Zucchini Tart

So, my husband has started calculating the nutritional information for the foods that I cook most frequently.  Where is the fun in that?  Yesterday he looks up from his computer and informs me that I don't cook low calorie food.  I think I had a stick of butter in my hand when he was talking.  My response to him was something along the lines of "Portion control" "Calories - whatever" and "Go play outside."  I prepare lots of low calorie food.  It's called salad.  Kale, arugula, half a dozen different lettuces, sprouts, cabbages, root vegetables.  "What's for dinner?"  "Salad!" (Emphasis mine, not the family's.)   I love a giant bowl of raw veggie goodness dressed with, as claims my true love, a lemon passed over the top.  Ha!  Not squeezed, just, you know, in the vicinity of the salad.  Um, sorta true.

Life is about finding a balance.  A big bowl of salad and a slice of zucchini tart are the perfect pairing for me.


The Dough

A single recipe of dough yields more than enough for the 9.5 inch glass pie dish that I bake this tart in.  I always double this dough recipe, divide it into thirds and I've got dough for 3 tarts.  (Wrapped, the uncooked dough keeps well in the fridge for a few day.)

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
1/4 salt
8 Tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/4 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons of ice water

In food processor fitted with steal blade, mix flours and salt.  Add butter gradually, pulsing food processor until you have pea sized pieces.  Add sour cream and and lemon juice pulse to incorporate.  Gradually add ice water until dough just starts to hold together.  Remove from food processor and shape into ball and form into disc (or 3 balls/3 discs of equal size if you are doubling the recipe). Wrap in plastic and chill in refrigerator for at least one hour.



The Filling

I like to use small zucchini because their seeds are nearly non-existant and that keeps the tart from getting soggy.  Larger zucchini can be sliced and then blotted dry with paper towels or the seeds can be scraped out.

2 small zucchini, sliced into 1/8 inch thick rounds (I use a mandoline slicer for uniform slices)
1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 large clove of garlic
1/2 cup ricotta
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan
1 egg
1/8 teaspoon course sea salt
1 Tablespoon chopped parsley


   
Preparing the Tart

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Smash garlic and mix with olive oil in a small bowl.  In separate bowl, combine ricotta, Parmesan, egg, salt, and parsley. On a lightly floured surface, roll disc of dough into a 10-inch circle.  Transfer dough to pie dish. It should cover bottom and about 1 inch up the sides.  Brush half the garlic/olive oil mixture over the dough.  Spread the cheese mixture evenly over the bottom of the dough.  Starting at the outer edge of the cheese layer, layer the zucchini in tight spiral finishing in the center.  Brush the remaining olive oil mixture over the top of the tart.  Bake for 30-35 minutes until crust turns golden.  Let cool for 5 minutes before cutting. 

  

This dish can be served hot, room temperature or anywhere in between.  My favorite way to eat it is with lemon freshly zested over the top.  It's also delicious with freshly ground pepper and a little dollop of dijon mustard on the side.

New York Style Cheesecake

Spring arrived yesterday all at once.  Sunshine, warm breezes, leaves unfurling on the trees. First mosquito, first June bug, patio table covered with yellow pollen.  I've spent most of my time outside for the past few days but still got to benefit from time in the kitchen.  I threw together another cheesecake together Monday evening, cooled it and tucked it in the fridge to chill and firm up. Then I got to enjoy a piece for lunch yesterday! Finally! This was the recipe I was searching for. 

I used only lemon zest, no lemon juice.  I added sour cream but no flour.  I made a crust that came almost all the way up the sides.  Instead of a heavy sauce, I thawed some cherries and blueberries from the freezer, smashed them with a fork and it was the perfect subtle topping for the rich cake.  I'm a dessert lover, but it really is impossible to eat too small a piece of this.  Cheesecakes are rich and this one doesn't disappoint.  Oh course, to drive the point home, my dear husband calculated the calorie content.  This is celebration food and I am celebrating Spring!  

