savory tart

sweet pepper, onion and zucchini tart / torta salata con peperoni dolci, cipolle e zucchine

| Simona
sweet pepper, onion and zucchini tart / IMG_1261

a favorite dinner fare
(linen by La FABBRICA del LINO)

At a conference this past February I met author Anne Perry and a few days later to I found myself in a bookstore that had a copy of The Cater Street Hangman, first book of the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series1. The coincidence was too tempting to resist. I liked the book so much that I read the following three novels in the series: Callander Square, Paragon Walk and Resurrection Row.

Besides being good mysteries, the novels attract me because of their setting: Victorian England. They look at the life of that time with a modern sensitivity. The author explains some situations, because she knows that her readers are not familiar with the social norms of the time, for example the uneasy relationship between upper class people and the Police, some of the norms regulating the movements of servants inside the house where they work.

Thomas Pitt is a police inspector in London. In the course of the investigation at the center of The Cater Street Hangman, Pitt meets Charlotte Ellison, who belongs to an upper-class family. Given that the series is called "Charlotte and Thomas Pitt" you can imagine at least one of the things that happens in that novel, but there is a lot more involving in different ways Charlotte's two sisters, Sarah and Emily. As is usually the case with mysteries, it is difficult to provide details without spoiling the surprise for readers, so I will not say more.

The immediate inspiration for the recipe I provide below is Charlotte's adventures in the kitchen. Raised in a house where the cook and her assistants took care of purchasing food and preparing meals, Charlotte goes through a learning curve as she becomes responsible for both activities in the Pitt household, since her husband's salary does not allow them to have a maid. (Thomas is keenly aware of the situation and shows deep appreciation for his wife's efforts.)

One of the dishes Charlotte sets about to learn to make is the traditional savory English pie. She waits to cut it until her husband comes back home tired and ready to push aside the day's worries to spend some time with his wife (and later their daughter, Jemima). Charlotte's attitude is positive: she does her best, sees where she must improve, and moves forward. And yes, she is more into helping her husband in solving his cases than in mastering cooking, but she does both with positive energy.

I am not married to a detective, nor do I aspire to detective work, but approach my cooking projects with enthusiasm and determination. The latter is particularly useful when what comes out of the oven or a pot is not exactly what I expected. I take notes and revise the plan for the next iteration.

I prefer tarts over pies, so with a nod to Charlotte Pitt, I created a recipe for savory tart using a gluten-free crust made of ground cashews (anacardi), coconut flour (farina di cocco) and butter (burro), which is a variation on the recipe for Coconut Quiche Base from the book The Ketogenic Kitchen by Domini Kemp and Patricia Daly2. I am not following a ketogenic diet, but I like a lot of recipes in the book. My changes to the original have mostly to do with reducing the quantities to make a thinner crust, but also with the preparation.

sweet peppers / IMG_4982

sweet looking and tasting

Once I had the crust, I started experimenting with fillings and given the season, I reached for sweet peppers and zucchini, both abundant at the various farmers' markets where I shop. I described my favorite recipe for preparing those vegetables in a previous post3. I doubled the quantities, because I wanted a vegetable-rich tart. The addition of cheese makes it basically a complete meal. (I use my homemade fresh chèvre.)

The crust can be made and baked ahead. The vegetables can be cooked ahead as well. Assembling the tart and baking it can be done close to mealtime. The ability to prepare the dish in steps is another characteristics that makes it appealing. 

peppers, zucchini and onion / IMG_1258

hurrah for colorful vegetables

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Sweet pepper, onion and zucchini tart

Ingredients:

For the crust:

  • 60 g raw cashews
  • 55 g coconut flour
  • 1/8 teaspoon Harissa spice mix or sweet paprika
  • A pinch of salt
  • 55 g cold unsalted butter

For the filling:

  • 4 tablespoons / 60 ml extra-virgin olive oil
  • 10 ounces / 280 g sweet onions, like cipollini or walla walla
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1/2 teaspoon Harissa spice mix
  • 14 ounces / 400 g sweet Italian peppers
  • 12 ounces / 340 g zucchini
  • Fine sea salt, to taste
  • 2 ounces / 55 g fresh chèvre
  • 3/4 ounce / 20 g freshly grated cheese, like manchego or cheddar

Prepare the crust
Put the cashews, coconut flour, spices and salt in a food processor and process until the cashews are finely ground. Add the butter cut into small cubes and pulse briefly a few times until the mixture resembles coarse meal.

To bake the tart, I recommend using a 9 or 9 1/2-inch / 23-24 cm fluted round tart pan with removable bottom, about 1 inch / 2.5 cm high, optionally lined with a circle or parchment paper (the buttery crust does not stick to the bottom, but as I cut it in the pan, the paper helps protect the metal surface from scratching).

Preheat the oven to 350 F / 177 C.

Put the crust mix in the tart pan and shake to distribute evenly. Press the mix to make an even layer all around. The butter should be soft enough at this point to allow you to easily shape the mix with your hands. Otherwise, wait a little bit. To keep my fingers less oily, I prefer the butter not to be completely soft.

Bake for 9-12 minutes, until the crust turns golden at the edge (see photo below). Take out of the oven and set aside until ready to assemble the tart.

blind-baked cashew and coconut crust / IMG_1259

partially baked tart crust
(linen by La FABBRICA del LINO)

Prepare the filling
Slice the onions lengthwise into thin sections no wider than 1/4 inch / 1/2 cm and separate the layers so you have short ribbons.

Cut the peppers lengthwise. Carve out and discard the stem portion, and the seeds and ribbing inside. Cut each half in half crosswise and finally slice each piece into short ribbons no wider than 1/4 inch / 1/2 cm.

