Moving from sweet to savory: tomato tart tatin

Ah, ragazzi,  Annalena has much to say about her recent trip to France, and she feels much of it does not belong in her blog.  But if you wish to know, ask her.  She will always tell you.

One of the best meals Annalena and the Guyman had in France began with tomato tart tatin.  Now, many of you will know "tart tatin" as a sweet dessert, usually made with apples.  And indeed, this creation,  devised by the Tatin sisters in the restaurant in the Loire Valley region of  France (where Annalena was as well), is famous.  One could say it is canonical.  And as with all things canonical, there is a literature around it, a list of "dos" and "don't"  and many other things, including the development of special pans for making them (Annalena has one).  And there are many "special" pans.  During her visit to France, for example, Annalena saw one which had slots for the apples.  THAT was new to her.

Essentially, in a tart tatin,  you cook raw fruit, in butter and sugar, over an open flame, until it carmelizes.  This can take a while.  When it happens, the fruit shrinks, the juices join the butter and sugar to make the caramel, and then you put a layer of dough on top.   There is much debate on the dough, and Annalena has seen baking powder doughs (like biscuit), pie crust, puff pastry (probably most common), and bread dough.  You then move the beast into an oven, and bake until the dough is brown and crispy.  You then put a plate over the whole creation, say a prayer, and invert it.  You use a plate at least as big as the pan, so as to catch the juices, and to prevent injury from hot caramel.  Many of the special pans do have special handles for this.

The first restaurant Annalena and the Guyman ate at in  Paris served us tomato tart tatin.  It was delicious, and Annalena tried to replicate it, using recipes she found on line.  Her first attempt was ok, but needed work.  She likes this one.  And it's easy to make.  So, let's make it.


Now, for those of you who are phobic about bread dough, Annalena will give you permission to buy premade dough, or even to cadge some pizza dough from  your local pizzeria. For those of you who want to make your own, Annalena's second writing on this block, so many years ago, is how to make bread.  To repeat a quick summary:  you need 2.25 cups of water, a tablespoon of yeast, 2 teaspoons of salt, and six cups of unbleached white flour.  Mix this all up.  It will take a few minutes, and if it's a dry day, or your dough is not supple, add more water.  You want it to be stretchy.  Then put it aside to rise for about an hour to 2 hours.  This is going to give you enough to make two of these.

Now, let's approach the tart itself.  For the tomatoes:  it is best to work with plum tomatoes, because they are meatier, and do not produce as much liquid.  You will need about 3 pounds of them.  The first thing you do, is cut a small "x" at the bottom of each, and then drop them into a pot of plain old boiling water, for ten seconds.  Have a bowl of ice water ready, and immerse them.  The skins will peel off miraculously, and if they don't, well, use a small knife, or say the hell with it.  You can see Annalen's skinned tomatoes below.  You can see the x's, can't you?

After you have done this, cut the tomatoes in half, and yank out the seeds. Also, cut away that little green blossom end.   Annalena treats the seeds and juice as her treat.  It's very good for you.  If you happen to have a pot of soup going, put them in that.   Here are Annalena's in process:

She hadn't finished cleaning them, but you will see some of them sort of disembowled.  

We now start with the really fun part.  Melt about 3 tablespoons of butter in a non-stick pan (ignore recipes that say you can't use them:  you can.  Just be sure your pan is oven safe).  Then, position the tomatoes, cut side up, in the pan.  Shove them in and crowd them.  It's ok. 

Note that WE DO NOT USE SUGAR.  Tomatoes have a very high sugar content, and you WILL get an inherently sweet pie. 

Salt this very generously.  You will also see that Annalena did not clean her tomatoes very thoroughly.  That was bad of her.  Do so until you get the hang of this.  

Put the heat to medium, and let this cook away for twenty minutes, while you let your oven heat to 400.  Your tomatoes will cook down, darken, and liquid will go off.  You may even smell a sort of "vegetal caramel" as this happens.  Here's what Annalena's looked like, at ten minutes:

It's hard to see any difference, but it is there.  Ten minutes into the cooking, roll out your dough.  Use a floured surface, and do not worry about surgical precision.  All you are going to do is drop it onto the tomatoes and then, with the flame off, adjust as need be, so that the dough is covering the fruit (tomato is a fruit, gang) completely:

This will remind some old school cooks of some old style American desserts.  Annalena salutes you for remembering that.  Move this into the oven,  and let it bake for 30-45 minutes, until  your dough is nice and brown. 

