POP THIS TART IN THE OVEN

 

Apple Tart with raisins, pine nuts and honey glaze.

With electricity rates still sky-high, I take advantage of slightly lowered costs on the weekend to do a lot of cooking. If I’m turning on the (electric) oven to roast a chicken, I’m going to do some potatoes and cauliflower at the same time. What about the other oven rack? How about an easy apple tart?

Packaged puff pastry (hojaldre) needs no rolling out. The cinnamon-infused pastry cream can be made a day in advance, so the tart comes together in the time it takes to slice the apples.

Use any variety of apple for this tart. 

Borders are puffed and crispy.

Apple Tart

Tarta de Manzana

You need about 2 cups sliced apples for this tart—3 small or 2 large apples or approximately ¾ pound. Peel them or not, as you prefer. Slice them thinly.

One sheet of frozen (thawed) puff pastry (about 8 ½ ounces) forms the crust. It can be square, rectangular or circular. (Mine was square.) Unroll or unfold the dough and place it, with the paper lining onto a baking sheet. You dont need to roll the dough thinner.

A honey glaze brushed on after baking gives the tart a burnished look.

A serrated slicer or a pizza-cutting wheel works well to slice the tart. Serve it with ice cream or whipped cream, if desired. The tart is best the day it is made, as puff pastry doesn’t keep it’s crispness with storage.

Makes 8 slices.

1 sheet puff pastry, thawed if frozen

1 cup pastry cream with cinnamon (recipe below)

2 cups sliced apples

½ teaspoon cinnamon

Lemon juice

1 tablespoon pine nuts

1 tablespoon seedless raisins or sultanas

Pinch of fresh thyme leaves or fennel seeds (optional)

1 teaspoon butter or olive oil

2 tablespoons honey

Preheat oven to 400ºF.

Unfold the sheet of puff pastry and place it on a baking sheet. Leaving a 1-inch border around the dough, prick the surface with a fork. Spread the pastry cream on the dough, leaving the borders uncovered. 

Spread pastry cream, top with apples.

Combine the apples with cinnamon and ½ teaspoon lemon juice. Arrange the apples slices on top of the pastry cream as attractively as possible. Poke pine nuts and raisins around the apples. If desired, add a few thyme leaves or fennel seeds. Dot the tart with butter or drizzle with oil.

Bake the tart until the borders are puffed and browned, about 25 minutes. Remove from oven.

Brush on honey glaze.

Combine the honey and a few drops of lemon juice in a small bowl. Microwave on Medium for 15 seconds or until the honey is melted and thinned. Use a pastry brush to brush it on the apples.

Pastry Cream with Cinnamon

Crema Pastelera con Canela

The pastry cream can be prepared a day in advance of making the tart. Cover with plastic wrap pressed on to the surface of the cream so that it doesn’t form a crust and refrigerate. Stir smooth before using in the recipe.

You will need only half this quantity of pastry cream for the tart recipe. Save the remainder for another use such as cake filling, topping for fruit or pudding.

Makes about 2 cups of pastry cream.

¼ cup cornstarch

2 cups milk

2-inch cinnamon stick

Strip of lemon zest

3 egg yolks

½ cup sugar

Place the cornstarch in a bowl. Add ½ cup of the milk and stir until smooth.

Place the remaining milk, cinnamon stick and lemon zest in a pan. Bring to a boil and immediately remove from the heat. Skim out and discard the cinnamon and zest.

Add the yolks and sugar to the cornstarch-milk mixture and stir to combine well. Whisk in the hot milk. Return the milk-egg mixture to the pan. Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly, until the cream thickens. 

More energy-saving recipes: https://mykitcheninspain.blogspot.com/2021/09/what-to-cook-when-electric-bill-soars.html

More recipes for desserts with apples:

Baked Apples with Málaga Wine.

Apple Cake with Honey-Wine Syrup.

Apple-Almond Olive Oil Crumble.

COLORFUL AUTUMNAL PEPPERS

 

"Stoplight" peppers--red, yellow, green.

I was making meat loaf for dinner and wanted a sauce or side to go with it. Not gravy, thank you very much. I’m not a gravy person. And not mushroom sauce, because my version of meatloaf includes mushrooms in the mix. I settled on roasted semáforo peppers—part side dish, part sauce, a little bit relish.

Marketed in threes, these peppers are called semáforo, or stoplight, for their red, yellow and green stop-and-go colors. Their bright colors and zesty flavors make them a perfect accompaniment to autumn. 

