Leek Tatin

Have you ever watched a leek plant blooming?  It is so beautiful. Big globes of tiny white flowers bursting out of pointy hats. My mom used to plant leeks in her garden every year but I don't remember ever eating them out of there. I have a suspicion that she planted them simply because she loved the flowers so much. My dad has continued the tradition. This summer, I spent hours in his garden, staring at those leeks and trying my hand at some time-lapse photography which you will see in the video. On such a chilly November evening, it's nice to reminisce about summer and the garden… 

Today's recipe is a leeky and savoury variation on one of my all-time favourite desserts: Tarte Tatin. Tarte Tatin is an upside-down caramelized apple pie. (Yup. Heaven.) I have to admit that I tried making this recipe for you a while back, filmed it all, and when I got to the last step of flipping the damn thing over, it wouldn't budge. I had to pry it out of the pan and it was a total disaster, a giant sloppy mess and I figured I'd better find a solution so that you can make this recipe and trust in a happy ending. I found a solution, made it again last week, but I didn't pack the leeks tightly enough together and it came out all loose and wobbly and still not quite right. Which is frustrating because the first time I ever made it this recipe, many years ago, it turned out just right on the first try. I think maybe the pie got nervous in front of the camera. Anyway, the good thing about having messed it up a few times is I've got some precise instructions so that when you make it it will be perfect. And appropriately, the song in the video is called "recommencer" which means to start over again.


Leek Tatin from Kitchen Vignettes on Vimeo.

I believe I first found this recipe when I was staying with my beloved friend Marion's family in the French alps. Marion's mom is a prolific cook and has the most mouth-watering assortment of French cookbooks. I spent hours at her kitchen table going through them. Talk about a place I'd like to click my ruby slippers and be instantly transported to! My version of the recipe has 2 variations: goat cheese & also honey instead of sugar for the caramel. I'm using Bee Queen's wildflower honey, because well, I'm completely infatuated with this honey at the moment. My roommate got me started, she says she is going through a honey phase and apparently it is highly contagious because guess who polished off a half jar of honey in just 4 days?! (I seriously need to get a grip.) I bought some fresh walnuts in their shells last week and have been cracking them like crazy and dipping the pieces in massive gobs of honey. It's the best snack ever. You've got to try it. 

But in the meantime, onwards with upside-down caramelized leek & chèvre pie…

LEEK TATIN WITH CHEVRE

6 large leeks

3/4 cup honey

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

About 150 grams of goat cheese (more if you love goat cheese)

3/4 cup butter

1 2/3 cups flour

pinch of salt

1 egg

Mix the softened butter with the flour and egg until a soft dough is formed. If too dry, add a tiny sprinkle of water. Roll out and set aside. Cut a piece of parchment paper into a circle to fit into the bottom of a standard pie plate. (Don't worry about the sides of the plate, just make sure it covers the bottom and overlaps on the sides just slightly). Butter the whole pie plate generously including sides, and butter the parchment paper. Place paper in the pie plate, buttered side up. Take off the first layer off the leek stems and clean any dirt away. Steam the leeks for about 10 minutes until they are soft but still maintaining their green colour. Drain and pat dry.

Make the caramel! Heat the honey in a pan on medium-low heat until it bubbles and starts to turn brown (but not burnt), around 10 minutes. Add the vinegar and stir vigorously. Put a few drops of the caramel in a bit of cold water to make sure the caramel hardens a bit (not into a hard ball but into a soft lump). If it just dissolves, keep cooking it longer. Immediately pour into the pie plate. (Do NOT spill on your fingers, it WILL hurt!) Cut the leeks into 1.5 cm pieces, keeping an eye out for dirt between the layers (the greener & higher up the stem you go, the more dirt there may be, so don't be afraid to peel off the first layers and use only the middle part. Sandy leeks can really ruin this recipe). Arrange the leek pieces cut side up on top of the caramel. Make sure they are packed nice and tight. Now roll out your goat cheese to make a large round shape. I find shaping it into a ball, sandwiching it between parchment paper and rolling it out works well. Don't worry if it's not a perfect circle. So long as it loosely fits over the leeks. Now roll out your pie dough and place on top of the cheese and leeks. Tuck in around the edges of the circle so that they tucked up tight and squishing right into the caramel. (Those bits of pie crust that sponge up the caramel are the yummiest).

Bake in a 350 F oven for around 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and immediately place a plate on top of the pie and flip carefully. You can drizzle any leftover caramel and leek bits & crumbled goat cheese if you want to decorate. My friend Sacha made this pie (see comments below) and she suggests broiling the pie for a few minutes once it's flipped to crisp up the tops of the leeks which I think is a brilliant idea! I'll be doing that next time I make it.

Ariell's Butternut Squash Soup

“The universe is full of magical things, patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.”

-Eden Phillpotts

Well HELLO there! I'm back from the vortex of work, work, work that has been my life the past few weeks. Rushed scrambled eggs (eaten way past my bedtime) have been my biggest culinary accomplishment as of late. Aside from the occasional spoonful of peanut butter eaten right out of the jar, and the odd apple grabbed while rushing out the door, it's been mostly eating out for me lately. Dear kitchen, I have missed you so much, are we still friends? 


