Free-Form Summer Fruit Tartlets for Two

 16 September 2021

Recipe from America's Test Kitchen

This recipe is from a recent edition of the ATK TV show. It uses some of my favorite summer fruits and looks to be quick and easy to make. Fortunately I decided to make it just before the end of the summer fruit season here. If it's a good recipe, I may have to wait until next summer to make it again.

Flour and salt were combined in a food processor. Small pieces of unsalted butter, frozen, were scattered over the flour mixture and processed until the mixture resembled coarse sand. Ice water was added in one tablespoon portions and processed until the dough holds together when pressed between fingers. The recipe said 2-3 tablespoons of water but I needed just 1. The dough was dumped onto a lightly floured surface and formed into a rough rectangle about 3" by 8". It was then massaged, a technique called fraisage, where it was smeared with the heel of the hand into flakes. These were reassembled into a rectangle and the process was repeated. The dough was divided in half and each half formed into a 3-inch disk. These were wrapped and refrigerated for an hour. It took about 25 minutes to make the dough to this point.

The dough was removed from the refrigerator and rolled into 7-inch circles between two sheets of parchment paper. These were returned to the refrigerator to chill for 15-30 minutes. I'm not very good at rolling dough into a nice circle, thus these will be "rustic" tartlets. Many of my pastry desserts turn out to be "rustic".

The filling was made from using wedges of tree-ripened peaches (any stone fruit could be used) and blackberries (raspberries or blueberries would also be good.) The fruit was gently tossed with some sugar, I didn't need much because the fruit was ripe. It was then mounded into the center of the dough circles leaving  a 1½-inch border. The border was pleated around the berries, pinching the layers of dough together. Finally, the dough was brushed with a little water and dusted with sugar. The tartlets were baked for about 45 minutes at 400°. Total time was three hours, but much of this was waiting for the dough to chill after being worked.

We liked these desserts and look forward to having them next summer. We shared each one so got four servings from the two tartlets. They kept well and were as good the second day as the first. They are easy to make and good to eat. The crust was flaky and buttery and the overall dessert was not too sweet. This is an easy pastry dessert to make and so good if you are new to working with pastry dough. The flour and sugar on the parchment burned during baking and was a little bitter, being a little neater would solve this.

St. Louis-Style Pizza

 31 August 2021

Recipe from February 2010 Cook's Country

I've made several different kinds of pizza and written about them in this blog—New York pizza, one-hour pizza, Chicago pan pizza, Chicago thin crust pizza, Detroit-style pizza, French Bread pizza, grilled pizza, cast iron pizza, and probably more—and enjoyed making and eating pretty much all of them. So when I learned there was a St. Louis-style pizza I knew that I would want to try it, too. 

This is a thin-crust pizza made with a dough that does not include yeast. After turning on the oven, a no-cook sauce was made by mixing together canned tomato sauce, tomato paste, chopped fresh basil, sugar, and dried oregano. Next, the dough was made by mixing together flour, cornstarch, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Water and olive oil were mixed together then stirred into the flour mixture. The dough was kneaded briefly until it came together. Half of the dough was rolled into a very thin 12" circle on parchment paper. The dough was topped with half of the sauce and a mixture of grated mozzarella cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, and a little liquid smoke. (The recipe specified shredded white American cheese but I couldn't find that. The St. Louis recipe used Provel cheese which is not widely available. So what I made is my version of the Test Kitchen's version of St. Louis pizza.) The pizza was baked for about 10 minutes on a pizza stone that had been heated in a 475° oven for about 10 minutes. The remaining dough, sauce, and cheese were refrigerated and used to make a second pizza after two days. Total time to prepare the pizza was just an hour.

The very thin crust was nice and crisp but with some chew so it was not as dry and crispy as a saltine cracker. The liquid smoke, just three drops, provided just a hint of smokiness but otherwise the toppings were not very distinctive. This pizza was probably the easiest and quickest to prepare of any pizza recipes that I've tried. We enjoyed it better the second time, giving it a few more minutes in the oven to crisp up the crust improved it. Nonetheless I don't expect to be making this again, I prefer the flavor of a good yeast-dough crust and miss it in this pizza.

Banana-Walnut Muffins

 6 July 2021

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, May 2021

I recently made corn muffins that, for several reasons, I preferred to corn bread. Not only did they taste good and have a good texture, but there were advantages in having single-serving sized portions ready to go. So when a recipe for banana-walnut muffins appeared I wondered if the same might be true, would these be a convenient form of banana bread?

The dry ingredients (bread flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt) were whisked together in a bowl. Six bananas were mashed then mixed with sugar, eggs, oil and vanilla extract. The flour mixture was added to the wet ingredients and whisked until combined. Chopped toasted walnuts were mixed in. The batter was portioned into twelve oiled muffin cups and the tops were sprinkled with sugar. These were baked at 425° until a toothpick inserted in the middle came out clean. Total time to prepare these muffins was just 50 minutes.

I may have used too much banana, I don't remember if I measured the mashed banana to see if there was 2 cups; since the bananas were not large I used 6 instead of the 4-5 large bananas listed in the recipe. The muffins were good but did not have as strong a banana flavor as my favorite banana bread. The sugar sprinkled on the tops almost overpowered the banana flavor. The muffins were good and very easy to make but they are not a replacement for my favorite banana bread.

Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Grilled Pineapple-Red Onion Salsa

 30 June 2021

Recipe from America's Test Kitchen

Our favorite pork tenderloin recipe is prepared in the oven featuring a maple glaze. I have written about this and many other recipes for this tender cut of meat and here is yet another. Our attraction to this cut may be in part because of its size. At one pound a whole pork tenderloin is just right for us for two meals and it is quick to cook.

I halved the published recipe which was for two tenderloins. Salt, sugar, cumin, and chile powder were combined and rubbed on the trimmed tenderloin. The recipe used chipotle chile powder, I substituted plain chile powder. The gas grill was preheated then two of the three burners were turned off. The tenderloin was placed on the hot side of the grill and cooked until all sides were well browned. The tenderloin was moved to the cool side of the grill and pineapple and red onion wedges that had been sprayed with vegetable oil were placed on the hot side, covered, and cooked until both sides were charred and softened.  The pork was cooked to 140°.  The tenderloins were tented with aluminum foil and rested. In the meantime the pineapple and onion were roughly chopped and added to a food processor. To this was added cilantro, jalapeño (seeds and ribs removed, in place of Serrano), lime juice, oil, and some of the spice mixture. This was processed until it was roughly chopped and then served with the tenderloin. Total time was 65 minutes.

The pork was good though maybe a little overcooked as it was a little chewy. The rub did not provide as much flavor as expected, but this was compensated by the very good salsa which was the best part of the dish. Even though I over processed it, resulting in a muddy, juicy salsa, we liked it very much. The flavor was dominated by the pineapple which went very well with the pork.