Troubleshooting

The two biggest problems people seem to have when baking cheesecake are cracking and falling.  If you don't want cracks then use a water bath.  It keeps the humidity high and the temperature steady. The other problem is a cheesecake that falls in the middle.   Assuming the cheesecake was adequately cooked, falling cheesecake is usually the result of overbearing the batter.  I solve this by using my trusty handheld mixer on low and constantly scraping down the sides of the mixing bowl by hand. Beat the cream cheese and sugar until smooth not fluffy.  You don't want to incorporate air.  Mix in the eggs slowly, one at a time, don't beat them.  I've read that the addition of flour or cornstarch helps prevent falling because its presence gives the air bubbles something to cling to instead of just burst. I think flour makes for an unpleasant texture.  Always use a water bath and always gently mix on low to avoid whipping in any air.   Cook it slowly, cool it slowly.  Butter the sides of your springform pan so the crust won't stick and pull away from the center or cause a crack.  Shame on me for not keeping a closer eye one the cake in its final minutes of cooking.  It is much darker on top than I would have liked but thanks to the water bath, the cake is still very moist.  It was still jiggling in the center when I took it out of the oven to finish cooling which is what you want.  Once it fully cools down and then chills in the fridge overnight the consistency will be perfect.

Now for the recipe!

The Crust
15 graham crackers (The texture and taste of organic graham crackers is often quite different than traditional graham crackers.  Trader Joe's graham crackers are a good compromise with all the flavor but no HFCS or artificial ingredients.)
6 1/4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup + 1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Butter a 9 inch springform pan.  Mix together crust ingredients and then press mixture into the bottom and a 2 inches up the sides of the pan.  Bake until set, abut 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool.  Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees F.

The Filling
5 (8 ounce) packages of cream cheese, room temperature, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon course sea salt
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup sour cream

In large bowl, mix cream cheese with electric mixer until smooth.  Add sugar and continue mixing until smooth.  Constantly scrape down sides of bowl.  Add lemon zest and salt.  Add eggs, one at a time. Continue to mix on low, scraping down the side and thoroughly combining the ingredients after each edition.  Mix in sour cream.  Scrape down side.  Make sure everything is fully incorporated so you don't have lines in your cake.

The Baking
Boil water for water bath.  Wrap the bottom of the springform pan in foil or with a silicone cover.  Pour in filling.  Set springform pan into a roasting pan and pour in enough water to come about halfway up the side of the springform.  Place in preheated oven and bake for 45 minutes.  Turn off oven and leave cake inside to cool for about an hour.  Remove from oven and cool on counter until room temperature.  Cover loosely and chill in fridge for 6-8 hours before serving.

Pizza Night

Pizza Night is not an uncommon occurrence around here. It's a fun way to get everyone in the kitchen.  We try to encourage experimenting but, ingredients permitting, the kids like to fall back on  their faithful standbys of pepperoni/olive/mushroom and green onion/mushroom/tomato.  I can't blame them because I have my favorite too:  Thai Chicken Pizza.  

It's my pizza and salad all rolled into one.  It's not a sweet peanut-sauced version of Thai pizza.  It's a savory coconut milk, fish sauce and green curry pizza.  Folks have been asking for the recipe so I'm going to pretend that I measure when I cook.

The Dough
This recipe makes an easy to work with dough that produces a thin, crisp, crust.  It is a yeast dough but it only needs to rise for a less than an hour total.  That makes it about 1 1/2 hours from "Hey, let's make pizza!" until we are eating.  I like to use a mixture of all-purpose flour and white whole wheat flour.  This recipe will make enough dough for 2 15-inch pizzas.  This recipe started out in Pizza, Pasta & More by Wolfgang Puck.  I pulled it off of foodnetwork.com back in 2003 and have only made a few changes. 