Remember to have chosen a pan not bigger than your biggest plate.  When you COVER YOUR HANDS and take the pan out of the oven, drop the plate directly over the tart.  Wait a few minutes, say an "Ave Maria, and...  FLIP IT.

As with upside down cakes, if some of the tomatoes stick to the pan, just spoon them out and cover the spots on the tart.  Add a few basil leaves if you like, grated cheese if you must.  Serve it forth.  It's best warm, but you can refrigerate the left overs and eat them for breakfast or a snack.  Annalena is not going to mind.

One of her buds referred to this as 'French pizza."  Well, maybe.  But maybe not.  ENJOY RAGAZZI.  Everyone have a wonderful week.  Annalena will see you again soon.

A recipe for divas: dijon chicken

Hello, ragazzi!.  Annalena is back, after a tour of some parts of France.  It was, for Annalena, an interesting trip:  she had no idea France was such a big place, and she had no idea what she would encounter.  Many things, bambini, many things, from the Venus di Milo, to muskrats (yes, muskrats, darlings).  She attended a beautiful wedding, ate at a community dinner in a medieval town, after which she danced the Macarena,  discussed the fine points of potato cookery with a French chef:  but like Dorothy, constantly wanted to go home.  There are many reasons for that, ragazzi, having everything to do with Annalena, and nothing to do with France.  And she leaves it at that.

Now,  one thing that Annalena read, over and over again, before going to France was ; BRING BACK MUSTARD.  She was told, repeatedly, that what passes for dijon mustard in the US,  is not dijon mustard.  And now she knows, this is true.  Fact is, the trip was such that Annalena bought her mustard at the airport, and some of it is in easy to apply tubes.  This, ragazzi, is a life changer for Annalena, who slathers mustard on all of her sandwiches.  She cannot tell you what a difference it has made already..

But she also bought a HUGE jar of the stuff, perfect for this diva recipe.  Why "diva?"  Well, ragazzi, this is a perfect recipe for the woman who needs to strut, or just WANTS to strut.  And it is easy.  It is absurdly easy.  Annalena has stolen it from David Tanis, and wants to lead you through it a bit.  And she assures you, again, dinner does not get any easier than this.

You will need about 3 pounds of chicken:  thighs and drumsticks, separated.  On the bone, and rip the skin from the thighs  (Would that we could do that to ourselves, right, ragazze?  ).  Or, buy it without the skin.  No one will know.  And then set out two bowls:  fill one with 4-6 tablespoons of dijon mustard, and the other, with 1.5 cups of breadcrumbs of some kind, with a few tablespoons of chopped parsley, and if you like a little of a more assertive herb.  In the photo below, Annalena has added tarragon to her crumbs, which are panko.  Use fresh ones if you have them, or even the dried stuff.    There are four tablespoons of mustard in the bowl.

Preheat your oven to 400.  While it is preheating, get to work.  Get a brush, or just use your fingers, and paint each piece of chicken, with mustard.  How thickly you paint the mustard depends on how strong the stuff is, and how much you like it

After you coat the chicken with the mustard, dip it in the crumb and herb mix, and repeat this, until you've coated each piece:

At this point, you are really done with your hard work.  You put this tray into the oven, and you let it bake for 30-45 minutes.  30 minutes will give you chicken that is pink, and perhaps even red at the bone, so if you are making this for your children, or the thought of raw chicken gives you the skeeves, then go for the longer period of time.  

The chicken will not look that different when it's done:

You can see a little browning on the coating, but it is pretty similar to what we began with.  

If you want to get "fancy," and justify wiping your brow, you can make a sauce.  How do you make the sauce?  Ready?  Take the bowl with the leftover mustard in it (or add more mustard), and add honey and stir.  Annalena used lavender honey, so as to confuse the regions of France, and then just spread some on each piece:

So, Annalena dedicates this to all of her divas out there, and hopes you make it and enjoy it.  And if you are not a diva, well, you are lying since each of us possesses the goddess, don't we?  

