Golden beet tarte tatin

Pretty delicious, for just being essentially beets and puff pastry. The original recipe called for baby beets, halved, but I cut and peeled three big golden beets instead. Next time I might try a combination of beet colors.

1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon canola 
or olive oil
2 teaspoons cider vinegar
2 teaspoons brown sugar
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 big golden beets, peeled and cut into thin chunks

Melt the butter with the oil in a cast-iron skillet. Add the cider vinegar, sugar, and some salt and pepper, stir well, then 
add the beets and toss to coat. You want the beets to fill the pan snugly, in a single layer. Cover the pan with foil, transfer to the oven, and roast for 30 to 40 minutes at 375, until the beets are tender.

Take the pan from the oven and rearrange the beet halves neatly, placing them cut side up. Lay the pastry sheet over the beets, patting it down and tucking in the edges down the side of the pan. Return to the oven and bake for 20 minutes, until the pastry is fully puffed up and golden brown.

Leave the tarte to cool in its pan for about 15 minutes, then turn it out by putting a plate over the top and inverting it. Pour any juices left in the pan back over the beets.

Spinach quiche

A simple and delicious dish that I threw together with frozen spinach, eggs, and some odds and ends of cheese.

5 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 10 oz. package frozen spinach, thawed, with the water squeezed out
1/3 log of goat cheese (optional)
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
1/4 cup parmesan
1 bunch scallions, chopped
Salt and pepper

1 sheet of puff pastry, thawed

Place the puff pastry in a pie pan. Mix the other ingredients together, and pour into the pie pan. (You can roll the puff pastry out into a circle; I just lay mine in as a square, without rolling, and fold the corners back on top of the filling.) Bake for 25-35 minutes at 450, or until the middle is no longer jiggly. Let cool 10-15 minutes.

Chicken salad puff pastry sandwiches

Leftover chicken = chicken salad, right?

Chicken salad is basically just cooked chopped chicken, some celery, some raw onion (I use shallots), and enough mayo to hold it together. Salt and pepper to taste. I threw in some pecans and an apple, too.

Then I took two thawed sheets of puff pastry, cut each into 6 rectangles, and baked those at 400 for 10 minutes. Layer and eat.

Warning: this is flaky and delicious. It will make a mess. A tasty mess.

Crab and corn empanadas

I know I've said it before, but I love restaurant leftovers.

This week, I got several containers of crabmeat, several of sauteed mushrooms, a couple more containers of fava beans, and at least a pound of cooked brisket.

I see more crab cakes in my future; but I also made crab and corn empanadas with puff pastry.

1 cup crabmeat
1 cup corn
Juice of 1 lime
Old Bay seasoning
Scallions
4 sheets of puff pastry, thawed and cut into four squares each

Mix together. Place a spoonful or two in the middle of each puff pastry square, and fold over to form a triangle. Seal the edges with a little water, and crimp with a fork. Bake at 400 for 20 minutes or until the puff pastry is golden brown at the edges.

Serve with a Sriracha aioli (Sriracha + mayo).

Rhubarb puff pastry tarts

Mmmm, rhubarb.

These are just rhubarb compote, drained of all liquid, on puff pastry squares.

Thaw two sheets of puff pastry, and cut each into four squares. On each square, place a few tablespoons of drained rhubarb compote. Fold the edges over, to make a triangle pocket, and seal the edges with a little water and a fork. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.

Delicious!

Spinach and feta puff pastry pockets

These make a great party appetizer, a great snack, or just a great yummy thing to eat. Small number of ingredients, easy to throw together.

1 box frozen spinach, thawed, with all the water squeezed out
1 small onion, diced
1/2 cup feta
1 box puff pastry, thawed

Saute the onion in olive oil until soft, then add the spinach and cook for another minute or so. Let cool. Add the feta. Cut the puff pastry sheets into nine even squares. Place a spoonful of spinach mix in the center of each one, and wet the edges with a little water. Press the edges together to make a triangle. Bake at 400 for 15 minutes or until browned on top.

Baked brie

I can't believe I've never done this before.

All you need is a round of brie, and a sheet of puff pastry.

That's it.

(Well, let the puff pastry thaw first.)

Just wrap the thawed puff pastry sheet around the brie, tuck the edges under, and bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes until the pastry is puffy and browned. Let it sit for another 15-20 minutes before cutting into it.

So easy, and it looks so fancy.

I served it with--what else?--green tomato jam. Another killer combo.

Potato and squash tart

When I was a kid, summer dinners usually consisted of a) fresh tomato slices and b) fresh corn on the cob. Maybe c) salad. There wasn't a lot of meat involved, and 98% of it came from the garden.

