October 19, 2015 by chefpaulette

The Tastiest Cauliflower Ever

cauliflower

October. Time for cauliflower. Our local Nashville farmer’s market had piles of cauliflower at their Friday night market this weekend (and tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, broccoli, peppers, sweet potatoes, and yes, pumpkins). But that huge cauliflower at the top of the bunch called my name.

I was thinking of October 2011. When I brought a small group of Nashville cooks to Rome, Italy. They met my long-time friend Malena who lives there. She and I went to college together in Rome during the 70’s and have never lost touch. Her daughter, Eleonora, is my godchild. I hadn’t seen Eleonora for many many years, but that autumn we met while in Rome and I was giggly with her beauty and presence. Seeing mother and daughter together thrilled my soul.

Eleonora and Malena in Piazza Navona

My group and I cooked in our rented apartment, toured the city, and sampled the local restaurants. Malena showed us some of her favorite places and one night came over to cook a favorite seasonal Roman dish. And that’s just what I cooked tonight with our local farmer’s cauliflower.

She had brought a cauliflower, in season then in Rome. A loaf of bread. Orecchiette pasta. And some garlic. This dish is rustic, homey, satisfying, nourishing, and unforgettable. You wait for October to have it. Even tho you can get cauliflower other months of the year, it’s in October that this dish belongs. It’s where it tastes its best. In October your body absorbs it seamlessly and your taste buds sink into a kind of comfy-couch of flavor.

Of course, I tweaked this a bit. Malena sautéed the bread in a fry pan. I toast it in the oven. Tonight I didn’t have orecchiette pasta, I used tagliatelle. These differences don’t make much difference. All GOOD. Here we go…

Get a pasta pot of water to a boil. Trim cauliflower of stem and leaves. Cut into flowerets.

cauliflower flowerets

Salt boiling water and add the cauliflower flowerets.

boil cauliflower

Let the cauliflower boil. Let it boil. We want to get it soft, almost mushy.

boiling cauliflower

About 6-8 minutes into the cooking, test the cauliflower for softness. If it breaks when pressed with a wooden spoon add the pasta.

tagliatelle

Boil until pasta is cooked.

Meanwhile, tear a nice loaf of Italian bread into bite-sized pieces. (Note: Malena, and I’ll bet most Romans, only use the soft inner part of the bread for this. I add crust and all.) Lay out on a foil-lined sheet pan. Toss with some olive oil and rough chopped garlic (about 2 cloves).

torn Italian bread

Season with salt and pepper and toast in a 375 degree oven for about 5-7 minutes until browned and crisp.

Before draining the pasta and cauliflower, reserve about a half-cup of pasta water. Transfer drained pasta and cauliflower to a serving bowl.

drained pasta and cauliflower

Toss drained pasta and cauliflower with a few drizzles of olive oil. Add the toasted bread.

add toasted bread

Toss with a little more olive oil. Sprinkle grated parmigiano. Season with salt if needed. Season with black pepper. Add a bit of pasta water if it needs a little moisture.

pasta with cauliflower and toasted bread

Serve, passing cheese and pepper at the table.

your serving of pasta and cauliflower

my serving of pasta and cauliflower

Yum Yum Yum Yum Yum.

delicious!

Pasta with Cauliflower and Crispy Bread

Serves 4-6

1 large head cauliflower, cut into 2-inch pieces

1 lb. pasta, ziti or orecchiette, or your favorite

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

1 loaf of Italian peasant bread, or similar

¼ – ½ cup olive oil

½ cup grated pecorino or parmigiano cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Fill a large pasta pot with water and bring to a boil. Season water with salt and add the cauliflower pieces.

Meantime, tear up the Italian bread into bite-sized pieces.Toss bread with about ¼ cup olive oil, and the minced garlic. Spread out on a sheet pan and bake until golden and crispy. Set aside.

When the cauliflower is tender add the pasta to the pot. Cook until al dente. Reserve a cup of pasta water.

Drain pasta and cauliflower and transfer to a serving bowl. Cauliflower should be broken into small pieces and almost like a cream. Add the bread and cheese. Add a little olive oil. Add some pasta water if too dry. Check seasoning and add salt if needed…and a little pepper. Serve with extra cheese on the side.

