a tart break

Lately I have been making tarts. It is such a nice break from the physicality of making ceramics. And you don't have to wait 36 hours to see the baked results! This is a red onion, pear, brie, kalamata olive tart with home-made crust. I like making the crust the best, and this one is quite simple.

1 cup of unbleached all purpose flour
pinch of salt
fresh ground pepper
1 stick of butter
I added thyme too.
1/2 cup cold water

Mix the dry ingredients, grate in the butter, mix with your hand until the flour and butter are like little peas. Slowly add in the water a tablespoon at a time. You might not need the whole 1/2 cup, just until the dough is soft and sticks together well. Rest in the fridge for 1 hour. Roll out to 1/8 thickness with plenty of flour. I like using a tart pan, but you can do it just on a cookie sheet, this tart won't run. Layer onion, pear, sprinkle with sugar, add the layer of brie, top with kalamata olives. Bake for 25-30 minutes. It turns our beautiful and tasty (sweet+savory) every time.

wishing you a yummy thanksgiving

photograph by Helene Dujardin

A very scrumptious Drunken Pumpkin Bourbon Tart With Mascarpone Cream, from My Tartelette. That’s what I’m making for this Thursday, served on gleena dessert plates, of course.

How about you? Any special family recipes?

for the love of food, photography, writing, and long summer afternoons with friends and family

all photography courtesy of Tartelette

Thank you to Helen who writes, photographs, and styles a beautiful blog, Tartelette, for using gleena plates to serve delicious and gorgeous summer meals. Read all about her family’s tasty gatherings in the South of France here.

cookies

I love this compilation of readers’ photographs and recipes, published in the NY Times. I can't wait to bake the Ginger-Molasses ones today. Happy Holiday!

tasty treat from cannelle et vanille, on a gleena plate

photographs by Aran Goyoaga

The lovely Aran Goyoaga has posted her beautiful photographs (as well as recipe) of a gluten-free chocolate cake on canelle et vanille. In the image on the right, the cake is served on a gleena butterfly plate, with the currants in a small gourd bowl. Thank you, Aran!

big summer in gourmet magazine

quince

grapes

tomato

squash blossoms

xuxu

John Kernick photographed a gorgeous food story for the September issue of Gourmet magazine. You can almost smell, and taste, the fruits and veggies in his images. Great use of white plates and bowls in the styling of the recipes.

veggie goodness: part 2: by guest blogger Nathalie

I had to make the recipe Nathalie sent me for a Moroccan-inspired cooked carrot salad (shown above on gleena dishes). It is delicious. Here is Nathalie's carrot (and more) farm stand adventure:

My husband and I live in a suburb of Los Angeles and we go out of our way to find and buy local produce from small farms (even in Los Angeles proper, there are small local farms in the most unlikely places). Whenever we can, we take a day to drive out to walk the dog somewhere with clean air that is calm and quiet like a beach or a hiking trail in the mountains. The routes always vary (okay, it is for us too, but the dog is a perfect excuse) and we sometimes come back with farm stand goodness. This weekend was no exception.

We piled into the car and drove up the coast to Santa Barbara with no real destination in mind. On a whim, I pulled over when I saw a little farm sign. What we found at this stop was pure heaven. A small farm (called Classic Organic Farm) with a peace sign painted on the side welcomed you to come in. Once inside the farm shop (no shopkeeper in sight, all based on an honor system) was packed with the most amazing looking produce we had seen in a while (of course, neither my phone, nor my camera were with me). Dandelion greens, garlic, onions, zucchini, cucumbers (several varieties), tomatoes, raspberries, and so on. We just knew we were onto something good. Needless to say, we stocked up. Total price for two huge bags full of produce: $12. They were sold out of the fresh eggs, so you can be sure we will find our way back at some point to try those out.

The highlight of the shopping splurge was two bunches of organically grown carrots which we cooked for dinner last night in a Moroccan style cooked salad. We had been saving this recipe for a good bunch of tasty carrots (which, even in the local farmers markets didn't quite measure up). We had high hopes for this batch and they did not disappoint us. I hope you enjoy!

Cooked Carrot Salad
For 2 generous dinner sized servings:

2 pitas
About a tablespoon of butter, melted

1 1/2 lbs organically grown carrots, scrubbed and cut into slices 

(no larger than ½” thick).
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
6 ounces feta, crumbled
1 TBS whole caraway seeds, coarsely ground in a mortar and pestle.
2 TBS freshly chopped mint
Salt and Freshly ground black pepper (our favorite is Wynad pepper).

1.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cut pita into triangles (about 8 or so each), brush both sides with melted butter and put them into the oven on a baking sheet for about 10 minutes (or until crisp).

2.
When the pita as done, take them out to cool, crank up the oven to 400 degrees. Meanwhile, toss the carrots in 2 Tbs of olive oil and season with salt and freshly ground pepper. Put in an ovenproof baking dish, cover with aluminum foil, and bake for about 45 minutes, or until the carrots are tender.

3.
Remove from oven and let cook slightly, and then mash (either by hand, or through a food processor), and mix in the remaining olive oil, caraway seeds and ½ of the mint. Season with salt and pepper.

4.

To serve, spoon ½ the carrot mixture on each plate, line the sides with the pita triangles, drizzle a little more olive oil over the carrots, and top with crumbled feta and mint.

