Category: Recipes

Posted on » by Dana & Nancy » Theme:

Jame Oliver’s Baked Chocolate Tart

From The Naked Chef

Short Crust Sweet Pastry

To make two 12-inch tarts:

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons butter
1 3/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
a medium pinch of salt
just over 1 lb flour
4 egg yolks
1/4 cup cold milk/water

Making the dough:
You can make by hand or in a food processor. Cream together butter, sugar, and salt and then rub or pulse in the flour and egg yolks. When this mixture has come together, looking like coarse bread crumbs, add the cold milk or water. Pat and gently work together to form a ball of dough. Lightly flour and push, pat and squeeze into shape.

Wrap in plastic wrap (Jamie likes to roll into large, short and fat sausage shape) and place it in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

Carefully slice off thin layers of pastry lengthways, around 1/8 thick. Place slivers in and around the bottom and sides of the tart pan, just fitting them and then pushing together. Once finished lining your tart pan allow it to rest for at least an hour, preferably in a freezer.

Cooking the shell at 350 degrees F for about 12 minutes, so that it’s only lightly colored but just cooked through (baking blind).

Baked Chocolate Tart
Recipe courtesy Jamie Oliver
Show: The Naked Chef
Episode: The Girlfriend

I think this tart is best served with some seasonal soft fruit (blueberries, raspberries, strawberries).

5 ounces unsalted butter
5 1/2 ounces semisweet chocolate
8 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
Small pinch salt
4 eggs
7 ounces granulated sugar
3 tablespoons maple syrup
3 medium heaping tablespoons sour cream or creme fraiche
10-inch flan or tart shell, baked blind

Place the butter, chocolate, cocoa powder and salt in a bowl over a pan of simmering water and allow to melt slowly, stirring occasionally until well mixed.

In a separate bowl beat the eggs and sugar together until light and well creamed, and then add the golden syrup and sour cream or creme fraiche. Stir the chocolate mixture into this mixture, scraping all the chocolate out with a spatula. Once you’ve mixed it well, pour it into the pastry shell. Place into a preheated 150C/300 degree F/Gas 2 oven for 40 to 45 minutes. During cooking a beautiful crust will form on top.

Carefully remove the tart from the oven and allow to cool on a rack for at least 45 minutes, during which time the skin will crack and the filling will shrink slightly.

Posted on » by Loren » Theme:

Roasted Chicken Breast with Cherry Tomatoes & Asparagus

Everything was great as usual – and I feel so healthy having eaten such a nice, summery meal. Here’s the chicken and asparagus with tomatoes:

roasted chicken breast with cherry tomatoes and asparagus

Serves 1
Make this recipe for one in a snug-fitting baking dish or to save on washing-up, a little tinfoil tray.

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas 6. Put 1 chicken breast, with its skin left on, in a bowl. Add 8 trimmed sticks of asparagus, 6 halved cherry tomatoes and the leaves from 1 sprig of fresh rosemary plus a whole sprig of rosemary as well. Toss everything together with a pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. Put the veg into a tinfoil tray and place the chicken and rosemary sprig on top. Season well. Add some white wine and cook in the middle of the oven for 25 to 35 minutes. Serve drizzled with balsamic vinegar.

Because I used bone in chicken in a casserole dish, as we know, it took a bunch longer – close to 50 minutes for baking. My piece was very tender and moist, but Michael’s was “supposedly” a touch dry. Maybe next time I’ll move the pieces around for more even cooking. And add the asparagus a little later so that it doesn’t get so small. This is Jamie’s picture below.

roasted chicken breast with cherry tomatoes and asparagus

We missed you, Dino! Sorry you had to work.
I’m so looking forward to chocolate tart. It smells so good!

Posted on » by Michael » Theme:

Fresh-Fruit Pizza with Lemon Curd

Fresh-Fruit with Lemon Curd
The lemon curd not only holds the fruit in place, it serves as an exquisite anchor for all the flavors. You may have never imagined such a pizza. Now you’ll never forget it. It’s best served the day it’s made.

Ingredients
1 (18-ounce) sugar cookie dough (see below)
Cooking spray
2 tablespoons seedless raspberry jam, melted
3/4 cup Lemon Curd (see below)
2 cups fresh raspberries
2 cups blackberries 1 cup sliced strawberries
1 plum, sliced 2 teaspoons sugar
(I used rasberrys and a few backberrys)
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°.
Press dough into a 12-inch pizza pan coated with cooking spray.
Bake at 350° for 12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely on a wire rack.
Preheat broiler.
Spread jam over crust.
Spread Lemon Curd over jam; arrange raspberries, blackberries, strawberry slices, and plum slices on top.
Sprinkle sugar over fruit; broil 3 minutes.
Yield
12 servings (serving size: 1 wedge)Nutritional Information
CALORIES 261(30% from fat); FAT 8.6g (sat 2.3g,mono 2.8g,poly 3g); IRON 1.4mg; CHOLESTEROL 37mg; CALCIUM 19mg; CARBOHYDRATE 43.1g; SODIUM 173mg; PROTEIN 2.5g; FIBER 3.1g

 

Lemon Curd
For a lime-curd variation, substitute lime rind and juice for the lemon rind and juice.
Ingredients
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
2 large eggs
2/3 cup fresh lemon juice (about 3 large lemons)
2 tablespoons butter or stick margarine
Preparation
Combine the first 3 ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring with a whisk. Cook until sugar dissolves and mixture is light in color (about 3 minutes). Stir in lemon juice and butter; cook for 5 minutes or until mixture thinly coats the back of a spoon, stirring constantly with a whisk. Cool. Cover and chill (the mixture will thicken as it cools).
Note: Lemon Curd can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. You can easily double the recipe and freeze half of it in a heavy-duty zip-top plastic bag. Thaw in the refrigerator, and use within 1 week of thawing.
Yield
1 1/3 cups (serving size: 1 tablespoon)
Nutritional Information
CALORIES 47(31% from fat); FAT 1.6g (sat 0.8g,mono 0.5g,poly 0.1g); CHOLESTEROL 24mg; CALCIUM 4mg; CARBOHYDRATE 7.9g; SODIUM 18mg; PROTEIN 0.7g; IRON 0.1mg
Old-Fashioned Sugar Cookies
There are untold numbers of sugar cookie recipes circulating throughout the Midwest. As students of this sweet know, lard makes for a particularly toothsome cookie, with a texture at once crisp and sandy. For a cookie that is crisp but also chewy, vegetable shortening is best.
Servings: Makes about 32 cookies.

Ingredients
1/2 cup lard or vegetable shortening, melted and cooled

1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup sugar plus additional for coating the cookies
1 large egg1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
Preparation
In a large bowl stir together the lard or shortening, the butter, 1 cup of the sugar, the egg, and the vanilla.
Into the bowl sift together the flour, the baking soda, and the salt and stir the mixture until it forms a dough.
Chill the dough, covered, for at least 2 hours or overnight.
(If you just want to make cookies and not the fruit pizza)
Preheat the oven to 375°F.
Roll rounded tablespoons of the dough into balls, roll the balls in the additional sugar, coating them completely, and arrange them 3 inches apart on lightly greased baking sheets.
Flatten the balls with the bottom of a glass dipped in the sugar (the edges will crack slightly) and bake the cookies in batches in the middle of the oven for 8 to 12 minutes, or until they are pale golden.
Transfer the cookies to racks and let them cool.
The cookies keep in an airtight container for 1 week.