A Stack of Dishes

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Rainbow Carrot Lentil Salad with Pomegranate Molasses Dressing

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Carrot Lentil Pomogranate molasses Salad- A Stack of Dishes

The Fall is nipping at my heels, and though I still feel like hanging on to Summer, this rainbow carrot lentil salad brings in the richer flavors of the season in a way that makes me feel like it’s going to be alright. That gorgeous full on summer sun gave us platters of warm tomatoes and bursting berries that fueled my sandy romps to the beach and late night meals on the deck. As the days are going by the long golden light of the fall is creeping up on us and so I’m starting to look forward to duskier and rounder flavors.

Last week I was at the farmers market in Union Square and I was once again blown away. So many colors, so many textures! The peaches are heading out now, but here come the apples, the squashes and these gorgeous rainbow carrots. Yellow, orange, ruby…they are so pretty they look like candy! Who can resist really? I think between now [Read more…] about Rainbow Carrot Lentil Salad with Pomegranate Molasses Dressing

Hot Days | Cold Soba Noodles

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It’s not surprising to have hot days in August, but man oh man!, has it been brutal lately here in NYC. On top of this, lately my days are filled stomping up and down the concrete canyons of the city. This means that if not prepared I’m catching meals on the go. Often this translates into wasted time searching expensive tasteless food, which I often regret. These cold soba noodles are quick to make, easy to transport, and fantastically soul satisfying. 

soba noodles-165

 

Preparing fresh soba noodles- A Stack of Dishes

I purchase my noodles fresh, which oddly I find are less costly than the dried versions. Even better is the fact that they cook up in just a few minutes. So pot on, water to boil, toss in for 3, and boom! Good to go. How how cool is that?

At first I thought I would make a peanuty version of cold noodles. You know the kind, with the cucumber chunks added [Read more…] about Hot Days | Cold Soba Noodles

Rustic Free Form Asparagus Tart

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Free Form Asparagus Tart - A Stack of Dishes

This is a first for me. With all my years of baking and cooking I’ve never made a free form tart, sweet or savoy. The beauty of it is that this rustic free formed asparagus tart was not entirely planned. It was more of a- well I’ve got this, and I’ve got that, and I don’t have the other thing…

You see, last night I had a few friends over. All relatively new friends, and a couple that I had yet to meet who are new to the neighborhood like myself. Now that I am settled into my new place I have the where-with-all to do some entertaining- which, as you know, is my absolute favorite thing to do. However, my place is small, and not all my baking bits and bobs made it into the tiny, albeit genius, storage system I have here. Alas dear Alice, there is only so much space in this Wonderland.

I also have a superbly ridiculous stove in this new place. A mere 24″ wide, which offers great challenges to my pot and pan array. Not everything fits!  On top of that, the inside does not have rack ridges for the entire height of the oven space, especially in the middle. What that translates to is that the things I am baking are either too low in the oven, or too high.

So far this has lead to a few too many burnt bottoms. Can you imagine? A professional baker for nearly 25 years and I am burning things now?

I do not lament however, it’s part of the learning curve- I WILL make this work. Nothing, my friends, is ever perfect. Nothing ever, so why fight it?

So back to tart making. For my guests I planned this long tart, but at this moment I have only the one pan.

Asparagus Dill Tart - A Stack of Dishes

I had some leftover filling, a bunch of pastry dough, and just a few asparagus spears, and some of the trimmed ends. I also had a bit of goat cheese left over in the fridge that I felt I should use up too. So this is what happened- No pan=free form tart on parchment paper. No available cookie sheet that fits the oven so I used the broiling pan top piece.

Free form asparagus tart-A Stack of Dishes

This all went very well, but as you can see from the dark paper, I placed it on the bottom rack of the oven first. That paper got toasty pretty fast, which cast off a bit of smoke. The result was the piercing scream of my smoke detector.

Who was it that said it’s not party unless the smoke alarm goes off? Somebody? Anybody? Ha! well, it made me laugh (and flap wildly at the smoke detector to get the damn thing to simmer down). 

In the end, even when things don’t go exactly as planned- with good food and good people, it’s always a success.

Don’t you agree?

Free Form Asparagus Tart

(or traditional tart pan too)

makes two

 

1 recipe of pastry dough

2 cups whole milk ricotta

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 clove garlic, minced

1 bunch asparagus

1/4 cup minced dill weed

2 oz goat cheese

drizzle of olive oil

 

Prepare the dough, roll it out and either press into a tart pan and trim, or lay flat on a sheet of parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium sized bowl combine the ricotta, eggs, milk, garlic and some salt and pepper. Stir to thoroughly combine. Fill tart pan with ricotta mix, alternatively spread filling in center of free form tart, covering 2/3 of the circle. For the long tart I simply place the asparagus on top and sprinkled with dill. For the free form tart I chopped the asparagus ends (not the dried out part) and tossed them on top along with the dill.

Then I coated the long spears with a little olive oil added them on top. Then I simply folded up the sides of the dough. My dough was soft and very breakable, so I just tucked and patched where I needed to. All part of the charm. In the end I pulled up the heads of the asparagus so that they stuck out from under the dough. A sprinkling of goat cheese on top and an extra drizzle of olive oil on top and into the oven it went.

Depending on the pan and the thickness of the filling, baking time should take about 35 minutes. I keep an eye on mine since this oven seems to have a mind of it’s own- and with the free form tart, after I nearly burned down the house I moved it up to the higher rack. Baking as an art- not a science. Hoo yah!

Serve warm-preferable amongst friends.