Things are still pretty hectic, so no video today, but stay tuned because I've got a good one in the works for you's all. It involves a special guest who shared her recipe for roasted red pepper ketchup with me not too long ago, and I can't wait to show it to you. But in the meantime, I want to tell you about this one: my sister's butternut squash soup. It's the most deliciously thick & filling soup, perfect for this chilly fall weather. My brilliant sister (the maestra of soups) came up with this recipe years ago and it instantly became a favorite of mine. By the way, have you noticed how butternut squash is in everything lately?  Big time trending... like sweet potato is SO fall 2010.  Just kidding, I don't believe in food trends. Food is food and shouldn't be subject to frivolous fads and such. But still, have you noticed?! Keep an eye out, it's butternut squash everything out there!  Anywho. Here is the real reason I love this recipe: it only has 4 ingredients!!  Butternut squash. Onion. Peanut butter. Coconut milk. 

Now I want to tell you a little bit about my sister. She is kind of magic. One obvious manifestation of this is how she can find a dozen four-leafed clovers in the span of a few minutes (on lawns that I have spent half  my life scrutinizing and never finding even one!) But also, in all of her recipes, there is a little bit of that magic, pulling treasures and hidden flavours out of ingredients that most people wouldn't dream of putting together. When she was only 12 years old, she started a baking business and got her very own table at the Wolfville Farmer's Market (which she still has today). So she's been at it for a while and that's why I love making her recipes. They are tried and true. She is presently a sous-chef at T.A.N. Coffee in Kentville, Nova Scotia where her and chef Jay cook up a storm of deliciousness everyday, so if you're in the neighbourhood, be sure to check them out. Now if she was making this soup, she would probably sneak in a new surprise ingredient that would make me go "Ooh! What did you put in it this time?" And she would probably look at me with a little dance in her eyes and say "Oh you know, just a little something I threw in there for fun". So if you make this soup, don't be afraid to throw in a little of your own magic! (Mine was a chopped cilantro garnish, and a friend once dumped a half bottle of chili garlic sauce in there, not my style, but she said it was very good). Although I would advise you to make the basic soup first and try it as is because it is actually quite exquisitely perfect in its simplicity.

So here's how it goes: chop up that onion. Fry it up in a bit of oil until soft and golden, with a generous amount of salt. Peel and chop the squash in huge chunks  (should be a large squash, my photo above is not to scale) and throw it in a big pot with the onions. Add about 2 litres of water (or just enough water to cover the squash) and boil that until the squash is soft. Add about 1/2 cup of peanut butter and a whole can of coconut milk. Puree the whole thing with a hand blender, and add a bit of water if too thick. Season with salt (I like to use quite a bit in this recipe, something about the peanut butter just calls for salt).

Now for dessert, please make yourself this harvest cake with apple cider & cream cheese icing. It is delicious. I found it in Edible Toronto magazine and it's like carrot cake but better (because it's got parsnip, zucchini, apple, AND carrots!!). And with a generous spread of that cream cheese icing on top, you can't go wrong.  

Swiss Chard Bread Pudding

Savoury bread pudding. Let me tell you folks, this is where it's at. The ultimate frontier of comfort foods. Dunh dunh dunh. (OK that may be a slight exaggeration, it's just that I know this recipe may not sound or look like something you would want to make. And I need to tell you it is! It really is, trust me).

This past weekend, before anyone even had time to psychologically prepare for it, summer boldly shifted head-first into fall mode. The season when it's ok to linger in bed a bit longer in the morning, the time to bring out the woolies & knitting, go for long walks in the park, and most importantly, get back into baking and cooking warm comfort foods. But yesterday for some reason, I wasn't feeling ready to say goodbye to summer. I felt sad and chilly and I needed something warm and mushy in my belly to chase away the blues & chill. I've been toying with the idea of making swiss chard bread pudding for a while. I've never even made the sweet version but have always had a weird nostalgia about it, even though I didn't grow up with it as a kid. I didn't even taste until I was well into my twenties, which is odd having grown up in Nova Scotia. Last year, my roommate made a savoury version which was a revelation, all the bells went off in my head. It was cheesy and carb-ey and I devoured that thing like there was no tomorrow. I've been thinking about it ever since. So here's my slightly boozy, very cheesy, swiss chard variation I came up with. A hearty dish that did a fine job of comforting my seasonal blues. I highly recommend it for a cool September night. (It's also a great way to use up stale bread and sneak in a generous portion of greens for kids who don't like them...  in which case maybe ignore the splash of hard liquor part of the recipe eh?)

Swiss Chard Bread Pudding from Kitchen Vignettes on Vimeo.

SWISS CHARD BREAD PUDDING

About 5 cups of bread pieces (either cubed or torn by hand, stale bread is best)

1/4 cup olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

2 bunches of chard, lightly steamed and chopped

3/4 cup white wine (I also snuck in a few splashes of dry martini mix, heh heh, a splash of vodka would do the trick too)

7 eggs

1 1/2 cup cream

1 1/2 cup milk

1 cup grated swiss cheese

1 cup grated gruyere

bunch of sage & a large clove or two of garlic

Sautee the onion and olive oil until onion is soft and lightly browned. Add chopped swiss chard to the onions (steam it and chop it first) and cook a wee bit longer. At the last minute, add the wine (and if desired, a few splashes of vodka or martini mix... go on, do it, you know you want to). Let the mixture cool.

Whip cream, milk, & eggs together. Add chopped sage & garlic, cheeses, bread pieces, and swiss chard mixture. Mix everything well and pour into buttered pan. Bake at 350 C for about an hour or until set and sizzling & golden on top. Serve warm and let your worries melt away.