October 8, 2015 by chefpaulette

it’s time for butternut squash ravioli

Oh, yeah.

We made them in class tonight and all of us cooks in the kitchen flew around the dining room on an autumn breeze (even tho in Nashville it’s been averaging a sunny 80 degrees in the afternoons).

No matter. We whipped up this elixir of creamy filling in delicate pasta and bathed it in parsley-mint-walnut pesto. We couldn’t believe our tongues. Palates lighting up with sparks of tasty joy.

Join our journey. Recipe at end.

butternut squash ravioli-making

butternut squash ravioli boiling (just 3 minutes)

parsley-mint-walnut pesto with some pasta water mixed in

butternut squash ravioli with parsley-mint-walnut pesto

Fresh Butternut Squash Ravioli w Parsley-Walnut Pesto

For the dough:

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus extra

¼ teaspoon salt

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

For the filling:

1 small butternut squash

1 cup ricotta

½ cup grated cheese (Pecorino Romano or Parmigiano)

1/2 teaspoon of ground nutmeg

salt & pepper to taste

For the Sauce:

2 cups fresh parsley leaves

1/2 cup mint leaves

1 garlic clove, peeled, rough chopped

1/4 cup walnuts

1/4 cup olive oil

salt & pepper to taste

1/2 cup grated cheese

Make the dough: Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl, and shape into a mound. Create a “well” in the mound and add the eggs. Using a fork slowly mix the flour into the egg, until the dough comes together and most or all the flour is mixed in. Gather the dough and knead it on a lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth, shape into a ball and cover with plastic wrap. Let rest for 30 minutes.

Make the filling: Rinse the squash and dry. Cut into quarters and spoon out the seeds. Place cut-side down on foil-lined sheet pan or casserole pan. Add about 1/2 -inch of water. Roast for about 40-45 minutes until flesh is tender. Allow to cool, then scoop out the squash into a medium mixing bowl. Mash the squash with a fork and add the cheeses, nutmeg. Combine well. Season with salt & pepper.

Make the ravioli: Cut the dough into four pieces. Work with one piece at a time and keep the other pieces covered in plastic wrap. Flatten the dough into a rough rectangle, and roll through the pasta machine, changing the numbers from thick to thinner (lower to higher) one at a time until you reach the next-to-the-last number on the machine. Dust the sheet with flour in between every couple of numbers to keep it from sticking in the machine.

Lay the sheet on a table. Place scant ½-tablespoons of filling in row on the bottom half of the sheet, about an inch apart. Fold the top half over the bottom half. Press all the edges closed to seal well. Cut in between to make the individual ravioli. Place the finished ravioli on a flour-dusted sheet and repeat with the rest of the dough.

Make the Sauce: Add the herbs, garlic, and walnuts to the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until minced. Add the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Process until smooth. Transfer to your pasta serving bowl.

Cook the ravioli: Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil. Salt water. Drop in the ravioli and cook until al dente, about 3 minutes. Add a few spoonfuls of pasta water to loosen and turn it from a paste to a sauce. Combine with ravioli. Sprinkle grated cheese on top.

September 10, 2015 by chefpaulette

Not All Gnocchi are Created Equal

Gnocchi alla Romana

Good thing for that! What would we do without a variety of gnocchi? There are a lot out there. In my kitchen alone — with the wonderful cooks that come to cook with me — we’ve made ricotta gnocchi (several varieties: spinach, tomato, herb-infused), potato gnocchi (also in many renditions: rosemary-infused, chive-infused), butternut squash gnocchi, sweet potato gnocchi, purple sweet potato gnocchi, and gnocchi alla Romana.

That last one is the wild sibling who doesn’t like to conform. It’s nothing like its brothers and sisters. It’s out there on a limb, enjoying its solitary freedom. And we get to enjoy it, too.

Gnocchi alla Romana is closer to polenta than those other little pillow gnocchi. It’s made from semolina flour. Stir it into simmering milk, with salt, pepper, grated cheese, butter, nutmeg, egg yolks…keep stirring until thickened. Then spread it out on a buttered sheet pan.

smooth the batter

Chill it or let it set at room temperature until firm. Cut out circles…

cut out circles

Layer them in a buttered casserole dish…

layered in casserole dish

Sprinkle with grated parmigiano and diced fontina cheese. Bake until bubbly and golden…

baked gnocchi alla romana

You can eat it just like that. And swoon. But sometimes I up the ante by topping it with a tomato-sausage-mushroom ragu.

