Sunday, January 9, 2005

Don't give me any grief for posting recipes I like cooking, and I like posting the recipes I invent, if only because then I can find them later myself when I want to repeat the culinary delight. Tonight, light dinner--a delicious, if slightly bland (but in kind of a good way) Butternut Squash and Parsnip Soup, though I made it with 4 cups of vegetable stock (from a box, I'm not a maniac) and about a quarter cup of heavy cream instead of the cup of half and half it calls for--as a result, it was rich, but not too, and very thick (avoiding the complaints from reviewers who found their versions thin. With it, something I invented... This is inspired by something I adored as a child. When I was three or four, my father briefly moved us to Blackburn, in Lancashire in England. He was a mechanical engineer, working at an assignment in the local branch of the company he worked for back in Chattanooga (yes, I spent half my childhood in the deep south, but that's a whole other story.) This part of England at the time--maybe it still is?-- was heavily industrialized, not very pretty, but to me, the trip, which lasted a few months, was a grand adventure. We went to Beatrix Potter's farm, visited London, but the part I really remember is how much I loved the food. Really. We're not supposed to like English food, I know. It's supposed to be boiled to death, unseasoned pap--or at least that was what it was supposed to be in the days before Jamie Oliver, Rose Gray, Nigella Lawson et. al. But we stayed in a residence hotel (I think called the White House? Really.) that served food to die for. I particularly adored their cheese and onion flan, a kind of quiche, but with just enough egg to bind it, and lots of cheese and onions, and their apple pie, served with unmentionably thick Devonshire cream. I used to lick my plate. The fact that I loved the onion flan was apparently of particular amusement to the staff and other guests of the hotel. Tonight, I made a kind of homage to it. Onion Tart with Gruyere and Tomato 2 very large onions 2 T olive oil salt pepper 1 t dried thyme 1 recipe Rich Tart Dough from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Anything, but omit the sugar; when the dough is done, roll it out and press into a 10 inch tart pan with a removable bottom; I sprayed the pan with canola oil first to make it easy to unmold 1/2 cup grated gruyere cheese 1/2 a large tomato, sliced very thinly, seeded, and then sliced again into strips 2 eggs, lightly beaten Preheat the oven to 375 F. Slice the onions crosswise and then into very thin slices. You should have 5 or 6 cups of sliced onions. Heat the olive oil in a dutch oven, and then add the onions, cooking over medium heat until they turn a nice golden brown (but don't let them stick to the bottom of the pan--keep stirring so they stay nice and soft as they brown.) It will take 20 minutes, maybe 30-- enough time to make and chill the dough, if you're making it (see below.) When they're soft and a nice caramel-y brown, not too dark, remove the pan from the heat. Put one third of the grated cheese in the bottom of the prepared tart pan. Add the onions, then another layer of cheese. Pour on the eggs, covering the pan evenly. Add the tomatoes, then a final light layer of cheese. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until both crust and top are golden brown. You could certainly not make a scratch crust for this; a prepared crust or probably even pizza dough would be good. But if you have a food processor, crust is really easy, and Bittman's recipe has the advantage of not needing a lot of chilling time (10 minutes in the freezer before you roll it; 20 minutes in the freezer before you bake it) and not needing prebaking. And if you like to cook, or especially if you're learning, that cookbook is fantastic. Check it out. As for the rest of my life--my fetus kicks incessantly, I can't bend over anymore, I haven't written the letter I was supposed, nor have I finished organizing for taxes or writing my long-overdue consulting report and my new house leaks. (Actually, it showers, more than it leaks. But whatever.) I have no complaints (other than the state of the union, but I'll bore myself if I get into those.) So I cook, and I try to write, and I thank anyone who bothers to pay attention. Good night. 8:59:20 PM     comment [] trackback []