Tarte aux brugnons-plus-de-saison

Ben oui, il paraît que l'été, c'est un peu fini, et que les brugnons, ils sont plus très bons. Bon, sur notre marché ils n'ont pas été fabuleux de tout l'été, ce qui fait que je n'en ai pas beaucoup acheté. Les derniers, c'est le geek domestique qui les a ramenés, et au bout de 24 heures il fallait les manger ou les jeter. Oui mais manger des fruits pas très bons, moi, je m'y refuse. Donc voilà, j'ai une une idée. Encore une fois à base d'amandes, que vouez-vous, j'AIME les oléagineux, au risque de me faire traiter d'assassin par mes amis allergiques aux fruits à coques.

Pour étaler la pâte d'amandes au rouleau, on procède comme pour de la pâte à tarte, sauf qu'au lieu de la farine, on met du sucre. Beaucoup de sucre en poudre, dessus et dessous. La pâte d'amandes, toute imbibée du jus des fruits, donne juste le bon contrepoids au côté acidulé du brugnon, la semoule évite de détremper la pâte, c'est bon, c'est simple, je mets dans mon carnet (virtuel).

It appears summer has ended, and nectarines aren't quite in season anymore. They haven't been very good at our market all summer anyway, and I didn't buy that many of them. But lastly, the home geek (aka my husband) came home with a bunch of nectarines, and after 24 hours they had to be either eaten or tossed away. But I really, really don't like eating fruit that is not VERY god, so I came up with something. Once again, with nuts. I LOVE nuts.

To roll out almond paste, sprinkle your table top with sugar, and then sprinkle the almond paste itself with more sugar. The almond paste gets soaked with the nectarines' juices (yuuuuuuuum), and the semolina prevents the crust from getting muddy.

Tarte aux brugnons - Nectarine tart

4 brugnons - 4 nectarines

1 pâte brisée - 1 pastry dough

1/2 paquet (2 grosses cuillères à soupe) de pâte d'amandes - 2 large tbsp almond paste

de la semoule fine - fine grain semolina, about 2 teasp

du sucre - sugar

Préchauffez votre four à 180°C.

Etalez la pâte et foncez un moule à tarte beurré. Saupoudrez d'un peu de semoule.

Etalez la pâte d'amandes de façon à juste couvrir le fond du moule, et posez-là par-dessus la pâte à tarte.

Pelez et détaillez les brugnons en petits morceaux, disposez-les par-dessus la pâte d'amande, saupoudrez de sucre. Enfournez 40 minutes.

Preheat your oven at 360°F.

Roll out your dough and pat it into a greased tart mold. Sprinkle semolina on top.

Roll out the almond paste, so that it barely covers the bottom of the tart.

Peal the nectarines, cut them into slices and place them over the almond paste, sprinkle with a good dose of sugar. Bake for 40 minutes.

Enjoy !

Going nuts - Zucchini and tomatoes tart

This recipe was a casualty of this blog's hibernation, and of just too much happening in the rest of my life. I had it photographed, I wanted to post it, and then... I didn't post it right away. Winter came, and this definitely did not feel like a winter recipe, so I didn't post it either. But I've heard spring is scheduled to start soon (or has been so for a few weeks), and now this seems more season-appropriate.
It was another of those nut experiments I do now and then, when I crave something with fat diary cream and suddenly remember how bad of an idea that would be. The nuts of choice being, this time as often, hazelnuts from our garden (I hear your envy !). We collected them, opened them and roasted them lightly in the fall, and stored them in a metal box.

Zucchini and tomatoes tart
1 pastry dough
2 garlic cloves
1 handful hazelnuts
2 zucchinis
2 tomatoes
thyme, oregano
On the night before, place the hazelnut in a large glass with one or two cups of water.
Prepare the pastry dough, roll it out onto your greased form. Pre-heat the oven at 360°F.
Drain the hazelnuts - but keep about half a cup of the water. add the peeled garlic cloves and mix until you get a thick, not still slightly crumbly paste. Add a little water back if necessary. Spread the paste onto your dough.
Thinly slice the vegetable and place them over the nut paste. Fold the excess dough back over them.
Bake for 40 minutes to one hour (the vegetables tend to stay crispy).

