Shallot and Rosemary-Onion Jam Tarte Tatin

ARRGGHH!

What do you cook when you've already done the (minimal) shopping because you leave for Greece in a few days (its cool, I know your jealous, you'll have to deal with it yourself), and then you remember that you've promised to make dinner for your host mum's very important colleague... Tomorrow night?

Its got to impress. Its got to be suitably low-key chic. It can't be complicated, because you've already got the whole day booked with other things to do and can't go shopping again.

Its got to be a tart tatin....

Now, I guess the first thing that comes to mind when I think of a tarte tatin is apples. And horrible demanding pastry methods, and exact caramalisation time limits. Boo to that complicated racket and hurrah for its easy savoury counterpart.

This takes almost no-time and effort to make, looks great, and may I say, tastes pretty fucking delish. Seriously. I never knew shallots were complex in taste, but trust me brothers and sisters, those bad boys are full of surprises.

What isn't surprising is that seconds are non-negotiable.

Shallot and Onion Jam Tarte Tatin

Ingredients-

Tarte + Filling-

1 sheet of puff pastry

30ml olive oil

28 (approximately!) small shallots (I used less because mine were monster-sized)

1 tablespoon of brown sugar

2 tablespoons of butter

25ml of red wine vinegar

Onion Jam-

a glug of olive oil

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

2 tablespoon of unsalted butter, coarsely chopped

2 Spanish onions, very thinly sliced

a large sprig of rosemary, leaves detached and finely chopped

1 tablespoon of brown sugar

1/8 cup of balsamic vinegar

Method-

Onion Jam-

Heat olive oil medium sized saucepan over medium heat, then add the onions and garlic, cooking for 5 or so minutes until they begin to caramelise.

Add the butter and rosemary and continue to leave to caramelise for another 10 minutes.

Mix together the vinegar and sugar in a small bowl, then pour over the onions, stirring regularly for 3 minutes.

Set to low heat and leave to simmer for around 35 minutes or until the consistency is thick...and jammy.

Tarte + Filling-

Preheat your oven to 190°C and butter a 20cm cake tin.

Peel the shallots, cutting those too big into halves or thirds lengthwise.

Heat the oil in a deep, wide pan (is it just me or does that sound way too dirty?) over medium-high heat then add the shallots, cooking for around 8 minutes until golden on the outsides.

Add the sugar and cook for 5 minutes, then add the butter.

Cook for 5 minutes or until they are a deep caramel colour, stirring occasionally.

Reduce the heat to low, then add the vinegar and leave to soften for 20 minutes.

Pour the shallots into the bottom of the cake tin, arranging them so that they are a little bit heaped in the middle, but also so that there are no real gaps until the sides of the tin. Add the onion jam on top.

Gently place the pastry to lie over the top, then tuck the pastry around the sides of the base, to hold the mixture. Leave any remaining pastry that is hanging upwards after the tuck, because it caramelises and becomes deliciously handsome.

Bake for 15 minutes or until nice and golden on top and sturdy. Run a knife around the edges after leaving to cool for 5 minutes, then flip onto a serving plate and look with pride at your gorgeous tarte tatin!

Saffron Chicken Satay Curry

When the summer comes, and the weather gets hot, something within me always desires a good curry. Call me crazy if you wish- I know it might sound a kind of heavy mix, but there is truly nothing better on a day where you can't escape the heat, to eat it.

So the last couple of days when I've been home alone, alternating between the combinations of: 'bikini and balcony' then 'shade and Internet' there is no surprise that the recipes that have been attracting me (and yes I know I sound kinda like a moth and a flame here) have all been Curry's or versions of. I can hardly stop myself from drooling when I think of a curry salad loaded with fresh bunches of coriander, marinated chicken pieces, roasted almond slivers, chick peas and to top it all off, juicy ripe mango. Unfortunately that's not at all what I made.. Just let myself get carried away with that delicious thought!