Trim zucchini top and bottom, quarter lengthwise, then cut into 1/8 inch / 3 mm slices.

Warm up the olive oil in a large skillet (I use a cast-iron one). Add the onion to the skillet, stir to coat and let cook on medium-low heat for a couple of minutes, then add the garlic. Continue cooking, stirring every now and then.

Five minutes after you started cooking the onion, sprinkle the spice mix and stir well, then add the peppers, stir and continue cooking, stirring every now and then.

Five minutes later, add the zucchini, stir and cook for a couple of minutes. Cover and cook on gentle heat until the peppers are of the desired tenderness (20-25 minutes). Every few minutes, uncover and stir.

When the peppers are ready, sprinkle the salt, adjusting the amount to your taste and stir, then remove the pan from the heat. Let cool, then add the chèvre and stir well to distribute it evenly.

IMG_1260

ready for the oven

Assemble and bake the tart
Preheat the oven to 350 F / 177 C.

Transfer the filling on the prepared crust and distribute it evenly. Sprinkle the grated cheese on top.

Bake for 30-32 minutes. Take out of the oven, slice and serve right away. Serves 4-8.

I cut the tart in the pan. The crust is crumbly and as a result the plating may not be pretty, but the first bite of the tart will make you forget everything else.

Once you have tried making the tart and decided that you like it, you can certainly play with the filling, particularly as sweet pepper and zucchini season is coming to an end on the Northern hemisphere. I have successfully used grated carrots (carote) and shredded cabbage (cavolo cappuccio) as alternative and the result has always been excellent.

1 Anne Perry's website and the page devoted to the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series
2 The book's website
3 Post including my recipe for Sweet peppers with onions and zucchini

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post

torta salata con peperoni dolci, cipolle e zucchine

or launch the torta salata con peperoni dolci, cipolle e zucchine audio file

Small_NFlogoThis is my second contribution to the 34th edition of Novel Food, the literary/culinary event that Lisa of Champaign Taste and I started some time ago and that I continue to host.

The roundup of the event.

Fr2018-150I am also contributing to the October edition of Foodies Read the reading/cooking event hosted by Heather of Based on a True Story.

Visit the linkup page to see what others have read and cooked.

FTC disclosure: I have received the linen free of charge from the manufacturer (la FABBRICA del LINO). I have not and will not receive any monetary compensation for presenting it on my blog. The experience shared and the opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.

sweet peppers, Italian peppers, onion, zucchini, tart, gluten free, cashews, coconut flour

recipe: sweet pepper, onion and zucchini tart

| Simona

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savory zucchini and skyr tart / torta salata con zucchine e skyr

| Simona
savory zucchini and skyr tart / IMG_0119

from zucchini and skyr to the finished tart

Last month, I spent some time at Gullkistan1, residency for creative people in Laugarvatn, a town in southern Iceland (Islanda) on the shore of this lovely lake:

Laugarvatn / IMG_0041

Laugarvatn on a sunny day

While there, I read a review2 (recensione) of the memoir The Stones Speak by Icelandic author Þórbergur Þórðarson (Thorbergur Thordarson)3

This is the first book in Þórbergur’s bulk of autobiographical writings dealing with his formative years growing up on a farm on the southern coast of Iceland at the brink of the twentieth century. Þórbergur’s love for his natural surroundings and daily life on the farm is captured in obsessive detail with a humorous and at times absurdist essayistic style, and the communicative authorial presence found in all his writing.

I was intrigued and purchased the book at the bookstore (libreria) Bókakaffið4 in Selfoss.

The translator first introduces the reader to customs described in the book that are unfamiliar to non-Icelandic readers. Whether you have visited Iceland or not, you can immerse yourself in the detailed descriptions of life in the farm, of the inner life of a boy growing up in a fairly intense environment (northern climate, relative isolation) as he finds his place in a world that is a blend of concrete daily physical tasks and intangible presences. Such life is not always idyllic, which is something I appreciate about the book: the author captures the sense of wonder he experienced as a child, but considers some of his experiences through the lens of his maturity.

Storytelling is important in Iceland: there is a story behind almost everything you see or experience, usually going back hundreds of years, all the way to the Vikings. I love the sense of history people have and their readiness in sharing stories. So, back to the US, I loved the kind of continuation of that experience I got from reading The Stones Speak.

outside the greenhouse at Solheimar / IMG_0002 (1)

the sign outside the greenhouse at Solheimar5 (Iceland)

Icelandic cuisine is one of the paragraphs of the introduction and in it, skyr6, the national cheese made with cultured skimmed milk, is described. At Efsti-dalur II7, a cattle and dairy farm not far from Laugarvatn famous for its ice cream, I bought delicious fresh farmhouse skyr, which I ate spread on crackers with some crumbled locally smoked trout8 on top or a thin layer of pesto made at Solheimar5 with the basil (basilico) that grows abundantly in their greenhouse (serra).

I knew about skyr before visiting Iceland. I didn't know about their greenhouses, heated by geothermal energy, in which various types of produce are grown, including, this time of the year, zucchini. Using the ingredients I had available, I prepared a savory tart adapting a beloved recipe of mine for savory carrot and fromage blanc tart.

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Savory zucchini and skyr tart

Ingredients for the dough:

  • 1 3/4 ounces / 50 g whole-wheat pastry flour
  • 1 3/4 ounces / 50 g whole-grain spelt flour (or another whole-grain flour of choice)
  • 1/4 cup / 60 g lukewarm water
  • 1 teaspoon / 5 ml extra-virgin olive oil
  • A pinch of fine sea salt

Note: the version in the photo has all whole-grain spelt flour, because my extremely limited knowledge of Icelandic did not allow me to locate whole-wheat pastry flour in the grocery store.