And before I disappear again under a mountain of fabric and ink, here's a link to a fantastic french cooking blog : Goûte,j'ai testé un truc !

I don't claim originality

... but at least a reasonable dose of personal adaptation.

This recipe wasn't totally mine to begin with. My best friend made me something similar a few months ago, and I played with what I had in the fridge and a few spices.

Spinach-hazelnut tart

1 pastry dough

3 cups frozen spinach or one big salad bowl raw spinach

3 eggs

1/2 cup oat milk

1/4 cup canned tuna or smoked salmon

1/2 cup ground hazelnuts

1 pinch ginger

pepper

Cook your spinach (a few minutes in the pressure cooker after the pressure is on will do it just fine), then drain it and cut it into small, small bits.

Roll out your dough onto a lightly floured surface, then transfer it into a greased mold. Pre-heat the oven at 360°F.

In a large-ish bowl, beat the eggs with the milk, add the spinach, the fish (in smaller pieces), the hazelnut and the spices. Pour the filling over the dough, fold the edges of the dough over the filling.

Bake in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes, until the dough is dry and slightly golden. Serve warm or cold.

The only thing to be mindful of, if you watn to play with proportions, is that the fish will add quit ea lot of salt, so don't add too much of it.

Baking week-end

There was a bit of a baking orgy this week-end. We spent Saturday and Sunday with my parents and ended up with three cakes for four persons. My Mom baked a candied fruit cake, my husband turned the way-too-early strawberries into a yummy strawberry tart, and I made a gâteau d'Aunis - because I was out of bread and hungry. Then after we went home on Sunday evening, dinner consisted of an onion tart (and some leftover rice).

The onion tart is one of those recipe that I have stored in the back of my head and don't need to look at my recipe files to make. No precise measuring, not too many ingredients - that's good in my book ! The only real difficulty is surviving the onions without weeping yourself to death. I do have a secret weapon : safety goggles. The kind you find at the hardware store for dealing with plaster or other stuff you don't want to get into your eyes. A friend of mine uses diving goggles.

Onion tart

1 pastry dough

10 onions

2 tablespoons mustard

7 oz (one small package) almond cream

1 egg

2 tablespoons flour

oil

1 big glass of dry white wine (optional)

Roll out your dough over a floured surface, grease a tart mold (I used a large, not very high one, but you can also use one that is smaller but higher, it doesn't really matter), place the dough in it.

Peel and thinly slice the onions (with the goggles on ;) ). Heat a good glob of oil in a large pan, once it's hot add the onions and cook them, stirring regularly, until they're very tender. This time I had some white whine leftover in the fridge, so I added it to the pan at the end and let it evaporate.

Pour the onions into a large bowl,  add the cream, the flour, the mustard, the egg and mix well. Pour this filling over your dough. Fold the dough's edges over the filling.

Bake in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes at 360°F. The filling should be golden brown and the dough dry and firm to the touch, just a little golden. Serve hot.

Below is my usual recipe for the cake. I changed it a little this time - I had egg whites remaining from the strawberry tart my husband had made, so I used only one full egg and replaced the other with 4 egg whites I had beaten until stiff. It worked just as well.

Gâteau d'Aunis (Aunis cake)
6 oz vegetal butter substitute
7 oz sugar
2 eggs
8 oz flour
2 oz candied angelica
1/2 cup cognac or rum

Cut the angelica into small pieces and put it in a bowl with the alcohol.
Beat the sugar with the butter until it gets white-ish. Still beating, add the eggs one by one, then the angelica and alcohol. Lastly, add the flour.
Grease a mold (mine is about 10 inches wide and 2 1/2 inches deep), pour the batter in it. Bake in the oven, 40 minutes at 390°F.