Onion Tart

Please. Bear with me. I know this blog is for ordinary people. People with jobs. People with families. People without much time on their hands.

People who think they don't have time to make tarts with dough from scratch.

But here's the thing. People who do just a bit of advance planning can serve up gourmet dishes for their ordinary families on an ordinary weeknight.

You can make the dough in advance. One recipe makes enough dough for two tarts. You can make both tarts at once (each one feeds about three people as a main dish), or you can put half in the fridge and use it later in the week. (I think it'll keep for 3-4 days although I haven't tried it for longer than two.)

You can cook up the onions ahead of time, too. You can drop some on the floor in your haste to get them done. Or not.

All that's left is to roll out the dough, assemble the tart and bake it.

Which can be done a couple of hours before dinner if you like. The tart is great at room temperature.

Promise me you'll try it. I'll feel better knowing that you will.

Onion Tart, adapted from The Art of Simple Food (If you don't own this cookbook, buy it NOW)
This recipe makes two tarts, each of which feeds about three people. If you prefer, you can make just half the amount of onions and reserve half the dough for another use. I plan to try some with fruit soon and will let you know how that goes. Oh, and if you're wondering if you can make this with margarine, please don't. The pure buttery taste is part of its magic.


The Dough
2 cups white flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup ice cold water
1 1/2 sticks cold butter

The Topping
2 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
3 large Vidalia onions, sliced thin
5 sprigs of thyme, leaves pulled off
30or so leaves of basil
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

First, make the dough. Combine the flour and salt in a medium bowl. Cut the cold butter into small (1/4 inch or so) cubes. Work the butter into the flour with your fingertips. When it's worked in and coarsely crumbly, slowly add about 3/4 of the ice water. Mix it in with a fork and then switch to mixing with your fingers. You'll want the dough to hold together. Add more water if you need to but you should not need more than 1/2 cup. Divide the dough in half, bring each dough together in a ball, and wrap each ball in an individual piece of saran wrap. Once wrapped, flatten each ball to make a disk. Refrigerate for at least an hour or as long as a few days.

Meanwhile, make the topping. In a heavy pot, preferably cast iron, combine the butter and 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Heat over a medium-low flame. Add the onions and thyme, and saute for about thirty minutes till cooked through and just beginning to caramelize. (Do not, under any circumstances, let it burn!) If the onions seem liquidy, pour of the liquid. Set aside to come to room temperature, or refrigerate for up to 2 days.

Chop the basil as fine as you can (or pulse it in mini food processor.) Mix it with the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil and parmesan and set the mixture aside at room temperature for up to an hour or in the fridge for up to 2 days.

When you're ready to assemble the tart, preheat the oven to 375*. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. (Don't forget this step. It's important.)

Flour a work surface and roll out the first dough disk into a 14-inch round. To move it from your work surface to your baking sheet, fold the round in half and then in quarters. This is a wonderful technique I learned from Alice Waters which has taken all the frustration out of rolling out pies.

Once the dough is on your baking sheet, spread it with half the basil/oil/parm mix, leaving a 1-inch border or so all around. Then spread half the onion mix over it. Finally, fold the border up over the onions.

Bake for about 45 minutes, till the crust is golden.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

This post was featured on Culinary Kosher!\

Linking this up to Melt in Your Mouth Monday, Pennywise Platter Thursday, Yummy Mummy,  Let's Do Brunch and This Chick Cooks. 

Read More

Weekday Baguettes (Guest Post)

I was honored when Leah Schapira over at Cook Kosher invited me to guest post. I knew this recipe was the perfect one to share. It's super easy, and the timing is flexible enough for a weeknight dinner.

In fact, since I shared the recipe with Leah a few weeks ago, I've made these baguettes at least once a week, sometimes more. They are a new family favorite.

Please visit Cook Kosher for the recipe.

Do you bake bread? What's your favorite formula?


Linking this up to Let's Do Brunch. 

Read More

Over the Top Mushroom Barley Soup

I'll be the first to admit it. This isn't an every-night soup. It's rich and (somewhat) labor intensive. The ingredient list is kind of long, and kind of expensive.

But it's also really good. Special occasion kind of good.

Rich. Indulgent. Intensely satisfying. Try it. You'll be happy you did.

Mushroom Barley Soup
Don't skimp on the homemade stock; it makes all the difference. Feel free to make the stock ahead of time and freeze it. That's my secret; I put up the stock when I have a quiet evening for simmering. Then I freeze it so this soup is a breeze to make.

