Sep

Photo by cjsmart

Summer is over, and fall is officially here.

I’ve already started braising, and baking, and breaking into beautiful squash.

This year was the first year we subscribed to a local CSA.

These farm shares are a great idea, you pay up front for a season of veggies, so the farmers have the cash on hand when they need it for planting, and the shareholders take home a box of beautiful produce every week.

It feels like Christmas.

Our share arrives on Monday, which is my craziest cooking day.  I used to always end up eating out on Mondays, but no matter how tired, or sick of cooking I think I am (it happens, on occasion), when I open up that box I’m always inspired.

Creamy, dreamy, shell beans

 

The pickup location is at Clover food Hub, where Artie and I grab breakfast nearly everyday.  Just a few blocks from the apartment, it couldn’t be more convenient.

Our share is From Marshal’s farm, and I’ve been so happy with it.  Not only are the veggies gorgeous, but we’ve had fruit all season long, from fuzzy peaches to honeycrisp apples.  I’m not usually good at eating enough fruit, because honestly, the mealy apples and flavorless stonefruit at the grocery store just never seem worth the price tag.

But the Fruit from Marshal’s farm is like candy.

Speaking of candy, we’ve also received local honey, and homemade fudge in the share on occasion.  What a treat!

I wanted to share a recipe I wrote eons ago, for an apple-plum crumble. It was the one of the first recipes I photographed for the Boston Globe, so please pardon the harsh lighting and awkward styling.

The crumble however, is delicious.  Made more so by a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

I also wanted to share a new project I’m working on over at Boston.com, called Smart Cooks.  I’m working with a fantastic videographer, Jesse Beecher, to make how-to cooking videos that accompany my recipes in the paper.  The first one, featuring a shimp and corn pasta dish was just released a couple weeks ago.  You can check it out here.  The next one should be coming out shortly, and I’ll be sure to post the link!

Hope everyone is enjoying crisp air and cozy sweaters. If you are looking for a little something sweet, try this recipe and let me know what you think.

Cheers!

 

Serves 8

Fruit crumbles are warm and comforting. Look for Cortlands, Macouns, or any apple variety suitable for baking. Here, they’re mixed with plums and covered with an oatmeal topping.

TOPPING
2 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/8 teaspoon salt

1. In a large bowl combine the oats, flour, sugar, butter, and salt. With your fingertips, work the butter into the dry ingredients until it forms pea-size lumps.

2. Refrigerate until ready to use.

FILLING
Butter (for the dish)
10 baking apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1-inch wedges
1 pound plums, cut into 1-inch wedges
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup maple syrup

1. Set oven at 375 degrees. Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.

2. In a bowl, combine apples, plums, cinnamon, and maple syrup. Mix thoroughly.

3. Top the fruit with the oatmeal mixture. Bake the crumble for 50 minutes or until the top is brown and the mixture is bubbling at the edges. Serve with vanilla frozen yogurt or ice cream. Catherine Smart

 

 

 

 

 

Related posts:

Conquering fears of baking with homemade pop-tarts

4 May

I am scared of baking.

As you can see here, the last time I actually baked anything was culinary school, which was years ago.

I mean, look at my face, I am terrified. Lily and Potter are like," Great, Catherine try not to mess this up for us..."

 

This is my sad, sad empanda. But after about 100 tries I was excited that this one looked passable, from a distance.

 

This is the kind of thing that happens when I bake, how does one melt chocolate and not get it everywhere??

 

I just always thought baking clashed with me as a person. And a cook. Bakers, use scales, and sift things, and put ice cubes in a teensy 1/4 cup of water to give pie dough a perfect, flaky consistency.

I am spontaneous, and never follow recipes, never measure.  Organization is a skill I am learning by necessity, not because I get high off of alphabetization and seeing everyday objects nestled snugly in their proper places.

Some people do, you know.

People like my husband Artie and my editor at The Boston Globe, Sheryl.

I am deeply grateful to both of them for showing me that even a “creative-type” like me, (which as far as I’m concerned, is just a kind euphemism for hot-mess) can benefit from having some systems in place. I am still shocked, that…

A.) Artie married me and my messes. Especially considering all the dishes he has done in the past 5 years.

B.) Sheryl, bless her extremely organized and fastidious heart, lets me cook with her, in her kitchen. Which is my dream kitchen, except I am certain if it belonged to me, the spatulas would not “swim in the same direction”, as she puts it, and that lovely wooden table would be stained with wine glass rings and beet juice.

