Oui, Chef

S'More Tarts

I've had the thought of these little buggers marinating in the back of my brain for a while now.  In fact, about 6 months ago I titled a post "S'more Tarts" as a placeholder and reminder that the concept seemed worthy of a little investigation and culinary creativity.  Well, last week after having seen that empty post yet again, I decided it was time to get off my ass couch and get busy making a Oui, Chef version of these treats.

Broccoli and Tarragon Quiche

Fine Cooking Magazine recently ran a "Create Your Own Recipe" feature for how to make quiche.  As they've done with braises and stir-fries, they focus on the basic elements of a dish, then suggest all sorts of ways to inject your own creativity to come up with an original taste.  We took their basic crust and custard recipes and added veggies and cheese to our liking.  The result....quite delicious.

Roasted Tomato-Basil Tart with Sharp Cheddar

For those of you itching with the early onset of Spring fever and longing for the flavors of a new season, this post is for you.  Like many of you reading this blog I seldom buy fresh tomatoes once the height of tomato season has passed, preferring instead to cook with high quality canned tomatoes through the fall, winter and spring.  As is the case with their seasonal compatriots, asparagus and corn, I'd rather go without than suffer through tasteless, woody tomatoes in the off-season.

Apple Cranberry Crisp with Hazelnut Topping and Creme Anglaise

With just under a week to go before Thanksgiving, it's time to start training for the big day.  I'm not talking about kitchen time trials where you block out cooking times for your various dishes to make sure you have the oven and burner space to pull everything together in a timely fashion.  

No, I'm talking about deliberately increasing your food intake over the next week to prepare your body for the onslaught that is the Thanksgiving feast.  Just as you would never dream of running a marathon or swimming a mile without some serious conditioning, don't kid yourself into thinking that you can survive Thanksgiving without some pre-feast indulgence.

Sweet Potato Pie

I've made countless pumpkin pies over the years, but this was my first dance with a sweet potato version.  I was expecting it to be nearly identical to all the squash pies I've made over the years, and while it looks just like a pumpkin pie, and has a similar texture, in many ways this is an entirely different beast.  For me, this darling was head and shoulders above any pumpkin pie I've ever made, and in fact, now that I've found this recipe I'm not sure I'll ever go back to the pumpkin pies of my youth.

Jacques Pepins Apple Galette

I had the great fortune of cooking with Jacques Pépin for a whole week at the end of a multi-month culinary course I took at Boston University many years ago.  Cooking a variety of dishes under Jacques' direction marked the culmination of the course, as we students helped him prepare the dishes to be served to the guests at a large hands-off cooking demonstration he gave at the end of the week.

It was not only an honor and privilege to share a kitchen with Jacques, but it was also a blast.  He had mad skills and decades of great stories to share, but more importantly, he was a patient and dedicated teacher.  It was a fun filled week that I'm sure I'll never forget.

Fig Tart with Goat Cheese and Walnuts

What do you do when you have a dozen height-of-the-season fresh Calimyrna figs on the counter and a package of delicious Dufour all-butter puff pastry in the freezer?

Why you make this fig and walnut tart, of course.

Roasted Fennel, Goat Cheese and Asparagus Tart

Now that Spring is finally in high gear around here, I thought I'd share another meatless recipe highlighting the veritable king of the season, asparagus.  For such a fancy looking thing, there isn't a lot of work here, especially if you use a store bought crust.  There are a few steps to bringing it all together, but much of the time spent in making this is hands-off as your crust rests, and your veggies roast.

Milky Way Tart

A couple of days ago, Muppet, who had decided that we'd been making not nearly enough desserts as of late, sauntered over to our cookbook collection and pulled down Joanne Chang's fabulous Flour cookbook for a look-see.  Five minutes later she was waving the book in my face, showing me all of the post-it tags that marked recipes she wanted to try.  As most of them were rather large layer cakes, I asked her to take another swing through the book and try to find something a little more modest in size, "oohhh...good idea, she said, "bikini season's right around the corner"

My thoughts exactly.

A Chocolate Lovers Tart

 

On the ocassion of our college guy gracing us with his presence at the beginning of his spring break, I decided to pull out all the stops for dinner this past Saturday.  We started with his all-time favorite, steak with sauce bernaise to which we added a new treat, creamed kale (recipe to follow soon), and to finish off the feast this awesome chocolate tart.