OlyveOyl

This has been such an easy dessert to put together that I have been keeping a container of chocolate pastry cream in the fridge for “ emergencies “. The round French Butter cookie bottom was dipped in Barbancourt rum and proved to be a delicious addition. The oval wafer cookie, which I have now made too many times 😊, might also benefit by a dip in Kahlua or Grand Marnier or…any lovely liqueur of choice.

So happy you will try something similar, it was really very tasty! I failed to mention the sautéed garlic! Can’t be without that!

Chicken on rice with sautéed onions, mushrooms. A few spoonsful of olive salad , oil cured black olives and finely diced preserved lemon joined the party. Finished with some dry Marsala, sage and rosemary from the garden.

Cookie sandwich?

Just a spoon will be necessary!

The can must be covered with a couple of inches of water, I use my stovetop pressure cooker although I might also have used the IP. As you probably know, the point of waiting until room temperature, is to equalize pressure in can and the water in PC. I have done it a dozen times at least over the years and have never had a problem. This includes the can with the pull top lid. I also remove label, sometimes put it on a low trivet, sometimes not. IIRC, there is a possibility of rust forming from the can seam or edge, I also placed the can on several layers of paper towels. Also, 20 minutes gives a very deep caramel, 25 minutes, very dark and very thick.

I use my stovetop pressure cooker and it takes about 20 minutes. Do not remove can until water in PC reaches room temperature.

Plum, raspberry , blackberry tart with a pate sucrée crust. Pastry stars on top for a little extra crunch.

Italian prune plum cake, a soft and tender cake that makes a lovely breakfast/brunch cake. Adapted from “The easy strawberry cake” at Natasha’s Kitchen , this is a favorite of ours made with almost any fruit. Topped with flaked almonds and a sprinkling of turbinado sugar for a little extra crunch.

Chocolate pastry cream made in the micro with a dab of sour cream and a raspberry.

Crab cakes, slaw and a pear, chocolate hazelnut cake for dessert.

@JoNorvelleWalker I had a fleeting thought about cocoa, I have Valrhona and Cocoa Barry but 1) I wondered if the flour should be reduced a bit , 2) didn’t have a guesstimate on how much cocoa, 3) felt the taste would probably be better with chocolate. I would love to be educated as the cocoa would be easier. So if anyone has used cocoa, please chime in!

@JoNorvelleWalker and then there’s this…chocolate pastry cream, very luxurious! 100g. 72% chocolate added to finished pastry cream, 250g milk, 1 egg, 50g sugar, 2T Wondra flour, pinch salt, vanilla. This has become way too easy to make!

Red plum tart with almonds, a very tender cake due to the sour cream incorporated in the batter. This was adaptable from Easy Strawberry Cake at Natasha’s Kitchen. This is half in a 7” cake mold, the cake has a generous rise. I also made a plum compote to serve with it.

Lunch today was mortadella , burrata and pistachio pesto on sesame bread. Tangerine curd tarts, blueberries and crushed pistachios were the mini tarts for dessert.

Tangerine curd tart, blueberries and crushed pistachios. I made just two mini tarts as I had the unbaked tart shells frozen, while they quickly baked, I made a tangerine curd in the micro for the filling. These chilled for a little bit, topped with berries, nuts, and dessert was ready!

I have one or two of those and use them mostly to expel water/liquid from fruits or vegetables. I last used it on cabbage when I was making sauerkraut. The older models had a spring connected to the lid and are more effective in applying pressure rather than the screw down plate which I found to be less effective.

A couple of small tarts today with a little extra pastry dough, tart dough has some almond flour and confectionery sugar, based on one of Ed Lepard’s from his book “Short and Sweet”. Pastry filling is from @JoNorvelleWalker, berries from the Farmers Market.

@ElsieD if you just google Tarte Maman, Raymond Blanc, I’m sure you will get the info you are looking for, I no longer have the link as make it from memory.

Peach blueberry custard tart, adapted from Raymond Blanc’s Tarte Maman. The peaches and blueberries are cooked for twenty minutes and the custard is then poured over. This takes just 10/15 minutes to set the custard. Usually made with apples, but it works well with other fruit.

Lemon, peach, verveine ( lemon verbena) , yogurt cake. From the book , “Gateau”, a favorite cake of ours. This has been made many times, raspberries, blackberries, even sans fruit , it’s a fine textured crumb with a lovely flavor from the verveine. The cake was also brushed with a verveine syrup prior to dusting with confectionery sugar.

Today for lunch we had corn salad, red onion, basil slivers. sliced chicken breast with a mayo/ sour cream, tarragon, basil, chives, parsley sauce. Ginormous chiogga beets vinaigrette with arugula from today’s FM. Desset was a lemon, peach, yogurt , verbena cake, peach sauce and peach sorbet.

@Smithy The crust is more like a pâte brisée, 125g pastry flour, 63 g butter, “ some grated Asiago cheese”, fresh herbs, a tablespoon-ish of tomato paste and harissa, 2-3 T sour cream, salt, a little sugar. Not sure a puff pastry crust would work well with this type of tart, but perhaps the phyllo could work ..worth a try!

@Shel_B thank you so much. I just wrote down what I did so I hopefully can recreate it. Any veggie would be nice on top.

Tart du jour is a ricotta, pistachio , zucchini tart. The zucs were broiled and set aside, ricotta, Asiago, pistachios were added to the frozen crust and baked for 25 minutes. The zucs / tomatoes were added and the tart was returned to the oven for five minutes. A dusting of Asiago and a sprinkling of herbs and lunch was ready. We had this with an arugula salad and lemon mustard dressing .