Ratatouille Tart

I made a double cornmeal crust for this and even after baking it twice, once for the crust and again with the assembled tart, the crust did not hold up too well to slicing. Some potluck guests had suggested that instead of it being the crust, to use the cornmeal as a topping on top of the crust. That would be an interesting notion. I'll have to think about how to make it so that it cuts well and is crust-less. It is entirely doable if the bottom layer is comprised of sturdier slices of vegetables like more overlapping layers of eggplant and zucchini. This tart only had a single layer of roasted eggplant, zucchini and tomato slices. Without the 1/4" cornmeal crust it can easily accommodate more layers of vegetables. The inclusion of the shredded Gruyere and Swiss cheese into one of the cheese layers was certainly worth repeating. The original Food Network recipe only called for shredded mozzarella cheese, and three ounces was not enough for a 10" tart. I don't think it would be enough had I used a 9" tart pan.

For roasting:

1 green zucchini
1 Japanese eggplant (the long, thin one)
3 medium tomatoes
2 tbsp olive oil
kosher salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Slice vegetables into 1/8" slices and lay out in a single layer on a 9" x 13" glass baking dish (for easier cleaning) or onto a Silpat-lined baking tray. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and bake vegetables for 12 minutes. The vegetables should be soft and doesn't have to be cooked all the way through. Take roasted vegetables out and set aside to cool until ready to fill the tart pan.

The cornmeal crust (optional):

One batch will supposedly fill a 9" tart pan with a removable bottom. But, that is not the size I had on hand. I made a double batch and packed it all into the 10" tart pan, which turned out to be way too much crust.

2/3 c. finely ground white cornmeal
1/3 c. whole wheat flour
1 tsp dried rosemary
2 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into chunks
2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp kosher salt

In a food prep, pulse together dry ingredients, then add butter and pulse until coarse crumbs form. Add in the olive oil and pulse until well combined.

If you managed to roast the vegetables first, turn the heat down to 350 degrees F. After packing the crust into the tart pan with a 1/4" edge around the base of the tart. Place a sheet of aluminum foil between the top of the tart and the pie weights. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove the aluminum foil and pie weights and bake for an additional 5 minutes or until the crust no longer looks shiny.

Kitchen note: this crust did not hold together and tasted very dry. The combination of olive oil and butter did not do much as a binder. Perhaps just a water, butter, flour crust would have sufficed.

Putting it all together:

The remaining ingredients for this recipe involves shredded cheese, sliced basil leaves, and grated Parmesan cheese (or some comparable tasting hard cheese).

3 oz - 5 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded
4 oz Gruyere and Swiss blend cheese, shredded
5 medium fresh basil leaves, sliced
1/4 c. grated Parmigiano-regianno cheese

Bottom layer:  roasted eggplant slices and mozzarella cheese. When I did this, I placed the slices in a circular manner with the slices slightly overlapping each other.

Middle layer: zucchini slices and Gruyere and Swiss cheese

Top layer: tomato slices, fresh basil leaf slices, and the remainder of the mozzarella cheese. Generously scatter the grated hard cheese on top of the tart.

Bake tart for 30 minutes, or until all the cheese has melted. It will smell a lot like a pizza because it is made up of similar ingredients.

Remove tart from oven and let cool before serving.

Chicken Soft Tacos

I wrote in an earlier post that freshly made bacon grease can be turned into fresh flour tortillas. I prepared a nice salsa to go with it and some leftover chicken. Some fast food eateries stuff their soft tacos with lots of shredded lettuce, which is mostly a filler to make it look larger. I'd rather eat the lettuce as a salad.

Salsa for Tacos

1 ripe avocado, peeled and diced
1 1/4 c. roma tomatoes, diced
5 green onions, white part only, thinly sliced
1/2 fresh jalapeno, seeded and diced
1/4 c. chopped cilantro leaves, stems removed
juice of one lime
kosher salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Combine all ingredients into a food storage container and shake until the lime juice evenly coats the avocado; the lime juice will keep the avocado from turning brown.

For this batch of soft tacos, I made two batches of soft tacos.. one made with unbleached all-purpose flour and the second with whole wheat flour. The whole wheat flour tortillas tasted awful. Maybe it's because whole wheat is such a heavier-tasting flour. Preferentially, I enjoy the lighter texture and flavor of a white flour tortilla than say whole wheat or corn tortillas.

Another note on making the tortillas. Once you remove it from the cast iron pan and put it on a paper towel-lined plate, cover the tortillas with a kitchen towel moistened with water. This will keep the tortillas pliable until they are ready to eat. If you plan to eat them later, seal them in a ziplock bag and refrigerate.

Reviews: Downtown Bellevue Eats

Part of exploring a new metro area is eating your way through the lunch week. I've been trying to experience a different eatery for the days that I eat out either by myself or with co-workers. I thought I should keep some notes about finding new places to eat. The alternative is to brown bag it. While the weather is still nice I think I should try something new.