6 cups homemade chicken or beef stock (follow these instructions to make a basic stock, but add a package of chicken bones or a cleaned chicken carcass from a roast chicken dinner)
1/2 cup dry white wine
a handful of dried mushrooms
1 tablespoon canola oil
1/2 pound meat (I used sliced beef neck)
1 onion, chopped
4 sprigs fresh thyme, cleaned and chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
1 teaspoon salt
16 oz. fresh white button mushrooms
1 cup pearl barley

Warm the stock and wine in a medium pot. Add the dried mushrooms and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large stock pot. (I used my Le Creuset.) Brown the beef on all sides. Remove from the pot and set aside.

Cook the onion on medium heat for 10 minutes or so, till translucent. Add the herbs and salt. Cook for another couple of minutes.

Add the mushrooms to the cooked onions and cook for about 10 minutes longer.

Put the browned meat into the stock pot. Add the stock and dried (now re-hydrated) mushrooms. Bring to a boil and then add the barley. Simmer for at least two hours (more is fine). Serve immediately, or refrigerate for up to two days. Reheat before serving.

Linking this up to Melt in Your Mouth Monday and Mingle Monday.

Read More

Rhubarb Ginger Muffins

I am not a big fan of tart foods. I like sweet and I like savory. Sour, tart foods just don't do it for me.

But the rhubarb at the farmer's market looked so fresh. So seasonal. So local. And it seems like lately all of my fellow food bloggers have been waxing eloquent on the subject of rhubarb lately. I guess I felt like the odd man out.

When my daughter saw the rhubarb, you know what she said? "Blech." (Not sure how you spell it but that's what she said.) "That stuff is sour."

Yeah, it is. But guess what? With enough sugar (and this recipe has plenty of it), it becomes downright tasty.

Rhubarb Ginger Muffins, adapted from Someone Who Bakes

1 1/2 cups chopped rhubarb (about 4 stalks)

2 tablespoons white sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup oats
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup water
4 tablespoons unsalted butter or margarine, melted
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon Turbinado sugar

Preheat the oven to 400*. 

In a small bowl, combine the rhubarb with the white sugar and set aside. 

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, oats, brown sugar, ginger, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. 

In a separate bowl, combine the milk, melted butter, vanilla, ginger, and egg. Stir to combine. 

 Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, pour in the wet ingredients, and mix until combined (don't over-mix). Add in the rhubarb and mix to combine. 

Scoop the batter into muffin tins sprayed with baking spray or lined with cups. You'll want to fill them about 3/4 of the way. Sprinkle the turbinado sugar over the muffins. 

Bake for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pans for a few minutes before removing.

Linking this up to Kosher on a Budget.

Read More

Corned Beef and Rice Stir Fry

One of the basic tenets of motherhood is this: Serve Baby Corn. When all else fails and your kids refuse to look a vegetable in the eye, let them eat baby corn.  

So when I don't feel like fighting with them to eat their dinner, I serve baby corn. (Usually with some protein. I'm not a complete failure as a mother.) 

This dish is nice because it puts leftover cold cuts to good use. Of course you can buy them fresh too, but it sure feels good to use leftovers! 

Corned Beef and Rice Stir Fry

20 minutes prep, assuming you have the rice cooked ahead of time

Serves 6

Cook the rice well ahead of time. You want it very comfortably settled at room temperature for this dish. If it's warm, it'll clump. (Leftover rice from last night's dinner is fine too. Just let it come to room temperature for an hour or so, if you have the time.) 

4 tablespoons canola oil, divided

4 scallions

1 red bell pepper, julienned

3 stalks celery, sliced about 1/2 inch thick

1 can of baby corn

about 1/2 pound of deli sliced corned beef, cut in strips

3 cups cooked brown rice, at room temperature (this is important!)

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1/4 cup dry white wine (use sake if you have it)

Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the scallions and saute for a minute or two, till fragrant. 

Add the pepper, celery and baby corn, and cook for a few minutes till heated through. Add the corned beef and cook for another few minutes, stirring, till heated. 

Remove the vegetables and meat from the pan and set aside. 

Heat the remaining oil. When the oil is nice and hot, add the rice and cook for a few minutes, stirring often. Let it start browning and warm through thoroughly, but take care not to burn it. 

When the rice is nice and hot and beginning to brown, add the soy sauce and wine, along with the vegetables. Cook for another few minutes till heated through. 

Serve immediately. 

Linking this up to Frugal Follies and Let's Do Brunch.

Read More

Cornmeal Shortbread Cookies (Baking with Dorie)

It's every cook's nightmare. You buy a whole bunch of lemons. You run into one recipe after another that calls for lemon zest. The first calls for the zest of one lemon. The second calls for a teaspoon of zest. The third calls for six strips of lemon rind.

But here's where it falls apart.

There is suddenly a shortage of recipes that call for lemon juice. All of the vinaigrettes are vinegar based. The kids have no interest in lemonade. So all the lemons are hanging out, stripped of their zest, naked and exposed, waiting to be juiced.

