Fig and Camembert Tart

The inspiration for last night's dinner come from two places, some lovely, stinky Camembert that Ile de France sent us & some dried Black Mission figs from the CA Fig Advisory Board.* I thought they would be perfect paired together.

The results were, well, kind of mixed. Matt felt the figs weren't a great match for the other ingredients. I liked the flavors together but thought that the tart needed a little something else. Perhaps a little of another cheese like Parmesan. I would also maybe double the amount of onions I used.

The filling turned out really light, almost like a soufflé and made for a nice light dinner with a spinach salad. This is a combination I'd like to play with some more. I think using the puff pastry as more of a pizza style crust & topping it with the figs, onions & cheese alone would make for an amazing appetizer.

Fig & Camembert Tart

1 sheet puff pastry (1/2 a package)
1/2 T olive oil
1- 2 medium onions, sliced thin
2/3 c milk
4.5 oz camembert, I removed the rind but you can leave it on.
1/4 t thyme
1 beaten egg
10 dry Black Mission figs, roughly chopped

Let puff pastry sit at room temperature until thawed, about 40 minutes.

Heat the olive oil over low heat in a small skillet. Add the onions. Let the onions cook slowly until they are golden brown, stirring as needed, 30 - 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the milk in a saucepan over medium heat. Do not allow to boil. Reduce heat to low & add the camembert. Stir until melted (if you left the rind on it may not melt completely). Let cool. Whisk in the thyme & beaten egg.

Preheat the oven to 400 F.

Roll the puff pastry out slightly, until its just big enough to fit a buttered 9" pie pan. Lay in the pan & trim off any excess. Put in the freezer for 10 minutes.

Remove chilled pie crust. Cover the bottom of the pie pan with the figs & onions. Pour the cheese mixture over the top. Place in the center of the oven & bake for 30 minutes until the filling is puffy, set & golden brown.

Let sit a few minutes before cutting to serve.

Makes 1 9" pie

* Ile de France sent me some of their new French Camembert. It's beautiful, creamy, slightly stinky & perfect on a cracker or in a recipe. The CA Fig Advisory Board sent me an assortment of fresh & dried figs, these dried black mission figs were sticky & moist with tons of flavor. Neither company reimbursed me in any other way or required me to review their product.

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted. © 2007-2010 Kathy Lewinski

Smoked Salmon Chowder

When we were in Seattle this summer we had a fabulous smoked salmon chowder for lunch one day at Pike Place Market. It had capers in it which seemed unusual but really added a great salty tang. Now that soup weather has hit here in MN we decided to take a stab at making it ourselves.

Really the recipe is a pretty basic chowder recipe yet, the smokey flavor of the salmon & with the capers takes it to another level. It's not too heavy a chowder but, it has a real richness. This is a soup that comes together in 30 - 40 minutes making it a quick, satisfying lunch or dinner.

I was going to buy smoked salmon to make this soup but since we have so much Alaskan salmon in the freezer we decided to try smoking our own. Instead of pulling out the smoker we used one of the smoker bags we had left from out apartment days.

(Our smoker bags came from Williams-Sonoma but you can easily find them online like these on Amazon)

These bags turn your oven or grill into a smoker for about a pound of meat, fish or vegetables at a time. We've found they really do give the food a great smokey flavor (& your house will smell like an amazing bbg too). All I did to smoke the salmon was put a filet that in the bag, seal it up & put it in a 350 F preheated oven for 1 hour. The salmon came out fully cooked, flakey, moist & smokey. I didn't season it at all but it would be fun to experiment with putting sauces like teriyaki or maple on before smoking. This isn't exactly like the smoked salmon you buy in stores, which is most likely cold smoked, but its perfect for recipes like this. We plan on trying it again to use in pasta or a lentil salad.

Smoked Salmon Chowder

1 lb new potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch cubes, unpeeled
1 stalk celery, chopped
6 oz yellow onion, chopped
2 c chicken stock
1 1/2 T all-purpose flour
5 - 6 oz smoked salmon, flaked
2 c half & half
2 T drained small capers
1/2 t dried thyme
1 t kosher salt
pepper to taste
hot sauce (We used Crystal)

Put the potatoes, celery, onion & chicken stock in a large soup pot. Bring to a boil. Cover & reduce heat to low. Let simmer for 15 minutes until the potatoes are tender.

Sprinkle in the flour and stir until combined. Add the salmon, half & half, capers, thyme, thyme, salt, a few grinds of fresh pepper & a couple of dashes of hot sauce. Stir to combine. Let simmer for about 10 minutes. Taste & adjust seasoning as needed.

Serve with crusty bread & extra hot sauce if desired.

Makes 4 - 5 servings.

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted. © 2007-2010 Kathy Lewinski

Potato-dono

Saw this on the Soup this weekend & just had to share.

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted. © 2007-2010 Kathy Lewinski

Weekly Menu 9/27 - 10/2/10

No farmers market finds this week as we went up North for the weekend to enjoy a little fall color.

We couldn't have asked for a prettier weekend so we headed up the North Shore to the Split Rock Lighthouse which is celebrating its 100th Anniversary.

This time of year really makes us appreciate the beauty of living here in Minnesota.

On to Menu Planning Monday...

Sausage & Pepper - using the last of the peppers from the garden

Roast Chicken with Carnival Squash

Smoked Salmon Chowder - Inspired by our trip to Seattle this past summer

Fig & Camembert Tart

Pork Chile Verde

Chicken Curry

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted. © 2007-2010 Kathy Lewinski

The Cranberry Tamale Experiment

The other day I was reading a review somewhere of some restaurant here in town that served tamales including a cranberry version (I was sick with a head cold & can't remember anymore details than that). Even though the reviewer wasn't blown away with the cranberry tamales, I was intrigued by the idea. When I ran the idea past Matt he agreed it sounded good but, when I told him I planned to use fresh cranberries in the filling he disagreed & said it should be dried. So, I decided to make a little of the filling each way.

I made each filling exactly the same except on included dried cranberries & the other fresh. The fresh version took on a nice pink color thanks to the cranberry juice.

Cranberry Tamale Filling

2 jalapeno, seeded & chopped

1 1/2 c grated quesadilla cheese

1 c chopped cranberries, fresh or dried

2 T heavy cream

Mix together.

Makes enough for 12 tamales (visit our original tamale post for directions on making tamales)

I made 6 tamales using each of the fillings & then we tasted...

The dried cranberry filling was far & away the taste winner of the two fillings. It had a much more intense flavor of cranberries & a nice sweetness. Also the tamales made with it seem to hold together better (perhaps too much juice escaped from the fresh ones). But all & all neither filling was exactly as I had hoped. The weren't bad by any means, just not all that exciting either.

I think this is still an idea worth playing with & maybe with some tweaking it'll be much better. Next time I'll add some shredded chicken or turkey to the filling. Also it needed more spice to play against the sweetness of the cranberries, the jalapenos were so mild they were almost flavorless, maybe that was just these jalapeno. Finally, I would use monterey jack cheese instead of the quesadilla cheese. The quesadilla cheese got a little hard & orange in some places like it had been over cooked, when I've used monterey jack in the past it just melted nicely.

I'm imagining trying a version of these with Thanksgiving leftovers...cranberry & sweet potato filling or cranberry sauce & turkey filling. Anyone else have some ideas?

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted. © 2007-2010 Kathy Lewinski