A bientot, mes amis. 

"Money in the bank:" slow cooked pork shoulder

Annalena tries to prepare for things, ragazzi.  She is a bit of a spontaneous cook, but when she sees a situation up and coming, when she knows that cooking from scratch, her style, is not going to cut it, she tries to get things made and in the freezer.  That's why you will find pizza dough,  tomato sauce,  veggies that store well and cook quickly (peas, corn kernels, fava beans etc), in Annalena's freezer.  You will also find items of more substance:  like beef ragu.  Or, now, something new.  This slow cooked pork shoulder.

Pork shoulder is one of Annalena's favorite cuts of meat, and it's one she suggests you meet.  Relative to other cuts of meat, it is not expensive (although if you buy good quality, antibiotic free,  humanely raised meat, you WILL pay for it), and if you get a good cut, it is bountiful.

The factor which keeps more people from cooking shoulder, thinks Annalena, is that it is not a quick cook.  You cannot simply heat a pan, sear it on both sides, and put it on the plate.  No, no no.  You braise this.  And you braise it, as they say  "low and slow."  And if you do, then you have what you need, for a dish like the one above (which we are NOT going to make today:  we're just going to make the pork).

This is a dish from the famous chef, Nick Anderer, whom Annalena knew when he was a toddler, and was called "picky Nicky. " Tempus mutantur people grow up, and Annalena feels old.  It is the way of the world.  So what we do is look at what our young have to teach us (and they will, IF you do, as Crosby  Stills Nash and Young told us  "teach your children well).  When Annalena saw this recipe she HAD to make it.  OH, is it good.  Let's get to work.

You need very little:  you start with a couple of white onions, a small bulb of fennel, and a few stalks of celery.  Cut them into nice sized chunks:

This  will take you all of two minutes to do.  Then, put 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a pot  and heat it up. 

Let's digress for a minute, on that simple phrase "in a pot."  You are going to need a pot just large enough to hold your pork shoulder, and the veggies, with a little space for liquid.    So test:  before you put the oil in, put the vegggies in, and put the meat on top.  If there is some room for liquid, you're golden.  If not, move up one size.  Don't go too big though.  You want things snug.

Ok, so let's assume you have your pot, and you've heated up your oil.  Now add the veggies, lower your heat, and take your leisure at browning them:  5-7 minutes:

Much of your work is done now.  Seriously.  Add some salt to the veggies, don't go crazy.  Now, time to take your pork.  Shop carefully for this:  you want a four pounder  boneless, and with a nice mix of meat and fat, but not too much fat: 

That's a beauty.  Now what you do is put this on top of the veggies,  and then you add chicken stock, to cover the meat.  JUST cover: 

Ok, it doesn't quite cover, but we'll be fine. Add some sprigs of fresh thyme (in the autumn and winter, try sage).  Cover this pot, put it in the oven and go away for at least three hours.  Clean your house, do homework, read Russian literature, just busy yourself.  If you remember,  you can get your tongs and turn the meat after an hour and a half.  You could very easily forget this meat, but after about 2.5 hours, your home will fill with a wonderful smell.   And after three hours, CAREFULLY take this out of the oven, and test the meat with a knife and fork:  can you shred  it?  

You can see how that big chunk of meat fell apart when Annalena worked it with her knife and fork?  If you're there, it's ready.  Let it cool, because when it's cool, you're going to break it into shreds  (this is "pulled pork," by the way, ragazzi).  The vegetables are inconsequential, and you can dump them.  The stock? You save that and pour it over the meat, to keep it moist, because you will have way more meat than you can use:  Annalena got 8 cups.  

This is very rich cartaliginous fatty meat.  So you don't need much.  For the casserole above,  Annalena used two cups with corn, squash, cheese and sauce.  And made a great dish.  You can put this on pasta.  You can use it to just fill tortillas.  Or you can mix it with barbecue sauce, and make sloppy joes.  And you don't have to make it all NOW:  you have a good number of meals, with a minimum amount of work. 

