I hate ants and this is the time of year that they are on their Sunbird migratory path, straight for my honeys. So I, the Dark Lord, have been trying various deterrents to help them decide that my kitchen is a truly hostile environment. So far they’ve ignored the toxic chalk that I can no longer get in Chinatown, and Windex. But Gold Seal Foot Powder is holding the swarming mass back. If that doesn’t work, I’ll try orange, lavender and peppermint essential oils. Unfortunately, since half of the contents of my cabinet are on our kitchen island, the place looks once again, trashed. It’s bad enough that I’m lousy at housekeeping, but when this happens, the disaster grows exponentially.
But on to a more pleasant subject, the Pear & Almond Custard Tarte. I’ve made this little beauty for years when the pears are in season. It’s always a big hit for the Thanksgiving party at my cousin Aislinn in San Francisco where we know that everyone there has a more refined palate than the hicks from Santa Cruz. This year I promised Aislinn the recipe so (weep) here it is. And of course you’ll have to deal with my philosophy of dough.
The Immensely Popular Pear & Almond Custard Tarte
DOUGH – Prep – 10 minutes, chilling – 1 hour, rolling – 10 minutes, cooking – 10 – 15 minutes The standard ratio is 1 cup of flour for each stick of butter. This makes enough dough for a pie crust. However, if you want the dough to be more buttery, add a ½ stick of butter. If you want the dough to be flakey, add lard. Butter and water must be cold. Add just enough ice cold water to get the dough and butter to stick, usually about ¼ cup, and a dash of salt. You can add sugar (about a tablespoon) to sweeten the dough. Remember to let the dough rest for 2 hours before using. What I usually do is make enough dough for 4 pies in the food processor, and divide in 4 balls. The other 3 doughs are put in the freezer wrapped in plastic wrap or a plastic bag.
1 cup of sifted unbleached flour
1 stick (1/2 cup) of unsalted butter (I use to love Plugra, but now can’t find it at Trader Joe’s) or more
¼ cup of ice water
1 dash (up to 1/8 teaspoon) of salt
1 tablespoon of sugar (optional)
In the food processor with the metal blade, add butter, flour, salt and sugar. Pulse for 10 times. Add water while continuing to pulse until dough starts to firm up as if to make a ball. Flour lightly the dough ball and place in plastic wrap or wax paper. Place in refrigerator to rest.
Set the oven at 350 degrees. Using flour to keep the dough from sticking to the work area and the rolling pin, roll out the dough for ¼ inch thickness and place in a 9 inch pie plate or a ceramic quiche and tarte dish. Trim the edges, and prick the surface of the dough heavily. Line the shell with aluminum foil, or waxed or parchment paper and fill with dried beans to prevent puffing and bake for 10-15 minutes, until it is golden brown. Cool slightly.
PEAR AND ALMOND CUSTARD FILLING – Set oven at 375 degrees. Prep time -20 minutes, Baking time 40 – 50 minutes
1 pound peeled & sliced pears – I like Anjou and Comice
Custard
1 ½ cups of milk or cream depending how rich you want the custard – I usually do a mixture
1 tsp almond extract
3 egg yolks
1 egg
1/3 cup of sugar
Freshly grated nutmeg
In a small sauce pan, bring milk/cream to a boil and remove immediately from heat. In a bowl beat egg yolks, whole egg, almond extract and slowly add the sugar. Once mixture is light and fluffy gradually beat in the scalded milk/cream combination.
Arrange pears in the cooked pie shell and cover with custard. Add custard until it covers the pears. Sprinkle lightly with grated nutmeg. Cook for 40 – 50 minutes until custard sets. Cool down and serve.
All of my love and best wishes for 2010. XXXX Nadine
Ho, Ho, Ho and it is the Christmas holidays. I spent last night worrying whether or not we would come down with Salmonella during the night all because I couldn’t resist making mayo. I go through this mental torture yearly when I pull out the deep fat fryer and decide that for a week, we can have beignets, French fries, and funnel cakes to our hearts’ desire. Actually it is not very good at all for our hearts and probably takes our bodies a month to recuperate. Of course, when I make the French fries, I’ve got to eat them with real mayonnaise, not that bizarre white stuff you buy in the store. And OF COURSE, I make mine with a raw egg which means I stay up all night long worrying if I have poisoned the family. But once again, we escaped any evil consequences. And it tastes SO GOOD, especially with rib-eye steak, and a green salad with
No whisking for me, I find that mayo is fool-proof in the food processor. I’ve tried it in the blender, but the mayo came out hard, like lard. The food processor (metal blade) makes it creamy. Also I’m not crazy about the taste of mayo using olive oil, I prefer vegetable or peanut oil, but since I have tons of olive oil in the pantry and little of anything else, olive oil it will be. So I’ll add a pressed or finely chopped clove of garlic or a tablespoon of a nice Dijon mustard to soften the taste. The ratio (I always work in ratios so I can memorize recipes) is 1/1/1.5 which means for every egg, you add on tablespoon of acid – vinegar or lemon juice and drizzle slowly 1 ½ cups of oil. In the same ratio you can add 1 clove of garlic (minced, pressed of finely chopped) or one of mustard. The trick with mayo is to process for 3 seconds of the food processor all your ingredients except the oil, which gets slowly drizzled afterwards into the mixture while the food processor is working.
Sorry, no recipes today since I want to talk about something near to my heart. I know there are a lot of us wondering what we can do to help or assist our men and women who are serving abroad and this is an opening for any of you who would like to assist some of those who are so far from home. This request came from my cousin Marlaine Koue, whose family is committed to assisting the troups abroad. Marlaine has outlined for us her easy guidelines for sending packages.