Perhaps (or at least, I like to think) that it is some throwback to having a Greek/Egyptian heritage, or maybe its just that I find Middle Eastern and Indian foods IRRESISTIBLE pretty much all the time (in hindsight the latter seems a lot more likely). Either way today I got my curry on for a lunch in the sun...

Saffron Chicken Satay Curry

Ingredients-

4 breasts of chicken, chopped into cubes or strips

1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper poder

1 teaspoon of sweet paprika powder

2 tablespoons of oil

3 onions, chopped into cubes or strips

2 garlic cloves, minced

100ml of apple juice

200ml of unsweetened coconut milk

2 tablespoons of peanut butter

2 large capsicums, chopped into cubes or strips

2 tablespoons of brown sugar

3-4 teaspoons of Thai red curry paste (depending on how hot you like it)

2 tablespoons of lime juice

200g of bean sprouts

100ml of soy sauce

5 dried bay leaves

2 good handfuls of fresh coriander (optional for serving)

Method-

In a medium sized bowl, marinate the chicken in the soy sauce and curry paste (you can either make in advance and leave to rest and develop or use straight away if you don't have time).

Heat oil a deep pan or saucepan and add the chicken, saffron and cayenne pepper, leaving any of the chickens' marinade left over to add later.

Cook until golden then add the onion, capsicum, sprouts and garlic and leave until the onion is also golden and softened.

Add the apple juice, coconut milk, peanut butter and any remaining marinade and mix well until the sauce is smooth. Add the bay leaves.

Cover and allow to simmer for at least 30 minutes.

Serve on rice, preferably with lots of fresh coriander and a sweaty brow :)

Slow-Roasted Tomato and Fromage Blanc Tart

When I first decided I was going to make this tart, it was gong to be an authentic Italian artichoke and ricotta affair.

But due to the unfortunate combination of narrow-minded French supermarkets (its always a challenge to find things like ricotta), my slight fear of artichokes (a lot of work for small quantities of edible things) and my pea-sized attention span- the tart got a bit of a (what I like to call) make-over.

And joy to the world it did, it turned out to be delicious- just perfect to eat late on a hot summers night on a terrace overlooking the French countryside. Jealous yet? Well don't be! This is possibly on of the easiest things in the world to make, and as for the backdrop, I'm sure your creative little noggins can find a way to impress-ify your surroundings with unnecessary adjectives and (the tiniest) of white lies, like I do.

So here's to a tart...

Slow-Roasted Tomato and Fromage Blanc Tart

Ingredients-

Good splash of olive oil

550g of tomatoes

3/4 teaspoon of salt, divided

1/2 cup of fresh parsley leaves, minced

2 tablespoons of dried herb mix (optional)

3 large cloves of garlic

2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour

1 large egg

500g of fromage blanc

20 strokes of nutmeg

1 tablespoon of garlic butter (or an egg for glazing the pastry)

1/2 cup of grated parmesan

Freshly ground black pepper

1 package of prepared puff pastry (of course you can make it yourself, but it takes a very long time)

Method-

Preheat your oven to 160°C.

Find a medium sized dish suitable for baking, place your tomatoes inside, then give them a good slosh of olive oil and roll them around until coated on each surface.

Cut the garlic cloves into enough wedges to put one each in your tomatoes (I think I needed around 6 chunks). Make a cut in the top of each of the tomatoes and shove in the garlic chunks (vvvv satisfying feeling) then if you so please, sprinkle a tad of the dried herbs in little holes too.

Bake for at least an hour, or as long as possible before they start to burn.

In a pie tin, or casserole dish (or whatever else tickles your fancy for the shape of the pie), place a sheet of baking paper, and then press in the dough. With a knife, make lots of small incisions in the base to let out the hot air when baking. Place in the oven for 10-15 minutes or until the pastry is a light golden colour.

