Apple Tart

Incoming news bulletin:  You Do Not Need To Make That Second Pumpkin Pie.

Why would you make two pumpkin pies when you could make one of these easy and delicious apple tart/galettes?

Everyone likes a little variety, and besides, when there are two different desserts you get to eat two slices.  At Saturday there were four desserts, and I had four slices.  That's how the rules work, people.  Don't judge.

I am making this for one of our three Thanksgiving desserts.  And if you follow Kathy logic...that means I get to eat three desserts on Thursday.  Shucks.

This was actually my first time making "real" crust.  I followed the recipe closely (though I needed less cold water than it called for) and the dough came together more simply than I ever imagined.  Rolling out the crust is much easier than rolling out most other things I have rolled out, too.  Who knew pie crust was actually not rocket science?  (Almost everyone, it turns out, knew this before me.)

I don't have a tart pan (hint, hint), so I just threw it together in a pie dish lined with parchment paper.  In the end I just let people grab slides from the dish instead of using the overlapping parchment to lift the galette out. The pieces came out surprisingly smoothly.

The recipe is super simple and perfect just as it is.  No cinnamon is even added (though you can if you want), which will please my cinnamon-hating-but-apple-pie-loving dad.  It tastes just like the ingredients - butter, sugar, and apples - coming together in a bubbly mass straight out of your oven.

So spread the word, this apple tart is perfect for you Thanksgiving table, or any fall table.  It's just a tad more complicated than an apple crisp, but much more festive and beautiful.  That's news that's fit to print.

Alice Water's Apple Tart
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Dough:
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, just softened, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
3-3 1/2 tablespoons chilled water

Filling
2 pounds apples, peeled, cored, and sliced thinly
2 tablespoon butter, melted
5 tablespoons sugar

Mix flour, sugar, and salt in bowl of stand mixer.  Add two tablespoons of butter and mix until the dough resembles coarse cornmeal.  Add the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter and mix until the biggest pieces are the size of peas.  Dribble in the water one tablespoon at a time until the dough just holds together while mixing on low.  Form the dough into a ball and flatten into a 4-inch disk.  Refrigerate the dough for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

While the dough is chilling, peel and slice apples.

Remove dough from refrigerator and allow to soften a minute.  On a lightly floured surface roll out dough to form a 14-inch disk that is 1/8 inch thick.  Dust off excess flour from the dough with your hands.

Place dough in a 9-10 inch tart pan or 9-10 inch pie dish lined with overlapping pieces of parchment.  Place apples in a ring around the edge of the dish and then fill in the center circle with apples.  (I had leftover apples - perfect for snacking!)  Fold excess dough over the top of the apples.

Brush 2 tablespoons of melted butter over apples and dough.  Sprinkle roughly 2 tablespoons of sugar on the edge of the dough and 3 tablespoons of sugar over the apples.

Bake for 45 minutes, until the dough and apples have browned.  Rotate every 15 minutes.  Allow to cool for at least 15 minutes before digging in.

Mashed Potato Casserole

It's Thanksgiving week, people, and it's time to start figuring out how you're making your mashed potatoes.  Not if you are making them - not making them is not an option.

The beauty of this casserole is that you can still have mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving without standing at the stove, a masher in hand, when your guests are pretending to patiently wait for dinner.

The thing about mashed potatoes is that they don't really keep well.  If you mash them earlier in the day, they will be stiff and gluey by the time dinner rolls around.  And then, what's the point?

Mashed potato casserole is the perfect make-ahead dish because you can actually make it tonight (i.e. a few days before Thanksgiving) and then bake it off on Thanksgiving to share with your family.  I admit it's not exactly the healthiest recipe I've ever posted, but this is mashed potato casserole, guys.

On Saturday morning I got up at 7:30 and left about a pound of butter on my counter to soften while I went to the gym.  I needed the gym.  I was softening a pound of butter and planning on using about a pound and a half that day.  That's my kind of day.

Natalie and Mitch were having their annual pre-Thanksgiving potluck and I was bringing mashed potato casserole, crack pie, and apple tart.  No, we didn't need all those dishes, but I wanted to make them.  It's hard for me to explain to people why I love cooking so much, I just do.  I enjoy it so much that I will prepare so much food to bring to a potluck that I am cleaning out my stand mixer four times in one morning to get through all my recipes.  I guess I didn't love peeling 6 pounds of potatoes, but I didn't hate it either.  Just being in the kitchen with my toes getting covered in flour and my knuckles getting sore from all the chopping makes me happy.  Even if you're not a cooking fanatic, I promise that you'll enjoy at least the eating aspect of this mashed potato casserole.  The accolades around the Thanksgiving table are well worth the effort.

Mashed Potato Casserole
From the NY Times

14 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
6 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
2 tablespoons, plus one teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cups sour cream
1 teaspoon black pepper
6 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chives
2/3 cup bread crumbs
2/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan

Lightly grease a 9x13 pan with butter.  In a large pot, bring the potatoes, roughly 4 quarts of water, and 2 tablespoon of kosher salt to a boil.  Boil 15-20 minutes, until tender.  Drain potatoes.

Mash the potatoes with 10 tablespoons of butter, sour cream, 1 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper.  Stir in the diced chives.  Taste for seasoning.  Spread potatoes into greased pan.  Cover and refrigerate for up to three days or use immediately.

In a small bowl mix together the remaining 4 tablespoons butter, bread crumbs, and Parmesan cheese until coarse crumbs form.  Crumbs can also be refrigerated for up to three days or used immediately.

