Mint & Strawberries in the simplest apparel

This second recipe is a little late for the summer fest week. We're now talking about stone fruits, so I'm off subject here. But maybe you have a prolific mint like me & my mother do. Or maybe you bought a bunch for a recipe and you're left with a handful of leaves, no knowing what to do next. Well, here I am with the solution!
Ain't I nice?

you'd better say yes, have you seen this rolling pin?

This recipe is, once again, very simple to assemble. This is all about summer, and the last thing we want is to spend a whole sunny day inside, cooking... It's time to rest, to go to the beach or to discover the parks of your city. It's also time to enjoy the bright simplicity of fruits. Just a sablée crust and mint will make the sweet flavors of ripe strawberries stand out. There's no need for cream. No, I said no pastry cream. No whipped cream. Don't insist. I had doubts too. Then I tasted it. No doubts anymore. You can do it.

About the tart crust : this is the fourth recipe on my blog. Whatever the recipe, please make it yourself and don't use a store-bought one. It's really easy, there's no reason to be afraid. Don't hesitate to put a lot of flour on your kitchen counter before rolling it. And if it breaks, it ok, just press it together in your pie form. There is NO comparaison between a store-bought crust and a homemade...

Strawberry and mint tart

For the sugar crust
1 egg
1/3 cup + 1 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 cup flour
1 stick butter
1 pinch salt

For the tart
1 1/2 pound strawberries
15 mint leaves
2 Tbsp currant jelly

First mix sugar, flour, salt and the butter for a few seconds. Mix in the egg and, with your hand palm, press the dough about 3 times, just until it forms a ball that holds together. Flatten into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to 1 day.
Preheat oven to 340°F.
Roll out dough into a on a floured surface with a floured rolling pin. Delicately fold the rolled dough in 4, to lift it easily, and unfold in the tart form. Prick bottoms all over with a fork and bake 15 minutes.

Once the crust cooled, arrange diced strawberries on top, in a concentric form.
In a small saucepan, heat the jelly with 1 Tbps water until liquid. Brush the strawberries with the jelly.
Slice thinly the mint leaves, and sprinkle over the pie.


Tarte aux fraises et à la menthe

Pour la pâte sucrée
1 oeuf
100g de beurre
200g de farine
80g de sucre
1 pincée de sel

Pour la tarte
700g de fraises
2 cuillères à soupe de gelée de groseilles
une quinzaine de feuilles de menthe

Mélangez quelques secondes le sucre, la farine, le sel et le beurre, le temps de former une pâte grumeleuse. Incorporez l'œuf. Fraisez (c’est l’action de travailler avec la paume de la main) rapidement et formez 1 boule de pâte. Aplatissez et enveloppez ce disque dans un film plastique pour reposer au frais pendant au moins 1 heures.
Préchauffez le four à 170°.
Farinez abondamment le plan de travail ainsi que le rouleau à pâtisserie, puis étalez la pâte sur 2 à 3 mm d'épaisseur. Pliez délicatement la pate en 4 pour la soulever plus facilement et depliez là dans le moule à tarte. Mettez à cuire 15 minutes.

Une fois le fond de tarte refroidi, arrangez les fraises coupées en lamelles de manière concentrique.
Dans une petite casserole, faites fondre la gelée avec un peu d'eau, et appliquez ce nappage sur les fraises.
Emincez finement la menthe, et disposez la sur la tarte.

La suite, please

Picnic in the train...

Revelation : this blog is not only about baking, but also about cooking. If you look at my recipe list, you couldn't guess, right? ;-)
Well, here's the thing : I've got this stupid fear of disappointing you with a savoury recipe. I don't do anything very elaborate, so why would you care? And let's be honest : I find it much more difficult to make a salad look appetizing than some, hum, let's say, raspberry pie... I'm sure you agree, non?

So actually, I had planned to share my first cupcakes today. But then, I did the frosting in the morning, before leaving for work, and did not note the quantities. I need to check that before telling something awfully wrong...
What a better opportunity to finally open my savoury folder, just waiting to be shared?

