Ali's Kitchen: Apples For Rosh Hashanah

All right, you shiksas. This evening is the first night of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Two of the best-known culinary symbols of Rosh Hashanah are apples and honey. (If you didn't already know that, shame on you, and also you must never have read All-of-a-kind Family books in fourth grade.)

Accordingly, a very simple apple tart:

Take your basic pie shell recipe and cut to fit tartlet pans. (Notice how I actually bought some this time.) Blind bake at 375° for about 15 minutes, first brushing all over (not just the edges) with egg white, to create a waterproof layer. This will block out excess moisture from non-traditional pie apples, and keep your crust from being soggy.

Core and halve however many apples you need for however many tarts you're making. (Dough for one 10-inch pie shell makes dough for approximately 6 traditional French tartlet pans, so, 3 apples.) Slice each apple half into 1/4-inch thick slices, and lay each apple half right into a tart, trimming the ends to the apple fits easily. Sprinkle to taste with sugar, cinnamon, and any other spices you enjoy in apples pie. Brush the entire surface (apple and crust edges) with melted, unsalted butter. (I used less than 2 Tb for 6 tartlets.) Bake for just about 20-30 minutes at 400°. They should be golden brown, and the apples should be soft.

Note: These look pretty, right? But they're a little hard to eat without the entire apple halve trying to jump into your mouth in one bite. You can slice the apples both vertically and horizontally before baking and laying in the crusts, to make for easier eating. It'll still be pretty!

Happy New Year. ^_^

Ali's Kitchen: Anniversary Special: Baking

The past several days, I've been big on the baking. On Friday I snagged a Cioppino recipe from Cooking Light and set to making my own bread to go with it. I used a very basic recipe from How to Cook Everything:

3 1/2 c. flour

2 tsp salt

1 tsp yeast

Scant 1 1/2 c. water

The recipe calls for, when making by hand instead of a food processor since some of us do not have room in our kitchens for food processors, mixing half the flour with all the salt and yeast, then stirring in all the water. Add the rest of the flour until completely mixed and just cohesive enough to knead. Knead, using minimal flour for surface and dough, for 20 minutes, until much firmer and more elastic, but still quite sticky. Set in a bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap for 2-3 hours (or for a longer time, if you're going for sourdough). When the dough has approximately doubled, cut into 3 or 4 sections, roll into balls, and let sit under a towel for about 20 minutes. Flatten each dough ball into a disc, then fold the disc over on itself twice, sealing the seam each time. Roll (again, on a lightly floured surface) into ropes and place, seam side up, on a sturdy piece of cotton (such as a clean tablecloth). Fold part of the cloth over the dough and allow to rise for another 1-2 hours. 30 minutes prior to baking, preheat the oven to 450. Just before baking, slice the tops of the dough several times, and spray the inside of the oven to create steam. Bake for five minutes in the center of the oven, and spray again at 5 minutes to create more steam. Bake for another 25-30 minutes, until the tops are golden brown.

See that? That's too damn skinny for a baguette. The flavor was good (I added herbs and garlic into the fold-and-roll step), but they were too dense, and very chewy. If you Google this problem, you'll find suggestions from "too much kneading" to "not enough kneading" to "too much extra flour during kneading" to "not enough flour during kneading." So I had no idea what I really did wrong, though I suspect it had something to do with too much extra flour and not enough kneading time. BUT APPARENTLY YOU NEVER KNOW. You know what I noticed when I went to make the bread again tonight (Tuesday)? The How to Cook Everything recipe calls for rapid-rising yeast. I have plain old traditional yeast. That maaaay have had something to do with it. So guess what I did today when baking this same baguette again to go with anniversary lobster? I used the whole packet of yeast (about 1 Tb). Guess what? That worked juuuust fiiiine. They were still a little chewy, and the crust is so crusty it would make a Frenchman wince, so I've clearly still got some figuring to do. But, on the whole, don't these look basically like baguettes?

Since tonight was our second anniversary, I made a special dessert. Whereas last year I did a cake that attempted to recall our wedding cake, this year I've been baking muffins and cupcakes so often that I wanted to do something a little different. Enter Alice Waters' The Art of Simple Food and her lemon curd made with pâte sucré tartelettes. They didn't come out particularly prettily, but that's my own fault for not shilling out the bucks for tartelette pans and using muffin tins instead. (Yeah, I really did. lulz.)

The raspberry was my idea, thankyouverymuch. ^_^

Pâte Sucré

from Alice Waters' "The Art of Simple Food"

Beat together until creamy:

8 tablespoons butter

1/3 cup sugar

Add and mix until completely combined:

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. vanilla extract

1 egg yolk

Add:

1 1/4 c. all-purpose unbleached flour (*I used whole grain pastry flour instead*)

Mix well, stirring and folding, until there are no dry patches. Chill for at least 4 hours, until firm. Roll out between two sheets of floured waxed paper. Roll out to about 1/8 in. thick, popping it into the freezer briefly if it becomes too stick to work with while rolling. Cut out the dough according to the size of tarte, tartelette, etc. I ended up using an old cocktail glass dipped in flour, which was about the right size for muffin tins. Press the dough gently into your baking container, sealing any cracks with extra dough. Trim excess dough at the top by gently pressing with thumb and index finer. Chill the dough for at least 15 minutes before baking. Bake the chilled shells in a preheated 350 degree oven for 15 minutes, or until an even light gold in color. Halfway through the baking, remove the tart shells from the oven and lightly pat down any bubbles that may have formed.

Lemon Curd

Wash and dry:

4 lemons

Grate the zest of one of the lemons on the small holes of a grater. Juice the lemons; there should be about 1/2 c. juice.

Beat until just mixed:

2 eggs

3 egg yolks

2 Tb milk

1/3 c. sugar

1/4 tsp salt

Stir in the lemon juice and zest and add:

6 Tb butter, cut into small pieces

Cook the mixture in a small nonreactive heavy pan (*I used a Paul Revere stainless steel saucepan - which are relatively light and copper bottomed on the outside. This is apparently a nonreactive pan, which I discovered when I actually made the stuff, because I'm daring like that.*), stirring constantly, over medium heat until it is thick enough to coat a spoon. Do not boil or the eggs will curdle.

This is where I deviated: I believe Waters would have you pour the curd into the pre-baked pastry shells and cook at 375 only until the curd is set - before it has thickened completely in the pot. I let it thicken completely then cook to an almost cheesecake-meets-lemon-bar consistency, about 20 minutes. THERE. WERE. SO. GOOD.

Because of my funky tartelette sizes, I ended up with a bit of extra lemon curd, so I poured that into some pretty teacups (which Courtney gave me for my bridal shower), topped with some extra lemon zest, and a couple of blackberries.

However you're enjoying lemon curd, make sure you chill it for at least 2 hours before serving. Paradoxically, you need to take it out of the fridge at least an hour before serving. Now figure *that* one out if you have to cook-then-serve. I made them about 24 hours before eating, and they were fantastic. Definitely great for a celebration!

Le yum yum!