Ante upped.

gnocchi alla romana w mushroom ragu

Gnocchi alla Romana – Semolina Gnocchi

3 cups milk

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, and extra for the pan

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

½ teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup semolina flour

½ cup grated Parmigino plus extra for sprinkling

3 egg yolks

¼ lb. fontina cheese, cubed or sliced

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large saucepan, heat the milk, butter, salt, pepper, and nutmeg to just before simmering. Pour in the semolina in a thin stream whisking as you go. Switch to a wooden spoon and stir constantly, cooking for about a 5-8 minutes until it thickens. Stir in the grated cheese and the egg yolks and combine well.

Pour mixture into a buttered shallow pan. Smooth mixture evenly to about ½-inch thickness. Allow to cool until it becomes firm.

Butter a medium baking dish. With a biscuit cutter or glass, cut the semolina into circles. Layer the circles in the baking dish with each circle overlapping a bit with the next. Sprinkle the fontina. Sprinkle with some grated cheese. Bake for about 15-20 minutes until the cheese has melted and the top is golden brown.

Crumbled Sausage & Mushroom Ragu

1/2 cup dried porcini mushrooms

3 tablespoons olive oil

2-3 Italian sausages, out of their casings

2 pints white or cremini mushrooms, sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 small onion, diced

1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes

salt & pepper to taste

Place the dried mushrooms in a small bowl. Cover with boiling water. Let sit for 15-20 minutes. Lift out mushrooms and chop finely. Reserve mushroom water.

In a large saucepan. Heat the olive oil. Add the sausage meat and cook until browned, breaking up chunks into smaller pieces. Add the sliced mushrooms and the chopped porcini mushrooms. Cook until mushrooms are cooked through. Add the garlic and onion. Cook until onion softens a bit. Add the crushed tomatoes. Bring to a simmer. Season with salt & pepper. Simmer slightly covered for about 45 minutes.

September 3, 2015 by chefpaulette

Peach Turnovers and a Secret Ingredient

peach turnovers

Recently I made a peach pie for a friend’s birthday. Bill calls himself a Pie Man and bakes beautiful pies himself. A peach pie was the perfect present. Peaches are plentiful right now and we get the South Carolina freestone peaches here at the Nashville farmer’s markets. This summer I finally understood what the name means. Freestone. Once you cut the peach open, the pit comes out easily. Pretty cool. Makes me wonder if peaches called cling have pits that won’t exit. Needy pits.

When Bill and his wife, Danutia, got the peach pie home and had a slice each they exclaimed in a FB message — “Magnificent!” But they also wanted to know what was that indescribable ingredient that they couldn’t name. Something was dancing with the peaches in there; they loved it but couldn’t place their palate finger on it.

“It tastes wonderfully un-American!” said Danutia, a New York to Tennessee transplant, but originally from Poland. Bill tempered her excitement with: “You mean it tastes European.”

It tastes like rosemary. That’s what it tastes like. That’s what’s in it.

rosemary

Fresh, minutely-minced rosemary. Such a perfect peach pal. I LOVE the combination.

Use this filling for pies, of course, but here’s how I made peach turnovers (with the same filling, just cut the peaches smaller).

Peach Turnovers w Vanilla Icing

1 package puff pastry (2 sheets), defrosted

2-3 medium peaches, peeled, and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1/3 cup sugar

2-3 sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves minced, stems discarded

1 egg, lightly beaten, add a teaspoon of water (egg wash)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a medium mixing bowl stir together the fruit, sugar, and rosemary

Roll out one of the dough sheets onto a lightly floured work surface until a little thinner. Cut into 3-inch squares. Place a teaspoon of fruit mixture in the center of each square, brush the edges of the dough with a little egg wash, and fold over into a triangle. Press edges together with fork tines. Brush each lightly with egg, make a small slit in the top. Place on a parchment-lined sheet pan. Repeat with the other sheet of dough. Re-roll leftover dough to make more. Bake turnovers in 400 degree oven for 20 minutes or until golden. Let cool. Drizzle lightly with icing in a zigzag pattern.

