September 15th, 2013
After all these years of living in Florida, I’d never seen, let alone tasted a local fig until very recently. I heard legends of them existing, but never came across one. The other week, at a party, I met the lucky owners of a couple of fig trees in town and got an invitation to come pick some fresh figs. The trees were tiny, not at all like the ones that I was used to from back home by the Black Sea, but still studded with figs. It had been a while since I tasted one of my favorite fruit right off the tree, and they did not disappoint. Although small and pale in colour, the figs were honey-sweet and delicious.
I was inspired to make a fig tart, using my favourite long rectangular tart pan, combining my homemade ricotta, figs and chocolate – how could the combination of all those wonderful ingredients ever disappoint?
You can use any good crust recipe for the tart. I like to utilize the whey left over from ricotta cheese making as the liquid component in the dough – it gives a wonderful texture to a very simple whole spelt dough. Roasted grapes are a fall indulgence and a great accompaniment to this tart.
Paloma ate the majority of the tart (a chocoholic in the making). She just started kindergarten, and we have been getting used to the new routine and rules that come about all too fast when the little ones grow up. Because the content of her lunchbox is always very different from most of the children in the class, the beginning of each new school is quite an adjustment, food wise. I have to work out how to pack all of Paloma’s food in a way that is convenient enough for her to eat, how to store it safely during the day, and last but not least, I have to think about how the kids (and sometimes the teachers!) will react to it. The most constant variable in her lunchbox is a green juice or smoothie, while everything else changes from day to day. The juice, of course, gets some negative attention, but thankfully Paloma is a fiery little Leo who can stand up for herself. The last incident happened very recently, and Paloma’s comeback (according to her own account) was “This is my mom’s juice, and if you don’t like it, don’t look at it!” She didn’t seem at all upset by that conversation.
And speaking of healthy foods for children, a reader, Elle Valentine, recently shared her healthy children’s book with us. It is called The UnPopular Pea (and Carrot) and was written to help kids learn about real food and making healthy dietary choices. It is a helpful tool, along with being very clever and entertaining – Paloma is obsessed. Watch the campaign video here and buy the book here. Thank you Elle!
Fig and Chocolate Ricotta Tart
for the crust
1 1/2 cups whole grain spelt flour (I used sprouted spelt flour)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup whey – left over from ricotta making
to make the crust
1. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl. Add in the whey, mix and knead into a soft dough.
2. Lightly grease a tart pan with coconut oil and press the dough against the bottom and sides of the pan to create a crust of even thickness. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
for the filling
2 cups ricotta cheese (I make mine with raw goat milk)
1 vanilla bean – seeds scraped out, optional
2 tablespoons coconut sugar, plus more for sprinkling on top
about 4 tablespoons (half of a standard bar) grated dark chocolate, or more to taste
15 dried but moist figs – stems removed and halved
9 fresh ripe, sweet figs – stems removed and halved
to make the filling and bake the tart
1. Preheat oven to 400 F (200 C).
2. Combine the ricotta with vanilla seeds and coconut sugar in a medium sized bowl, set aside.
3. Remove the crust from the fridge and sprinkle about 1/2 of the chocolate over the bottom. Spoon 1/2 of the ricotta mixture over the chocolate, distribute evenly.
4. Press the dried figs, cut side up, into the ricotta layer, positioning them evenly over the surface of the tart. Follow with the rest of the ricotta, distributing it into an even layer. Press the fresh figs, cut side up into the ricotta, flattening the surface. Sprinkle with coconut sugar.
5. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the crust is golden and the figs are caramelized. Take out of the oven, sprinkle with the rest of chocolate and place back into the oven for a couple of minutes to let chocolate melt slightly.
6. Let cool, slice and serve with roasted grapes if desired.
Notes:
1. If using store bought ricotta, consider draining it over a sieve overnight in a fridge.
2. If you don’t have the left over whey, consider this simple recipe for a crust. Substitute spelt flour for all purpose if you wish.
Roasted Grapes
grapes
coconut oil or ghee
1. Preheat oven to 450 F (230 C).
2. Make sure that the grapes are dry after you wash them. Toss the grape clusters with oil or ghee to coat lightly.
3. Roast for 8-12 minutes until soft and skins began to split.
Tags: dessert, fig, grapes, recipe, ricotta, tart
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October 2nd, 2012
This post is also available in: French
La Tartine Gourmande is a cookbook I’ve been spending a lot of time with ever since it came out in the spring. I’ve admired Béatrice Peltre’s blog for quite a while now, and it was the very thing that, almost three years ago, made me want to try my hand at writing about food. Béa’s vision is unmistakably hers, and her love for the ingredients and dishes that she prepares shows through in every photo and recipe. Out of all cookbooks on my shelf (editor’s note, the shelf is overloaded), this one has been the one I’ve read and reread most often and got an incredible amount of ideas from. Béa’s attention to detail and French approach to cooking is something I relate to very much. It’s no secret that us Russians are historically very drawn to anything French, like most of the world, really.
Out of the recipes I’ve tried from the cookbook, this beet mille-feuille was a favourite. It’s a pretty simple appetizer, which happens to be very tasty and impressive in appearance, a great idea for having friends over.
One thing I did here is make my own ricotta cheese, used to do it all the time when living in Russia. It is a surprisingly easy process that requires only two ingredients – milk and lemon juice. And the result is worlds away from the store-bought kind, so much richer and creamier. Since the original recipe calls for both goat and ricotta cheeses, I used raw goat’s milk from a local farm to make this ricotta.
Check out the book for more serious inspiration.
Beet Mille-Feuille
I slightly changed Béa’s recipe by adding radishes, basil oil, apple cider vinegar, and lemon zest to my homemade goat milk ricotta, eliminating goat cheese.
(makes 4)
1 1/2 cups freshly made goat milk ricotta cheese (good recipe here) or 1 cup ricotta cheese mixed with 1/2 cup soft goat cheese
3 radishes – chopped
3 tablespoons chopped chives
2 tablespoons basil oil (1/2 cup olive oil blended together with 1 cup basil leaves)
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
zest of 1 lemon
salt and freshly ground black pepper – to taste
3 red small to medium cooked beets – peeled
3 yellow small to medium cooked beets – peeled
handful of fresh greens or microgreens to serve
fresh basil for garnish (optional)
small handful of hazelnuts (optionally toasted)
In a bowl, mix cheese, radishes, chives, oil, vinegar, lemon zest, salt and pepper. Cut about 4 horizontal slices in each beet (you will have left over slices). You can use a ring mold about 2 3/4-inch wide by 2 1/4-inch tall to cut each slice with and then assemble the mille-feuille inside the ring mold. Or you can build the mille-feuille by simply placing a neat layer of cheese mixture on top of a beet slice, alternating colours. Use 4 beet slices per each mille-feuille, secure with a toothpick if needed. Refrigerate for a couple of hours before trimming. Use a very sharp knife to trim the mille-feuille to a square shape. Remove the toothpicks if using, optionally drizzle with olive oil and serve with microgreens or fresh greens and hazelnuts if you like. Garnish with basil leaves on top.
Tags: beets, golubka, la tartine gourmande, recipe, ricotta, vegetarian
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