Ingredients for the filling:

  • 1 pound / 450 g zucchini, possibly organic
  • 4 ounces / 113 g leek (white and light green portion, clean weight)
  • 2 tablespoons / 30 ml extra-virgin olive oil
  • Leaves of several sprigs of fresh thyme
  • 1 tablespoon prepared pesto, optional (I used pesto a la Solheimar)
  • 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt, or to taste
  • A pinch of freshly ground black pepper
  • 7 ounces / 200 g Efstidalur II Skyr or fromage blanc

Make a dough with the ingredients and knead until nice and smooth, not sticky at all. Let it rest, well covered (e.g., wrapped in plastic film), for half an hour.

Cut the zucchini into sticks and then each stick into thin slices. Cut the leek in half lengthwise then into thin slices. Rinse well to eliminate any dirt.

Heat the olive oil in a skillet. Add the leek and stir to coat. Add the thyme leaves and stir. Cook gently until the leek is tender.

Add the zucchini and stir well. Cook until tender. If the zucchini release a lot of water, let it evaporate, leaving some moisture so it is easy to mix in the skyr later.

Season the zucchini with pesto (if using) salt and pepper and stir. Let cool while you roll the dough.

Preheat the oven to 350 F / 177 C.

Lightly dust with flour a piece of parchment paper about 13 inches / 33 cm wide. Working on the parchment paper placed over a work surface, roll the dough into an 11 inch / 28 cm diameter disk.

Add the skyr (or fromage blanc) to the zucchini and stir until distributed uniformly. Spread the zucchini and cheese on the rolled dough to form an even layer, leaving a 1 inch / 2.5 cm border of clean dough all around.

Fold the uncovered border of dough over the filling and pleat it at regular intervals.

Slide the parchment paper with the assembled tart onto a baking sheet and place it in the oven.

Bake until the top crust is crisp, approximately 30-32 minutes.

Take the tart out of the oven, cut and serve.

Serves 4-6

zucchini and skyr tart / IMG_0113

ready to be cut

A lovely tasting tart, which I shared with a fellow artist at Gullkistan. Like Þórðarson's memories, it had the sweetness granted by a special place and special people. 

1 Gullkistan, residency for creative people
2 Review of The Stones Speak in the Reykjavík Grapevine
3 Þórbergssetur the museum dedicated to Þórbergur in Hala, Suðursveit 
4 Bókakaffið in Selfoss
5 Sólheimar (“The Home of the Sun”)
6 The brand of skyr you buy in stores in Iceland
7 Efsti-dalur II
8 The smokehouse in Utey makes three different kinds of smoked trout (silungur)

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

torta salata con zucchine e skyr

or launch the torta salata con zucchine e skyr audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

Small_NFlogoThis is my contribution to the 30th edition of Novel Food, the literary/culinary event that Lisa of Champaign Taste and I started some time ago and that I continue to host.

The roundup of the event.

savory tart, zucchini, skyr, Iceland, vegetarian

recipe: savory zucchini and skyr tart

| Simona

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recipe: onion and ricotta tart

| Simona

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onion and ricotta tart / torta salata con cipolle e ricotta

| Simona
dinner plate: savory tart, frittata and cabbage salad / DSC_7891

onion and ricotta tart in good company
(tablecloth by La FABBRICA del LINO)

In her memoir Unearthed: Love, Acceptance, and Other Lessons from an Abandoned Garden1 author Alexandra Risen2 tells two stories of discovery: one pertains the garden around the house into which she moves with her husband and young son and the other pertains her Ukrainian-born parents, who were displaced by WWII and finally migrated to Edmonton, Canada, in 1953. 

The book is a pleasure to read. Each chapter moves forward both the story of the garden’s restoration / development and Risen’s personal journey through her earlier life and her mother’s final years. Being a mother herself, Risen reflects how her experience informs her relationship with her son. Each chapter ends with a suggestion on how to make use of plants or fruit foraged in the garden. Not all such suggestions are recipes: for example, there are instructions on how to make a wreath with willow branches, and Valentine cards with bleeding heart flowers.

While a lot of the book is serious—from the Prologue, in which Risen describes her last meeting with her father, to the story of the hardships imposed on both parents by history and the war, to her mother’s funeral—there are also a lot of light moments, mostly related to the evolution of the garden, from dealing with contractors, regulations and unexpected disasters, to how Risen’s husband and son find their place in the garden and make space in themselves for it.

There are no similarities between my parents and Risen’s in terms of character, heritage, or experience—besides the fact that they all lived during WWII. My childhood was also different from hers on many levels. Finally, I am not a gardener, though I have a beloved garden. I think the characteristic that brings me closest to Risen and that has made her book such an interesting reading for me is the desire to understand our parents, a desire that in both cases is intertwined with their aging and death.

FTC disclosure: I have received an advanced reading copy of Unearthed from the publisher3. I have not and will not receive any monetary compensation for discussing it on my blog. The experience shared and the opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.

If I were to have tea with Risen one day, I would have garden stories of my own to share, about raccoons and nasturtium, fox and foxglove, poppies and kale, deer and swimming pool. I would also make sure I have some Earl Grey tea to offer her and a slice of the onion and ricotta tart I created inspired by her book.