Lemon Pound Cake

...with six egg yolks. Yeah, so we had all these leftover egg yolks from that brown butter hazelnut cake (which, according to Smitten Kitchen's recipe takes six egg whites if using large eggs) from two weeks ago that I thought I'd toss into this recipe. This cake recipe ordinarily takes just four egg yolks, but I wasn't about to do fancy math with the dry ingredients to accommodate two more egg yolks. I'll soon find out in about an hour if the cake came out okay.

Ingredients

1 c. organic granulated sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into chunks
1 1/4 c. unbleached all purpose flour, minus 2 tbsp flour
6 egg yolks
1/3 c. half and half (or whole milk)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon extract
zest of one lemon
pinch of kosher salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

1. In a stand mixer: cream butter and sugar together. Add vanilla and lemon extracts. Add lemon juice and lemon zest. Add egg yolks. Beat until pale and fluffy.

2. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.

3. While the stand mixer is running (on low), alternate while adding half-and-half and flour. Beat until well combined.

4. Butter a loaf pan and fill with cake mixture. Bake for 50 minutes or until edges of the cake are lightly browned and start to pull away from the sides of the pan.

Let cool on a rack before removing from loaf pan.

Wild Game Meat in the greater Seattle area

King County: Butcher Shops, Meat Markets, and Fresh Seafood

After three years of living in the southwest region of Washington state, I relocated (for work) to the Seattle area. Not surprisingly, since this is a very urban metropolitan area with scattered farms on the fringes of suburbia, there are even fewer choices for fresh game meat and nearby butcher shops that can offer up meats and cuts that you just can't get at a Whole Foods or other specialty retail grocery store with a meat counter.

Here's what I have found so far:

Bill the Butcher
7990 Leary Way Northeast, Redmond, WA 98072?
(425) 636-8901
http://www.billthebutcher.com
Meat standards: Organic (No herbicides, pesticides, antibiotics, hormones or steroids; Fed with organic grass or grain that is not genetically modified), Natural (No herbicides, pesticides, antibiotics, hormones or steroids; No genetically modified feed. Humanely raised and harvested animals; Pastured and as local as possible.)
Meats: organic and natural beef, free range local poultry, natural pork, wild game (not specified on website), sausages
Other products: raw milk
Hours: Tu-Sun noon-7pm, closed Mondays
Other locations: Woodinville, Seattle (NE 45th St, E Madison St, and 34th Ave W)
 
Bob’s Quality Meats
4861 Rainier Avenue South  Seattle, WA 98118
(206) 725-1221
http://www.bobsqualitymeats.com
Meat: beef, buffalo, lamb, poultry (chicken, turkey, game hen, eggs), oxtails
Whole animals: lamb, goat, rabbit, chicken, smoked turkey
Game meats: duck, venison (ground),
Dairy/Cheese: butter; American cheese, Swiss cheese, Boudin
Other specialty: pancetta, hard salami, beef jerky, oxtails, pork blood
Hours: M-F 9am-7pm, Sa 9am-5pm, closed Sundays

Don and Joe’s Meats (at Pikes Market)
85 Pike Street  Seattle, WA 98101
(206) 682-7670
http://www.donandjoesmeats.com
Meats: sausages, beef, lamb, veal, offals
Seasonal meats: turkeys (fresh & smoked), duck, geese, pheasant, quail, rabbit
Hours: M-Sa 9am-6pm, closed Sundays

Fresh Sea Food
Pure Food Fish Market / Pike Place Market
Seattle, WA 98108
Local (Seattle Area): 206-622-5765
http://www.freshseafood.com
Seafood: salmon (fresh & smoked), halibut, crab, shrimp, lobster, squid, shellfish (clams, mussels, scallops), caviar, Columbia River white sturgeon, whole rainbow trout, whole golden trout, sushi grade ahi tuna
Steaks: Hawaiian mahi mahi, Hawaiian ahi tuna
Fillets: monk fish, ling cod, dover sole, pertrole sole, catfish, Alaskan black cod, Alaska true cod, Pacific red snapper, Chilean sea bass
Hours: Mo-Su 7am-9pm

University Seafood and Poultry (u-district)
1317 Northeast 47th Street  Seattle, WA 98105
(206) 632-3900
http://www.universityseafoodandpoultry.com
Meats: poultry & eggs (duck, duckling, pheasant, quail, geese, game hens, turkeys)
Seafood (fresh): king salmon, steamer clams, live Maine lobsters, Pacific oysters, mussels, perch, halibut, sockeye salmon, etc)
Hours: M-F 930am-530pm, Sa 930am-5pm, closed Sundays
Misc: Free parking next to the 76 gas station

World Famous Pike Place Fish Market
86 Pike Street  Seattle, WA 98101
(206) 682-7181
http://www.pikeplacefish.com
Seafood: salmon (fresh & smoked), white fish, Dungeness crab, live shellfish (Penn Cove clams, Manilla clams, Pacific oysters, mussels, Kumamoto oysters), fresh (but not alive) shellfish (Alaskan king crab, snow crab legs, shrimp, Alaskan spot prawns, sea scallops, bay scallops, smoked mussels)
Hours: mo-Sun 6am-6pm