This leek tart is quite rustic. Simple to make and comforting. Served warm with some salad, it's a delicious dinner. But because of the cream cheese in the custard, it holds together very well, which makes it perfect for transportation. You'll enjoy it cold, for lunch, or with your friends in the train on a week-end trip. Isn't it picnic time soon??

The recipe is very straightforward : start with a simple pie dough. Cut, clean and blanch the leeks. For the custard, take the best of a quiche and of a cheesecake, beating the eggs with a little cream cheese. Don't forget to add the deep flavour of grated nutmeg. Put in your oven, it's gonna be ready soon.

Pie dough
2/3 cup butter
3 Tbsp cold water
1 egg yolk
2 cups flour
1 Tbsp salt

Stir together the flour and salt with a fork to blend. Make a well in the centre, and add the fat and the yolk. Blend into the flour using your fingers.
Drizzle a few tablespoons of the ice water over the surface of the flour mixture and quickly rub the water into the flour. Continue to add the water, a tablespoon or so at a time, just until it holds together.
Gather and press the dough into a ball, wrap well, and let chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

Unwrap the dough, place it on a floured work surface, and scatter a little flour over the top. Roll out the dough into an even round about 1/8 inch thick.
Fold the dough in half or roll it loosely around the rolling pin, and gently lift and position it over the pan. Unfold or unroll and ease the dough into the pan without stretching, making sure that the pan sides and the rim are evenly covered. Press the dough gently against the sides and bottom. Trim the overhang to 1 inch. Tuck the dough overhang under itself and flute the edges.
Prick the pastry all over with the tines of a fork. Bake it 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and reserve.

Rustic leeks tart
1 pie dough, pre-baked
3 medium leeks
3 eggs
4 oz. cream cheese
7 Tbsp half and half (or 4 Tbsp cream and 3 Tbsp milk)
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
1 tsp salt
(1/4 tsp pepper)

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Prepare the leeks : Keep only the white and pale green parts and slice. Place the leek slices into a bowl filled with cold water. Swish the pieces of leek around in the bowl of water with your hands. Rub the leek pieces to remove any sand and dirt that may be on the slices, and strain.
Blanch in boiling water during 2 minutes, then strain and dry the slices on paper towels.

In a medium-sized bowl whisk together the eggs and the cream cheese until they are broken up, then whisk in the milk and the cream. Season with salt, nutmeg and pepper.

Arrange the leeks evenly over the pastry. Pour the custard mixture over it. Place the tart on a baking sheet and bake it in the middle of the oven until the top is golden and puffed and the custard is cooked through, about 40 minutes.
Remove from the oven and let cool 10 minutes before serving. You can also eat it at room temperature.


Pâte brisée
250g de farine
5g de sel
125g de beurre ramolli
1 jaune d'oeuf
5cl d'eau froide

Versez la farine et le sel dans un bol. Faites un puit au milieu duquel vous mettrez le beurre et le jaune d'oeuf. Incorporez tous les éléments du bout des doigts. Ajoutez l'eau au fur et à mesure jusqu'à obtenir une pâte homogène.
Formez une boule avec la pâte, aplatissez-la et enveloppez-la dans un film plastique pour reposer au frais pendant au moins 1 heure.

Après le temps de repos, préchauffez le four à 180°. Beurrez et farinez le moule à tarte.
Farinez abondamment le plan de travail ainsi que le rouleau à pâtisserie, puis étalez la pâte sur 2 à 3 mm d'épaisseur.
Foncez le moule avec ce disque, piquez le fond avec une fourchette. Faites cuire 15 minutes. Sortez du four et réservez pour la tarte.

Tarte rustique aux poireaux
1 fond de pâte brisée pré-cuit
3 poireaux de taille moyenne
3 oeufs
100g de fromage à tartiner (type St Moret)
10cl de crème liquide legère
10cl de lait (ecrémé ou demi-ecrémé)
1 demi cuillère à café de noix muscade moulue
1 cuillère à café de sel

Préchauffez le four à 180°.

