Blackberry Lime Tart

19 Jul

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As I imagine it is with most people in the PNW, I have a seriously tense, love/hate relationship with blackberries. Himalayan blackberries are a scourge to gardens and yards all over the city this time of year, their prickly vines and tentacle-like roots popping up and taking hold every single place you don’t want them to be. These blackberry vines have been known to destroy public parks, obliterate native plants, and—god help me—produce some of the most delicious free fruit you’re likely to taste on this side of the country.

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This tart is a summer dream, hitting all the right notes with its zingy lime zest, perfect berries, creamy mascarpone and yogurt filling, and a wonderfully crumbly, barely sweetened crust to pull everything together.

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Last Year: Watermelon, Cucumber, and Feta Salad with Mint and Tangerine Zucchini Bread

Blackberry Lime Tart

 Crust:

Generous 1 cup of graham cracker crumbs (from about 16 graham cracker squares)

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1 tablespoon sugar

½ teaspoon finely grated fresh lime zest

pinch of salt

Filling:

¼  cup freshly squeezed lime juice

1 tablespoon finely grated fresh lime zest

1/3 cup sugar

1 tablespoon flour

¾ cup plain yogurt

3 ounces (about 1/3 cup) mascarpone cheese (you could also use cream cheese)

3 large eggs

pinch of salt

1 to 2 cups of blackberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a medium bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, sugar, lime zest, and salt. Stir until the butter is completely incorporated. Press the crumbs into a 10-inch tart pan, trying to keep the thickness of the crust as uniform as possible (if you can’t don’t worry—an uneven crust has never brought a pox upon anyone and their family). Bake the tart crust in the oven for 10 minutes, until it just begins to barely brown at the edges. Remove and set aside while you make the filling.

In the bowl of a food processor or blender, combine lime juice, lime zest, sugar, flour, yogurt, mascarpone or cream cheese, eggs, and pinch of salt. Process until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Pour the filling into the tart crust, and bake in the center of the oven until the top of the tart has puffed up and the middle has set, about 30 to 40 minutes, checking the tart consistently after the 30 minute mark to make sure it doesn’t burn. The top should be just touched with golden spots.

Remove the tart from the oven, then immediately sprinkle on the berries. The top of the tart will sink a bit, and the berries will gently sink in along with them.

Refrigerate the tart until chilled through, at least 2 hours, or overnight. Serve with whipped cream, if desired.

Makes 1 10-inch tart, enough to serve 8 to 10 people.

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Fennel and Tomato Pasta Salad with Balsamic Dressing

12 Jul

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Found long ago on Epicurious, I’ve been making a version of this pasta salad for a few years now. Though I don’t follow the ingredient list to the letter, one element of the salad that remains unchanged is the dressing. With a perfect balance of flavors, this is a pasta salad dressing to keep on file for the duration of your life, and preferably the lives of your offspring as well.

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The original recipe called for tomatoes and thinly sliced fennel to adorn the salad, but I love adding in whatever I have on hand to make the flavors and textures a bit different each time. Sometimes I throw in roughly chopped spinach leaves, thinly sliced ribs of red and yellow bell pepper, or a couple of cups of baby arugula.

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Last Year: Grilled Pineapple and Jalapeño Salsa and Lime Pecan Bars

Fennel and Tomato Pasta Salad with Balsamic Dressing

Adapted from Epicurious

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling

2 tablespoons tomato paste

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 medium garlic cloves, finely minced

3 cups diced, seeded plum tomatoes

2 cups thinly sliced fresh fennel (from about 1 large bulb)

1 cup chopped fresh basil

½ cup chopped fresh Italian parsley

6 green onions, white part only, chopped

½ cup coarsely chopped Kalamata olives

juice from 1 large lemon

salt and pepper to taste

1 pound pasta (penne or farfalle work well here)

optional: Instead of 3 cups of tomatoes, use 1 cup of tomatoes, 1 cup of sliced bell peppers, and 2 cups of chopped spinach leaves

also optional: ½ cup crumbled feta cheese

Whisk olive oil, tomato paste, vinegar, and garlic in a small bowl. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Combine tomatoes (if you’re using a combination of vegetables here, leave out the spinach leaves until you toss everything together with the pasta right before serving), fennel, basil, parsley, green onions, and olives in a large bowl. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, toss to combine, and allow vegetable mixture to stand at least 20 minutes, or up to 2 hours, tossing occasionally.

