Lemon Curd Tart with berries

You can top with almost any fruit that you think would go well with lemons, but I thought the strawberries and blueberries worked extremely well. Honestly, if you just wanted the tart without the berries it would probably be good, too!

Crust

1 1/4 cup flour (156 g.)
1/4 cup sugar
zest from 1 large lemon
1/2 tsp. salt
1 stick butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg yolk
1+ tsp. water


1. Mix together flour, sugar, salt and zest.

2. Cut in the butter using a pastry cutter or by rubbing between your fingers until it resembles course meal.

3. Beat together egg yolk, water, and vanilla, then mix together with the flour mixture

4. It will be VERY crumbly! Press into a tart pan, letting it go at least an inch up the sides

5. Pierce the bottom several times with a fork, then place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes



6. Preheat oven to 375. Place refrigerated pie into the oven for 16-18 minutes, until lightly browned; remove and allow to cool, but don't turn off the oven!

Lemon Filling

1 cup sugar
Zest from 1 large lemon
Juice from 2 lemons (presumably one used here and one used for crust!)
1/2 cup sour cream
4 eggs

1. Whisk together sugar, zest, and lemon juice.

2. Add eggs, whisk, then sour cream, whisk.

Putting it together

1. Pour lemon mixture into cooled crust (doesn't have to be cooled completely).

2. Place back into the oven and cook for 18-20 minutes; check to see if it's ready by pulling on the rack. You want it to be "set" but still jiggly in the middle.

3. Pull out of the oven and allow to cool. When it's cool enough to not rot everything in the fridge by increasing the temperature, put it in the fridge.

4. About an hour before serving, put on the topping.

Topping

Glaze: 3 T. Polaner's all fruit (if you don't have it, any jam should work), 1 T. water. Mix together and microwave for 30 seconds.

You can use any fruits you like to go on top, assuming that you think it goes well with lemon. I used strawberries and blueberries, but you could use just one or something else entirely, like raspberries. If you do use strawberries, be sure to hull them and cut them into smaller slices.

You can either mix the fruit with the glaze and place on top of the pie or place the fruit on first and spoon on the glaze.

Once it's glazed, place in the refrigerator until ready to be served.

Galette des Rois

In case you haven't noticed, I've just discovered the delights of almond meal. This cake is essentially an eggy almond croissant cake; can you really go wrong with that?

Galette des rois is a traditional cake for L'Epiphanie. For the holiday, you hide a "feve" in the cake (either a dried bean or a small porcelain figure) and whoever gets the slice with the hidden feve is "king" (or queen) for the day. Just make sure you tell people eating the cake to look out so there are no broken teeth!

I also just discovered, after spending an arm and a leg on almond meal at the grocery store, that you can buy a huge bag for $4 at Trader Joe's! Speaking of epiphanies...

Just make sure you seal it REALLY well, or it will leak. Badly. Not that that ever happened to this domestic goddess, of course...



Ingredients

2 sheets of puff pastry, thawed
7 T. butter
5/8 cup sugar
almost 3/4 cup almond meal
1/2 tsp. almond extract
2 eggs (plus 1 egg yolk for egg wash)
great big pinch of salt
confectioner's sugar for dusting
orange zest or drop of orange flower extract (optional)

Directions

1. Make your filling by creaming butter and sugar together (you can let the butter sit at room temperature or be lazy and microwave for 12 seconds. Or you can be REALLY lazy and use a mixer).

2. Once it's a consistent texture, add almond meal, almond extract, 2 eggs, salt, and orange stuff if you've got it and mix until well blended.

3. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour or overnight.

Preheat oven to 400 (or whatever the directions on your puff pastry say).

4. Take out puff pastry, being careful not to stretch it and, using a plate or some other round object, cut out 2 equal sized circles of puff pastry.

5. Spread filling onto one pastry, leaving a 1-inch border. If you're going to include a feve, put it in the filling now.

6. Beat together egg yolk with a little bit of milk or water, and brush along the border, being careful not to let it on the sides.

7. Top with second sheet of puff pastry, and press down with your fingers along the edges to seal. Seal it well, my friend! Avoid a baking disaster like mine :(

8. Make shallow slashes along the top of the cake and pierce a few holes to allow it to rise.

9. Cover with the rest of the egg wash.

10. Pop in the oven for about 20 minutes (should get nice and puffy). Pull out and sprinkle with confectioners sugar. Place back into the oven until nicely browned (about another 10 minutes).

Apple Clafoutis

You will need to cook the apples first, so it's not nearly as easy as a berry clafoutis, but still much easier than a pie!

Batter:

1/2 cup flour (62.5 g.)
pinch salt
1/2 cup sugar
3 T. butter
3 eggs
1 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla

1. Whisk batter together for a full 2-3 minutes, then place in the fridge while you prepare the apples. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400.

