Cherry Tomato and Champagne Grape Tart

Today I will talk about my photographic discoveries and, of course, about a delicious recipe. Since I started this blog I have been received wonderful comments about my photos. I would like to thank my dear readers for all the support. I’m just an enthusiast that is in love with this art and all those sweet words motivate me even more.

Since I got my dSLR camera I've been practicing every day a lot. I’m using most of my time to learn about exposure and composition. I’m reading the book Plate to Pixel from Hélène Dujardin and this is helping me to improve my skills. Her award-winning blog, Tartelette, was the first food blog that I started to follow. I’m a huge fan of her work. If you just begin to photograph food, you should take a look in her book. It’s precious. I’m still understand how my camera works and I learned that photography it’s all about the light. As I use natural light, taking pictures at different times of the day, and also different places of my apartment, makes me realize how these important choices influence the final result.

I used to take pictures on the dining table, which is beside my dinner room window.  After I tried all the possible places I found that the best spot is closer to my bedroom window, and the best time is at the Golden Hours before sunset. At these hours, the light touches slightly the food.

Now, about the recipe, I prepared a cherry tomato and champagne grape tart  from the wonderful Food52. This site has an amazing recipe collection. When I saw this tart, I thought it would be a good and beautiful recipe to photograph. And I was right… The colors of the ingredients are so vivid. Unfortunately, September brings raining and cloudy days to Cleveland. Yesterday, I was worried about to take pictures under this gray condition, but I’m glad that my new favorite spot helped me to get good photos.

I really enjoyed making this tart. I’ve never prepared tart dough using a food processor. I was impressed with how easy and quick it was. Another unusual thing for me was the champagne grapes. I was fascinated with its flavor after baking. So juice and sweet, so good! I loved the combination between tomatoes, grape, rosemary from the crust and the soft pecorino cheese. Everything worked wonderfully well.

Cherry Tomato and Champagne Grape Tart

(from Food52) 

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 cup flour

1 tablespoon olive oil (plus a bit more for brushing)

1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary

2 tablespoons shredded parmesan

Ice water (3-4 tbs - it will depend)

1 ½ Cherry tomatoes (gold and red)

½ Champagne grapes

2 ounces fresh pecorino - the soft kind not the hard aged stuff

a pinch of salt or two

Cut up the butter and put it in the freezer. Measure out your flour, parmesan, rosemary and put them in the food processor. When the butter is VERY cold, add it into the processor and pulse until the mixture looks like a coarse meal. Start adding ice water a tablespoon at a time and pulse until the dough just comes together. Remove it from the processor and pat it into a disk, wrap it in plastic and put it in the fridge for half an hour.

Wash your tomatos and grapes, and cut the tomatoes in half. Line a 9" tart pan with removeable bottom with parchment. Heat the oven to 375.

Get the tart dough out and roll it out on a floured surface to about 1/4 inch thick. Lay it over the pan and let it settle into place, gently press it into the pan edges. You can roll your rolling pin across the pan to cut the dough. You will have extra - wrap that back up and save it, you'll think of something to make with it! Dock the dough with a fork and blind bake it for 10 minutes.

Remove the crust and arrange the tomatoes cut side down - you can do it in an orderly fashion if you like - I didn't. I wanted mine to look more like a tomato mosh pit. Leave some space between the tomatoes - then sprinkle those cute little grapes around to fill the spaces. Lightly brush tomatoes and crust edges with olive oil, sprinkle with a pinch of salt, and back into the oven for 25 more minutes. Break the pecorino into small hunks and arrange them around in the tart, and into the oven again for 10 more minutes. Let the tart cool before serving. 

Strawberry and Watermelon Cake

I was searching for a watermelon recipe on  Australian Gourmet Traveller site when I saw this amazing strawberry watermelon cake. It has layers of almond dacquoise, rose scented cream and watermelon, topping with strawberries, grapes and pistachios, all of them scented with rose. This recipe surprised me! A cake layered with watermelon is completely new for me and I knew that I should try it. Watermelon was always one of my favorite fruits. In fact, my mother told me when I was 2 years old, I opened the fridge, took a half watermelon and start eat sitting right on the floor in front of the fridge.

Another ingredient that caught my attention was the rose flavor. The first dessert that I eat with rose flavor was Pierre Hermé 's Macaron Ispahan. Since then I became passionate for its incredible aroma and savor. I have to confess that I always was passionate for roses too. When I was a little girl every time I saw a flower shop I wanted a rose bouquet. I used to look at my mom eyes and she already knew my desire. For me it is a pleasure to see my roses reign its exuberant beauty on a vase at the dinner table. It is a delight. I am able to spend hours admiring them. This brings me such a peace and happy feeling.