Grab a large mixing bowl, and add 1 egg, the fromage blanc, the nutmeg, the parmesan, and salt and pepper to taste. Add the tomatoes and the flour (only if you think it needs thickening) then give it a good stir and pour into the pastry. Melt the garlic butter (or lightly whisk an egg) and coat the pastry you can see with the butter (or obviously the egg).

Increase the oven temperature to 180°C bake for 40 minutes or so or until the middle is set (you can test this my giving the pan a bit of a shake and seeing if the middle still wobbles).

Spanish Herbed Potatoes coated in Romesco Sauce paired with Chicken, Pancetta and Caramelised Onion Baked Meatballs

I have to admit, I was feeling pretty on top of the world this morning due to a range of things that I carefully, and painstakingly wrote on my little Notebook computer. Mistake! The bugger of a thing crashed and I lost it all! Now I can try to recount everything perfectly for you ( and do know dear reader, that I'll do my utmost!) but I can't promise the first time round magic of the other :(

But here's to trying-

Today's a Saturday, and I'm glad to say I've been able to RELAX a little bit-to laze about and read my food blogs (almost crack for me I'm beginning to realise).

I may not have said before, but I'm an exchange student (Australian) currently living in rural France, and there just happens to be another Aussie exchange student who lives in the village closest to me, so each day, with nothing much else to do, I wander down (we live in the hills a bit) and we meet up and hang out for the day. Turns out when you wander down and back each day and its a 2 hour wander, you end up in need of a quiet Saturday! But again, besides the point, I never could stop a tangent before it was already out!

So my friend and her host mum were coming for dinner. This excited me greatly to begin with because it meant EXTRA time looking at recipes than usual, AND that I got to cook. The weather here at the moment is really the opposite of summer, which normally would get me down and mopey (you've yet to learn how temperamental I can be) but yesterday it was right up my alley, because I'm not much one for a 'light summer salad' or easy to assemble, no-cooking cooking. I like to chop and bake and saute and roast and leave to brew. AND I like a good tomato-based sauce. Which leads me to today's (or last nights) recipe.

Spanish Herbed Potatoes coated in Romesco Sauce paired with Chicken, Pancetta and Caramelised Onion Baked Meatballs.

I found the original of this recipe on the Smitten Kitchen blog, and it caught my eye, because it involves basically all my favourite things- crispy, herby potatoes and a bright red tomatoey sauce.

For a long time I have held my mothers bolognaise in a very special place in my heart. I have memories from as long as I can remember of intense quantities being prepared and the warm, hearty, cheesy Lasagne's that I knew (or hoped, anticipated even prayed) would follow. Also, of drinking it like soup from my bowl, pouring it on my toast for brekkie, spreading it in a sandwich for lunch.. Have I made my point that there really is a good chance my blood is 50% bolognaise?

So when I say I liked this sauce a lot, when I say I might even sometimes maybe even possibly prefer it to a bol, THAT MEANS A GREAT DEAL.

But enough of my Italian sauce wet-dream, here is the recipe for the Spanish alternative...

Ingredients-

Romesco Sauce-

450ml can of tomatoes (pureed or whole, I prefer whole for more texture)

1 small jar of roasted peppers (preferably garlic, though you can easily do it yourself)

5 ancho chillies (I didn't have any, so I used 2 good teaspoons of dried chilli's and it still had a great effect)

3 tablespoons of raw almonds

2 tablespoons of blanched hazelnuts

1 cup of extra-virgin olive oil

1 slice of thick, real bread (think Ciabatta rather than Wonder White)

1 clove of garlic, chopped

1 tablespoons of chopped flat-leaf parsley

1/2 lemon, for juicing

1 tablespoon of brown sugar (optional, if you like a bit of sweetness to counter the chillies)

