Cooking from Scratch
We loved the Earl Grey Ice Cream we made in the past so much that we’ve been thinking about making an Earl Grey Cake of some sort. Doesn’t that sound delicious? Well, rather than a cake, we settled on a number of small cakes, and made Earl Grey Madeleines, instead.
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Sometimes, everything just comes together as if preordained. Such as with this tart. We had several pints of blueberries sitting in the refrigerator, we knew we’d be picking up a log of goat cheese from the CSA, and, we were browsing Eric Lanlard’s new book, Afternoon Tea, and saw this recipe. We felt we were fated to make this tart. And, now that you’re reading this, perhaps you’re fated to make this tart, too. Don’t worry, we’ll help.
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We’ve been getting onions and more onions from the CSA each week. So much so that our official Scratchin’ It onion bowl spilled over onto the counter. We had to use those onions and quick. At the same time, we wanted to bring down some small savory treats for the volunteers who support our Monday night walks — we try to bring something when we volunteer; that way, we can have a snack and share it, too. It all came together when we remembered that we’ve wanted to make an Onion Tart for quite a while, perhaps years.
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This is one of those dishes we discovered while we were in San Francisco. Right around the corner from our hotel was a small French bakery, Le Marais Bakery & Bistro, where we stopped several times. One time, we picked up a couple of croissants as we headed down to the wharves, and another time we sat outside and each had a Croque Forestière. They were so good that we promised ourselves that we’d recreate them at home.
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Mornay sauce? That sounds fancy! It does sound fancy, but, really, it’s nothing other than a Bechemel sauce with cheese added; a cheese sauce, in other words. Now, we’ve done that any number of times; sometimes we mention it while we’re describing how to make a certain dish — most often macaroni and cheese of some sort — but, we’re sure that sometimes we just blast right through the recipe without pointing it out. So, why are we writing this up as a separate recipe?
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As with Bouchon Bakery’s Traditional Financiers, we’ve wanted to make the chocolate version for a while. Just for scientific inquiry, of course, not necessarily because we like things made of chocolate. So, we waited for just the right time, which was earlier this week, for our downtown walk. We like to make treats to bring down because most baked goods are always best the day they’re made, and, to be honest, we really can’t eat a whole batch of financiers, anyway. So, we get to have a few fresh ones to try, and we get to share some, too. Sharing always make them taste even better.
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Sure, this is similar to the Baked Camembert we posted a little while ago, but it’s more upscale, using a puff pastry crust instead of bread. Since the winter here is rather short, we like to make at least one large batch of puff pastry to freeze and use in the upcoming months (during the summer, it’s just too warm to make puff pastry without the butter melting). Now, we don’t expect everyone will be up for a batch of puff pastry, so if you use a frozen, pre-made, version, we’ll understand.
Continue reading “Fromage en Croûte”