Apples:

2 apples, peeled, cored, and sliced into 1/4 inch slices
2 T. butter
pinch salt
almost 1 tsp. cinnamon
dash nutmeg
1/4 cup sugar

2. Cook the apples in the butter until slightly soft, then add the spices, salt, and sugar. Continue to cook until apples are cooked through, but not mushy.

3. Spoon apples out into a lightly buttered pie pan. Give the batter another whisk, then pour batter on top of the apples.

4. Bake for about 20 minutes, until clafoutis is puffy and slightly browned around the edges.

5. (Optional): Pour the rewarmed remains of the pan where you cooked the apples on top of the cooked clafoutis.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.

Apple Frangipane Tart

CRUST

1 1/4 cup flour (156 g.)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 T. sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 dashes nutmeg
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, cut into pieces
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. almond extract
1 cup ice water (put in a tablespoon at a time, don't put the whole thing in!)

Directions

1. Mix together dry ingredients

2. Rub flour mixture with the butter with your fingers until it resembles course meal

3. Add vanilla extract, almond extract, and water 1 TABLESPOON AT A TIME until crust comes together

4. Shape into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap, and stick in the fridge until butter is hard again (10 minutes to an hour, depending)


FRANGIPANE:

2 T. butter, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup almond meal
1 T. flour (15 g.)
1/4 tsp. almond extract
1/4+ tsp. vanilla extract

Directions

1. Cream butter and sugar

2. Add egg and vanilla extract and stir (or beat) until smooth

3. Add almond meal and flour and mix until blended; cover and place in the fridge until use


PUTTING IT ALTOGETHER

Preheat oven to 375

1. Peel, core, and slice 3 granny smith apples until 1/2 inch slices

2. Roll out crust and place in a springform pie pan (if you don't have one, a regular pie pan, and if you don't have that, a baking sheet)

3. Spread frangipane along the bottom of the crust (or leave a border if you're using a baking sheet)

4. Place apples on top of frangepane mixture, and curl crust up around the apples

5. Melt 1 T. butter and brush exposed crust; drizzle any leftover butter over the apples

6. Sprinkle whole thing with 2 T. sugar (over crust and apples)

7. Cover apples with a loose piece of tin foil and bake for 50 minutes

8. Remove tin foil and make for another 10 minutes

9. (Optional) To brown it a little and give it a little extra hint of sweetness, take out the oven and dust with confectioner's sugar, then put back into the oven and broil on low for 1 minute. This extra step made it really nice.

No Knead Bread

I can't take credit for this, not even a little bit. This came from the Minimalist's New York Times post and it is the MOST PERFECT bread I have ever had. It's so perfect it makes that last sentence grammatically incorrect. This not only puts every bread I've ever had to shame, but just about every bakery bread I've ever had in this country to shame, too.

Every attempt at French bread I've made before this has been WAY too dense; not bad as far as bread goes, but definitely not worthy of the French title. The inside of this bread, on the other hand, is perfectly chewy, and the crust perfectly crackly. You can hear the crust crackling and singing when you pull it out of the oven. This is worthy of a real French bakery.

I had said I didn't change a thing, but that's not true. My method has been changed to suit my needs, and here it is :)

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour (375 g.)
1/4 tsp. instant yeast
1 1/4 tsp. salt
1 5/8 cup water

Directions

1. Combine yeast, salt, and flour in a large bowl. Add water (dough will be ugly and shaggy looking), cover with plastic wrap, and let sit for 18 hours (as little as 12; I started it at 2 p.m. then went to the next step at 9 a.m. the next morning). Here it is when just mixed:



18 hours later:



2. Dump dough out onto a generously floured surface (dough will be VERY sticky) and pat down a little; fold lengthwise into thirds like you're folding a letter into an envelope, then do the same width wise.

3. Pull out and shape into a ball (at least that's what the Minimalist says; mine was WAY too sloppy for this, like trying to shape mud into a ball, but I did the best I could and it turned out fine) and place on a VERY generously floured tea towel***, then fold the tea towel over the bread and let sit for 2 hours






4. 30 minutes before bread is ready, place a ceramic pot (or pyrex, or anything else that's at least 4 inches high, has a cover, and can withstand 450 degrees) in the oven and preheat to 450 degrees. (It's important to let it heat for all 30 minutes!)

5. When dough is ready, dump it out into the pot (if it's messy, no worries! Shake it out to make it even if you have to), COVER, and let bake for 30 minutes

6. Take off cover and let cook for another 15-30 minutes (15 was fine for me), until crust is nicely browned.

7. Take out and let cool for at least 30 minutes before cutting

***This totally stuck to the tea towel for me, and I had to scrape it off with my fingernails. The bread wasn't any worse off for it, but maybe if you want you could try to put a silicone baking pad or parchment paper underneath.