Icing: In a medium mixing bowl, smash flat 1 tablespoon room-temperature butter. Add 1 cup powdered sugar and mix to incorporate butter. Add a few tablespoons of very hot water, a little at a time, stirring vigorously until an icing forms. Stir in a drop of vanilla extract. Add more water to make as thin or thick as you like. Should be thin for drizzling.

peach turnovers w vanilla icing

August 26, 2015 by chefpaulette

Easy Super-Succulent Roast Chicken

roast chicken

Eating roast chicken is one of those comfort yums I sometimes dream about. Awake dreaming. While driving in a car, for instance. I’m hungry. Wish I had a chicken leg. Or wing. Or thigh. I never get interested in the breast (except for chicken salad). Duane likes the chicken breast (ONLY) so it works out.

I was a wing girl for most of my life. I realized the best part about wings is the equal parts meat to skin. So you get some of each in every bite. And that, of course, means FLAVOR. Then I jumped to the dark side. Thighs now being the supreme pinnacle of tastiness for chicken. And the drumstick (would love to research when we started using that term). The drumstick is best for grabbing cold leftover chicken from the fridge and chowing down immediately with hands.

Years ago I discovered the wonders of plopping a whole chicken in a cast iron pan and roasting it. First season it with salt, pepper, a little olive oil, some aleppo, maybe a lemon juice squeeze, and then surrounding it with sliced-up onion. Perfect. (My mom adds a cup of rice around the chicken with some broth…cooked chicken-y rice is done when the roasted chicken is done…YES).

This time tho, I wanted to cut up the chicken into parts. And why not add some carrots?

First I cut up 2 onions into thin wedges.

sliced onions

then a couple of carrots into thin slices…

sliced carrots

…lay them out in the cast iron pan, drizzle olive oil, season with salt. Top with the chicken pieces and season chicken with salt & pepper…

chicken in pan on top of carrots and onions

…and because herbs are growing like a jungle in the garden, a few sprigs of thyme and oregano…

herbs with the chicken

Roast for about an hour in a 375-degree oven.

You will have a dinner that truly comforts you. Juicy. Flavorful. Tender. The carrots and onions are slippery-succulent. And the juices (with vegetables) must be spooned onto each serving. Here’s a couple of wings.

Fly, fly away…

a couple of wings

August 13, 2015 by chefpaulette

I Give a Fig

fig tart

The fig tree in our patio garden has been evolving, spurting, freezing, fruiting for about 6 years now. It took 3 years for fruit to first appear in quantity, then the tree took a dive after an icy winter, then grew back with no fruit, then dove again because of an icy winter last season, now its branches and leaves are threatening to take over the backyard–but no fruit. By this time in the summer, 3 years ago, it was full of fruit (so Facebook tells me with one of their blasts from the past to remind me what I was doing years ago).

Figs from my tree 3 years ago

This coming winter I’m determined to wrap the tree in plastic or tar paper (like they used to do in the Brooklyn backyards of my aunts, uncles, and grandparents). Maybe then it can get thru a harsh winter and continue the 3-year growing need to start giving fruit again.

But guess what? Figs are in the food stores now and I’m not shy to snap them up from a shelf. Here are some turkey figs my mom got in Publix.

brown turkey figs

I couldn’t resist the black figs and grabbed a large box of them. The two fig types taste pretty much the same. WONDERFUL.

black figs

What to do with wonderful figs? Figs and prosciutto. Figs in a Moroccan tagine. Figs stuffed in a ravioli. Figs just in your hand and then in your mouth. Or figs in a simple tart. This one is easy peasy. I sliced the figs into thinnish slices.

sliced figs

I had a cup of ricotta in the refrigerator leftover from a class. And I also had a small ball of pastry dough leftover from a class. I rolled out the dough intending to make a galette but there was enough for an 8-inch tart pan. I mixed the ricotta with some sugar and a bit of vanilla extract, and spread it evenly in the dough shell (uncooked).

ricotta in tart

Then I placed the fig slices into the ricotta…

figs placed in ricotta

…and sprinkled it all with white sugar…

sugar on figs

…baked it in a 375 oven for about 30 minutes until the tart dough got a little golden.

fig tart

Stunningly tasty. So simple. Like sitting at the backyard arbor table of a Tuscan villa, in the heat of lazy summer, and the sun playing hide and seek with a nearby giant fig tree. That’s what it tastes like. Bring that villa home to you with this tart.

