Fennel & squash tart Tatin & review

Thanks to CSN Stores I had the opportunity to test Le Creuset tart Tatin dish. I do not think there is need to tell you how good this range is, so I will keep my review short.

This 25cm, 4cm deep cast iron, heavy based dish came with a booklet informing that it is suitable to use on the hobs, gas ovens, electric, fan etc. Also it contains few interesting recipes, not for Tatin tarts only and use and care instruction in six different languages.

What I love about this dish (except from stunning look - I love "volcanic" line) is the position of the handles. They are set lower than the top pf the dish so it is much easier to turn the dish upside down and flip the contents over. It was not that comforting when using an ordinary pan for making tart Tatin.

After use it is easy to clean, dishwasher safe. I am sure you can use it for other dishes and I am certainly going to do it in the future (roasting potatoes? making gratin? you name it!). Worth it's price, will last for ages. Definite must have for all tart Tatin lovers.




Today I am going to show you another tart Tatin, but again - not a classic one. Again it is going to be veg Tatin and this is my absolutely number one when butternut squash in season. It is quite controversial - people either love it or hate it. It is vegetable although quite sweet and it has this specific star anise flavour thanks to a fennel. I have to admit I couldn't stand the stuff till I was in my twenties and I "blame" the fennel for loving or heating this tart. I love it.

Recipe inspired by "Vegetarian Christmas" by Good Food magazine, December 2008 issue.


Makes one 25cm tart

piece of butternut squash, cut into few long strips (it is important to cut them so they can fit into dish, arranged into a flower like shape)
fennel bulb, sliced
2 garlic cloves, unpeeled
tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
small handful of dried cranberries
ready rolled puff pastry, big enough to cover the dish
salt (I used thyme & lemon peel salt)
black pepper
tbsp freshly grated parmesan
fresh thyme to decorate would be ideal I forgot to buy it, so used fresh mint instead

Heat the oven to 180C.

Place the squash, fennel and garlic on a baking tray lined with some baking paper, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and roast for about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile place the tart dish on the hob and add sugar with about 30ml of water. Leave it to boil, do not stir. When it starts to bubble and changes the colour to golden remove from the hob add vinegar and stir thoroughly.

Remove the veg from the oven and turn the temperature up to 200C.

Arrange alternately the fennel and squash into flower like shape. Squeeze the garlic out of its skins and chop roughly. Arrange onto the veg. Place some cranberries in the spaces between veg. Sprinkle with parmesan and cover with the puff pastry. Gently push the edges down to the dish. Prick the top of the pastry with a fork few times so the steam can easily go out.

Place in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes until golden. Remove from the oven and leave it to rest for few minutes. Place a big plate on the dish and turn up side down. Do not worry if anything stocks to the dish, as the caramel is quite sticky. Gently remove it from the dish and place on the tart.

Decorate with few fresh thyme springs (instead there is a mint on my picture). Serve hot or cold.

Interested in up side down tarts? Click here for my other Tatin recipe.

Beetroot, spinach & goats' cheese puff pastry parcels

I was invited by one of Polish vegetarian bloggers to participate in her blog while she is on holiday. Although I am not a vegetarian anymore I was really pleased with this opportunity, because my favourite dishes are vegetarian.

Today I am going to show you one of my favourite recipes that I have found in “Delicious” magazine (December 2007 issue). I keep coming back to it, as it is easy to prepare, suitable to eat cold or hot and to reheat in microwave. It is a nice surprise for guest whether they are vegetarians or not. Everyone loves it.

It is a recipe for beetroot, goats’ cheese and spinach parcels by Simon Rimmer. I have changed it slightly so these are the quantities for 8 small parcels. Also sometimes I make round parcels, like in Simon’s recipe; sometimes I take a shortcut and make an envelope like shape. It is up to you how you shape yours.

375g ready rolled puff pasty, cut into 8 squares
3 medium beetroots
100g baby spinach
125g goats’ cheese, crumbled
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
1/2 red onion sliced finely
50g dried cranberries
1 egg, beaten
some poppy seeds, to decorate
salt
freshly ground black pepper
little olive oil


Preheat the oven to 190°C. Put the beetroot in a roasting tin, drizzle with the oil, season with salt and pepper and toss together. Roast until tender. Set aside to cool slightly, then remove the skins and cut each into 8 pieces.

