Fall

I love rustic or “free-form” tarts. This recipe makes two perfect tarts and can be filled with just about any type of firm fruit – apples, pears, peaches, nectarines or plums – whatever is in season. I used Arrowhead Mills Organic Whole Grain Pastry flour and it gives the crust a perfectly tender, flaky, buttery crust.

Crust:

3/4 cup whole grain pastry flour (or unbleached all purpose flour)
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/4” pieces, chilled
2-3 tablespoons ice water

I work at home. Translation: I love a distraction. The kitchen? Definitely the number one destination for diversion.  Even on days when recipe developing is not on my to-do list, I like to wander in to my favorite room and concoct a little something every few hours. Something quick, something that might work for our dinner later.  Even better, something that might last for a few days.

Roasted baby beets (so ruby-red pretty) are the ultimate in quick-to-make,  slow-to-cook vegetable condiments.  By vegetable condiments (no, I haven’t lost my mind) I mean stuff like caramelized onions and roasted tomatoes—things that are so great to have in the fridge for tossing in salads, onto pizzas, into tacos—that sort of thing. Okay, so maybe roasted beet wedges are not quite as versatile as roasted tomatoes, but they do juicy-up a salad and give you a great excuse to warm up goat cheese or to toast pecans (just add arugula and lemon vinaigrette). Plus, maybe you’ve got excess CSA-beet syndrome like me. Remarkably, mine (wrapped in a damp cloth and stored in a zip-top bag) have kept for months in the veg drawer of my fridge.

Soup weather has hit hard today, very rainy and gloomy all around.  A good day for a fire and just hanging out. 

With Fall in full swing, some type of pumpkin soup seemed in order.  This particular recipe is spicy (from the andouiile sausage) and a little bit sweet from the addition of maple syrup.

Served with fresh baked bread it was the perfect afternoon meal. 

This soup is so easy to make, no other pictures were necessary.  So enjoy the Fall season and hopefully you have soup weather too.

Steak and Mushrooms…Yum.

Like Batman and Robin, Lucy and Ethel, Mr. Roarke and Tattoo, they were perfect together….with meat being the star and the mushrooms happy to play sidekick.

But not anymore.

By having some fun with the fungi, trying different cooking methods and flavor combinations, you can now give mushrooms the starring role.

Serving your steak as a side may bruise its ego a bit, but the only loss you’ll experience will be in your weight!

Try to use a mix of mushrooms if you can– some wild, some domestic– the different tastes and textures really stand out in this simple preparation.