My point is, because these two people have molded me into a slightly less disorganized train-wreck, I have the confidence to tackle the world of baking, which I feel I need to do if I am going to call myself a proper, and well-rounded home cook.

Because I don’t think I could live with myself if I went around espousing the joys of  home cooking, and then ran off to the bakery every time something sweet was in order (which is exactly what I do now).

Or worse, cracked open the Duncan Hines (which is absolutely what I did before I could afford a good bakery).

I’m sorry, Sheryl.

But I’m changing it up. It started when I boldly offered to test Sheryl’s potato tart last weekend for the paper.

And the pastry changed my life.

I balked at the long list of ingredients, cream cheese? vinegar? baking powder?

Well, I made that potato tart, and then, using the same pastry dough recipe, I made a quiche for my clients.

And another batch of that dough, (which I whipped up for a 3rd time in 3 days!!!!), is sitting in the fridge waiting to become homemade pop-tarts.

I also made sugar cookies for Artie’s students, and pizza dough last weekend, and now I am clearly just bragging like a small child, and I am not ashamed.

If I can do this anyone can. I mean anyone. Seriously, ask Artie.

I am going to leave you with my very first baking recipe, for homemade pop-tarts, which isn’t really even mine, just an amalgam of a couple of recipes I love: Sheryl’s pastry recipe from her cookbook The Way We Cook , and the pop-tarts from Joanne Chang’s Flour cookbook.

The homemade pop-tarts at Flour Bakery are mind blowing.  As is everything else that pastry chef/ Harvard grad/cook book author/ restaurateur/ stunningly elegant creature, Joanne Chang, concocts at her Bakeries.  When I first moved to Boston and I was a broke, slightly miserable, grad student-waitress, trips to Flour with Artie were one my favorite luxuries.  I still love going there, although the thrill of wondering if my debit card is going to be declined when I buy a sandwich, isn’t such a big part of the trip.

I have seen a lot of pop-tart recipes recently, but at least in my mind, they are all imitations of the ones at Flour.  You start with a flaky pastry crust, I’m using Sheryl’s, then you cut out rectangles


Fill them with jam (I’m using store-bought).


Press the two sides together

use your fingers to seal them...some will leak out though, don't forget that parchment!


Top them with a simple glaze.


Heaven.

I’ll let you know how this baking streak works out.

I’ll also be looking for lot’s of willing tasters, so I don’t have to buy new jeans.

Homemade strawberry pop-tarts

Makes 8 pastries

Recipe Adapted from,  Flour : Spectacular Recipes from Boston’s Flour Bakery and Cafe, By Joanne Chang with Christie Matheson

Pastry Adapted from,  The Way We Cook:Recipes from the New American Kitchen, By Sheryl Julian and Julie Riven.

PASTRY:

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoons baking powder

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, cut up

3 ounces cream cheese, cut into pieces

1 tablespoon sugar

1 egg, beaten to mix with 1 teaspoon white vinegar

1/4 cup ice water

extra flour (for sprinkling)

1.  In a food processor, combine the flour, salt, baking powder and sugar.  Pulse once to combine.

2.  In a bowl stir the egg mixture with the ice water.  Sprinkle liquids onto flour mixture.  Pulse just until you see large clumps of dough.  Do not work the mixture until it forms a ball.

3.  Turn the dough out on to a lightly floured counter and knead lightly until smooth.  Divide the dough in half, and shape into 2 rectangles. Wrap, and refrigerate 20 minutes, or until ready to use.

POP- TARTS

1 recipe pastry

1 egg lightly beaten

1 cup strawberry jam

1.  Set oven at 350 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

2.  Remove dough from the refrigerator, and roll out one of halves of dough,  into a 14 by 11 inch rectangle on a lightly floured surface. Using a paring knife, cut each half into 8  into small rectangles -3 1/2 by 5 1/2 inches, about the size of an index card.  If you have an index card, you can go ahead and use that as a pattern to cut out your pop-tarts. Lay the 8 slices on the parchment lined baking sheet, and brush them with the beaten egg.

3.  Put 2 tablespoons of jam in the center of each of the rectangles

5.  Roll out the 2nd rectangle, and cut into 8 3 1/2 by 5 inch squares, to top the pop-tarts.

6.  Press the rectangles together with your fingers to create a seal, and bake for 30 minutes until golden brown.  Transfer to a cooling rack while you make the glaze

8.  When pop-tarts have cooled, brush with glaze and serve or store in an air-tight container for up to 2 days.

SIMPLE VANILLA GLAZE

1 cups confectioners’ sugar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

2-3 tablespoons water

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Related posts:

← Previous Entries