2 1/4 teaspoon (1 package) active dry yeast
1 teaspoon honey
1 cup warm water
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Dissolve honey and yeast in the warm water.  (If using a  Kitchen Aid with a dough hook, do this in the bowl of the mixer.  Then add the flour mixture to the wet mixture.  If mixing by hand or in a food processor, dissolve the honey and yeast in a small bowl and then add it to the flour mixture.)

In a separate bowl, combine the flours.

When yeast is dissolved (and foamy) add the olive oil.  On low, mix in 2 1/2 cups of flour.  Add salt to the final 1/2 cup of flour and mix in on low until a ball forms around the dough hook.  About 5 minutes.  Remove dough and hand kneed a few minutes to make sure it is smooth.  Place dough in lightly oiled bowl, cover with warm damp towel and let rise for 30 minutes. (My favorite place is in the microwave.)  After 30 minutes the dough should hold a dent if you poke at it with your finger.  Divide it in half and, on a very lightly floured surface, gently roll and smooth each portion into a nice ball.  Again, cover with a damp towel and let rest for 15 minutes.

When it comes time to form the crust, I use a french rolling pin to form a 16 inch circle.  If you want to throw your pizza dough in the air, this dough is great for that - have fun.

I use a pizza stone dusted with cornmeal to cook my pizzas.  This is such a thin crust that a baking sheet works just fine.

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.  


The Topping

3 Tablespoons coconut cream from an unshaken can of coconut milk
1 Tablespoon (more or less according to preference) green curry
2 green onions, whites only, chopped
3 chicken thighs, grilled (If I use breast, I marinate them in coconut milk to keep them from drying our.  You can omit the chicken for an equally delicious but less carnivore friendly pizza.)
1/4 cup shredded mozzarella (or add an extra Tablespoon of coconut cream and omit the cheese)

Spread the coconut cream on the crust with the back of a spoon.  Add the green curry and spread.  Sprinkle on green onions, chicken, and cheese.  Place on the middle rack of preheated oven and cook for about 12 minutes.

The Garnish
I will list what went onto the latest version but there are other ingredients that work really well too: bean sprouts, Thai basil, thinly sliced hot peppers.  Remember, precise measurements are extremely important on this step.  Ha! I kid! Don't be afraid of the fish sauce.  Just do it!

1/2 cup red cabbage
1/2 cup white cabbage
2 green onions, greens only, thinly sliced
1 carrot julienned  (I cheat and use a traditional lemon zester - works great)
1/4 of a red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon grated ginger
1 cup chopped cilantro
2 teaspoons lime juice
2 teaspoons fish sauce (how does something that smells so bad taste so good?)
1/2 cup chopped peanuts

Mix all that goodness together and toss it on the pizza when it comes out of the oven.  Slice and enjoy.

(Bad quality iphone photo.  Foreground is the Thai Pizza.  Pizza in the background is veggie: roasted tomatoes, roasted eggplant, grilled asparagus, and mushroom on a spelt crust.)

In Search of The Perfect Cheesecake

I'm so very terrible at sticking to recipes!  When I decide I want to cook something I start comparing at least half a dozen recipes.  Then I tweak it 10 different ways and if it turns out to be delicious I tell the family to enjoy it now because who knows if it will come out the same way next time.  sigh.

That was the case with the totally amazing cheesecake that I pulled out of my oven a little over a year ago.  It was tall and pale and perfectly cooked.  Then a friend asked if she could have the recipe.  um, sure?

I remember having consulted Smitten Kitchen, Martha Stewart, The Joy of Cooking and Fannie Farmer among others.  I used lemon zest and maybe juice, but no vanilla, and loads of cream cheese.  Sour cream?   Flour I don't recall.  Yes, I used a water bath.  I par baked the crust and I think I adjusted the oven temperature lower and allowed it to cool in the oven.  I think.

My first re-attempt was not what I was hoping for.  Too airy.  Too short.  "Not enough crust" said the family.  But we suffered through and ate it.  Tragic.