Cook pasta in a large pot of salted water. Drain, drizzle with a bit of olive oil, then toss and set aside to cool a bit. Toss every few minutes to keep pasta from sticking together, and to help it cool.

When cooled, transfer pasta to a large bowl. Squeeze over lemon juice, and toss to combine. Pour dressing over the pasta, and toss to combine. Add vegetable mixture, and toss once more. If using, toss in crumbled feta. Taste for seasoning. Add more salt and pepper if desired.

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Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookie and Caramel Ice Cream Sandwiches

5 Jul

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I did not come up with this genius ice cream sandwich combination. The combo was the work of Asha Dornfest, the lovely mind behind Parent Hacks and the author of several different books. Asha was able to dream up her own ice cream sandwich combination when she made a donation to this great campaign, of which I was greatly honored to be a part. Ask for an ice cream sandwich combo and I shall deliver.

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One warning about this very delicious caramel ice cream–it stays very soft, even after a prolonged freezing. Consider this when biting into your ice cream sandwich, and anticipate some sticky activity.

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Last Year: Blueberry Cream Pie in a Gingersnap Crust and Olive, Lemon, and Herb-Stuffed Sole 

Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookie and Caramel Ice Cream Sandwiches

Caramel Ice Cream

Adapted slightly from Room for Dessert, by David Lebovitz

1 ½ cups sugar

1 vanilla bean, split

2 ¾ cups heavy cream

¾ cup milk, not skim

pinch of sea salt

5 egg yolks

Sprinkle an even layer of sugar into a heavy, medium-sized saucepan (at least 2 quarts). Add the vanilla bean, then cook the sugar over medium heat until it begins to liquefy around the edges. As the sugar melts, swirl the pan to move the sugar around, and occasionally give the sugar a stir with a wooden spoon or heat-resistant spatula to prevent it from burning in any one spot.

Once the sugar has begun to darken, it will finish cooking very quickly. When the edges begin to bubble and the lighter, amber-colored sugar has begun to smoke, remove the pan from the heat and very quickly pour in the heavy cream, stirring to dissolve the caramel. The mixture will bubble and steam furiously, so be cautious with your pouring and stirring. If your caramel begins to seize up, do not fear. Simply return the pan to low heat, and gently stir the caramel cream mixture until the caramel pieces dissolve.

Whisk the milk and salt into the caramel mixture. Lightly whisk together the egg yolks in a bowl, and very slowly add the caramel cream, whisking constantly as you pour in the hot liquid. Return the mixture to the saucepan in which you cooked the caramel, and gently heat the custard mixture over low heat until it reaches around 165 to 170 degrees Fahrenheit. The mixture should easily coat the back of a spoon.

Strain the custard mixture into a medium or large bowl, and refrigerate until completely chilled, overnight, or at a minimum, 3 hours. When chilled, pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions. When ice cream is frozen, remove to a container and freeze several hours or overnight, until firmed up enough for scooping.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Sandwich Cookies

Adapted from The Perfect Scoop, by David Lebovitz

2/3 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

6 tablespoons packed dark brown sugar

½ teaspoon baking soda

¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon salt

1 ½ cups rolled oats, not instant or quick-cooking

½ cup dark or semi-sweet chocolate chunks or chips

½ cup unflavored vegetable oil

3 tablespoons milk

½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 large egg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line 2 or 3 baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, both sugars, baking soda, cinnamon and salt, being sure to break up any large lumps of brown sugar. Stir in the oats and chocolate chunks.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, then pour in the oil and milk. Add the vanilla and egg and stir until the batter is smooth.

Scoop the batter onto a prepared baking sheet, measuring out each scoop to be a heaping tablespoon. You will be able to fit 6 scoops on 1 sheet—try to fit any more and your cookies will spread into one another. Flatten out each scoop slightly, until the top is no longer rounded.

Bake a sheet of cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, until golden at the edges, rotating the sheets halfway through baking (Lebovitz’s book dictates that you bake the cookies for twice as long as this, for reasons unknown. I followed his instructions at first, but the cookies came out burned and hard as rocks). Remove cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Finish baking all cookies in this manner. You should end up with 16 large cookies.

To assemble ice cream sandwiches, top one cookie with a generous scoop of ice cream, then top the ice cream with another cookie. Press down slightly to help the ice cream fill out the circumference of the cookie. Freeze ice cream sandwiches, wrapped in plastic wrap, if you wish, until firm enough to not splat out everywhere when you bite down on them, at least a few hours.

Makes 8 large ice cream sandwiches, with ice cream leftover (yay!).

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