So, I’m quite sure that if knew about this cake when I was a child, definitely it would be my favorite one. Its flavors are so delicate. The rose scented strawberries and watermelon are also perfect with the cream. Lovely.

Strawberry and watermelon cake

(from Australian Gourmet Traveller)

250 gm	seedless watermelon, thinly sliced
60 ml (¼ cup)	rosewater
4 tbsp	caster sugar
40 gm	almond meal
500 gm	strawberries (about 2 punnets), halved
10	seedless red grapes, halved
1 tbsp	slivered pistachios (see note)
1 tbsp	dried rose petals (see note)
Almond dacquoise
150 gm	almonds, coarsely chopped
150 gm	pure icing sugar, sieved
5	eggwhites
135 gm	caster sugar
Rose-scented cream
300 ml	thickened cream
30 gm	caster sugar
2 tbsp	rosewater

	For almond dacquoise, preheat oven to 200C.  Process almonds in a food processor until finely ground, then combine in a bowl with icing sugar.  Whisk eggwhites in an electric mixer until soft peaks form (3-4 minutes),  then gradually add caster sugar and whisk until stiff peaks form (1-2 minutes).  Gently fold through almond mixture, spread on a 30cm x 40cm oven  tray lined with baking paper and bake until golden (10-15 minutes).  Set aside to cool on tray, then cut in half lengthways.
	Arrange watermelon slices in a single layer on a wire rack. Sprinkle with 20ml rosewater, then scatter with 2 tbsp sugar.  Stand to macerate (30 minutes), then pat dry with absorbent paper.
	Meanwhile, for rose-scented cream, whisk cream and sugar in an electric mixer until soft peaks form, gradually add rosewater and  whisk until stiff peaks form (do not over-whisk).
	Spread one-third of rose cream evenly over one half of dacquoise, scatter with half the almond meal, then top with watermelon, trimming to fill any gaps.  Scatter over remaining almond meal, spread over half remaining cream.  Top with remaining dacquoise, spread over remaining cream and  refrigerate until firm (1-2 hours).

Combine strawberries, remaining rosewater and remaining sugar in a bowl,
toss to combine and set aside to macerate (15 minutes).
Carefully arrange on top of cake, gently pushing into cream.
Trim edges of cake, scatter over grapes, pistachios and petals, and serve. 
                    

Serves 8. Cooking Time Prep time 45 mins, cook 15 mins (plus cooling, macerating, chilling) 

Bacon Wraps

Last week I was on the grocery store when I saw a piece of bacon. Although it wasn't in my shopping list, that bacon was so beautiful and meaty that I couldn't resist the temptation to make bacon wraps. I prepare two delicious and easy wraps recipes: chicken with pink peppercorns and another one only with carrots.

For the chicken, you can also use chicken breast and thighs. I prefer the second one because they are juicier than breast when baked. Only the bacon is enough to give flavor to the chicken, but if you want to improve even more the taste, try to marinate the chicken before. A simple cup of white wine, herbs and seasoning can make a big difference on the final result. Finally, I garnished the wraps with some pink peppercorns. I love them! They have a pungent flavor and also add such a beautiful color to a dish.

The carrots are even simpler to prepare than the chicken. First, cut the carrots into stick shape and then put them in boil water for 1-2 minutes. This time is enough for not overcook the carrots without losing their vitamins. Now take some carrots, wrap with bacon and then put it in a preheated skillet with some olive oil. You can also try it with asparagus instead of carrots. Both are perfect as an accompaniment to a grilled meat. 

Chicken  Wrapped in Bacon with Pink Peppercorns

2 boneless chicken thighs cut into 2 pieces
About 2 tablespoons rosemary, very finely chopped
About 2 tablespoons thyme, finely chopped
Sea salt and coarsely ground pepper
About 1/4 cup white wine
4 thin slices good quality bacon 

Place chicken in a dish with the wine, rosemary and thyme. Season lightly with sea salt and more heavily with pepper then toss evenly to coat the chicken pieces with herbs and wine. Use right away or marinate up to overnight.

Preheat oven to 375°F. Arrange a wire cooling rack over a baking sheet.

Wrap a bacon slice around each piece of chicken Arrange the chicken on the rack. Bake 45 minutes, until bacon is crisp and chicken cooked through.

Garnish with some pink peppercorns. 

Carrots Wrapped in Bacon

(from here)

4 slices of bacon

4 medium carrots cut into sticks and pre-cooked

A drizzle of olive oil

Salt and pepper

Season the carrot sticks with a little olive oil, salt and pepper.

