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Apple Tart with Honey-Cayenne Roasted Squash Seeds

I seriously love this apple dessert recipe because I get to nom honey-cayenne roasted squash seeds while waiting for the tart to bake. The combo of sweet honey and tart apple blends with the heat of cayenne gloriously, especially right out of the oven with a scoop of high quality vanilla ice cream melting on top.
The tart crust is foolproof. I experiment a lot in the kitchen and with that activity comes So. Many. Failures. But this crust has never let me down. A note about the squash seeds: they’re dangerous. Best make a double batch.

Foolproof Tart Crust

Ingredients

Tart Crust

  • 1 1/2 cup flour
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 2 tablespoons cold water
  • 1 cup cold butter (cubed)
  • 1 pinch salt

Directions

Tart Crust
Step 1
In a mixer with the paddle attachment, combine flour, sugar, butter, and salt.
Step 2
Add in cold water a few drops at a time. Add just enough to form a dense dough.

Honey-Cayenne Roasted Squash Seeds

Ingredients

Seed Prep

  • 1 wedge Pumpkin or squash
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 tablespoon salt

Baking Prep

  • 1 teaspoon cayenne powder
  • 1 shot olive oil (a nice glug)
  • 1 shot honey (a nice glug of Linck Apiaries, Inc)

Directions

Step 1
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
Step 2
Dump the seeds into a sauce pan with 2 cups of water and a tablespoon of salt. Bring to a boil.
Step 3
Reduce heat and low boil for 10 minutes.
Step 4
Pour seeds into a medium mixing bowl. Add cayenne, honey, oil, and salt. Combine thoroughly with a spoon.

Apple Tart

Ingredients

Tart Filling

  • 2 Large apples
  • 1/2 + cup brown sugar (1/2 cup for apple slices + a bit more for the topping)
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1/4 cup flour (all purpose)
  • 1 pinch salt

Tart Topping

  • 4 knobs butter (a little pad to finish the top before baking)

Note

If you baked the honey-cayanne pumpkin seeds in advance of putting this tart filling together, reset the oven temperature to 425 degrees. The tart will bake at that temperate for 25 minutes. Enjoy the pumpkin seeds while the tarts bake, but try and leave a few for the topping.

Directions

Step 1
Peel, core, and thin slice apples.
Step 2
Repeat with remaining dough and apple slices. Recipe makes 4 tarts.
Step 3
Allow to rest for 10 minutes before topping with squash seeds (and a scoop of high quality vanilla ice cream if desired). Serve warm.

Savory Turkey Tart

carrotTart
This savory tart will have the family vying for the last crumb and demanding to know when you’re preparing it again. Turkey acquires new flair when smothered in cheesy kale and feta filling and topped with a layer of twice-baked caramelized baby carrots. The pastry shell is a tried and true recipe that pairs just as beautifully with savory fillings as it does with sweet.

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The Humble Radish, 3 Ways

The humble radish.
Not long ago I made a peevish reference to radishes in a post and received reader comments and e-mails suggesting I’d missed the point – that radishes are not the bitter, moody root I made them out to be.
 
I wondered: have I paid this veg its proper due? Maybe not. Perhaps there were other applications for the peppery raphanus sativus aside from the radish rose. I googled ‘radish recipe’ and got more than three million results; this was going to take awhile, particularly since the recipe would have to conform to the 10-mile Challenge. And also not taste disgusting. I hunted through scores of sites and from that endeavor the following three dishes came to pass.
In the process I learned a lot about the radish. Did you know they are an excellent source of vitamin C, fiber, folic acid, and potassium? And radishes have a long history of medicinal uses, particularly for an upset stomach? That ancient tomb paintings show black radishes being used as payment in Egypt during the construction of the pyramids? Or that radishes were so highly regarded in ancient Greece that wealthy aristocrats wore little gold radish replicas around their neck for good luck?
Now you know.
Radish Soup.
Radish Soup
Of the three recipes we made this is my favorite. Turns out radish soup, at least in this configuration, is utterly delicious. The yogurt adds a wonderful creamy element that cools the root’s heat. My soup didn’t turn out the pretty pink color depicted on the recipe link because I used my own vegetable stock which is quite dark and hearty. Yes, the recipe turned out so tasty I will make this soup again. (quick note: I added the potato back into the broth before pureeing it as opposed to separating them as instructed in the recipe.) See the Recipe.
Ingredient Sources:
potato and onion: Horsford Farms, Weedsport NY
bay leaf: from The Husband’s herb garden
vegetable stock: mine! Made entirely from farmer’s market vegetables a few weeks ago then vacuum sealed in 1 cup batches and frozen;
yogurt: Wake Robin Farms, Jordan, NY
radish: from the garden of my friend Karen. Many thanks!