Roasted pepper salad is a favorite in tapa bars. It’s also popular served alongside fried and grilled fish. It’s a terrific topping for pizza or the Catalan version, coca. The peppers are a perfect foil for grilled entrecôte (steak). Scramble the peppers with eggs for a pipérade. Use them as sandwich filling. 

Roasted peppers make a zesty sauce for chicken meatloaf with mushrooms.

Heap peppers on toasts and top with anchovies.

The perfect meatloaf sandwich--thick slice of meatloaf, toasted bun with a little mayo and lots of roasted peppers.

Roasted Bell Peppers

Pimientos Asados

Red, yellow and green peppers make a colorful mélange.

The peppers are oven-roasted and need almost an hour in a moderate oven. They won’t char, as they do on a wood fire, but the skins will loosen and the flesh will become soft. They can be finished after peeling or, as in this recipe, sautéd in olive oil with garlic.

 Use all red or mixed color peppers. 

Serves 4.

4-5 small bell peppers

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 clove garlic, sliced crosswise

Chile, to taste

Salt

¼ teaspoon Sherry vinegar

Anchovies (optional)

Toasts (optional)

Chopped scallions (optional)

Preheat oven to 400ºF. Arrange the peppers in an oven pan and place it in the oven. After 10 minutes, lower the temperature to 350ºF. 

Oven-roasted peppers don't char, but skins come off easily.

Roast the peppers, turning them over every 15 minutes, until they are soft and the skin has visibly loosened from the flesh, about 45 minutes more.

Remove the pan from the oven and cover the peppers with a cloth. Allow to stand 10 minutes.

Peel off skin, discard seeds.

Peel away the skins of the peppers. Working over a bowl to catch the juices, split the peppers open and carefully remove seeds. Save the juices, strained of seeds. Cut or tear the flesh into thin strips. Heat the oil in a skillet and add the garlic and chile. When garlic begins to color, add the peppers. Sauté them on moderately high heat for 5 minutes. Add salt to taste and the reserved juices (4 to 5 tablespoons). Cook on moderate heat 5 minutes more. Stir in the vinegar.Serve the peppers hot, room temperature or chilled, with toasts, anchovies and scallions, if desired.

Meat Loaf, My Way

Rollo de Carne de Pollo

Meatloaf, as I knew it growing up in the Midwest, was an economical family meal of ground beef. It doesn’t really exist in Spanish cooking. There are meat versions of brazo gitano (gypsy’s arm), with fillings of ham, cheese, cooked egg, and extra-large meatballs such as the relleno that cooks in a cocido. But plebian meatloaf, no.

My version is not how my mother made meatloaf. I usually use ground chicken thighs, never beef. And I tend to add Spanish flavors such as olive oil, pimentón, garlic, capers. I like to add a spoonful of Asian fish sauce too--it contributes umami. If not using it, you may need to increase the amount of salt in the recipe.

3 tablespoons olive oil 

1 cup finely chopped onion

½ cup chopped celery

½ cup chopped carrot

1 clove garlic, chopped

2 cups chopped mushrooms (6 ounces)

½ teaspoon smoked pimentón (paprika)

Pinch of thyme

Pinch of fennel seeds

1 tablespoon dry Sherry

1 teaspoon Asian fish sauce (optional)

1 cup fresh bread crumbs

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

1 ¾ pounds ground chicken thighs

½ teaspoon salt

Freshly ground black pepper 

1 tablespoon drained capers

Heat the oil in a skillet and sauté the onion, celery, carrot and garlic until onions are beginning to brown, 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and continue sautéing until mushroooms are softened, 5 minutes more. Add the pimentón, thyme and fennel. Add the Sherry and cook off the alcohol. Add the fish sauce, if using. Stir in the bread crumbs. Remove the pan from the heat and add the parsley.

Preheat oven to 400ºF. Lightly oil an oven pan.

In a bowl mix the ground chicken with salt and pepper. Add the onion-mushroom mixture and the capers. Mix thoroughly. Shape the meat into a compact loaf and place it in the oven pan. 

Place in the oven. After 10 minutes, lower oven temperature to 350ºF. Bake until meat tests done (160ºF), about 45 minutes longer.

More meatloaf recipes:

Lamb Roll Wrapped in Chard.

Partridge and Chicken Pâté.

Pumpkin Stuffed with Meat.

Meat Roll in Cocido.

CHICKEN SOUP—FOR WHATEVER AILS YOU

 

I don’t have Covid (negative test). But, I’ve been pretty sick all week, in no mood for blog planning. 