It is a sad state of affairs. Anyway, the bad news is that if you're looking for a lemon juice recipe, you've come to the wrong place. This is yet another lemon zest recipe that will do nothing to help with your unfortunate predicament.

But it's a really good one. Lemony and incredibly textured. It's from Dorie Greenspan's cookbook - Baking: From My Home to Yours. In Dorie's words, it has an 'appealing tickle-your-tongue roughness.' Couldn't have said it better myself.


Cornmeal Shortbread Cookies, adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours
The original recipe doesn't call for dipping in chocolate, but my kids laugh at me when I serve a dessert that doesn't have some chocolate. I left a few of the cookies un-dipped for some of the more boring adult members of the family. But the chocolate dipped ones are so much prettier!


1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup corn starch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
2/3 cup sugar
Grated zest of 1 lemon
2 sticks margarine, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips
1/8 teaspoon oil
Non-pareils (optional)

Stir the flour, corn starch, salt and cornmeal together in a medium bowl.

Put the sugar and zest into the bowl of your stand mixer. User your fingers to rub the two together till your hands smell lovely and the sugar is nice and moist. Add the margarine and vanilla to the same mixing bowl and use the paddle attachment of your mixer to mix well, on medium speed, for 3-4 minutes, scraping down a couple of times.

Turn off the mixer and pour in the dry ingredients. Mix on low for a minute or less, just to combine the ingredients. Don't over-mix, you want the dry ingredients JUST incorporated.

Scrape the dough into a large (1-gallon size) ziploc bag. Before you zip the bag shut, put it on a flat surface and roll the dough with a rolling pin. You should end up with a 10x10 inch (or so) rectangle.

Seal the bag and refrigerate it for at least 2 hours, and up to 2 days.

When you're ready to bake, line two baking sheets with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 350*.

Put the bag on a cutting board and use a serrated knife to slit it open. Turn the dough out onto the cutting board and discard the bag. Use a ruler to guide you, and cut the dough into 1 1/2-inch squares. Carefully prick each square with a fork so the fork goes all the way through to the cutting board.

Transfer the cookies to the baking sheets and place in the oven. Lower the oven temperature to 300* and bake the cookies for 25-30 minutes until just set.

Remove the cookies from the oven and allow to cool.

Meanwhile, melt the chocolate over a double boiler or in the microwave. Once it's melted, stir in the oil. Use a spoon or knife to smear the chocolate over half of each cookie. Before the chocolate has set, sprinkle some non-pareils over the cookies, if desired. Allow to set before eating.

Read my fellow bloggers' recipes over at Baking with Dorie! 

Read More

Sweet Cooked Latkes (a.k.a. Chremslach)

If there is one food that is off limits in our home during the week, it's Latkes (Jewish potato pancakes). Don't get me wrong, I like them just as much as the next person, but they're just completely out of the question for an ordinary weeknight.   

The potatoes have to be grated fresh. Whether I grate them by hand or use the food processor, I get exhausted just thinking about doing that after a day of work. 

They have to be fried fresh, on the spot, immediately before eating. (At least in my opinion. Otherwise I just don't think they're worth the effort or calories.)

But these Latkes (known in some families as Chremslach) are different. They require no grating or washing of the food processor. You can make the batter ahead of time (!). You can even fry them in advance and serve them rewarmed or cold. They make for a special treat for my kids, and are manageable even on a non-Chanukah weeknight.

Sweet Cooked Latkes

These are very different than typical latkes, which are made with raw grated potatoes and onions. They are sweet and mild, but very delicious. And manageable on a weeknight because so much of the work can be done ahead of time!

3 large Idaho potatoes

2 eggs

1/4 cup sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

about 1/2 cup canola oil, for frying

Peel the potatoes, cut them in chunks and put them in a saucepan covered with water. Cover the pan and bring to a boil. Simmer for about 1/2 hour, till they are nice and soft. You want them to mash easily. 

Drain the potatoes and mash them well. Add the remaining ingredients and stir well to combine. (This part can be done up to a day ahead of time. Just refrigerate the batter till you're ready to use it. Bring to room temperature, if possible, before proceeding.)

Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. When the oil's good and hot, spoon the potato batter in to form about eight roundish pancakes. Each one should be about an inch thick. 

Cook the pancakes for about 10 minutes on the first side. When you spot some nice brown crispiness underneath, it's time to flip them. (This part's easy - they are not at all runny and should flip nicely!) Flip them and then let them cook on the second side for another five minutes or so, till nicely browned. 

Serve immediately, or put aside for later. If you're going to serve them later, you can eat them cold, at room temperature, or rewarmed in the oven. 

Read More