Crepes (dinner and dessert)

Most "Craperies" in this country use these crepes for dinner as well as dessert. Posh! These are very clearly dessert crepes. If you want to fill your crepes with dinnery things then see recipe below for savory crepes, better known as "galettes".

Ingredients

1 cup flour (125 g.)
1/4 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
(1/2 cup water)
1 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 T. melted butter
Butter for pan



Directions

1. Combine all ingredients except water in a blender; if it doesn't look runny enough, add up to 1/2 cup water



2. Ideally, let the blended ingredients sit in the fridge for an hour (it will tear less easily)

3. Place about a ladle full of batter onto the side of a lightly buttered pan over medium-high heat, then pick up the pan and swirl the batter around the pan until it covers the entire pan



4. When the top looks dry (and maybe a bit bubbly), turn the crepe over and lower the heat to medium (I find it easiest to use a rubber spatula and a burger flipper; if you can flip it in the pan by using the pan handle, more power to you)

Dry looking edges, a bit bubbly:



5. Here is when you should add butter and sugar if you are making butter/sugar crepes



DINNER CREPES (Galettes):

1/2 cup Buckwheat Flour
1/2 cup All-Purpose Flour
3/4 - 1 cup Milk
2 Eggs
2 T. melted butter
1 tsp Salt
Water just in case (you want it to look like a runny batter)

You can also try 2/3 Buckwheat and 1/3 All-Purpose. Won't be as easy to work with but will have a stronger flavor.

Fill it with any savory fillings you want, but if you want to go for the classic galette, filling should include ham, egg, sauteed mushrooms (sauteed with say, olive oil, garlic, and white wine), and gruyere, or any combination thereof! Can also use turkey if you're husband is a zealot. *cough*

Don't forget to let it sit for an hour!

Raclette

A swiss classic. They sell $200 raclette makers at Williams Sonoma, but honestly, I can't think of anyone who would make enough raclette to warrant one. When I was in France my host family used to put the cheese over boiled potatoes in a casserole dish and pop it in the oven, although my other French friend was horrified at the prospect, since (rightly) the cheese really should be melted beforehand and poured over the potatoes. A saucepan seemed to have worked just fine.

To be truly traditional, this should be served with cornichons (little pickles) and salami or ham. I like it just plain, thank you very much. This also goes great with wine (white, theoretically, but I think it's beautiful with a lighter red, like a Languedoc).

By the way, since certain philistines think that raclette "stinks" (oh, how wonderfully does it stink!) I mixed in a little cream cheese (a very little) so take some of the edge off. It mellowed it out a little but you couldn't taste it. By the way, said philistine will eat kokorec, which is just as disgusting as it sounds. Hypocrite.

Ingredients

6-8 medium-sized potatoes
1/2 lb. raclette
cream cheese (entirely optional)
salt and pepper

Directions

1. Dice potatoes into 1 inch cubes and boil on high heat until tender

2. Meanwhile, melt sliced raclette in a small saucepan on low heat (2-3 on a 10-point scale), stirring at least once every minute.

3. You'll know the cheese is ready when it begins to get a little bubbly, is a consistent color, and (most importantly), flows down the spoon like a thick waterfall; add cream cheese at the very end if you, too, think it stinks, and stir in until consistent

4. Place cooked potatoes on a serving dish, sprinkle a little salt on them, and pour the cheese over the potatoes. Top with pepper and serve! (Can layer if the serving dish is small).

Raspberry Clafoutis

This elegant dish makes me look like a dessert genius who spent hours in the kitchen. Shhh...it's really easy.

This is traditionally made with cherries, and die-hard clafoutis makers will tell you that any other fruit is blasphemy, as is pitting the cherries. However, Murat, who is a philistine, hates cooked cherries, so raspberries it is. If I had put cherries in I would have probably added a little almond extract and taken out the nutmeg.

Ingredients

1/2 cup flour (63 g.)
1 large pinch salt
3/8 cup sugar
a couple dashes of nutmeg
lemon zest (I also used a little lime zest)
1 tsp. vanilla
3 eggs
3 T. butter, melted
1 cup whole milk
4-8 oz. raspberries (depending on whether you want your clafoutis fruitier or custardier)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350

1. Whisk flour, salt, sugar, and nutmeg

2. Whisk in lemon zest, eggs, vanilla, and butter, keep whisking for about 2 minutes

3. Whisk in half and half/milk and continue to whisk for about 2 minutes

4. Place raspberries (1 layer deep, with as few or as many raspberries as you care for) at the bottom of a buttered tart pan (the earthern kind, not the metal kind)

5. Pour mixture over raspberries and pop in the oven for 20-25 minutes (the edges will start to turn golden and puffy and the center will set, which you will see when you move the pan around; a knife inserted in the center should come out clean).

6. Take out of oven and allow to cool. Sift powdered sugar over it for a more traditional look right before you serve it (can be served hot or cold!)