Blue Cayenne

This recipe represents a marriage between two fond food memories.

Years ago, I attended a cooking school in downtown Seal Beach called La Bonne Cuisine. The lady who ran the school was a gifted cook, a dedicated foodie and a bit edgy. One of the recipes she taught was a frangipane tart. To this day, I remember the otherworldly aroma of that tart just out of the oven. Who knew an almond filling could taste (and smell) so good. I’m still looking for the La Bonne Cuisine recipe and will post it when (and if) I find it.

The other food memory (a recent one) is of my French neighbor’s pear tart. I confess that I had never had a pear tart before but one bite and I was hooked. Apparently pear tarts are a favored French dessert.

Recently, reminiscing about those two wonderful tastes, I found this recipe on the Williams Sonoma site.

This week I found extraordinary pears at the Long Beach Farmers Market and decided to make this tart again.

I think the frangipane filling is at its best served warm, so I would suggest that you permit yourself a generous slice of this tart fresh from the oven. Equally good, you could give a slice a tiny zap in the microwave. I enjoyed my slice–OK my two slices–with a steaming cup of Darjeeling tea.

The tart is delightful. Or, as my French neighbor would say appreciatively, Bon!

Here is my adaptation of the Williams Sonoma recipe:

Recipe: Pear and Frangipane Tart

1 basic recipe for tart dough
2 T. unsalted butter
6 oz. Trader Joe’s almond meal or 1 12 cups raw unblanched whole almonds (finely ground)
2/3 C. sugar
2 eggs (lightly beaten)
1/2 t. almond extract
1 t. vanilla extract
2 T. rum
1/4 t. salt
1 t. finely grated lemon zest
3 Anjou or Bartlett pears, peeled, quartered and cored
1/3 C. apricot jam

Directions

Press the dough into a tart pan. I found the Williams Sonoma tart dough difficult to roll, so I simply pressed the dough into my tart pan with my fingers. My crust turned out just fine. Refrigerate or freeze the tart shell until firm, about 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Line chilled tart shell with aluminum foil or parchment paper and fill with pie weights, rice or dry beans. Bake for 30 minutes. Pie crust should be a pale gold color. If your shell is not yet gold, cook for five to ten minutes more. Carefully remove foil and weights and cool tart shell on a wire rack.

Put butter in a pan on your stove and cook over medium heat for a few minutes until the butter is golden brown. Let butter cool off the stove while you prepare the almond filling.

Put almond meal (or ground almonds), sugar, eggs, almond extract, vanilla extract, rum, salt, and lemon zest into a bowl. Stir and then stir in brown butter. Using a spatula, spread this mixture on the cooled tart shell. Set aside.

Peel and core pears. Slice pears into quarters. Without cutting the pear apart, make 1/8 inch slices into each pear quarter. Press each pear quarter with your hand to slightly fan the slices. Place pear fans on the frangipane filling in your tart and press fans gently so that they are pressed into the filling.

Bake your tart for 40 minutes. The frangipane almond filling should feel firm to the touch. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

Put apricot jam into a pan over low heat and heat until jam is liquified. Strain jam and brush jam on top of tart.

Here is the link to Williams Sonoma’s recipe. This link includes a link to the recipe for the tart dough.

Pear and Frangipane Tart Recipe

Recently,  I ventured out for an evening of theatre with two old teaching friends and a new friend. (Actually, they are not old–just long-time friends. Those are very hard to come by and I’m grateful to count Carol, Carole and Michelle among my friends.)

We saw Qui Nguyen’s play Vietgone (now closed) at the South Coast Repertory. Before the show, we enjoyed a meal at Seasons 52 in South Coast Plaza and particularly enjoyed the blistered shishito pepper appetizer. It was a beautiful dish and great with drinks.

Our Seasons 52 waitress, Bambi (only kidding), assured us that only one in twelve shishito peppers is spicy hot. We didn’t find any hot ones in our serving and I haven’t found any really hot shishito peppers in my re-creations of the dish. So, if you are hot-pepper averse, don’t be afraid of trying (and sharing) this recipe.

Not being able to get that dish out of my mind, I went online and, much to my amazement, I found a recipe for the restaurant’s dish published by The Orlando Sentinel. Seasons 52 Blistered Shishito Peppers

Shishito peppers, by the way, are a bit difficult to find. From time to time I find them at the farmers market. This time, I found them at a reasonable price at Trader Joe’s. Trader Joe’s is a treasure.

Here is my adaptation of the recipe.

Recipe:  Blistered Shishito Peppers (Serves 8)

3 cups whole shishito peppers

1/2 ear roasted corn kernels or 1/2 cup defrosted whole-kernel corn

2 ounces each, crumbled: feta and goat cheeses

2 pinches sumac (optional–I think you can find sumac at Trader Joe’s in the spice section)

1 T. extra-virgin olive oil (I used more)

Lemon aioli

3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 t. finely grated lemon zest

1 to 2 T. fresh lemon juice (I used 2)

1 t. Dijon mustard (I used French Maille)

Coarse salt and ground pepper to taste

Cayenne Pepper and chopped tomatoes to garnish

Directions

To prepare the aioli, mince the garlic and mix with mayonnaise, lemon zest, lemon juice and mustard. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Mix peppers in olive oil. Add corn kernels and sumac (if using). Place in a baking pan and bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes until the peppers begin to blister.

After 10 minutes, remove peppers and corn from oven, place in a pretty bowl. Spoon aioli on the peppers and sprinkle cheeses over the aioli-garnished  peppers . To garnish, sprinkle cayenne pepper and chopped tomato on the dish.

Serve spooned onto small plates. No chips or bread need be served with this dish; just pick up the peppers by their stems. Be sure to get your share of the flavorful aioli and cheese, though.

Enjoy!  (We did.)

This salad is a stunner.

Couscous laced with black beans, corn, red pepper, green onions and dressed in a lime juice and olive oil dressing… How could that not be wonderful?

And, did I mention that it is fast to make? It can be on your table in 35 minutes, although I like to leave it to marinate in the lime juice dressing longer. The salad can be served at room temperature or chilled.

This recipe is adapted from one I found on the Allrecipes site. I used to love Allrecipes but, alas, the site has undergone a major remake in recent months and lost its way.

Recipe: Black Bean and Couscous Salad

1 C. uncooked couscous
1 1/4 C. vegetable broth
3 T. extra virgin olive oil
3 T. fresh lime juice
1 t. red wine vinegar
1/2 t. ground cumin
6-8 chopped green onions
1/2 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1/4 to 1/2 C. chopped fresh cilantro
1 C. corn kernels
2 15-ounce cans of black beans, drained and rinsed
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Stir couscous into boiling broth. Cover, remove from heat and let couscous sit until you have prepared the rest of the ingredients (at least 5 minutes).

Combine olive oil, cumin, red wine vinegar and lime juice in a large bowl. Whisk to combine. Add green onions, red pepper, cilantro, corn and beans and toss to coat. I used my hands to be sure the mixture is thoroughly mixed. Add couscous to the bowl of vegetables and mix well. Season with salt and pepper to taste. I think this salad is at its best at room temperature where you can enjoy the flavor of the olive oil in the dressing, but it can also be served chilled. You can also drizzle a bit of olive oil on the salad at serving time or spritz a bit more lime juice on the salad.

I sprinkled a pinch of whole cumin seeds on my salad and garnished it with cilantro sprigs and slices of beautiful fresh tomatoes I bought at this week’s Farmers Market.

Here is the link to the AllRecipes site: Allrecipes Black Bean and Couscous Salad

SaveSave

SaveSave