In a large bowl mix beets with the spinach, cheese, onion, chilli and cranberries, and some seasoning.

Divide the filling between the centre of each pastry square. Fold the corners over the filling, pressing with your fingers to seal and form a parcel. Place seal-side up on a baking sheet lined with a baking paper. Brush with the egg and sprinkle with the poppy seeds. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until puffed up and golden.

Courgette & pepper tart Tatin

I use to roll a lot. On one of the Polish internet culinary forums I was asked if I want to talk about it. It looked like a serious issue - spinach and salmon roulade, meringue and lemon roulade, tortilla and grilled tune bites, rolled and stuffed chicken breast, cinnamon swirls... Possibly many more but I do not remember everything at the moment.

So when I saw this recipe from a booklet from "La Cucina Italia" I knew I had to make it. Even if I have lost my temper when... rolling the topping I would still recommend it because it is truly delicious and looks great.

I love tart Tatin and realise that the original is made with apples. However I call the up side down tarts Tatin whether they are sweet or savoury.


Serves 4

375g ready rolled puff pasty
5 bell peppers (various colours)
3-4 small courgettes
handful of parmesan
150g mozzarella
tbsp olive oil
salt
black pepper


Preheat the oven to 200 C.

Place the peppers on a baking tray, drizzle with oil, sprinkle with salt and roast until skin is nearly black. Remove from the oven, place in a plastic bag and leave for about 10 minutes. It will help with removing the skin. When cooled down slightly peel the peppers and cut into about 2cm stripes.

Using a veg peeler cut the courgettes lengthwise. If the slices are too thin use an ordinary knife. These should be not too thin and not too thick - you should be able to roll them. Sprinkle slices with salt and leave for about 20 minutes. Next wash under cold running water and dry on a kitchen roll or towel.

Line tart Tatin dish (or a frying pan that you can place in the hot oven, I used 25cm pan) with a baking paper and sprinkle with parmesan. Roll the peppers into the courgette slices and place tightly into the dish. Tear up the mozzarella into a pieces and place a small piece into a centre of each rolled pepper. Sprinkle with some freshly ground pepper.

Cover with puff pastry and press the edges into a bottom of the dish. Prick the pastry all over with a fork. Place in the 220 C oven and bake for about 25 minutes. Cover with piece of kitchen foil if it becomes too brown during the baking.

Remove from the oven, leave it to rest for few minutes, cover with a bog plate and turn up side down. Cut and serve.

Sorrel, goats' cheese & prosciutto tart

The most expensive tart so far. You will not see any black truffles or real caviar, but not very popular in UK green leaf vegetable called sorrel. Actually considered less a vegetable and more herb in some countries. Where do I start, where do I begin this story about the most expensive tart I have made so far...

I love sorrel, which is very popular in Poland and you can possibly pick some up from very random fields or meadows. If I can get hold of some precooked chopped sorrel in the jar I always use it to make one of our favourite soups - sorrel soup with hard boiled egg.

I did not hesitate to ask about sorrel my local veg and fruit supplier on the local market, that is held every Friday in the town where I work. They offer a wide selection of fresh fruit and veg, but I was not surprised or disappointed that they did not have any sorrel, because I realise that this is not very popular veg in UK. I have asked the veggie boss if he sells sorrel at all and he said that he can order me some for next week. I was extremely happy because I could go ahead with my sorrel cooking plan.

Next Friday I have come back to my local market with a big smile on my face (I would possibly whistle if I only knew how to do it) and the veggie boss turned to me saying: six fifty, love! I could not tell you what my facial expression was but I tried to hold a big smile, pay and just walk away with 600g bag of sorrel. Just go...

