Good morning, good readers. Read on for a most creative place to use your slow cooker. And before you read on, think about these requests: crisp potato skin appetizer as served at Urban Stack and where to buy the kind of meat served there; roasting vegetables on a gas grill; any recipes using feta cheese; an easy chocolate syrup containing whipping cream, and ways to prepare cod so it will be moist, not dry.
This elegant recipe was tucked into a collection from Sue Mickel of Hixson.
Tomato and Stilton Cheese Tart
Pastry for a 10-inch pie shell
1 egg
1 tablespoon cold water
2 tablespoons minced shallots
2 medium tomatoes, peeled, thinly sliced and well-drained
12 ounces Stilton cheese, crumbled
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups whipping cream
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
Heat oven to 400 F. Fit pastry into 10-inch quiche dish or tart pan with removable bottom. Trim off excess dough by moving rolling pin over top of pan. Cut circle of parchment paper to fit bottom of pan and weight with dry beans or rice. Bake shell for 15 minutes. Remove paper and beans. Beat egg with cold water. Brush inside of pie shell with egg wash, and return to oven for 2 minutes to seal.
Reduce oven temperature to 375 F. Sprinkle bottom of pastry with shallots, and cover with tomato slices. Distribute cheese evenly over tomatoes.
Combine 4 eggs, cream, salt and pepper, and blend well. Strain through a fine sieve, and pour over tomatoes and cheese. Shell will be very full.
Bake until puffed and lightly browned, 35 to 40 minutes. Tart will be creamier if slightly underbaked.
Peggy Walkup of Cleveland, Tenn., sent a fancy recipe for coffee almond profiteroles, a French delicacy. You begin with the basic choux dough.
Basic Choux Pastry Dough
1/2 cup butter
1 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 eggs
In a medium saucepan, melt the butter in the water. Add salt and flour, and stir until a sticky batter is formed. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until the batter is smooth.
Makes enough for 8 medium-size pastries.
Coffee Almond Profiteroles
Profiteroles, or cream puffs, are delicate, versatile desserts that can be adorned with myriad fillings: ice cream, pastry cream, whipped cream. Sautéed fruit also is a wonderful addition.
Basic choux pastry dough (see previous recipe)
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1 pint coffee ice cream
Heat oven to 425 F, and grease 1 baking sheet. Spoon the prepared choux dough into a pastry bag fitted with a wide, plain tip, and pipe 8 rounds onto the baking sheet. Bake for about 20 minutes, until the profiteroles puff up and turn golden brown. Remove from the oven, and allow to cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes before filling.
While the profiteroles are baking and cooling, toast the almonds. In a dry skillet over low-medium heat, toast the almonds, stirring constantly, for about 5 minutes. The almonds are done when they have very lightly browned around the edges and are fragrant.
To assemble: Slice the bottom third off a profiterole and hollow out a bit of the dough. Spoon in a petite scoop of coffee ice cream and a sprinkle of toasted almonds. Replace the bottom, and serve immediately or freeze for up to 1 day before serving.
Makes 8 servings.
Thanks to Jane Guthrie, we have a new word in the Wisdom category below: Garden. And in the summer aren’t cooking and gardening all part of the same package? Yes indeed.
Keep reading; you are almost at the Crock-Pot suggestion.
Kitchen and Garden Wisdom
* Growing in the garden: There is a new version of basil (at least to me) called boxwood basil; it can be found wherever Bonnie plants are sold. The company has a greenhouse in Knoxville, which means the plants are better acclimated to our climate.
I have had their Better Boy tomato plants on the deck last year and this. We had several good tomatoes to eat a couple of weeks ago and more ready — if I can keep the raccoons out of them! (Now there’s a request: what to do to protect your garden from marauding raccoons.)
The basil looks like thyme but of course the stems are soft. It has a slight peppery taste. The neat thing about it is no more cutting; the leaves are so small you can use them as they are, and they are more attractive to be used as garnish.
* Food on the go: In response to the mother traveling and wanting good food:
“I have traveled before on long (six hours) trips with a roast cooking in a slow cooker. There is an appliance called mobile power DC to AC inverter. It plugs into the hopefully obsolete cigarette lighter, has two three-pronged plugs.
“I’ve used it more frequently with our two granddaughters’ DVD players. It’s more reliable to keep the power on and the movie going.”
* Crab meat: I am going to also be looking at Walmart for crab meat. One of the best younger cooks I know uses a canned crab they sell. It is a pound of crab meat for around $17. It is used by several chefs she knows and tastes very much like fresh.
So bring it on, most necessary readers: wisdom from kitchen and garden, recipes from your well-used collection. I will be watching for you.
To Reach Us
Fare Exchange is a longtime meeting place for people who love to cook and love to eat. We welcome both your recipes and your requests. Be sure to include precise instructions for every recipe you send.
* Mailing address: Jane Henegar, 913 Mount Olive Road, Lookout Mountain, GA 30750.
* E-mail: janehenegar@gmail.com.
* Fax: 423-668-5092.