Our gardens are in different zones, so it is not surprising that different plants grow in them. The one plant I cannot do without from my garden is thyme (timo): I use fresh thyme in most of my dishes. The other day, this is what I saw when I passed one of the several thyme plants I have:

bee on thyme flowers / IMG_4672

a busy bee on thyme

Nasturtium grows exuberantly in my garden, as I have written here and elsewhere4. I can harvest flowers, leaves and seedpods to use in the kitchen. I use some flowers in the tart. The last plant from my garden I use is winter savory.

garden nasturtium / IMG_1660

garden nasturtium grows exuberantly in my garden

When Risen finds sugar maples in her garden, she taps them and makes maple syrup (sciroppo d’acero). I cannot follow her in this enterprise. One of my favorite DIY endeavors is making ricotta using the whey (siero di latte) left over after making certain kinds of cheese. Finally, fresh onions, tender, juicy and sweet, are one of my favorite ingredients this time of the year. To develop the tart recipe I used red onions from the farmers’ market and candy onions5 from my CSA box.

As base for the tart, I used a beloved simple dough from La scienza in cucina e l’arte di mangiare bene (Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well6), the seminal Italian cookbook Pellegrino Artusi self-published in 1891:

153. PASTA MATTA (CRAZY DOUGH) It is called crazy not because it is likely to do something mad, but for the simplicity and ease with which it can serve as the necessary dress for a variety of dishes, as you will see.

Sprinkle water and salt in due proportion over the flour and form a dough loaf that can be rolled out wafer thin.

Differently from the previous version of the dough I presented here7, this time I used all stone-ground whole-wheat flour of three wheat varieties, all grown in California. The result is a decidedly rustic tart that is great warm out of the oven but also reheated the day after.

Print-friendly version of briciole’s recipe for Onion and ricotta tart

Ingredients for the dough:

  • 1 3/4 ounces / 50 g whole-wheat pastry flour, possibly stone-ground (I use locally grown soft white wheat Alturas and milled by Beck’s Bakery8 )
  • 7/8 ounces / 25 g whole-grain stone-ground Sonora wheat (locally grown and freshly milled by Capay Mills9) OR whole-wheat flour, possibly stone-ground
  • 7/8 ounces / 25 g sprouted whole-wheat flour, possibly stone-ground (I use locally grown sprouted Blanca Grande wheat freshly milled by Capay Mills)
  • A pinch of fine sea salt
  • 2 ounces / 55 g lukewarm water
  • 1 teaspoon / 5 ml extra-virgin olive oil

Ingredients for the filling:

  • 12 ounces / 340 g fresh onions, possibly organic, clean weight (for example, torpedo or candy)
  • 2 teaspoons / 10 ml extra-virgin olive oil
  • Leaves of several sprigs of fresh thyme
  • Leaves of a sprig of winter savory, chopped
  • 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt, or to taste
  • 1/16 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • A dozen fresh garden nasturtium flowers, cleaned (optional)
  • 5 ounces / 140 g fresh ricotta, possibly homemade

How to make the crazy dough
Place the flours and salt in a bowl, add the water and oil and mix until you obtain a dough. Knead until nice and smooth. Let it rest, well covered (e.g., wrapped in plastic film), for half an hour. 

How to prepare the onions
Slice onions into thin half moons. If large, cut in short sections.

Heat olive oil in a skillet. (Alternatively, if you have an oil mister, coat well the bottom of the skillet.) Add onion and stir to coat. Add the thyme and winter savory leaves and stir. Cook on gentle heat until the onions are tender, 20 minutes.  

Season with salt and pepper, add the nasturtium flowers, if using, and stir. Let cool while you roll the dough. 

IMG_4674How to prepare the base and assemble the tart
Preheat oven to 350 F / 177 C.

Lightly dust with flour a piece of parchment paper about 13 inches / 33 cm wide. Working on the parchment paper placed over a working surface, roll the dough into an 11-inch / 28 cm diameter disk. 

Add the ricotta to the onions and stir until distributed uniformly. Spread the onion and ricotta on the rolled dough to form an even layer, leaving a 1-inch / 2.5 cm border of clean dough all around.

Fold the uncovered border of dough over the filling and pleat it at regular intervals.

The final act
Slide the parchment paper with the assembled tart onto a baking sheet.

Bake approximately 32 minutes until the crust is crisp. Check after 30 minutes of baking.

Take out of the oven, cut and serve.

Serves 4-6

onion and ricotta tart / DSC_7894

a rustic tart with a surprisingly delicate flavor

I love this tart: it is surprisingly delicate in flavor and the creaminess of ricotta makes it rich without being heavy. The crazy dough offers a rustic support to the duo. 

UnearthedBlogpartyThis post participate to the blog party organized by the Book Club Cookbook (Twitter – Facebook – Pinterest

Check out the Unearthed blog party page 

1 The book’s page on the publisher’s site
2 Alexandra Risen’s Facebook page and Instagram account @alexandrarisen
3 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: Twitter • Facebook • Tumblr • Pinterest • Instagram
4 Garden Nasturtium on my writing blog
5 Candy onions from my CSA box
6 English version of Artusi’s cookbook
7 Post with recipe for Carrot and fromage blanc tart
8 Beck’s Bakery, Arcata
9 Capay Mills

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

torta salata con cipolle e ricotta

or launch the torta salata con cipolle e ricotta audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

FTC disclosure: I have received the linen free of charge from the manufacturer (la FABBRICA del LINO). I have not and will not receive any monetary compensation for presenting it on my blog. The experience shared and the opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.

tart, onion, ricotta, Italian cuisine

torta salata con carote e fromage blanc / savory carrot and fromage blanc tart

| Simona

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]

savory carrot and fromage blanc tart / torta salata con carote e fromage blanc

brilliant

Did you read Carrot Top (Pel di carota) by Jules Renard when you were a child? Published in 1894, the autobiographical story recounts the childhood and the trials of a red-headed child. I don't remember anything about the book, except that it made me want to have red hair (capelli rossi).