August 6, 2015 by chefpaulette

Cannoli Without Frying

baked cannoli

I was the kid who didn’t like dessert. Sweet stuff never appealed to me. Maybe a Devil Dog here and there. And I’d always savor my mom’s cupcakes. And for some reason pumpkin pie with vanilla ice cream was a favorite. Probably because it was really “food” and not dessert.

But in our house Italian pastries appeared regularly from the Italian bakery. Sfoglitelle, pastaciotta, baba au rhum, lobster tails, and napoleons, cream puffs, and eclairs. My eyes just passed over these concoctions like they weren’t even there. And then, of course, the ubiquitous cannoli. These I especially didn’t like. And all of them also came in miniature size. Still didn’t faze me. They were like props at the table.

Call it age (I’m not that old, am I?) or evolving palate, or ever-expanding culinary curiosity, but now I can appreciate those sweet, happy cakes. And I’m fascinated with how to make them. I make them. I taste them. But I still don’t really devour.

Other people do. And I love to make people happy with dessert.

Three or four years ago we made traditional cannoli in my cooking classes. The dough was inspired by Mario Batali’s recipe and we formed it around the cannoli molds and deep-fried them. Then carefully removed the cooked shells from the molds and piped in our filling.

traditional cannoli with fried shells

But recently I came across another way of making cannoli from Nick Malgieri’s 1990 book “Great Italian Desserts.” Malgieri is the head of the baking program at my culinary school: ICE.

In his recipe you use puff pastry to make the cannoli shell. We’ve been making them in class this summer and they are so fun and so lovely and so easy.

You roll out a sheet of puff pastry to fairly thin. Then cut about 1-inch strips. Gently roll the strips around the cannoli form, overlapping as you go. Not too tight, not too loose.

puff pastry wrapped around cannoli form

Bake them and gently remove from the mold. Let cool, and pipe in filling.

puff pastry cannoli

They are so beautiful. Delicious. And a blast to make. Mainly because you can’t believe this is actually working! I make my filling not that sweet. Most Italian desserts are not overly-sweet. (And there’s that no-sweets-for-me stubbornness.) If you don’t have a sweet tooth, or are cultivating one, or have a very big sweet tooth, this recipe will satisfy all. Try it. Let me know how you make out.

puff pastry cannoli

Puff Pastry Cannoli with Ricotta Cream & Crushed Pistachios

(adapted from Nick Malgieri)

1 sheet puff pastry, defrosted

3 tablespoons butter

2 cups ricotta

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup mini chocolate chips

1/4 cup heavy cream

1/3 cup crushed pistachios nuts

1/4 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons cinnamon

Equipment: 12 cannoli tubes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface until pretty thin (about 30 % larger). Cut dough width-wise into 1-inch strips. Butter the cannoli tubes. Gently, but firmly wrap a strip of dough around a tube making an overlapping spiral. Don’t pull the dough too tightly to wrap, but gently secure. Repeat with the rest of the dough and tubes. Place seam side down on a parchment or silpat-lined baking sheet. Bake for about 30 minutes until golden. When cool enough to handle very gently slide the pasty off the form. Let cool completely before filling.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the ricotta with sugar and whisk until sugar no longer feels gritty. Stir in the cream and chocolate chips. Spoon half of the mixture into a quart-sized ziplock bag. Push mixture to a bottom corner and seal the bag pressing out air. Snip the corner where the ricotta is— a hole about the size of a pea.

Hold one of the pastries upright and hold the pastry bag about 1-2-inches from the pastry opening. Squeeze bag and let pastry fill. Press crushed pistachio nuts at either end. Repeat with the rest of the tube and filling. Dust with powdered sugar and cinnamon. Serve right away or refrigerate overnight.