Separate the carrot sticks into 4 portions. Take one portion, add the sticks and, in the middle of this portion, pass a bacon slice like a tape, giving the shape of a medallion. Repeat with remaining ingredients.

Heat a skillet with 1tsp of olive oil, medium heat. Put the bacon with the ending stripe facing down for about 1min.

When the bacon is golden brown, turn and brown the carrots ends. 

Sweet Corn Crème Brûlée

I’m really happy because now it’s corn season. In Brazil corn season means pamonha and cural time. Pamonha is a savoury or sweet corn cream wrapped on corn husks and then cooked in boiling water. Only juiced corn can be used for pamonhas. When they start to dry out, we use them to make cural, a sweet cream dessert. It’s very simple to prepare cural. First, you blend the corn with some milk. After strain this mixture, you add sugar and then cook on a pan until form a consistent cream. It’s served chilled with cinnamon on top.

I remember when I was a child that my mom prepared cural because my sister loved it. I wasn’t a big fan of cural. On that time, I thought only salty corn dishes were good. But it is interesting how our taste changes over the years. This weekend I prepared a sweet corn dessert and I liked it.

First I thought to make cural but the corns that I bought were so fresh that I decide to make a sweet corn crème brûlée. I started making like the cural recipe, but I used cream instead milk. When the corn liquid started boiling I added the egg yolks and sugar mixture and baked on water bath. I was so happy with the result. It was in some way a sophisticated cural. The flavor was quite similar and the creamy texture with the caramelized sugar on top was fantastic.

Sweet Corn Crème Brûlée

(adapted from here)

3 ears sweet corn

3 cups heavy cream

1/2 cup whole milk

8 egg yolks

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup coarse sugar or raw sugar

Remove the husk from the ears of corn and cut the kernels off. Puree the corn and milk in a blender until smooth. Strain the mixture into a pitcher. Add the cream and in a pan cook until start boil.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the granulated sugar. Whisking constantly, gradually pour in the hot cream mixture. Add the vanilla and mixture. Pour the cream mixture into the bowls and arrange in a hot water bath. Bake at 300 degrees F, in the center of the oven until almost set but still a bit soft in the center, 30 to 40 minutes. The custard should "shimmy" a bit when you shake the pan; it will firm up more as it cools. Remove from the water bath and let cool 15 minutes. Tightly cover each bowl with plastic wrap, making sure the plastic does not touch the surface of the custard. Refrigerate at least 2 hours. (Or refrigerate until ready to serve, up to 24 hours.)

Preheat a broiler to very hot (or fire up your kitchen torch). Uncover the chilled custards. Pour as much sugar as will fit onto the top of one of the custards. Pour off the excess sugar onto the next custard. Repeat until all the custards are coated. Discard any remaining sugar. Place the bowls on a baking sheet or in a roasting pan and broil until the sugar is melted and well browned, 1 to 2 minutes. Or brown them with a blowtorch. Let cool 1 minute before serving.

Banana Waffles with Strawberry-Maple Syrup

Isn't it funny when you think that you made a different recipe and then you see how common it is? This Sunday my husband and I prepared a banana waffles with fresh strawberry-maple syrup. While I was writing this post I saw that this is a common combination for a waffle.

Unfortunately, waffles are not so popular in my country, so since we moved to US, we chose Sunday breakfast to be the waffle time. It has been a delightful habit on our Sunday mornings. Over the weekends we tried to use different ingredients like tapioca, corn and rice flour or raisins and fruits. Yesterday he asked me if putting some bananas would be a good idea. I said yes! Then I saw the strawberries and asked him if strawberry-maple syrup would be a good idea for the top. He said great!

So my husband prepared a basic waffle recipe and then added a very ripe banana to the mixture. I made strawberry-maple syrup using some fresh strawberries and a lot o maple syrup. The result was very similar with a compote. I know that it’s a common combination, but everything works so well that I had to share with you. I hope you enjoy it!

Banana Waffles with Strawberry-Maple Syrup

(makes 4 6-1/2-inch round waffles)

1 cup cake flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 large egg

1 cup reduced fat milk

1 ripe banana, mashed

Place ingredients in a large mixing bowl and combine until well blended and smooth. Let batter sit 5 minutes before using. Preheat your waffle making according to its instructions. 

Pour 1/2 cup batter onto the center of the lower grid; spread using a heat-proof spatula. Cook until the timer goes off.

Strawberry-Maple Syrup

3/4 cup maple syrup

3/4 cup quartered fresh strawberries

Combine maple syrup and strawberries in a small saucepan. Cook syrup mixture over medium heat, stirring occasionally, 6 to 8 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Serve immediately.