I was reminded of that episode from my childhood when, in the novel A Share in Death, author Deborah Crombie describes Gemma James as having red hair. This physical trait is one of the reasons I like that character of the mystery novels Crombie has written that have as protagonists Scotland Yard Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and Detective Inspector Gemma James.

My preference for mystery novels is not a novelty nor is my interest in Scotland Yard characters, having already read stories featuring Adam Dalgliesh and Thomas Lynley (by P.D. James and Elizabeth George, respectively). Whether set in London, one of my favorite cities, or in some charming corner of the English countryside, all these novels make for a pleasant, relaxing reading at the end of my often hectic day.

The Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James novels I have read so far are:

  1. A Share in Death
  2. All Shall Be Well
  3. Leave the Grave Green
  4. Mourn Not Your Dead

They all made me want to visit London and the English countryside again, and again drink tea and eat warm scones, admire the roses in Kew Garden, glide on a boat along the canals.

I am currently reading the fifth novel of the series, Dreaming of the Bones, but ever since reading the first one, I have had in mind to create a dish inspired by Gemma's hair. Fresh carrots in my CSA share were my other source of inspiration: I would make a tart with them.

carrots

smiling for the camera

Another thing I had in mind was to try a special dough from La scienza in cucina e l'arte di mangiare bene (Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well), the seminal Italian cookbook Pellegrino Artusi self-published in 1891:

153. PASTA MATTA (CRAZY DOUGH) It is called crazy not because it is likely to do something mad, but for the simplicity and ease with which it can serve as the necessary dress for a variety of dishes, as you will see.

Sprinkle water and salt in due proportion over the flour and form a dough loaf that can be rolled out wafer thin. [source]

This is not the introduction, but the whole recipe. You'll see below how I used it to prepare the base of my tart.

homemade fromage blanc

freshly made and whipped fromage blanc

I wanted the filling to include some cheese. I thought creamy and light fromage blanc would work well, so I made a batch using half a gallon of whole milk and half a gallon of non-fat milk. This is an easy cheese to make: after you add the culture (this one is already measured and ready to be used), you leave the milk alone overnight and the morning after you drain the curd for some hours. A brief whipping with an electric beater and the light creamy cheese is ready to eat — as is, or flavored with herbs like chives or lovage (erba cipollina, levistico) — or use in some dish.

savory carrot and fromage blanc tart / torta salata con carote e fromage blanc

freckled crust

Flecks of bran in the whole-wheat pastry flour stone-ground from locally grown wheat in the dough give a lovely freckled appearance to the tart shell.

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for savory carrot and fromage blanc tart

Ingredients for the dough:

  • 1 3/4 oz. / 50 g whole-wheat pastry flour, possibly stone-ground
  • 1 3/4 oz. / 50 g 00 wheat flour (I used King Arthur Italian-style flour)
  • 1 3/4 oz. / 50 g lukewarm water
  • 1 teaspoon / 5 ml EV olive oil
  • A pinch of fine sea salt

Ingredients for the filling:

  • 12 oz. / 340 g fresh carrots, possibly organic
  • 2 teaspoons / 10 ml EV olive oil
  • Leaves of several sprigs of fresh thyme
  • 1 3/4 oz. / 50 g spring onion or red onion from the new crop, clean weight
  • 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt, or to taste
  • 1/16 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 7 oz. / 200 g fromage blanc, possibly homemade

How to make the crazy dough
Make a dough with the ingredients and knead until nice and smooth, not sticky at all. Let it rest, well covered (e.g., wrapped in plastic film), for half an hour. 

How to prepare the carrots
Scrub carrots well and scrape surface with a blade to remove a thin layer of skin. Grate carrots using the extra-coarse side of a hand grater.

Finely chop the onion.

Heat olive oil in a skillet. (Alternatively, if you have an oil mister, coat well the bottom of the skillet.) Add onion and stir to coat. Add the thyme leaves and stir. After 1 minute, add the grated carrots and stir well to coat. Cook on gentle heat for a couple of minutes. Cover the skillet and continue cooking, stirring every now and then, until the carrots are tender, 10-12 minutes.  

Season carrots with salt and pepper and stir. Let cool while you roll the dough. 

How to prepare the oven
Right before rolling the dough, prepare the oven.

I baked the tart on terracotta tiles. I place two on a rack. A pizza stone will work as well. Whichever surface you use, place it in the cold oven.

You can also bake the tart on a regular baking sheet.

Preheat oven to 350 F / 177 C.

How to prepare the base and assemble the tart
Lightly dust with flour a piece of parchment paper about 13 inches / 33 cm wide. Working on the parchment paper placed over a working surface, roll the dough into an 11-inch / 28 cm diameter disk. 

Add the fromage blanc to the carrots and stir until distributed uniformly. Spread the carrot and cheese on the rolled dough to form an even layer, leaving a 1-inch / 2.5 cm border of clean dough all around.

Fold the uncovered border of dough over the filling and pleat it at regular intervals.

savory carrot and fromage blanc tart / torta salata con carote e fromage blanc

spreading the filling on the base

The final act
Slide the parchment paper with the assembled tart onto the tile or stone in the oven or on a baking sheet.

Bake approximately 32 minutes until the crust is crisp. Check after 30 minutes of baking.

Take out of the oven, cut and serve.

Serves 4-6.

savory carrot and fromage blanc tart / torta salata con carote e fromage blanc

Perfect!

The last time I made the tart, I baked it in the wood-fired oven (without the parchment paper): the photo above shows the result. 

I love this tart: the sweetness of carrots and the creaminess of fromage blanc blend well and the crazy dough offers a discreet and slightly rustic support to the duo. 