July 28, 2015 by chefpaulette

Sweet Tomato Galette

Here come the tomatoes. And we’d better be ready. They will appear at the table in all their savory guises– or all alone, by themselves, because that’s usually all that’s needed.

summer tomatoes

But here’s a sweet twist on tomatoes. I offered up something similar in culinary school for a student contest. Made it to finalist. But now many years later I think I’ve perfected it even more. It’s a surprising taste. Sugar and Tomatoes. A taste you’ll cherish from now on.

I start with 2 medium tomatoes, sliced about a 1/4″ thick into half-moons. Lay them out in a colander and salt them well. Let them release some of their juices for about 1/2 hour.

salted tomato slices

Then I make my favorite tart pastry recipe. (See below.) Roll it out into an informal circle.

rolled pastry dough

Then move it to a parchment or silpat-lined pan.

pastry dough

Drizzle a light layer of honey.

drizzle honey

And start laying out the tomato slices in a circular pattern.

layer tomatoes

Filling in the center. Then sprinkling with sugar. I used Demerara sugar and white sugar, but use your favorite-tasting sugar.

Demerara sugar

Fold in the edges of the dough. Brush with an egg wash…

brush with egg wash

Sprinkle more sugar over the dough. Here I’ve also added some sparkling finishing sugar.

ready to bake

You need a good amount of sugar. That’s what makes the tomato flavor pop in this not-usual direction. Bake for about 35 minutes in a 375 degree oven until golden. Let it sit a bit before slicing. Sometimes juices accumulate in a puddle around the tomatoes when you first take it out, but then absorb into the galette as it cools for a few minutes.

baked tomato galette

Add to the sweet-savory combo by tearing a few basil leaves on top. The flavors do an unusual dance on your taste buds, then relax long enough for you to say: “Can I have another slice?”

sweet tomato galette

Sweet Tomato Galette

2 medium tomatoes, sliced into 1/4” half-moons

salt for sprinkling

2 tablespoons honey

3 tablespoons Demerara sugar, divided

3 tablespoons white sugar, divided

2 tablespoons sparkling finishing sugar

1 egg for egg wash

5-6 basil leaves, torn

For the pastry dough:

1.5 cups flour

1 teaspoon sugar

pinch salt

1 stick unsalted butter (8 tablespoons)

1/4 cup cold white wine

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Make the pastry: Add the flour, sugar, salt and butter to the bowl of food processor. Pulse until the mixture is crumbly with small pea-sized pieces. Add wine. Pulse until mixture comes together as a dough. Turn dough out onto a work surface and press together into a thick disc. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes-1 hour.

Meanwhile, salt the tomato slices and let drain in colander for about 1/2 hour.

Remove dough from refrigerator. Roll it out into an informal circle on a lightly floured surface to about a 1/8” thick. Move to a parchment or silpat-lined sheet pan. Drizzle honey evenly over surface.

Place tomato slices in an overlapping circle, leaving about a 2-inch border of dough. Sprinkle with Demerara sugar, and white sugar. Fold in edges of the dough, overlapping. Brush dough with egg wash. Sprinkle more of both sugars over dough and the sparkling finishing sugar.

Bake for about 35 minutes until golden. When cooled, sprinkle with basil leaves.

July 18, 2015 by chefpaulette

Make My Galette Mini

mini fruit galettes

I’m a galette lover. They are oh, so, splendidly free-form. Roll out your pastry dough into a rough circle, or oval, or oblong, or isosceles triangle (remember those?)–almost any shape works. Place your filling roughly in the center and fold over the dough borders. Bake. Tastes as wonderful as any pie you worked at fitting into a pan. Actually. It may even taste better. It’s non-conformist nature adds a taste of the wild.

Me and my love of the itty-bitty, took a galette a step further and made mini-galettes. Individual serving galettes. This takes a bit more time (as anything in many small shapes will) but I LOVE the results.

rolling dough for mini-galettes in my class

getting galettes ready to bake

We make them in my classes and the thrill mounts as the little darlings of a pie come together.

Ready to bake mini-galettes

Choose your fruit filling to go with the season. Peaches would be lovely now. Or berries and cherries. We’ve baked them with pears and apples, apricots and plums, blackberries and strawberries. ALL GOOD. Add a spoonful of whipped cream or ice cream to your own little fresh-baked galette and relax in the galette glow.

