Browned Butter Fig Tart

I served this with a bit of crème fraiche (which it didn't need) that I had on hand.

I love fresh figs! I've had them almost every morning for breakfast for the past two weeks. I just eat them straight... sans balsamic vinegar, honey, goat cheese  ....prosciutto.

Figs have been plentiful this year. I still haven't replaced the tree I lost last year to frost, but they have been available at the market at reasonable prices, so I have been returning home with two or three baskets every week.

This weekend I thought I'd try them in a tart. I toyed with the idea of a fig tart with goat cheese and salted caramel sauce...but in the end I decided on figs nestled in a browned butter and sour cream custard, sprinkled very  lightly with cinnamon, brown sugar... and a touch of lemon zest.. heaven!

This tart was very good. The flavour of the figs were pronounced.. you could make out the browned butter with just a hint of cinnamon and lemon ... and the whole dessert was not too sweet. I might make it again next year.. that is if there's enough figs left after enjoying them, just as they are.

Pad Thai; Thai Fried Noodles

(2 servings)

I have a lot of delicious tamarind paste on hand, and it's one of the ingredients in Pad Thai.

The four main flavours for the sauce are salty, sour,sweet and spicy hot. I like to start with about 3 tbsp of fish sauce to which I add both tamarind and sugar in small amounts until the salty, sour and sweet seem balanced to me. Then I adjust the heat by adding  red chili flakes to this mixture. Needless to say this can be very subjective and I imagine that might be why Pad Thai tastes so different from place to place.

Palacsinta; Hungarian Crepes

(8 x 9" crepes)

Along Bloor Street in Toronto, between Spadina and Bathurst used to be several Hungarian restaurants. I remember having palacsinta filled with apricot jam and dusted with icing sugar there. It's been years since I had any, so I made some this weekend.

Palacsinta are basically crepes with a filling; often sweet although they can be savory as well. My grandmother used to mix sparkling mineral water into the batter just before cooking them. She said that made them lighter.

2 eggs
1 tsp sugar
pinch of salt
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup unbleached flour
up to 1/4 cup sparkling water

butter (or oil) for frying

apricot spread
icing sugar, for dusting
2 tbsp walnuts, toasted and chopped

In a bowl whisk together the eggs, sugar and salt until they are frothy.

Whisk in the milk and flour and keep whisking until you have a smooth, lump-free batter. Set aside for about 15 minutes.

Heat a small amount of butter or oil in a skillet.

Stir the mineral water into the batter in small amounts until you have the consistency of thick cream.

Ladle a small amount of batter into the skillet and tilt the skillet back and forth until the batter covers the bottom evenly. Cook the crepe until the edges brown and the top begins to feel dry. Carefully flip the crepe and cook the other side for a bit.

For each palacsinta, keep adding small amounts of butter or oil as needed until all the batter is used up.

Spread a small amount of apricot spread over 1/3 of each crepe and roll them up, beginning with the side where you've placed the spread. Dust them with icing sugar and sprinkle with walnuts.

The palacsinta can be served warm or cold.

Thai Style Beef Salad

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(3 servings)

The sirloin fajita steaks looked nice this week, so I decided to make this salad. There's still a heat wave here in Texas with temperatures in the triple digits.. this cool and tangy beef salad hit the spot.

Mango Chutney

(about 1 pint)

This past year in particular, I have been shocked by some of the prices at the grocery store. A small jar of mango chutney this week, $6. The main ingredient was sugar and the stuff wasn't even organic.

I spent about five minutes looking at the ingredients of several different brands and decided to make my own.  How hard could it be?

Mangoes were on sale, 79 cents each, so I grabbed two of them. I also picked up some crystallized ginger in the bulk food section thinking that would make a nice addition.

I wasn't sure about the sugar/vinegar ratio, so in a separate bowl I kept adding sugar and vinegar until it seemed balanced to me. I ended up with 3/4 cup sugar and 1/2 cup vinegar. When I added this to the onion, chile and mango mixture, it was still working for me.