Last night I served this potato and squash tart with a tomato salad (fresh cherry tomatoes, olive oil, feta), fresh corn on the cob, and some fresh champagne grapes.

It was just about the most perfect summer meal ever.

1 square of puff pastry, thawed
1 potato, sliced thin
1 yellow squash, sliced thin
saffron, if you have it (if not, don't worry about it)
salt
fresh basil

Boil the potato slices for a few minutes, but not until they're all the way done. Just halfway done. Drain.

Lay the puff pastry on a greased baking sheet, prick it all over with a fork, and layer the potato and squash slices in rows. Sprinkle with salt, and saffron if you have it. Bake at 350 until the edges are puffy and browned.

Sprinkle with chopped fresh basil and serve.

Mustard greens tart

Gosh, you can put just about anything on puff pastry and it'll taste good.

This is essentially a sort of puff pastry white pizza. Two puff pastry sheets, smeared with ricotta cheese, topped with grated cheese and caramelized onions, topped with slightly sauteed mustard greens and baked. We ate it as a main course, but it would work well as an appetizer, too.

Two sheets of puff pastry, thawed enough to unfold

Ricotta cheese

Grated gruyere, comte, or good cheddar cheese

Caramelized onions (about 1 big onion)

1 head of mustard greens, roughly chopped

Saute the onions in olive oil until they begin to color; then lower the heat to medium-low and let cook down for at least 30 minutes, until dark brown. Don't rush this step--the darker they are, the better they'll taste.

Open the two puff pastry sheets on a parchment-paper lined baking sheet, and smear each with ricotta cheese (maybe 1/2 cup per). Add the caramelized onions. In the onion pan, add a little more olive oil and quickly saute the mustard greens, maybe 5 minutes, until they start to wilt. Sprinkle grated cheese over the onions (maybe 1/2 cup per), and top with the mustard greens.

Bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes. Serve hot.

Black bean and plantain empanadas

When I went to Buenos Aires (a beautiful, glowing, halcyon memory that warms the cockles of my March heart right now), one of my favorite experiences was going out into the South American 'burbs for an authentic asado and empanada-making lesson. A little old Argentine lady showed us ("us" being me and the other 8 or 10 people who had signed up for the day) how to make traditional beef empanadas from scratch. Then her husband fired up the grill, complete with all the traditional meats (skirt steak, short ribs, flank steak, pork loin, sausage, blood sausage, tripe, sweetbreads and beef kidney). Then we busted out some wine and ate it all. Good times.



The asado.



Isn't Buenos Aires beautiful? Sigh.

I've since tried to duplicate that empanada recipe, with only half success. I still can't quite get the dough right, and I don't know why. I'll keep trying.

In the meantime, empanadas were furthest from my mind this week. I was in a I'm-totally-over-this-winter funk and just not very interested in cooking. I ate a lot of cheese for dinner.

Then in a fit of random wandering around my kitchen, looking for inspiration, I opened the freezer and beheld a box of puff pastry.

"Mmmmm...butter," said my wintry brain, and I immediately started thinking of ways to use the puff pastry.

Here's what I came up with.

Not as good as Buenos Aires, but still pretty darn good. And with puff pastry. (And I got my cooking mojo back!)

olive oil
1 large ripe plantain, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 red pepper, chopped
2 cups cooked black beans (or 1 can)
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
cumin and cayenne to taste
fresh lime juice
1 large egg
2 packages puff pastry (four sheets), thawed
queso fresco or goat cheese

Start by sauteeing the plantain in olive oil and butter until soft and cooked, and remove. In the same pan, add more olive oil, and saute the onion and red pepper until soft.

To that, add the beans, spices, cilantro and lime juice, and cook for another 5 minutes or so, to let the flavors meld. Remove from heat. Mash with a potato masher and let cool.

Cut each sheet of puff pastry into four squares. Mix the egg with a little water to make an egg wash, and brush that along the edges of each square. Place a couple tablespoons of bean mash in the center of each square, and top with a little goat cheese. Fold the corner over to make a triangle, and seal by pressing down the edge with a fork.

Place your empanadas on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper, and put a little more egg wash on the top. Bake at 400 for 20 minutes.

Don't those look good? Three will make an adult meal, and this recipes makes 16.

You can serve with salsa, but I made a traditional Argentine chimichurri instead.

For the chimichurri:
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 shallots, peeled
2 cloves of garlic, peeled
a big bunch of parsley, stems and all
salt and pepper to taste

Whiz that all together in your food processor, dribbling the olive oil in. Remove and add a little more olive oil, until you have a green soupy mass. Let that sit for two hours before serving.