I am sure Gemma James and Duncan Kincaid would enjoy a slice of my tart as part of their dinner at the end of a long day, just as I enjoy reading about their adventures at the end of mine.

Small_NFlogoThis is my second contribution to the 21st edition of Novel Food, the literary/culinary event that Lisa of Champaign Taste and I started some time ago and that I continue to host. 

The roundup of the event.

Shop-local-badgeCarrots from my CSA share, homemade fromage blanc from local milk, local whole-wheat flour, onion from the farmers' market and thyme from my herb garden make my tart perfect for the Shop Local Food Blogging Challenge organized by Elizabeth of Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary.

 The roundup of the event.

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

torta salata con carote e fromage blanc

or launch the torta salata con carote e fromage blanc audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

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tart, carrot, fromage-blanc, Italian cuisine

Newrule

torta salata con carote e fromage blanc

savory carrot and fromage blanc tart / torta salata con carote e fromage blanc

una delizia carotosa

Avete letto Pel di carota di Jules Renard da bambini? Pubblicata nel 1894, è la storia autobiografica di un ragazzino coi capelli rossi. Non mi ricordo i dettagli, ma mi fece venire voglia di avere i capelli rossi. La cosa mi è tornata in mente quando ho letto che Gemma James, co-protagonista insieme a Duncan Kincaid di una serie di gialli scritti da Deborah Crombie ha i capelli rossi.

Non sono riuscita a stabilire con certezza che i romanzi della Crombie sono stati tradotti in italiano, quindi perdonatemi se non scrivo i titoli. Ho letto i primi quattro e sono alle prese col quinto. Mi hanno fatto venire nostalgia di Londra e della campagna inglese.

I capelli rossi di Gemma e la dose settimanale di carote nella mia cassettina sono state le muse ispiratrici di questa torta salata, insieme ad una ricetta dell'Artusi.

carrots

sorriso per la fotografa

153. PASTA MATTA
Si chiama matta non perché sia capace di qualche pazzia, ma per la semplicità colla quale si presta a far la parte di stival che manca in diversi piatti, come vedrete. Spegnete farina con acqua e sale in proporzione e formate un pane da potersi tirare a sfoglia col matterello.

Tutto qui. Vedrete in basso la mia interpretazione.

homemade fromage blanc

fromage blanc fresco e montato

Ho pensato che il fromage blanc, leggero e cremoso, sarebbe stato il compagno perfetto per le carote e quindi ne ho fatto un bel po' usando 1,9 litri di latte intero e 1,9 litri di latte scremato. Il fromage blanc, come altri formaggi freschi, è facile da fare in casa: dopo aver aggiunto i fermenti (questi sono pronti per l'uso), si lascia riposare il latte durante la notte e la mattina dopo si drena il caglio per alcune ore. Una passata con il battitore elettrico per montarlo leggermente e il formaggio è pronto da mangiare (al naturale oppure con l'aggiunta di erbe aromatiche fresche) o da usare come ingrediente.

savory carrot and fromage blanc tart / torta salata con carote e fromage blanc

pasta lentigginosa

Fiocchetti di crusca nella farina integrale macinata a pietra sembrano lentiggini sulla pasta base.

Ingredienti per la pasta base:

  • 50 g farina per dolci integrale, possibilmente macinata a pietra
  • 50 g farina 00
  • 50 g acqua tiepida
  • 5 ml olio EV d'oliva
  • Un pizzico di sale fino

Ingredienti per il ripieno:

  • 340 g carote, possibilmente bio
  • 10 ml olio EV d'oliva
  • 50 g cipollotto o cipolla rossa novella, peso netto
  • Le foglie di diversi rametti di timo fresco
  • 1/4 cucchiaino sale fino, o a piacere
  • Un pizzico di pepe nero macinato fresco
  • 200 g fromage blanc

Dose per 4-6 porzioni.

Preparare la pasta matta
Preparare un impasto con tutti gli ingredienti. Deve essere liscio e non appiccicoso. Farlo riposare, ben coperto (per esempio, avvolto in pellicola), per mezz'ora.

Preparare le carote
Lavare bene le carote e raschiarne la superficie con una lama per rimuovere la pellicina. Grattugiatele con la grattugia a buchi grossi.

Tritare il cipollotto (o cipolla).

Scaldare l'olio in una padella. Aggiungere il cipollotto e le foglioline di timo e mescolare bene. Dopo un minuto, aggiungere le carote e mescolare bene. Cuocere a fuoco dolce per un paio di minuti. Coprire la padella e continuare la cottura, mescolando di tanto in tanto, fino a quando le carote siano appena tenere, 10-12 minuti.

Condire le carote con sale e pepe e mescolare. Lasciar intiepidire mentre stendete a pasta.

Preparare il forno
Io cuocio la torta su delle mattonelle di terracotta. Ne metto due sul piano del forno. Una pietra da forno va bene lo stesso. Mettere il supporto scelto nel forno prima di accenderlo.

Potete anche cuocere la torata salata su una placca da forno.

Scaldare il forno a 177 C.

Stendere la pasta e preparare la torta
Infarinare leggeremente un pezzo di carta da forno largo circa 33 cm e stenderci sopra la pasta fino ad ottenere un disco di 28 cm di diametro. 

Aggiungere il fromage blanc alle carote e mescolare bene, poi distribuire il composto sulla pasta in modo uniforme, lasciando scoperto un bordo di 2,5 cm tutto intorno.

Ripiegare il bordo sopra il ripieno e fare delle pieghe ad intervalli regolari per spianare la pasta in eccesso.

savory carrot and fromage blanc tart / torta salata con carote e fromage blanc

distribuire il ripieno sulla pasta

Il finale
Trasferire la torta nel forno (o sulla placca e poi nel forno). La carta da forno facilita questo passaggio.