This chutney is delicious. More flavourful and less sweet than the commercial brands I've been buying. I ended up with slightly more than a pint (I thought it would make more); next time I will double this recipe.

I served this chutney with some butter chicken I made this week..

Chicken with Tamarind and Hatch Chile

(about 4 servings)

Hatch chile are appearing everywhere in the markets at the moment and they are incredibly cheap to boot. They range in heat from mild to hot. I used medium ones for this.

This delicious dish has a wonderful range of flavours; sour, sweet, salty and of course a small kick provided by the hatch chile.

Tamarind Paste

(about 2 1/2 -3 cups)

I love tamarind which I first encountered while living in an East Indian community in Toronto. I've tried various pastes and concentrated forms of it, but eventually I realised I preferred the taste of  "wet tamarind" the best. It involves a bit of work, but I process the entire package at once and freeze the remainder in ice cube trays for later use.

Wet tamarind is sold in small blocks and I look for packages which feel soft, avoiding the hard ones.

Cheddar and Sunflower Seed Crackers

(about 40-50 crackers)

I didn't have any blue cheese on hand, but I have found replacing a tablespoon or two of cheddar for blue cheese gives these crackers an added depth of flavour.

I rarely bake the entire batch in one go. I like to treat these like icebox cookies.

Rouladen Filled with Bratwurst

(4 servings)

I was in the mood for rouladen but wanted to try something a bit different from the ones I usually make.

Whole Foods packaged their bratwurst as bulk this week. It's usually well seasoned and not too fatty, so I thought it would make an interesting filling for my rouladen.

I used a hot mustard instead of Dijon to provide a nice contrast to the sweet and sour sauce resulting from the red wine and chopped apple.

These rouladen turned out even better than I had hoped for and I'll definitely be making these again.

Grape and Cabernet Sorbet

(about 1 quart)

Two weeks ago I brought home a container of Ciao Bella's Blackberry and Cabernet Sorbet. It was amazing, so I decided to try to make something similar at home.

I wasn't able to find a blackberry juice concentrate and I was looking for something which was organic as well as 100% juice. I brought home a couple of grape and raspberry concentrates instead; both worked very well with the Cabernet.

The first batch I made was quite good, but too boozy. My second batch was a bit on the sweet side. This batch was my third try and I was very happy with it. I heated up the Cabernet, cooking off some of its alcohol. The resulting sorbet balanced the grape and Cabernet flavours nicely without being boozy, the sweetness and texture seemed just right to me.

This sorbet isn't rock hard out of the freezer because despite boiling the Cabernet and water mixture, some of the alcohol remains in it.

1 cup Cabernet
1 cup water
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 12 oz container 100% juice concentrated frozen grape or raspberry juice
1-2 tbsp light agave nectar, (optional)

Combine the Cabernet, water and cornstarch in a saucepan. Whisk until the cornstarch is well combined, then set the mixture over medium-low heat and bring to a boil. Boil for about 2 minutes, whisking all the time, then remove the saucepan from heat.

Stir in the frozen concentrated juice until the juice has melted and combined with the wine mixture. Refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

Check to see if the mixture is sweet enough for you. It should be slightly sweeter to taste, as it will become less sweet as the sorbet freezes. Stir in the agave nectar, if necessary.

Process in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer. Despite bringing the wine to a boil  for two minutes, there will still be some alcohol remaining, slowing down the freezing process. I left my ice cream machine on an additional 20 minutes or so.

Swiss Steak

(2-3 servings)

My kitchen is still rather hot because in this heat wave it's proven a bit more difficult than I thought to get bids for my A/C. I was tired of snacking and decided to get up early yesterday morning to prepare this before the heat became unbearable. I picked up a package of chuck tender steak which I wasn't familiar with, but this cut of meat turned out to be perfect for braising.

I cooked this swiss steak on the stove-top, and reheated it today for lunch. It held up well and was a nice change from sandwiches and crackers.