Préparez les poireaux : enlevez les racines et les feuilles, ne gardant que 5cm de la partie verte.
Découpez les tiges en rondelles, et nettoyez les dans un grand bol d'eau froide. Laissez les tremper un moment pour que les impuretés tombent au fond, et égouttez les. Faites les blanchir (cuire 2 minutes dans une casserole d'eau bouillante).

Pendant ce temps, dans un bol, mélangez au fouet les 3 oeufs et le fromage à tartiner. Une fois que la préparation est homogène, incorporez la crème, le lait, la muscade et le sel.
Disposez les poireaux sur le fond de tarte pre-cuit, et versez l'appareil dessus. Faites cuire 40 minutes, jusqu'à ce que la tarte ait une jolie couleur dorée et soit légèrement gonflée.
Laissez refroidir 10 minutes avant de déguster.

La suite, please

About adaptation…

Sometimes, you just can't fight it. You have to face the reality, and be wise enough to let go. Sometimes, it’s for the better (and today it was not…).

Yesterday, I tried to bake a Paris Brest. I’ve never done it, nor my mother, because we don’t like it. We don’t like buttercream. All this fat, it’s just… yeark (yeah, I’m a sugar addict, not a butter one). Anyway, why would I try to make something I don’t like? Because my father loves it. So last year, I wanted to bake one for his birthday. I bought the praline, but made a St Honoré instead, and now I find myself with a 1kg jar of praline best to use before the end of the month…
I started with the first mistake : I took Alain Ducasse's book to help me. Every time I use it, I arrive to the same conclusion : way too complicated for me, the proportions are huge (last time, I divided the recipe by 3, and was able to serve it to 4 diners of 3 persons!), and I should really stick to looking at the beautiful pictures. But again, I forgot about my conclusion, and tried… What is it with my memory, always hiding part of information from my brain??

The pastry cream was simple, thanks to a baking class I had last year. During that class, I discovered that it’s much easier than a crème anglaise, or than a curd (which I most of the time let too long on the fire, therefore letting it boil, and ending up with little pieces of cooked egg in my cream…). The pastry cream has to boil, and the egg will not make little pieces because you’ve mixed it with flour or corn starch before. So really, nothing to be afraid of! The following recipe makes me regret not having made pastry cream before. Oh, all this waisted time...

Then I started the choux pastry. Oh my… The recipe indicated 8-10 eggs. And I’m not proud to say that I followed it, without asking questions. It did not ring a bell. Hello! Huge proportions ?? Anyone ?? Nope. And of course, I messed up somewhere, because my choux (the 5 entire baking sheets of choux) were flat. Very flat. I could not have filled them even if I had tried.
And I let go. Threw the whole thing in the garbage, and choose to stick with what I know. That is, pie crust.

So, one pie crust later, some little mixing of pastry cream and praline (I still needed to use those…), and we’re having a very strange pear and praline pie…

Because I’m very nice ;-), I won’t give you this recipe, but tell you how to make the pie crust (which is delicious, buttery and sanded and with that little hint of salt...) and the pastry cream. Then, if you’re not stubborn as I am, you won’t try to mix it with praline, but will put any fresh fruit you have (or even frozen blueberries or raspberries), and you will enjoy something like this…

Or, if you don’t even want to make the pastry cream, you can bake the pie crust for 12 minutes, spread some raspberry jam, cover with the slices of 2-3 apples and with one tablespoon of melted butter, and bake for 15 more minutes.

Shortbread pie crust
Recipe from Alain Ducasse

1/3 cup + 1 Tbsp sugar
1 cup + 10 Tbsp flour
2 egg yolks
1 stick butter at room temperature
1 vanilla bean
2 tsp salt
1,5 tsp baking powder

Using a paddle attachment with a standing mixer, combine the flour, salt, baking powder and butter at medium speed. You will obtain a crumbly texture. Using an electric mixer at high speed, cream the yolks with the sugar and the scrapings of the vanilla bean. Incorporate it to the dry ingredients and mix shortly until the dough forms a sticky mass. Flatten the dough into a thick disc, wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350°C.
Sprinkle your work surface as well as your rolling pin with flour. Roll out the dough into a circle one-seventh-inch thick. Transfer it on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake 15 to 20 minutes, or until crust is golden.