Raw Root and Cucumber Salad.
Raw Root and Cucumber Salad
This crunchy salad is not just quick and easy it also makes excellent use of what is in season at the market: carrots, cucumber and, of course, radishes. There is such an abundance of these vegetables right now that they are very inexpensive, so this salad cost pennies to make. We’re sure to make it again many times this summer as an easy, inexpensive veg- accompaniment for whatever else we’re cooking. Incidentally, had I any apple on hand I would have julienned it and tossed it in this salad for a sweet element. Here is the Recipe.
Ingredient Sources:
cucumber and radish: Hobbit Hollow Farm, Skaneateles, NY
apple cider vinegar: Owen Orchards, Weedsport, NY. This was an exciting find at last week’s farmer’s market! Really delicious vinegar for summer cooking.  
Roasted radish with black pepper and balsamic vinegar.
Roasted Radish
We followed the advice of readers and roasted ourselves a batch of radish grown by Hobbit Hollow Farms in Skaneateles. The Husband tossed the root in oil, sprinkled lightly with salt and baked until soft. I didn’t care for the squishy interior when the veg was done so he gave them a quick pan-searing and topped them with ground pepper. What people say about roasted radishes is absolutely true: it brings out the root’s natural sugars and eradicates the bitter flavor I’ve always associated with radish.
Ready for the oven.
These are three humble offerings among endless possible recipes. They’ve helped change my mind about radishes. The root is a lovely thing fresh from the ground, so different from the leather-skinned horrors I’ve encountered in the past. I’ve decided to give other hated vegetables another go. Maybe. Next on the list: Brussels sprout. Thankfully I’ve got a few more months to prepare before those awful interesting things are in season.

Karen’s radishes.

 



Bread

It’s no secret: I’m seeking pathways out of the mess that is the typical American diet. In November I stumbled upon the documentary How to Cook Your Life and was immediately intrigued by the idea of bread making as a form of communion and meditation. A very kum ba yah notion for an agnostic like me to be sure. But when the Husband sent the two of us off to a bread making class at a nearby culinary center the meditative properties of this activity emerged. Like meditation, bread making is about concentration. Creating good bread – bread with the desired color, structure, elasticity, moistness and crumb – requires the maker to focus on the environment in which the bread is being constructed. Humidity, temperature, and the individual characteristics of each ingredient play a part in the quality of the finished piece; balanced bread is achieved when the maker has allowed him or herself to work in harmony with these variables.
Bread making as a communal act has proven itself in the months since our class. While the Husband is the primary bread maker, I am his ever-present audience. I love watching bread being made; I’m irresistibly drawn to the process. I love that he knows by feel when to incorporate more of an ingredient and that he decides only after the dough has developed what type of loaf it wants to be.  It is gratifying when the fifteen year old emerges from her bedroom like a cartoon character floating out on a visible aroma and asks, “Is that Daddy’s bread I smell?” And I love when we gather around and share the bounty together like mankind has been doing for 30,000 years.
Besides all that, bread smells amazing and tastes even better (I cringe over the stuff we used to buy at the grocery store). And we appreciate the benefits of creating our own food. Yesterday the Husband very sweetly let me record him making next week’s lunch loaves. Our video, Bread, shows this four and a half-hour process condensed down into a playful 5-minute fast motion clip.  Enjoy!