When I got over the price of this veg (just that you can compare and realise what a horror situation is was: stewing beef in local butchers costs around ₤6.50/kg!) I have checked the packaging just to see if it was grown and picked by English Queen, as the price would suggest. Actually it was not, but is was grown in Israel and packed in Yorkshire. I have come back and asked whether I can order ENGLISH ONE, that will not cost me a fortune. Veggie boss said, that season for English one starts in about week, or two...

I often make decisions rashly, based on my mood or emotions. I was dying to eat some sorrel so I ordered some, few days before the season. After all I have to admit that this sorrel tart was definitely worth it.


Makes rectangular loose bottom tart dish (35x13x2.5cm), serves 2-3

350g ready made, rolled puff pastry
600g sorrel
approx. 30g butter
2 garlic cloves
2 shallots
100g goats' cheese ( I used chevre log)
4 rashes of parma ham or prosciutto
salt
freshly ground black pepper



Preheat the oven to 200 C.

Line the tart dish with the puff pastry, cover with some baking paper and ceramic baking beans (or dried beans or coins) and blind bake for about 15 minutes. It is the process of baking a pie crust or other pastry without the filling. Blind baking is necessary when it will be filled with an unbaked filling or when the filling has a shorter bake time than the crust. Blind baking also prevents the crust from becoming soggy from its filling.

Wash, dry and chop the sorrel finely.

In a pan melt the butter, add chopped shallots and fry over a medium heat until soft. Next add the chopper garlic and sorrel to the pan and fry for another 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. This filling could be too wet, if so leave it on the sift for few minutes.

Remove the pre baked base from the oven and reduce the temperature to 175 C. Cover the edges with tin foil - it will prevent from browning and drying. Fill the form with sorrel filling and stick the crumbled cheese into it. Bake until the top is golden and firm.

Remove from the oven and top with some shredded ham. Serve immediately.

I think this should be a great tart for vegetarians too, so next time I will skip the ham and add some poached egg on the top of each small individual sorrel tart.

Asparagus in puff pastry & poached egg yolk

Serves 2

bundle of asparagus (allow 5-6 per person)
10-12 strips of puff pastry, about 1 cm wide
2 fresh egg yolks
tbsp grated parmesan (optional)
sea salt

Preheat the oven to 200 C and meanwhile prepare the asparagus, by removing wooden ends. Pre-boil trimmed asparagus in a pan with salted water for about 2 minutes. Remove from the pan, rinse for about minute under a cold water and let it dry. Keep the water hot all the time.

Sprinkle each puff pastry strip with parmesan if using and wrap each asparagus in pastry. You can also brush the pastry with egg white and sprinkle with sea salt. Bake in the oven until crispy and golden.

I like to dip them in a runny egg yolk, so I separate egg yolks from the whites and place each yolk in the small bowls. Gently pour them into boiling water (the same that you used for boiling the asparagus) and poach for about 30 seconds. Drain with slotted spoon and serve immediately.

Poached eggs on onion tartlets

From "Eggs" by Michael Roux.

Serves 4

2 large onions, about 500g, peeled and sliced
100g butter
150ml double cream
350g ready-made rolled puff pastry (you can make your own if you wish, see Roux's "Pastry", if you have a block of pastry you have to roll it to about 3mm thickness)
4 small eggs
few thyme leaves and 4 sprigs to garnish
salt
freshly ground black pepper


Melt the butter in a heavy pan over low heat. Add the onions and cook gently for 30 minutes, stirring every few minutes. Pour in the cream and let simmer for few minutes. Season with salt and pepper, add the thyme leaves, and set aside to cool down little bit.

Cut 4 puff pastry disks and place them on a baking sheet. Prick each pastry disk few times with a fork. Spread the onions evenly on top of the disks, then bake in preheated oven (170 C) for 25 to 30 minutes until gloden and crisp.

Serve with poached egg* and thyme spring.

* To poach an egg, boil the water in the pan, about 10-20 cm deep together with a tablespoon of white wine vinegar. Break the egg into a small bowl, ramekin or coffee cup and slip the egg gently into the pan when the water is bubbling. Poach for 2 minutes and drain using a slotted spoon. Dry on the paper kitchen towel and serve immidiately. It is better to poach eggs that are very fresh - try use those, that have not exceeded 14 days before use by date.