Pastry Cream

1 ¼ cup milk
1 vanilla bean
¼ cup + 1 Tbsp sugar
3 egg yolks
2 Tbsp cornstarch
5 tsp butter

Prepare the pastry cream. Split the vanilla bean in its length, and put it in a large saucepan with milk over medium heat. Bring to simmer. Cover the pan, turn off the heat, and set aside for 30 minutes. Remove and discard the vanilla pod, scraping the seeds to keep them with the milk if you want.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, whisks the yolks with sugar. Sift cornstarch into yolk mixture; whisk to blend. Gradually whisk in hot milk. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and make sure the yolks are well mixed with the milk. Return to saucepan. Whisk constantly over medium heat until pastry cream boils and is very thick, about 10 minutes. Keep the mixture at the boil, whisking energetically, for about 3 minutes, then remove the pan from heat and let cool a few minutes before incorporating the butter. Transfer to large bowl, and cover with a plastic wrap (against the surface, to prevent the formation of a film). Refrigerate the cream.
Spread the cream on the cooled pie crust, nicely arrange the fruits of your choice, and voila!


Pâte à sablé breton
Recette d’Alain Ducasse

80g de sucre
200g de farine
2 jaunes d’œufs
100g de beurre en morceaux, à température ambiante
1 gousse de vanille
2 g de sel
1 paquet de levure chimique

Avec la lame du robot multitâche, ou la spatule du robot pâtissier, mélangez la farine, le sel, la levure et les dés de beurre. Vous obtiendrez une texture un peu sablonneuse (d’où le terme de sabler la pâte).
Avec un fouet, émulsionnez les jaunes, le sucre et les graines de la gousse de vanille, le mélange sera crémeux. Incorporez-le aux éléments sablés et travaillez la pâte quelques instants pour obtenir une boule homogène. Aplatissez la boule et enveloppez le disque obtenu dans un film plastique pour reposer au frais pendant au moins 1 heure.

Préchauffez le four à 175°.
Farinez abondamment le plan de travail ainsi que le rouleau à pâtisserie, puis étalez la pâte sur 3 à 4 mm d'épaisseur. Découpez un cercle du diamètre désiré dans la pate, transférez le sur une plaque de cuisson, et laissez cuire 15 à 20 minutes, de manière à avoir une jolie couleur dorée.


Crème pâtissière

30 cl de lait
1 gousse de vanille
60 g de sucre
3 jaunes
24 g de maïzena
20 g de beurre

Pendant le temps de repos, préparez une crème pâtissière. Fendez la gousse de vanille en deux, et mettez-la dans une grande casserole avec le lait. Portez à ébullition sur feu moyen. Dès que le lait bout, retirez du feu et couvrez. Laissez infuser 30 minutes. Retirez ensuite la gousse de vanille, en grattant les graines pour les mettre avec le lait.

Dans le bol de votre robot avec la spatule, blanchissez les jaunes avec le sucre. Ajoutez ensuite la maïzena en mélangeant bien. Tout en continuant de battre à la vitesse la plus lente, versez doucement le lait. Grattez les parois du bol et remuez pour que le mélange soit bien homogène.

Versez à nouveau la crème dans la casserole et portez à ébullition sur feu doux tout en remuant constamment avec un fouet. Une fois que le mélange bout, continuez à battre pendant environ 3 minutes, afin de rendre la crème plus légère. Retirez du feu et ajoutez les dés de beurre. Fouettez jusqu’à ce qu’ils aient fondu et soient incorporés à la crème. Couvrez d’un film plastique (le film doit toucher la crème, pour éviter la formation d’une pellicule) et réservez au frais.

Etalez la crème sur la pâte à sablée refroidie, disposez joliment les fruits de votre choix, et réservez au frais avant de déguster.

La suite, please