I haven’t lost my sense of smell or taste. Nevertheless, I have no appetite for cooking or eating. I do get hungry, though, but, what to eat? I don’t want salty crackers and cheese or gritty nuts. Coffee with milk is disgusting (although, I find oat milk goes down okay). Spicy chai tea is soothing. Raw tomatoes are fine, but tomato sauce burns my throat. Salad tastes good, but it seems such an effort to prepare when I’m not feeling well. Plain toast and scrambled eggs are comforting. What I really want is the “cure”—chicken soup. 

Chicken soup is so basic that, even with a low-grade fever, I could go through the motions. A chicken carcass left from a roast chicken, onion or leek, carrot, celery, bay leaf, sprig of thyme, salt, water and a slosh of white wine vinegar. Cook it 45 minutes while I nap. Strain the broth. Let it set 30 minutes and skim off the fat.

Add chopped celery, carrots and leeks, some greens. Cook some fideo noodles in the broth and add chopped (leftover) chicken. Serve piping hot. A Spanish touch—finish the soup with chopped serrano ham and mint leaves.

No recipe needed--chicken broth with vegetables and fideo noodles. The soup is "seasoned" with a sprinkling of chopped serrano ham and a sprig of mint.

Ah, that’s better already.

If I were preparing the simple soup for others, seeking flavor as well as comfort, I might 

• Add a splash of fino or medium Sherry

• Stir a spoonful of alioli (olive oil-garlic mayonnaise) into each bowl

• Add chile paste and chopped cilantro

Another soothing soup: Chicken Broth with Garnishes (Sopa de Picadillo).

WHEN THE NEIGHBORS COME FOR DRINKS

 

Salt cod fritters, a dipping sauce and a few other tidbits to serve with drinks.

I invited my new neighbors down for drinks this evening and then thought, “so what am I going to serve them?” 

Desalted cod scraps.

I had part of a package of bacalao (salt cod) that I had used for another recipe (see the orange-olive-cod salad here). These migas, or scraps, needed only two to three hours of soaking to desalt them (rather than the 36 to 48 hours needed for a thick piece of salt cod). Just right for making buñuelos de bacalao, cod fritters.

The fritters make good finger food, speared on picks and served with a spicy tomato dipping sauce. They go particularly well with white wine, fino Sherry or beer, but, hey, if guests want red wine or gin-tonic, that’s fine too. 

I gave my mini-processor a good workout, using it to flake the cod, chop ham, mince onions and parsley for the fritter batter and to blitz the tomatoes for the dipping sauce. 

Buñuelos are best, hot or room temperature, within an hour of frying them.

Dipping sauce is optional. The fritters are also good with alioli, garlic mayonnaise.

Fritters are crisp on the outside, spongy inside.

Salt Cod Fritters

Buñuelos de Bacalao

If starting with dry salt cod, cut it into small pieces and soak in several changes of water to rehydrate and remove salt.

Be careful about adding salt to the batter, as both cod and ham are salty. Best to taste the batter or fry up a sample fritter and add more salt if necessary. 

Moderate the heat so the fritters don’t brown too quickly. They need time to allow the flour to cook. 

The fritters are best within an hour of frying them. But, fried in advance, they can be successfully crisped up by submerging them briefly again in hot oil. 

Makes 1 dozen fritters.

Use food processor to chop ingredients.

3 ounces salt cod, desalted

1 ounce cooked ham

1 large egg

½ cup flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

Pinch of saffron threads

1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley

1 tablespoon finely chopped onion or scallion

¼ cup water

Olive oil for frying

Tomato dipping sauce, to serve (recipe follows)

Squeeze out excess moisture from the cod. Chop it finely with a knife or in a mini-processor. Finely chop the ham in the same manner.

Add saffron to batter.

Beat the egg in a bowl. Stir in the flour, baking powder and salt. Beat in the water. The batter should be the consistency of thick pancake batter. Mix in the saffron. Add the parsley, onion, cod and ham. Stir to combine thoroughly.

Cover and refrigerate the batter for at least 30 minutes or up to 24 hours.

Place oil in a heavy skillet to a depth of 1 inch and heat the oil on moderate-high heat. Test the oil by dropping a little of the batter into the oil. When the oil is ready (360ºF), the batter should begin to sizzle and rise to the surface of the oil. 

Use two teaspoons to drop balls of batter into the oil. Don’t crowd the pan. The fritters will puff up and bob to the surface as they cook. 

Moderate heat so fritters don't brown too quickly.

When golden-brown on the bottom, carefully turn the fritters and brown the reverse side. In total, the fritters need about 3 minutes. 

Remove the fritters with a skimmer or slotted spoon and drain them on paper towels. Serve them hot or room temperature accompanied by Tomato Dipping Sauce.

Spicy Tomato Dipping Sauce

Salsa de Tomate Picante

Serve spicy tomato sauce for dipping the fritters.