Then it was back into the kitchen.  This time I sort of followed this Smitten Kitchen recipe.  Sort of.

The Crust:
I really don't like cleaning the Cuisinart and for graham crackers you don't really need it.  I've found that 1 1/4 tablespoons of butter for each full-sized graham cracker works really well. 

The Filling:
I used a hand mixer on low instead of my Kitchen Aid.  It made it easier to constantly scrape down the sides.

The Final Result:
Round 2 was more of what I what I was hoping for.  It's dense and creamy.  Lots of crust.  It's about 85% there.  The consistency is a bit too thick - maybe that is the flour?  I like the lemon zest but not the lemon juice.  Aesthetically, I wish it wasn't as yellow but that is pretty dependent on the egg yolks and what the chickens ate.

Some?Most? people like the skin that forms on the top a cheesecake.  I don't.  I've read that it is the sign of a true homemade cheesecake.  To me it's like having fondant on your cake.  I get out my simple cake leveler and fix that right up.  There is also something to be said for a level oven.  This cake was a smidge unlevel.  That usually isn't an issue so I think when I sealed it for the water bath I didn't make sure it was sitting flat.

We will again suffer through this current version and I will give it one final tweak...or two... At least I have this recipe in writing to fall back on.

Crust:
15 graham crackers (3x5) finely ground
6 1/4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

Filling:
4 (8 oz) packages of cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons lemon zest
1 teaspoon lemon juice
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 large egg yolks, room temperature

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Butter a 9 inch springform pan.  Mix together crust ingredients then press it into the bottom and 2 inches up the sides of the pan.  Bake until set, about 10-12 minutes.   Remove from oven and let cool.  Reduce oven to 325 degrees F.

2.  Beat cream cheese on low until smooth.  Gradually add sugar, scraping down sides continually.  Add lemon zest, lemon juice.  Add flour.  Add eggs and yolks one at a time.  Make sure you keep scraping down the sides until everything is completely incorporated.

3.  Boil water for water bath.  Prepare pan by wrapping the bottom in aluminum foil*  to prevent any water from getting in.   Pour filling into springform pan.  Set springform pan into a roasting pan and pour in enough boiling water to come about halfway up the side of the springform.  Bake for 30 minutes.  Reduce heat to 225 degrees F and continue baking for another 1 hour 15 minutes.  Remove pan from water bath and cool completely.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.

I topped mine with a quick sauce of 12 ounces of frozen blueberries, raspberries and blackberries plus 1/4 cup of sugar, 1/4 cup of water, the juice of 1/2 a lemon and 1 tablespoon of cornstarch all brought to a boil in a sauce pan to thicken and then cooled.


* I love love love these silicone tops from Lekue.  I use them all the time in the kitchen.  It occurred to me that they are perfect for sealing the springform pan in a water bath.  They are oven safe, form a perfect seal and I never worry about water leaking past aluminum foil.

 
Serious love.  Happy Dance kind of love.  If I was Oprah, I would pass them out to the audience, if I still had a show and an audience and still did that sort of thing.

Embarking on a Gluten-Free Cookie Mission

The parameters:

1.  NO GLUTEN  This meant no wheat, no spelt, no barley, no rye.  Oats got the green light because I was addressing a gluten intolerance, not Celiac disease.  Oats do not contain wheat gluten but there is a risk of cross-contamination because they are grown and processed near wheat. 

2.  NO EGGS 

4.  FAST and EASY and SIMPLE   No getting out the Kitchen Aid for creaming the butter and sugar.  No sprinkle of sea salt on top.  Use vanilla instead of vanilla bean.  Don't worry about toasting the nuts.  Plain ole chocolate chips - nothing fancy.  No resting the dough for 2 or 12 or 36 hours.  These are "I want some chocolate chip cookies and I want them now" cookies.
    
