mini food

Him: “So… what do you want to do for Valentine’s Day?”

Me: “Umm… I dunno. What do you want to do?”

Him: “We’re nice to each other all the time. Do we have to make a thing of it?”

Me: “Well, I definitely don’t want to go out to dinner with all those other couples being gross and weird.”

Him: “Agreed.”

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the extent of the boyfriend and I’s conversation about Valentine’s Day. I suspect there will be dinner at home and some binge watching of something on Netflix and if I’m very lucky and ask nice, he’ll make me popcorn. He makes the best popcorn. So, yeah, pretty much what it’s like almost every weekend.

I’ve been trying to come up with some options for a dinner/dessert combo that says, “This day is maybe a little special but not like… a big deal in the grand scheme of things.” Dinner is still a little bit of a mystery, but dessert might be sorted.

It might be this Mini Apple Brulée Tart. I am a broke culinary student without a lot of funds for just playing around, so my experiments typically have to be limited to what I already have on hand. The ingredients in this tart can all be purchased for less than $10 total, assuming you have a few staples like cinnamon, honey (or agave) and sugar on hand.

I have apples. I have one sheet of puff pastry. I have cinnamon and a tiny sample sized jar of jam. I can work with that! I have just enough of everything to make two of these fun little tarts, and BONUS! I get to use the brulee torch I bought myself for Christmas.

Equipment:
baking sheet
fork
parchment paper
knife and cutting board
small bowl
small pot
spoon for stirring
measuring spoons
vegetable peeler
apple corer (if you’ve got it. if not, just cut the cores)
box grater or hand held zester/grater thing
1 sheet of paper towel
Brulée torch

Ingredients:
1 sheet of puff pastry
2 apples (The bag literally just said “Pommes/Apples” on the side, so I’m not sure what kind I used. McIntosh, Braeburns, or Fujis would work.)
2 tablespoons of any sort of jam that you think would taste good with apples
1 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon of lemon juice (maybe)
2 tablespoons of granulated sugar
2 teaspoons of powdered sugar

Preheat your oven to 425º.

Line your baking sheet with parchment paper.

Cut two 4 in. x 4 in. squares from your sheet of puff pastry, then cut eight 1/2 in. x 4 in. strips. Use the strips to create a border around the edge of each square. Poke holes with the fork in the center, not on the border, to keep them from puffing up too much.

Bake them in the preheated oven for 12 minutes. If the centers still look a little too puffed, you can push them down a bit.

Peel and core both apples.

Grate one apple against the small side of your grater. Basically, this is going to puree the apple. Yes, you could use your food processor or blender for this, but do you really want to pull that whole thing out and have to wash it later for 1/2 a cup of apple puree? I didn’t think so. So, grate the apple until you end up with that 1/2 cup of puree.

Cut the other half into thin slices. You only need about 8 slices, 4 slices per tart, but I recommend just eating the rest because apples are delicious and good for you. Gently dry the surface of each slice with a paper towel and set aside for a minute.

NOTE: This recipe comes together pretty fast, so your apples probably won’t have time to go all brown on you. If you get interrupted, you will need to sprinkle a little lemon juice over them to keep them from oxidizing while you do whatever it is that you need to do. Just remember to dry them before you put them on the tart.

If you don’t have a Brulée torch, go ahead and set your oven to broil.

Put the puree and the 2 tablespoons of jam into the pot over medium low heat. I used this little jar of Pear and Spice jam from Jam Lab that I got in the mail.

Once that mixture has started to bubble, add the cinnamon, honey, and vanilla and stir to combine. Simmer the mixture until it’s lost about 1/2 its liquid.

Spoon about 2 tablespoons of the apple mixture into the center of each tart.

Shingle four apple slices over the top of each tart.

Sprinkle the apple slices generously with the granulated sugar. If you have a Brulée torch, this is where you’d turn that puppy on and use it to caramelize the sugar on top. If you don’t, just a minute or so under the broiler should do the job. It’ll happen fast, so keep a close eye on it. (FYI, I’ve also used one of those extended camping lighters to burn sugar. That’s probably some sort of no-no, so I’m not advising you to do it. I’m just saying that if I was worried about the pastry burning under the broiler and I wanted a better way to direct the heat right to the sugar on the apples and I didn’t have a Brulée torch, I might do that.)

And just like that, your tarts are ready. You can keep it simple and just dust them with a little powdered sugar like I did, or you can put a little scoop of ice cream or some whipped cream on the plate with them with a final sprinkle of cinnamon and that’d be really yummy, too.