Keeps for a day in the fridge.

c is for cupcake

Click on the above periodic table to access a whimsical assortment of cupcake recipes. What better way to celebrate the last day of February?

sustainable and local ingredients

It is important to me that I do as little damage to our planet as possible. I reclaim (use again) all my discarded clay bits and leftover glaze. None of the clay materials I work with end up in our water. It is equally important to me to support local farmers, and eat real food, not packaged. I love food that sings with its natural flavors, and that means buying food that is organic.


I picked up the book "Simply Organic" because I liked the title, and the way it was designed (I once picked out a VCR because I thought it was cute). "Simply Organic" is much more than a good title and a pretty cover, it's filled with delicious, easy to make recipes that use seasonal ingredients. The author, Jesse Ziff Cook, has a great eye for combining the most unusual items; like the pear, brie, and olive tart (which I made, it was delicious). I am cooking my way through the "Early Winter" section, with delicacies like chard and feta pie, and roast chicken with mashed celery root (I never knew what to do with celery root before) and potatoes. Everything turns out yummy.

This book inspires me to have dinner parties, I love cooking for other people. This weekend I am going to make the pot roast with winter vegetables. I'll let you know how it turns out.

a merry merry

Every year I celebrate Christmas at my friends' Matthew and Agnethe's house. It is my home away from home. This year Agnethe set the table with some of my ceramic pieces. The bowls for the soup (which I was supposed to make, but got stuck in traffic instead) and the white goblets which double up as vases looked beautiful on the festive tablecloth. It was an evening filled with delicious food, great conversation and inspiring company.

I ended up making the soup the following day, it is a Japanese sweet potato soup with mushrooms. I puree it so all the flavors truly get to know each other.

Asya's Japanese sweet potato with mushrooms soup:
3 large Japanese sweet potatoes (they are white, and not super sweet)
1 large onion, sliced
1 lb of crimini mushrooms, sliced
2 liters of veggie stock
2 cloves garlic, diced into small pieces
salt and pepper to taste

1. Saute the garlic in some olive oil in a large soup pot until the garlic is slightly brown. Add the onions and continue to saute until the onions are translucent and begin to brown.

2. Add the mushrooms, stir in with the onions, cover the pot and let cook until the mushrooms are soft.

3. Add the veggie stock and the potatoes, peeled and cut up into small pieces for faster cooking. Cook everything until the potatoes are soft.

4. Mash the potatoes slightly, then puree either with a hand blender or in a standing blender. Add salt and pepper to taste. I leave the soup a little bit chunky for texture. This soup is hearty and makes a great meal when served with bread. It is even tastier the second day. You can also freeze it.

roasted squash soup

My Thanksgiving dinner contribution was squash soup. Mom bought butternut squash, and then a smaller, reddish-orange squash that I don't know the name of. I roasted both of them, dumped them into vegetable stock, added three apples, pureed and garnished with sauteed pine nuts. The soup was a bit tart because of the apples, with a hint of sweetness, which the roasted pine nuts offset in a subtle way. Simple, quick and delicious.

recipe index and more

The New York Times now has a section where you can find every article relating to a particular topic. It's brilliant. Check out Thanksgiving Day, with recipes, stories, wine recommendations, and even a "how to carve the bird" video.

quinoa, glorious quinoa

I am so happy The NY Times published an article on quinoa (pronounced keh-NO-ah or, sometimes, KEEN-wah) because it is yummy and nutritious.

Basic Steamed Quinoa
Many recipes for quinoa suggest cooking it like rice, in two parts water for one part quinoa. This works, but the grains are fluffier if you cook them in three parts water and drain the excess water once the quinoa is tender. The tiny seeds swell to about four times their original size, so 1 cup uncooked quinoa yields about 4 cups, enough for 6 to 8 servings.

1 cup quinoa
3 cups water, chicken stock or vegetable stock
1/2 teaspoon salt (more to taste)

1 Place the quinoa in a strainer and rinse until the water runs clear.

2 Bring the water or stock to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add the salt and the quinoa. Bring back to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer 15 minutes, or until the quinoa is tender and translucent, and each grain displays a little thread. Drain and return to the pan. Cover the pan with a clean dish towel, replace the lid and allow to sit undisturbed for 10 minutes. Fluff and serve.

Yield: about 4 cups, serving 6 to 8

Advance preparation: Cooked quinoa will keep for three or four days in the refrigerator and can be reheated in a microwave or in the oven.

eggplant

This beautiful vegetable is a staple of Russian cooking. Here is a great article from the NY Times on eggplant's health benefits as well as instructions for roasting it: The Misunderstood Eggplant

Some eggplant recipes from the NY Times Health section:
Caponata
Eggplant and Tomato Gratin

from mama to daughter

This post was contributed by Asya's mama.

My own mama Jenya (Asya's grandmother) was an architect and an urban planner. In the former Soviet Union when the food was scares and variety did not exist she applied her creativity to building beautiful table settings and dishes. From her I inherited the special delight of setting the table as if you were ready for a still life sketch. By the way, she became very good at drawing still life watercolors later in her life (the skill I did not inherit!).

Quick Jenya's fresh cabbage salad:
You need one average white cabbage, salt, sugar, dill.

1. Discard top damaged leaves and cut cabbage into quarters lengthwise.
2. Chop cabbage finely cutting across the leaves leaving the core and the thick parts around it.
3. Sprinkle some salt and a little bit of sugar on the pile of the cut cabbage and squeeze it with your hands until in releases juice and becomes softer. Do not overdo or it will become soggy!
4. Chop dill and mix with cabbage. You may add oil, mayonnaise, vinegar, pepper or actually anything you fancy will 'decorate" this basic Soviet Era delight!
Experiment!