Cuocere per circa 32 minuti, fino a quando la crosta sia bella croccante. Controllare dopo 30 minuti di cottura. (Ogni forno è diverso e i tempi di cottura variano.)

Sfornare, tagliare e servire.

savory carrot and fromage blanc tart / torta salata con carote e fromage blanc

Perfetta!

L'ultima volta che ho fatto questa torta l'ho cotta nel forno a legna (senza la carta da forno) e la foto qui sopra fa vedere come è venuta. 

Adoro questa torta salata: carote dolci e formaggio cremoso si sposano bene e la pasta matta fornisce un supporto leggero e un po' rustico alla coppia.

Sono sicura che a Gemma James e Duncan Kincaid piacerebbe una fetta della mia torta per cena al termine di una lunga giornata di lavoro, proprio come a me piace leggere le loro avventure al termine della mia giornata.

Small_NFlogoQuesto è il mio secondo contributo alla ventunesima edizione di Novel Food, L'evento lettero-culinario che Lisa di Champaign Taste ed io abbiamo creato qualche tempo fa e che io continuo ad ospitare.

Il raccolto dell'evento.

 

 

 

 

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Wortelstoemp
scorze di mandorle con carote / almond shells pasta with carrots

recipe: savory carrot and fromage blanc tart (torta salata con carote e fromage blanc)

| Simona

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recipe: savory tart with cherry tomatoes and cheese (torta salata con pomodori ciliegia e formaggio)

| Simona
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torta salata con cavolo riccio novello e crescenza / savory tart with baby kale and crescenza

| Simona

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]

savory tart with baby kale and crescenza

ready for the plate

Last week was a difficult one at briciole's headquarters due to the major disruption brought to TypePad, my blog service provider, by multiple distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. For several days, visitors could not access posts or pages and starting Monday, they would get an error message stating that the domain did not exist. It feels good to be able to write again on my blog.

It was also a busy week for briciole's writer, as I attended a bread-baking class at the San Francisco Baking Institute, which was a great experience. You will hear (and see) more about the baguettes and other breads I made and then brought home every day for the joy of the people with whom I shared them. Today, however, we are baking a savory tart.

baby kale

my "Red Russian" kale and parsley jungle

Spring (primavera) brings new life in our vegetable gardens and new, seasonal vegetables to our markets — a welcome change after the more limited choices we had during the winter. For my small vegetable patch, spring means baby kale to thin and therefore baby kale recipes.

Last year, I made some nice baby kale pesto with cashews and then used it to dress a bean and albacore tuna salad, while this year, with the tender leaves I topped a savory tart.

The base for the tart is the "alternative" puff pastry (pasta sfoglia "alternativa") presented in an earlier post. As in the case of the savory tart with cherry tomatoes and cheese, more than a recipe, this is a suggestion: the puff pastry is a canvas on which you can try a combination of ingredients. And of course, the given quantities can be adjusted to fill a bigger tart.

To accompany baby kale on the tart, I chose my homemade Crescenza, a cheese I had not made in a while and to which I went back recently with nice results. This is a versatile soft cheese, great to eat with bread or to use as an ingredient. I hope you can find Crescenza or Stracchino (which is the same cheese) at your local cheese store. If not, you can try making it at home: it is a great beginner's cheese.

savory tart with kale and crescenza cheese

ready for the oven

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for savory tart with baby kale and crescenza

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 oz. / 42 g leek, white and light green portion, washed and cut into 1/8 inch / 3 mm thick half-moons
  • 5 1/4 oz. / 15o g baby kale (mine is "Red Russian" variety)
  • 1 teaspoon / 5 ml EV olive oil
  • A pinch of fine sea salt
  • 165 g / 5 3/4 oz. (half a batch) of "alternative" puff pastry OR equivalent amount of regular puff pastry
  • Crescenza or Stracchino cheese, to taste (without overdoing it)

Rinse leek well and drain.

Wash the baby kale and don't drain them completely. Discard the tougher end of the stalks, then cut leaves into ribbons no more than 1/2-inch wide.

Warm up olive oil in a medium skillet. Add leek and and cook it for 2 minutes, stirring often. Cover the skillet and cook leek for 5 minutes longer on gentle heat, until quite tender.

Uncover the skillet, turn up the heat to medium and add the cut kale leaves. Cook in the water clinging to them for 2 minutes. Cover the skillet and continue cooking on gentle heat until kale is tender, about 8 minutes. Stir to make sure kale cooks evenly and doesn't stick to the pan. Season with salt and let cool briefly.

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Roll out the pastry until fairly thin, then place it on the lined baking sheet. I like to make a rectangular tart. Prick the shell with a fork in several places.

Distribute kale over rolled pastry, leaving a border all around (about 1/2 inch).

Cut thin slices of cheese and distribute in pieces on the kale at regular intervals. I never weigh the cheese, relying on my sense of balance to adjust the quantity: you want to be able to taste all the ingredients.

Pinch the pastry all around to raise it slightly and fold to make a kind of border. Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake until the visible crust is light golden, about 25 minutes. As usual, the time varies with the oven. Check the tart after 20 minutes and estimate the time remaining.

Take the baking sheet out of the oven, let rest briefly, then move the tart to a plate or wooden tray, cut it, serve and enjoy.

Cut into smaller pieces, the tart makes a nice appetizer (antipasto).

snail on kale

snails like kale too

The snails and slugs in my small vegetable patch appreciate baby kale. I have to remind them that they need to vary their diet, so I move them to another spot, far away from temptation.