Enjoy!

I love snacks.

Wait, let me rephrase.

I loooooooooooooove snacks. I love bite sized things, and things that can be served on small plates, and mini-sized things that pack a giant wallop of flavor in two or three bites. I can make a whole meal out of snacks. Eating small food just makes me feel like I’m having a little party for one. A party for me. Yay me!

We went out for tapas over the weekend and it really reminded me just how deep my adoration for snacks goes.

This recipe for Bleu Cheese and Walnut Tartlets (doesn’t that sound like it could be a 60’s pop group?) comes from a book on Irish pub food that I picked up from the sale bin at Barnes & Noble. This isn’t a giveaway book, but I do recommend buying it if you’re into that comforting sort of food you get at pubs and bars with really thoughtful food menus.

These little tarts are packed with flavor, thanks to the bleu cheese, and easy enough to pull together (of course, you know I tweaked the recipe a bit for you) that they wouldn’t be a pain in the butt to serve as a starter for a dinner party.

Equipment:

1 12-cup muffin pan or 2 6-cup muffin pans (I used the throwaway aluminum ones because I hate doing dishes)
1 medium mixing bowl
1 whisk
1 small pot
1 saute pan
1 wooden spoon
knife and cutting board
1 fork
measuring spoons

Ingredients:

2 ready made pie crusts (they come two to a box)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus extra for buttering the pan
2 celery stalks, trimmed and finely chopped
1 small leek, cleaned, trimmed and thinly sliced
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons heavy cream
6 ounces crumbled bleu cheese
3 egg yolks
12 walnut halves
salt and pepper to taste

Pre-heat the oven to 400. Butter your muffin tin(s) and set aside.

Prep your leeks and celery. NOTE: Leeks can be a bit sandy in between the layers. Cut off the woody green leaves and just use the pale green and white part. Cut the leek in half, and then you can easily rinse between the layers.

Cut out six 4″ diameter circles from each pie crust.

You can get about four out of the unrolled crust as it is, and then you can layer the scraps on top of each other to create the other two.

Once you have all your little circles cut out, fit each of them into the muffin cups. Make sure you’re pressing the dough lightly into the corners so there are no little air pockets between the dough and the pan.

NOTE: If you want to trim off the edges of the dough to make them look a little less “rustic,” feel free.

For this next step, you can either press a bit of parchment paper into each hole and fill it with pie weights or dry beans, or you can do what’s called “docking,” which is basically just pricking a few holes in the bottom of each crust with a fork. This allows some steam to escape from the crust while it’s blind baking (baking without the filling) so it doesn’t bubble up. I used the docking method because, well, I was cooking at the boyfriend’s and he was fresh out of both pie weights and dry beans. Either method works, so just go with whatever you feel comfortable doing.

Put the uncooked crusts into the fridge while you work on the filling.

Melt the butter in a saute pan, then add the celery and leek. Cook them down for about 15 minutes on low heat until they soften.

Add the 2 tablespoons of cream and the bleu cheese. Mix everything well and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Separate the egg yolks into your small mixing bowl and whisk them lightly just to break the yolks. You can discard the whites or save them for another recipe. They’ll freeze, if you don’t have anything to use them for right away.

Bring the rest of the cream to a bare simmer in your small pot, then slowly pour it into your egg yolks while whisking constantly. WARNING: Do not just dump all that hot cream into the egg yolks, or you’ll end up with scrambled eggs floating in a pool of hot cream. No bueno. Also, do not stop whisking until all the cream is incorporated into the egg yolks.

Add the bleu cheese mixture to the bowl now, and stir well to combine. Set aside.

Pull the muffin pan(s) out of the fridge and pop them into the oven for about 10 minutes to blind bake. Once they’re out, remove the parchment and pie weights/beans if you used them.

Spoon the filling into each crust. Place one walnut half in the center of each tartlet.

Bake them for about 15 minutes, or until the tops are slightly browned and puffed. The centers will still be fairly creamy.

Let them cool at least 5 minutes before serving, or risk hot molten cheese lava burns on your tongue. They smell really good, so you’re gonna want to dig in, but trust me, they’ll taste better if you’re not trying to eat them around 3rd degree burns.

Enjoy!

I'm Gonna Cook That!

Culinary student, explorer, and maybe just a little obsessed.

The Apple of My Eye

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