Heat oven to 400 degrees.  Sprinkle crumbs on potatoes and bake for 30-40 minutes until crumbs are crispy and brown.  If baking the casserole right away (instead of out of the fridge), you can bake it for 20 minutes instead.

Five Things

John showed how much he missed me when I was in New York by sending me flowers on my first day back in the office.  No, it's not my birthday or anniversary, guys, I just have a good husband.

Next week is Thanksgiving, otherwise known as Christmas-With-My-Family-This-Year, so I've been doing lots of online shopping to be prepared.  Even when the packages aren't for me, I always love coming home to something.

I might break into the Milk Bar cookbook this weekend with an attempt to recreate crack pie!  If it works out, I might even try to get my family addicted to crack pie this Thanksgiving.

Do you do that thing where when you find something you love you buy it in multiple colors?  Well I sure as hell do.  I just bought this skirt in yellow...that I also own in blue and orange.  Next up, green and red?

Our dog is a model.  And in case you were keeping score, yes, that makes her better than your dog.  She is in the cover photo of one calendar and the December gal in another calendar this year.  Our doodle-loving neighbors and I submitted photos of our doodles in the calendar contest and were successful in proving that our pooches are the most beautiful of the bunch!

Sweet Pepper Soup

Karaoke is not my thing.  I have a huge embarrassment complex that does not make me compatible with getting up in front of people and belting out songs from the 80s.  My mom would say I need to "get over myself," but I haven't quite found a way to do that just yet.  

I actually don't mind that I'm karaoke adverse.  When I'm enjoying a night of karaoke viewing, I feel no pangs of jealousy at the people making fools of themselves (or for the few that actually do a good job).  It's who I am, and I embrace it.

John, on the other hand, does not either acknowledge that he is tone deaf or does not care.  He even has his very own karaoke songs he goes back to again and again.  His "good" ones, I suppose.
(I love you, honey!)

"Suspicious Minds" (originally sung by Elvis) is one of them.  It's a song I'm not sure I had ever heard until I heard John belting it out.  And the second is "Sweet Caroline."  A karaoke favorite for men who enjoy singing songs in one note.

This soup doesn't remind me of the Neil Diamond tune for being one-note, but rather because I can't see the title "Sweet Pepper Soup" without singing it to the tune of Sweet Caroline.  Sweet Pepper Soup.  Bum Bum Bum.  Good times never seemed so good.

This recipe requires sweet peppers, my friends.  That means no greenies allowed.  Red, yellow and orange peppers are your friends.  As well as fresh herbs - thyme and chives - to be exact.  No cream is necessary to make this soup bowl-lickin' good.  It comes together in a flash and tastes perfect alongside some crusty bread and butter.  Enjoy sitting next to your favorite karaoke singer.  Reachin' out, touchin' me, touchin' sooooooooup!

Sweet Pepper Soup
From Happy Yolks (adapted from The Art of Simple Food)

1 1/2 - 2 pounds of sweet peppers (red, yellow, and orange), seeds and veins removed
1 small hot red pepper (optional)
1 onion, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh thyme, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1/2 cup brown rice (uncooked)
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup chives, minced
salt and pepper, to taste

Heat olive oil over medium high heat in a dutch oven.  When oil is heated, add in onion and peppers.  Saute for ten minutes until softened but not browned, stirring frequently.  Add garlic and thyme and cook for another minute or two.  Pour in stock and scrape the bottom of the pan to release the brown bits.  Stir in the rice and the apple cider vinegar.  Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to let the soup simmer for 25 minutes.  When everything is soft, puree in a blender or with an immersion blender.  Season with lots of salt and pepper.  Serve topped with chopped chives and with lots of bread.

The Empire City

It had been two years and two months since I was last in New York, but who's counting?

I was back for a short three-day stint to attend a work training course, and it was amazing how many things were different and how many things were exactly the same.

Union Square Cafe is still as good as I remember, but I was happy to realize that we have found restaurants just as good (if not better) out in California now.

The cookbook selection at The Strand has expanded immensely, but their prices still can't beat Amazon, so I took a pass.

I visited Momofuku Noodle Bar to see how the ramen compared to California ramen.  The pork buns were melt-in-your-mouth perfect, but the broth of the ramen couldn't compare to Ramen Dojo in San Mateo.

I made my first trip to one of the Momofuku Milk Bars to see what all the fuss was about.

I literally bought one of almost everything they sold.  The compost cookies were amazing, and more addictive with every bite.

The "crack pie" (their words, not mine) was the most incredible dessert I've had in ages.

After I snapped the first photo, I thought I'd just take one bite.  One bite turned into several and pretty soon I polished the whole thing off.  Luckily, I bought the Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook (signed) when I was there, so I can make crack pie anytime I want (and have several hours to spare).

Since I was in the neighborhood, I also stopped by Dylan's Candy Bar.  I knew they would have red Swedish fish to take home to John (since they have every candy ever made), so I picked up half a pound as a sorry-you-couldn't-be-here gift.

While it was fun to walk around and be in "The City" again, it made me realize how much I love my life in California.

As convenient as the subway can be, driving to the grocery store is a heck of a lot easier.  As beautiful as the skyline can be, it's not as beautiful as a West Coast beach.  And as much as I loved New York, California is my home.

Plus I had this gal waiting for me when I returned, which wasn't half bad.  We napped the afternoon away, as I attempted to get rid of my jet lag.  It's back to the grind, but it's my grind, so I don't mind.