That , to Annalena, is "money in the kitchen bank," and there is nothing worth more to her.  There WILL be times when you KNOW you can't make a meal.  This will do just fine.  

Breaking the Rules: Shellfish with shrimp: Baked shrimp with feta and tomato sauce

Most of Annalena's readers will be familiar with the Italian "rule" for eating, of not combining fish and cheese in the same dish.  The first time Annalena wrote about the rule, she was somewhat astonished at the reaction:  Oh my heavens!  People were very adverse to this idea.  Well, in general, Annalena agrees with it.  She does feel that in most cases fish tastes better without the use of dairy, and she will continue to abide by the rule.

Her trip to Sicily was an eye opener for many reasons, one of which was the "rule," which is sort of ignored - as are so many "rules" of mainland Italy, on the island.  And the dish we are making today (again, courtesy of David Tanis),  violates the rule.  But it's a Greek dish, and Annalena's Greek  assistant has never heard of this restriction.  What can one say but go with it?  And seriously, ragazzi, this is a wickedly easy dish to make which is wickedly good.  Trust Annalena when she says the hardest thing you'll do is peel shrimp.

But we won't peel them yet.  First, we'll get our aromatics together.  We'll need shallots: a fair amount of them.  So, when you go shallot hunting, look for big ones.  If you get big ones, you won't need more than about four.  You're going to dice them, to make a cup.  And what now follows is a bit of a primer on how to do this.

Make sure your knife is sharp and 2-3 times longer than the shallot at its widest point.  After it's peeled, put the flat side down, and make vertical cuts through the beast:

Zoom in, and you'll see the lines.  Now, after you do that, hold the thing down with a couple of fingers, at the broader end, and make 1-2 horizontal cuts:

so that you get this: 

Now all you have to do is run your knife down the shallot, and you have your dice.  Dice up four cloves of garlic too.  And now, we move to the tomatoes:  2 pounds.  At this time of year, there is no excuse for not using fresh heirlooms:

Slice them into uneven segments:

Now, we're ready to start cooking.  Heat up a big pan, with 3 tablespoons of olive oil.  Add the shallots and  when they go translucent add the garlic for a minute or two.  Then add the tomatoes, some salt and pepper,  and some red pepper flakes if you like.  Cook this at low heat for twenty minutes and you'll get: 

YOU MADE TOMATO SAUCE!!!  And while this is happening, we work on the shrimp, and you get Annalena's plea. 

PLEASE DO NOT BUY SHRIMP FROM OVERSEAS.   Do a little research on shrimp farms.  Find out about the disease, the working conditions, the horrific way that the shrimp we eat gets to the table.  You can find wild, American shrimp (Annalena will help you).  You'll pay more.  It's worth it.  

So, a pound of shrimp in the shell:

Annalena has laid her finger along one of the shrimp to show you their size.    Now, you do have to peel these.  It's not hard.  It really isn't.  You can get it done in less than the time that it takes for the sauce to cook. 

After you have peeled them,  put the tomato sauce in a non metallic dish, and place the shrimp on top, in an interesting pattern:

Annalena has already crumbled up about 1/3 of a pound of feta on top of this.  Pretty dish, isn't it?  Put it into the oven, at 400 for 20 minutes, and it's even prettier:

And the finale plated up:

Annalena has given you a lot of details, but go through this:  it's really very easy.  Make sure you have some bread on hand or, even better, some orzo.  And you're good.  A pound of shrimp will give you four good portions of this stuff, and you'll make it again.  Annalena guarantees it. 

Turkish? Sicilian? It's just GOOD: Tasty Eggplant dip

Ragazzi, when you cook cross culturally, you sometimes find yourself wondering:  "where did this originate," or  "where is this from," some variation on that.  Annalena finds herself wondering that a lot.  She also wonders how two places, so close to each other geographically, can show such true distinctions, in their food.  This eggplant "dip," which is a name that does not do it justice, is such a recipe.  

Annalena need not tell you that eggplant is a core ingredient to Italian cooking:  even moreso, to Sicilian cooking.  Her pal Annalisa said to her, during Annalisa's wonderful, indispensable cooking class  "I cannot cook without eggplant. "  And Annalena gets it. 