A good splash of balsamic vinegar

Another good splash of Worcestershire sauce

A Pinch of sea salt

Potatoes-

700 G of bake-able potatoes, I suggest Kipfer or Yukon Gold

1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil

4 to 5 cloves of garlic, peeled

6 bay leaves

6 springs of thyme or rosemary if you so desire

2 tablespoons of chopped parsley

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to season

Chicken, Pancetta and Caramelised Onion Baked Meatballs-

500 grams of chicken breast, cut into roughish strips or chunks

1 egg

3 tablespoons of freshly chopped parsley

3 slices of thick bread (again think Ciabatta-style) or 1 cup of breadcrumbs (I used breadcrumbs)

1 packet of pancetta

1 onion, chopped into smallish strips

1 clove of garlic, finely chopped

3 tablespoons of olive oil

2 tablespoons of tomato paste

1/3 cup (80ml) of milk

Method-

Potatoes-

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Depending on how much time you have to cook the potatoes, you can either cut them, or simply leave them whole if they aren't too big.

In a large roasting pan, mix the potatoes with at least 2 TB of the olive oil, the herbs, and the garlic. I like to give the potatoes a nice rub with all of the herbs, and particularly the garlic cloves to enhance the flavour a little.

Put in the oven and bake for a minimum of 30 minutes if you cut your potatoes, up to an hour and a half if you didn't.

After they have been baked, transfer to a suitable pan (sometimes your roasting pan is perfect anyway) and continue to cook on the stove-top until they are crispyer! I like to crush them a little and let the flesh brown too.

Romesco Sauce-

Prepare your chillies by cutting off their stems, and removing their seeds. Then you'll need to soak them for around 15 minutes in warm water for softening.

Place the almonds and hazelnuts on a tray in the oven for around 10 minutes or until they are golden and give off a scent. Be careful because they really don't take long to burn quickly.

While your waiting for the chillies and nuts, heat a fairly deep frying pan over high heat with 2 TB of olive oil, then add the slice of bread and fry until it is golden on both side and remove from heat.

Return the pan to heat and add the chillies, and capsicums. After 2 minutes add the tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce and salt. Leave for 3 or so minutes, until the excess water has evaporated, then turn off heat.

In a food processor, pulse together the garlic, fried bread, and nuts until roughly chopped (not too fine).

Add the tomato mixture and turn the processor on to slow, then slowly pour in the remaining olive oil (I don't like my sauce too oily so I definitely used a lot less than suggested, around about half a cup maximum I would say)

At this point, taste your sauce and add whatever you need according to your tastes.. I think I would have added some more lemon juice in hindsight so you may want to adjust a bit too.

Heat the sauce again when the potatoes are being fried, then serve the sauce drizzled over the potatoes and sprinkle with freshly chopped parsley.

Chicken, Pancetta and Caramelised Onion Baked Meatballs-

Preheat oven to 180°C

Place the bread to soak in the milk for 4 or so minutes.

Heat a pan and a 1 tablespoon of oil over medium heat, then add the chicken when hot. Cook the chicken for 8 or so minutes until white on the outside (not golden) and not cooked properly on the inside.

Remove the chicken from heat and place in blender, add the pancetta to the pan and cook until crispy, then place in the blender.

Cook the onion slowly over a low heat in the same pan until it has softened and is a deep golden brown colour, add in the garlic for the last 5 minutes ( you can add a little water to help the caramelising along if you like).

Add the onion, garlic and bread to the blender along with the meats and give it a quick blitz until its of a texture small enough to form good ball, but not super-fine, because I like myself some TEXTURE.

Place the chicken mixture in a large bowl, then add the egg, tomato paste (if you chose to use breadcrumbs add now) and mix with your hands until well combined. If the mixture is dry add either oil or remaining milk, and of course if it is wet, add more bread.

Form liberal balls with a tablespoon and put in the oven for a shortish amount of time, until gorgeously golden on top and serve with the Romesco Potatoes.

Sorry I don't have any photo's for this post. I assure you it looked perfect, which is exactly why my camera decided to die :)

If you want pictures of the Romesco Potatoes, check out Smitten Kitchen's post- http://smittenkitchen.com/2010/03/romesco-potatoes/