Whb430This is my contribution to edition #430 of Weekend Herb Blogging, an event started by Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen, now organized by Haalo of Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once and Brii of briggishome. and hosted this week by me, Simona of briciole.

The roundup of the event.

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

torta salata con cavolo riccio novello e crescenza

or launch the torta salata con cavolo riccio novello e crescenza audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

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puff pastry, cheese, savory tart, kale

Newrule

torta salata con cavolo riccio novello e crescenza

savory tart with baby kale and crescenza

pronta da servire

La scorsa settimana è stata difficile al quartier generale di briciole, a causa di un cosiddetto distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack. ripetuto per diversi giorni, durante i quali post e pagine non erano accessibili ai visitatori. Mi fa piacere poter scrivere di nuovo sul mio blog.

È stata anche una settimana impegnativa poiché sono stata un corso di panificazione al San Francisco Baking Institute, un'esperienza molto bella di cui parlerò ancora più avanti. Nel frattempo, oggi prepariamo una torta salata.

baby kale

la mia giungla di cavolo riccio "Red Russian" e prezzemolo

La primavera porta nuova vita nei nostri orti e verdure di stagione nei mercati — un cambiamento gradito dopo l'inverno che offre scelte limitate. Per il mio orticello, primavera significa cavolo riccio novello e ricette che lo utilizzano.

L'anno scorso ho preparato pesto di cavolo riccio novello con anacardi che poi ho usato per condire un'insalata di fagioli e tonno (ricetta solo in inglese), mentre quet'anno ho inventato una torta salata che usa le tenere foglie.

La base per la torta salata è fatta con la pasta sfoglia "alternativa" della quale ho parlato in un post di qualche tempo fa. Come nel caso della torta salata con pomodori ciliegia e formaggio, più che una ricetta, questo è un suggerimento: la pasta sfoglia è una tela sulla quale potete provare a combinare degli ingredienti che vi ispirano. E naturalmente, le dosi possono essere adattate a preparare una torta più grande.

Come accompagnamento per la verdura novella ho scelto la mia Crescenza fatta in casa, formaggio che non facevo da un po' e al quale sono tornata di recente con buoni risultati. Formaggio fresco versatile, la Crescenza, o Stracchino, si trova facilmente nei negozi ma è anche facile da fare in casa.

savory tart with kale and crescenza cheese

pronta da infornare

Ingredienti:

  • 42 g porro, parte bianca e verde chiaro, lavato e tagliato a mezzelune spesse 3 mm
  • 15o g cavolo riccio novello (la varieta che ho io si chiama "Red Russian")
  • 5 ml olio EV oliva
  • Un pizzico di sale fino
  • 165 g pasta sfoglia "alternativa" (metà di quella che ottenete seguendo le dosi della ricetta), oppure la stessa quantità di pasta sfoglia tradizionale
  • Crescenza or Stracchino cheese, a piacere (ma senza esagerare)

Sciacquare bene il porro. 

Lavare il cavolo riccio senza sgrondarlo del tutto. Scartare la parte più dura del gambo di e tagliare le foglie a nastri non più larghi di 1,25 cm.

Scaldare un po' d'olio in una padella di dimensioni medie. Aggiungere il porro e cuocerlo per 2 minuti, mescolando spesso. Coprire la padella e cuocere per altri 5 minuti a fuoco basso fino a quando il porro sia tenero.

Scoprire la padella, alzare il fuoco e aggiungere le foglie tagliate. Cuocere per 2 minuti nell'acqua che hanno ancora attaccata. Coprire la padella e cuocere per altri 5 minuti a fuoco basso fino a quando il cavolo riccio sia tenero, circa 8 minuti. Mescolare e fare attenzione che la verdura non si attacchi al fondo della padella. Condire con sale e far intiepidire.

Scaldare il forno a 190 C e foderare una lastra da forno con tappetino di silicone per forno o carta da forno. Stendere la pasta sfoglia fina e poi muoverla sulla lastra foderata. A me piace darle forma rettangolare. Bucherellare la superficie con una forchetta in diversi punti.

Distribuire il cavolo riccio sulla pasta sfoglia, lasciando tutto intorno un bordo di circa 1,25 cm. 

Tagliare il formaggio a fettine piuttosto sottili e poi a pezzi e distribuirlo sulla verdura ad intervalli regolari. Non poso il formaggio, ma mi baso sul mio senso dell'equilibrio per la quantità: l'idea è di poter distinguere il sapore dei vari ingredienti.

Pizzicare la pasta sfoglia tutto intorno per sollevare leggermente il bordo, poi ripiegarlo su se stesso. Infornare e cuocere fino a quando la crosta è dorata, 25 minuti circa. Ogni forno è un po' diverso e quindi è bene controllare la torta dopo 20 minuti e valutare quanto tempo manca.

Tirare fuori la teglia dal forno, far riposare brevemente la torta e poi tagliare e servire.

Tagliata a quadrotti, questa torta salata può essere servita come antipasto.

snail on kale

il cavolo riccio piace anche alle chiocciole

Chiocciole e lumache nel mio orticello adorano il cavolo riccio. Devo ricordare loro che hanno bisogno di una dieta variata e quindi le trasferisco in un altro posto, lontano dalla tentazione delle tenere foglioline.

Whb430 Questo post è il mio contributo all'edizione numero 430 di Weekend Herb Blogging, evento creato da Kalyn di Kalyn's Kitchen, ora organizzato da Haalo di Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once e Brii di briggishome e ospitato questa settimana da me, Simona di briciole.

Il raccolto dell'evento.

 

Related articles
torta salata con pomodori ciliegia e formaggio / savory tart with cherry tomatoes and cheese
pesto di cavolo riccio novello con anacardi / baby kale pesto with cashews