But eggplant is all over the mideast - and Sicily, ragazzi - is arguably in the mideast.  But it is also all over the Mediterranean.  So, when you see an eggplant dish, how do you know who should claim it?  What else goes into it, can help, but not always.  For example, olives with eggplant "read" as caponata to Annalena, and are Italian.  But not all of her caponata recipes have olives in them.  Combine the stuff with zucchini, and she thinks ratatouille and France.  Until she thinks of Imam bayldi, " the wonderful Turkish dish, which has squash in it.  So how do we know? 

This one, ragazzi, says Turkish for one ingredient only:  the pomegranate molasses.  Now, pomegranates are all over Sicily:  and no one uses a concentrate.  They are all over Palestine, and Israel, and no one uses them.  Annalena is not sure about Syria or Iran, but she has never heard of dishes with the molasses.  So.. she concludes Turkish.  And she also concludes, it's good.  And fast.  And easy.  So, why are we waiting? Let's take David Tanis' recipe, and make it. 

We start with two pounds of eggplant.  Now, which ones?  You DID know that you have many varieties of eggplant to choose from, didn't you?  This one is to be made with "Mediterranean" eggplants.  Well, here are two which Annalena had: 

Kissing cousins, don't you think?   Annalisa, and just about every Sicilian, will give you a very thorough lecture on what eggplant to use with what dish.  For this one, you can use whatever you like; however, do NOT assume they are the same,  for reasons we will now see.

You need to gather your other ingredients:

What Annalena hopes you see are  1/4 cup of salted capers, sitting in some hot water, a cup of chopped scallions, 2 cloves of garlic, some creme fraiche (because it was started, and she didn't want to open a container of yogurt), and a bunch of dill (because she had no parsley).   You only need 2 tablespoons of the yogurt/creme fraiche, but if you want to finish your container, who's looking?  Annalena chopped up the whole bunch of dill, but you can     cut back, or use the proper parsley if you like.  She was also generous with the lemon zest, using a tablespoon, instead of a teaspoon.  You'll also juice the lemon when you finish zesting it. 

The FINAL ingredient:  pomegranate molasses.  You can get this on line, or go to a Mideast store and get it, but get it.  It's good.  And a bottle will last you forever.  

And finalmente, a kiss of cayenne pepper or, if you have it and can find it, Aleppo pepper (a Syrian product, used everywhere in the Mideast).  

First, slice your eggplant into 1/2 inch cubes.  Mix them with 3 tablespoons of olive oil, and roast them, for 20 minutes.  

If you look at the first picture below, you will see how different the two eggplants are, once you cut them:   

They look very different, don't they?  For what we're doing, that's fine.  It may not be, for what you are doing, so always check your recipe.  

So we have these eggplant cut up, and mixed with 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Get your hands in, coat them, and put the eggplant in the oven for 20 minutes, at 400 degrees.  This is what you get at the end: 

You will see, it cooked down some, and browned a bit.  Now, we're ready to "work." Get out your food processor, and dump in the eggplant.  Pulse it until you have a texture sort of like ground meat

Now, put all the other ingredients in:  the scallions, the parsley or dill, the garlic, chopped up, the lemon zest, the lemon juice, the pomegranate molasses, the yogurt/creme fraiche, and the  bit of cayenne/aleppo pepper, and process it, just until you combine it.   Taste it.  Need more salt? Probably?  You want more lemon?  You ought to have extras around.  More heat?  Probably not, but go for it.  Like that molasses taste?  Be gentle, but feel free.  And at the end, you have four cups of this wonderful, tasty stuff: 

That is, you have it if you can keep from eating it, which is not easy to do.  

That didn't seem like much work, ragazzi, did it?  The  timing on this recipe said 45 minutes, which Annalena assumes is right, counting the roasting time.  But she didn't.  She put that 20 minutes to good use.  

So, ragazzi, as we go through the dog days of summer, and we're looking for cooler, lighter food, try this.  It's seasonal, it's tasty, it's unusual - all the things we love.  

Alla promssima!  And Ciao for now.  BACI!!!!