3.  YUMMY  People not on a gluten-free diet needed to want to eat these.




A Few Notes on Ingredients

The Flour:
There are lots of options for gluten-free flours.  You can click here to find a nice long list.  The trick is finding the right combination of texture and flavor.   *Everything I read about gluten-free baking stressed mixing a number of different flours for the best result.  Bean flours like soy and chickpea were immediately crossed off the list.  I think they have too strong of a taste for cookies.  I've learned from experience that whenever too much soy flour is mixed into muffins or bread my own kids are quick to point it out its presence.  I love buckwheat flour and make pancakes with it all the time but that didn't make the cut either.  When we used it in our failed GF cookies they came out tasting a bit like pancakes and looking a bit grey so I let it sit this attempt out.  Tapioca starch works well but too much causes gummy cookies.  Nobody wants gummy cookies. White rice flour is boring and has too much crumb.  Brown rice flour has a darker color and can be a bit grainy in texture.  However, in my regular chocolate chip cookies I often add whole wheat flour and wheat germ so I thought it might work.   If I had had sorghum flour in the pantry I would have used it.  It isn't something that I normally keep but from what I have read, it produces great results.  I finally settled on a combination of oat flour, brown rice flour, and tapioca starch.

 I didn't have any oat flour on hand but I did have oats.  So I got out the spice grinder and fixed that.  Also, if you go looking for tapioca starch and only find tapioca flour don't worry because (in the US) they are one and the same.  

The Binders:
No gluten plus no eggs meant no binder.  This meant there was nothing to glue all the sugars and flours and chocolate chips together.  I solved this using two ingredients, both of which are new additions to my kitchen:  the Gel Egg and Xanthum Gum.

Behold the Gel Egg

1T flax meal + 3T water = 1 egg

Break out the spice grinder and use freshly ground flax.  Whisk the flax meal and water together and then wait 5-10 minutes for it to set up.

Do this step first and it will be ready when you need to add it.  I've found it mentioned in lots of places but you can go to Lexies Kitchen for some great tips.




What is Xanthum Gum?

This is the vital ingredient that really holds it all together.  It is natural product made from microorganisms that feed on corn (usually) .  It is very commonly used in all sorts of prepared foods from ice cream to salad dressing.   Regular xanthum gum is available in grocery store baking isles.  You can find GMO free xanthum gum online here.  It isn't cheap but a little goes a long way.  In most baking recipes I notice that similar amounts of salt and xanthum gum are often used.  Seems to be one of those ingredients that you really need to play with to get just the right   Other "gum" options are guar gum and locust bean gum.  They all behave a bit differently.  I think next I will experiment with locust bean (aka carob) gum.



The Fat:
I used butter because I reached for it out of habit.  Using a vegan spread (such as Earth Balance) in conjunction with the flax egg would have make these vegan friendly cookies.  I'm not fond of the taste of cooking oil in my baked goods so I didn't even consider it.  Usually, I cream the butter and sugar together when making cookies.  In this recipe, for ease of preparation, I skipped that step and used melted butter instead.  I think un-browned melted butter is rather blah.  I also think using the melted butter left quite a bit of oil on the baking stones.  The cookies themselves weren't greasy.

Nuts:
I like nuts in my chocolate chip cookies.  I chose pecans.  I often use walnuts but they can be a little bit bitter.  I thought the sweeter  richer flavor of the pecans would be a plus.



The Recipe (not to be confused with the final Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie  Recipe):
I took my favorite basic chocolate chip cookie recipe and the first thing I did was cut it in half.  If I was going to terribly botch something then at least I would do it on a smaller scale.  I swapped out the egg and flours, added the xanthum gum in proportion to the salt and started baking and taking notes.


Let the Fun Begin!!

Attempt 1.0 and 1.1
I wasn't sure how sticky the cookies would be so I compared using a stone to a silicone baking sheet.

