Summer Tart & BBQ

I'm delighted to say I cooked tonight! Yay, finally. It's been so long.

The theme for tonight's dinner was simplicity, but it goes without saying that deliciousness is also a requirement. I decided put my own spin on a couple of Epicurious recipes, which sounded nice: Grilled Vegetables with Mixed Greens and Blue Cheese Dressing and Savory Summer Tarts.


I decided that I needed the veggies to be even simpler. I cut out the blue cheese dressing all together, and seasoned simply with salt and olive oil. I used:

• Carrots
• Fennel
• Bok choy
• Beets
• Zucchini
• Asparagus

For the tarts, I kept things simple again. I used my tried-and-true vodka crust recipe from Cook's Illustrated. Essentially, you substitute half the water for vodka and add a bit more liquid that you would ordinarily. The vodka lets the dough get wetter without the risking toughness. It's really quite genius. The result is flaky, light, and delicious.

Instead of filling the tarts with several options, I kept to something basic: grape tomatoes, basil from my herb garden, and goat's cheese. The results was delicious.



And we washed the whole meal down with a lovely New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, which I would definitely buy again. It was about $25, and its veggie, grassy notes were the perfect complement to our herbivore's feast.

I hope you try this combo for yourselves sometime. Yum.

Lemon Cream Tart

I've been feeling guilty about some sad, old lemons, which have been sitting on my counter for days. The cream too. It was a least a week overdue, but was stalwartly refusing to go bad. What's a girl to do? Make a lemon cream tart, clearly.

Crust
The crust is pretty straightforward. Dump the first 5 ingredients in a food processor, and then add the yolks when the mixture is a course meal.

• 1 cup flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (cut into cubes)
• 2 large egg yolks

Once you can form a ball with the dough, press it into the bottom of a buttered tart pan. Takes a while to get it all squeezed along the edges. Once you're done, freeze for about 15 minutes.

Finally, pre-bake the crust for 5-10 minutes at 400 and cool completely before adding filling.

Filling
Whisk the following together in a heavy saucepan:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 large yolks
• 1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons dry white wine

Cook over medium heat until custard thickens and just begins to bubble, whisking constantly (about 5 minutes). Cool to just warm (15 minutes) and whisk in 3/4 cup of whipping cream.

Cook at 400 for 20 minutes (my edges got a bit brown, so keep an eye on it at this temp). Finally, cool on a rack and chill for 2 hours before serving.

Kristin, who is the only one to have tasted the tart at this point, said "It was an explosion in my mouth and surprise in my pants." I'm not really sure what she means. I don't think she is either, but the joke sure did make her laugh.