This sauce goes very well with fried foods.

I used the mini-processor to finely chop the onions and garlic and to chop the skinned tomatoes as well. How spicy? That’s up to you. I added 1 whole chile (I think a cayenne) and fished it out afterward. The sauce was not very spicy. Using chopped chile with seeds makes a hotter sauce. 

Chiles for picante.

1 ½ pounds plum tomatoes (8-10)

3 tablespoons olive oil

½ cup finely chopped onion

1 clove garlic

¼ teaspoon cumin

¼ teaspoon oregano

½ teaspoon salt

1 chile pepper or to taste

1 bay leaf

Peel tomatoes easily.

Cut out the stems and cut a slash on the bottoms of the tomatoes. Place in a single layer on a plate and microwave on High for 2 minutes. Turn the tomatoes over and microwave on High 1 minute longer. The skins should begin to peel away. Let the tomatoes cool. Slip off the skins and either chop the tomatoes or blitz them in the mini-processor. Save the pulp and juice. You should have about 1 ½ cups.

Heat the oil in a heavy pot and sauté the onion and garlic on moderate heat until softened, 5 minutes. Stir in the cumin, oregano and salt. Add the chopped tomatoes. Add the chile and bay leaf.

Cook the tomatoes, partially covered to avoid splattering, on moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is thick and jammy, 30 minutes.  Remove and discard the chile and bay leaf.

Serve the sauce room temperature or chilled. 

More buñuelos:

Puffy Cauliflower Fritters.

Fried Crullers for Day of the Dead.

Cheese Puffs.

Figgy Fritters.

Welcomd to new neighbors, Nina and Urban.

BAKING WITH OLIVE OIL, cont.

Non-traditional pineapple upside-down cake--with olive oil and pomegranate.

This week I cooked for a dear friend’s birthday. Her only request was “those spring rolls with mint,” rice paper rolls filled with shrimp, bean sprouts, rice vermicelli and fresh mint with a gingery dipping sauce. I cooked a mild chicken-coconut curry with mango and cashews to follow. And birthday cake, with lots of whipped cream!

A can of pineapple in the cupboard, offloaded from a sailing voyage, inspired me to make an old-fashioned pineapple upside-down cake, such as my mom used to make when I was a kid. Only I customized the original recipe, substituting olive oil for the butter in the cake batter. Olive oil seems to go especially well with fruity flavors, such as pineapple.

My mother’s recipe—I think from The Good Housekeeping Cookbook—called for maraschino cherries to fill the centers of the pineapple rings. There are no maraschino cherries in my pantry, nor even any cranberries, a colorful alternative. I used ruby-red pomegranates, in season now, embedded in the gooey glaze for the punch of color. 

Happy birthday, Charlotte!

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake with Olive Oil

Tarta al Revés con Piña

1 (20-ounce) can sliced pineapple

¼ cup butter

½ cup brown sugar

6 walnuts

1 ½ cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

Pinch of ground cloves

½ cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 eggs

½ cup pineapple juice

Grated lemon zest

Pomegranate seeds (optional)

Whipped cream to serve

Drain the pineapple, saving the juice.

Lightly grease a 9-inch cake pan.

In a heavy skillet, melt the butter with the brown sugar. Let it cook 2 minutes. Carefully pour the butter-sugar into the cake pan and spread it evenly. Place rings of pineapple in the pan, cutting additional slices to fill in the spaces between rings. (Save any remaining pineapple for another use.) Break the walnuts into pieces and push them in between the pineapple. 

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cloves. 

Combine the sugar and oil in a mixing bowl. Using a mixer, beat the sugar and oil together until light. Add the eggs and beat 2 minutes. Add the dry ingredients alternating with ½ cup of the reserved pineapple juice. Stir in the lemon zest.

Pour the batter over the pineapple in the pan. Bake the cake until a tester comes out clean, about 40 minutes. 

Let the cake set 5 minutes. Have ready a cake platter. While cake is still hot, very carefully (use oven mitts) place the platter on top of the pan and invert the pan, releasing the cake onto the platter. Let it set a minute so all the butter and sugar drains onto the cake. Remove pan. 

If using pomegranate, scatter the seeds over the cake and push them gently into the still-warm topping. 

More recipes for baking with olive oil:

Crispy Olive Oil Cookies (Tortas de Aceite).

Crumbly Olive Oil Cookies (Mantecadas).

Olive Oil Carrot Cake.

Orange-Saffron-Sherry Olive Oil Cake.

Fig Blondies.

Date Bars.

Apple Crumble with Olive Oil.