Mini-Galettes

For the crust:

2 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

pinch salt

10 tablespoons cold butter, cut into cubes

1/3 cup cold white wine

For the filling:

2-3 peaches or pears

1/3 cup walnuts, broken into small pieces

1/3 cup dried cranberries or blueberries

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 teaspoons flour

1 egg, beaten in a small bowl with a tablespoon of water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

For the crust: In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the flour, sugar and salt. Add the butter and pulse until butter is broken up but not totally blended— still some small chunks. Add the wine, process until a dough forms in a clump. Take dough out onto a sheet of plastic wrap. Shape into a thick disk, wrap and refrigerate for about an hour.

For the filling: Peel the pears, cut into quarters, cut each quarter in half width-wise, and cut each piece into small chunks. In a mixing bowl stir together the pears, nuts, cranberries, sugar, cinnamon, and flour.

Make the galettes: Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to a large circle or oblong, about 1/8” thick. Cut 6-inch circles of dough. Roll up scraps and cut out more circles. In the center of each circle, leaving a 1-inch border, place 2-3 tablespoons of filling. Fold over the border edges like a galette, making folds and flattening slightly. Brush dough with egg wash. Bake for about 30 minutes until the dough is golden, and filling is bubbling.

mini fruit galettes

June 30, 2015 by chefpaulette

Smoky Grilled Baba Ghanouj

smoky baba ghanouj

This is a magic dish. Years ago when I first ever tasted baba ghanouj it seemed like another-planet food. My taste buds in confusion asked: What is that? It’s creamy, but it’s a bit slippery. It’s color is not describable. And the flavor…the flavor is all its very own. Like nothing else. Like eating ancient-foreign-vegetable-garden concentrate. The whole garden. Earth and all.

I used to be intimidated to make it. But now that I’m not, I feel like I’ve got a secret. Making it is surprisingly easy. Exotic flavor at your fingertips. And the aroma sticks to your fingertips long after you’ve consumed the dish. That’s a good thing. You don’t want it to be over.

It’s all eggplant. And garlic. And tahini. And olive oil. And seasonings. But it is mostly and basically and really just eggplant.

I used mini-eggplants this time. They have packages of mini-eggplants (about a dozen in the pack=about a pound and a quarter) at my favorite local international market, K & S. I don’t see them anywhere else.

mini eggplants

But it’s just as easy to use normal-sized eggplants…process is the same.

I got the grill started on medium high. And greased the grate with Pam. I used skewers for the little guys so they’re easier to handle.

skewered eggplant

I also poked each one with a knife a couple of times to allow any steam to escape (so they don’t pop with heat excitement!).

eggplant skewers on grill

After about 10 minutes, I turned them over, and let them cook another 10 minutes or so. You can’t really overcook this much. You want the skins to get charred and the center soft.

charring the eggplant

Take them off the grill and let cool.

grilled eggplant with ingredients

When they are cooled, cut them half…

cut cooked eggplant

Scrape out the flesh into the bowl of food processor and discard the skins.

eggplant ready to puree

Add a couple of tablespoons of tahini, juice of 1 lemon, healthy dashes of ground cumin, 2 peeled and smashed garlic cloves, salt & pepper to taste. Pulse until smooth. Taste to see if you need more anything. Sometimes salt. Sometimes more cumin. And then add a few healthy swirls of olive oil. Pulse smooth.

pureed baba ghanouj

And it’s done! Traditional pita points are used for dipping. But we’re trying to not eat bread around here and instead we dipped raw, crunchy fennel.

baba ghanouj with fennel

It’s a very delicious combination. Celery and carrot sticks work great, too. I also had some crushed pistachios on hand (left over from the cannoli cake we made in class) and sprinkled them on top. And a light swirl of olive oil completes the dish.

Brings you a taste of foreign lands (Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Armenia). And is a typical part of a full spread of small tasty treats (meze). If you make it, let me know how it goes! (And how far the taste transported you.)

Chef Paulette

A little bit of Italy at home.

recipes

The Tastiest Cauliflower Ever

it’s time for butternut squash ravioli

Not All Gnocchi are Created Equal

Peach Turnovers and a Secret Ingredient

Easy Super-Succulent Roast Chicken

I Give a Fig

Cannoli Without Frying

Sweet Tomato Galette

Make My Galette Mini

Smoky Grilled Baba Ghanouj

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