The cookie on the left was baked on a silicone baking sheet.  It spread waaaay too much.  The cookie on the right was baked on a stone.  Less spreading but not exactly better.  Sticking wasn't a problem so I decided to cook on the stones.  I hoped the texture would help the dough grip and not spread as much.  Recipe note: Add 1/4 cup white rice flour.  I chose white rice flour because somewhere I read "Don't use more than 30% of each flour."  The majority of the flours were brown rice (would more make the cookies too grainy?) and oat (too cakey?) and I was worried that more tapioca starch would make them rubbery.  Unfounded?  Perhaps.  This is all new to me.    

1.2  With the additional rice flour I ended up with cookies that were still spreading too quickly.

1.3 Maybe that butter just needs to set up.  Will a bit of time chilling in the fridge help?

Looking better.  Not spreading but the center isn't rising or cooking.  Recipe note:  Add 1/4 cup of oat flour and 1/8 t xanthum gum.  This makes the proportion 1/4 t xanthum gum per 1 cup flour.

1.4 I should have tried cooking a batch with the added oat flour and xanthum gum and no other changes.  But then I thought about the fact that I'm cooking in a convection oven that automatically adjusts the temperature down 25 degrees.  So, what would happen if I turned up the heat at bit?

Not good.  Too much browning and not enough spreading.  Plus, they are too cakey.

1.5  Success at last!

Notice how the centers still look undercooked?  This is good.  They set up to have a very nice crunch to the exterior with a soft, gooey, chewy center.  Not cakey at all.  Delish.

 

Gluten-Free Egg-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

We recently had friends come and stay for a week.  Their young boys, and by extension their whole family, were eating a gluten free diet.  Plus, their littlest has an allergy to eggs.  They were stepping into enemy territory.  It's not that we have a pantry full of packaged foods (except for dried pasta) but I'm pretty sure there is a fine sheen of gluten that blankets our kitchen from the baking that I do.  I did have some homemade gluten-free cookies to offer them - but they were meringue, so we struck out there too.  

While they were here, an attempt was made at some gluten-free, egg-free cookies. We failed terribly. "I know they look funny but they taste pretty yummy."

Our guests, already accustomed to eating gluten-free, ate them.
After one bite, my kids wouldn't go near them.
My husband saw the dough and wrote them off completely.

I was on a mission.  A mission to bake a gluten-free, egg-free, chocolate chip cookie worthy of being called a cookie.

Mission accomplished!  My kids were enthusiastic taste-testers and my husband declared that he would "totally nosh on these."  Personally, I think that they are almost good enough.  There are definitely some things that I would like to tweak but my daughter requested that I get this recipe to our friend as soon as possible so that her boys could have real cookies.

Some of the ingredients ingredients that I used were new to me.  You can check out what I learned and what I would change in this post:  Embarking On A Gluten-Free Cookie Mission

These cookies are GLUTEN FREE, EGG FREE, FAST, EASY, SIMPLE and most importantly YUMMY!


Gluten-Free Egg-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tablespoon molasses 
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 flax egg
3/4 cup oat flour
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup white rice flour
2 tablespoons tapioca starch
1/4 + 1/8 teaspoon xanthum gum
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup broken pecans pieces


Pre-heat the oven to 375º

Make flax egg.

Melt butter in microwave safe bowl.  
Add light brown sugar, molasses and vanilla. Stir.

In second bowl sift together flours, tapioca starch, xanthum gum, baking soda, and salt.

Add flax egg to butter mixture.  Stir.

Mix the flour mixture into the butter/sugar mixture.  Stir to combine.

Stir in chocolate chips and pecans.

Place rounded tablespoons of dough onto baking stones (or parchment like cookie sheets) about 3 inches apart.

Place in oven and bake for approximately 8 minutes.  You want them to look a bit undercooked:  cracked on the top but still a bit gooey in the centers.  If they overcook they will get unpleasantly hard instead of crunchy.  

Remove cookies from the oven and let them rest for a few minutes before transferring to a rack.  This helps them set up so they don't fall apart when you try to pick them up.  Enjoy!