Roasted Tomato Garlic Tart

I think we can all agree that summer is a pretty fantastic time of year. The days seem endless, and pretty much everyone looks just a little bit better -and thank god for that. But do you want to know what my favorite part is? The produce.

Think about it. Biting into a fresh, juicy summer peach (cue Call Me By Your Name flashback). Nibbling on that sweet, refreshing watermelon and letting the juices run down your chin. Sweet and smoky corn just kissed by the heat of the grill. Pretty f**king good, no?

So, what to do when you have the best of the best at your fingertips? Make the best of it, of course. And since tomatoes tend to be the absolute worst when out of season - pale, mealy & flavorless, like your last bad date - they are also one of the greatest gems of summer. And while you can certainly eat them simply sliced, drizzled with olive oil & sprinkled with salt, I have an idea for you, a gentle suggestion. A roasted tomato garlic tart.

The tomatoes become rich and caramelised from the heat of the oven, and the mixture that holds it in place is unctuous & tangy with hits of herbaceous freshness from the thyme. It's ideal served with a bright green salad for dinner or munched on for breakfast with a few slices of streaky bacon. No matter the day, no matter the time, a slice of this is never a bad idea.

Roasted Tomato Garlic Tart
Adapted from Bon Appétit
Originally posted on gloobles
1 kilo mixed colour tomatoes, seeds scraped out and cut into slices
3 tablespoons good olive oil
3/4 teaspoon Himalayan pink salt
Freshly cracked black pepper
115 grams cultured, unsalted butter
6 large cloves garlic, smashed and skin removed
250 oatcakes, finely ground in a food processor
2 large eggs
300 grams Taleggio, rind removed and coarsely grated
70 grams Parmesan, coarsely grated
1/2 cup mayonnaise (we like Duke's or Kewpie, if you can find them)
1 bunch lemon thyme, leaves stripped from stems

Preheat oven to 250 with a rack positioned in the middle of the oven. Arrange tomatoes in a roasting pan, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper. Roast for 25 minutes until the tops start to dry out a bit. Remove from the oven to cool. Reduce oven to 190.

While these roast, place butter and smashed garlic in a small saucepan set over low heat. Cook, swirling occasionally, until butter begins to foam and the butter takes on a light golden colour. Be careful not to let the garlic burn! Strain garlic butter through a fine mesh sieve into the food processor with oatcake crumbs, setting the crispy, golden cloves aside for later.

Add the eggs to the food processor with the oatcake crumbs and garlic butter. Add a 1/4 teaspoon salt and pulse to combine until mixture looks like wet sand. Press into a 23 cm fluted tart pan. Bake for 8 minutes until it starts to take on colour. Let cool.

In the meantime, mix together Taleggio, Parmesan, mayonnaise, pepper and thyme. Dollop half of mixture into the tart pan and spread to the edges. Layer half of cooled tomatoes over top. Repeat with remaining cheese mixture and tomatoes. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Bake for 50-60 minutes, until the filling is bubbling and crust is browned. Allow to cool and sprinkle with thyme leaves for colour. 

Pumpkin Manchego Beer Bread

I am in the midst of a very important project. Forget school, forget work. I'm currently fortifying myself for winter.

I, like my furrier friends, am filling my freezer and filling out my waistline in the hopes that I will survive the colder months. Just last night, in fact, my flatmates and I burrowed into the icy depths of our freezer to retrieve a few slices of Pumpkin Manchego Beer Bread I made last week.

The colder it gets, the lazier I get, so having food on hand saves me from ordering takeout every night. It might surprise you, but I don't cook nearly as often as I should. Most of my time in the kitchen is dedicated to boiling the kettle.

While it is probably more prudent to make a big batch of stew or soup that you can pull out in a dire dinnertime situation, might I suggest this quickbread instead? It's great with a pat of salted butter alongside a bowl of chilli or crumbled into a savory bread pudding. Or simply eaten straight out of the pan.

Pumpkin Manchego Beer Bread
Makes one loaf
Adapted from Spoon Fork Bacon

2 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 1/2 tablespoons caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup salted butter, melted
1 large egg, slightly beaten
8 ounces beer
1 1/2 cups grated Manchego cheese
Pumpkin seeds, for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-inch loaf pan and line with parchment paper. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, and spices. In a small bowl, whisk together pumpkin, butter, and egg. Make a well in dry ingredients and pour in pumpkin mixture and beer. Stir to combine. Fold in grated Manchego, careful not to over-mix. Spread batter into prepared baking pan. Sprinkle pumpkin seeds over top. Bake 1 hour and 15 minutes, until golden and firm to the touch and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool slightly on a wire rack. Serve with salted butter.

More Beer Bread
Fruity Walnut Beer Bread
Caramel Apple Beer Bread
Spiced Octoberfest Beer Bread

Popovers

Everyone has that one food that really takes them back. For some, it's freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies, oozing with little nuggets of chocolate. For others, feeling the snap as they bite into a perfectly grilled hot dog brings them right back to their childhood. Everyone has that one thing.

If I tried to nail it down, but the food memories just came flooding back immediately. Occupational hazard, I suppose. But one of my most distinct, and surely most delicious, food memories comes from the restaurant at Neiman Marcus on Michigan Avenue in Chicago. On the special occasions that my mom took us into the city for a visit to the Art Institute or to ride the ferris wheel at Navy Pier, we would always head to lunch at Neiman Marcus.

Now I know it may sound strange, eating in a department store, but this was no mall café.  I honestly can't remember what I actually ordered there. Knowing my childhood preferences, a burger or a duck breast was probably in order. But what I do remember quite clearly were the starters. Each guest at the restaurant was served a small cup of chicken consomme accompanied by a basket piled high with steaming hot, crisp, golden popovers and a teeny, tiny pot of pink-flecked strawberry butter.

 Unfortunately, I don't get to Chicago as often as I'd like. Which leaves me truly and devastatingly popover-less. And really, what could be worse than that? So when the nostalgia just gets too overwhelming, I head into the kitchen and whip up a batch of my own. Because it's just too hard to go without them.

  Popovers
Adapted from the Zodiac Restaurant
Makes 1 dozen

4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
6 eggs, at room temperature
3 1/2 cups whole milk, heated until just warm to the touch

Place two 6-hole popover pans into the oven. Preheat to 450 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking powder. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk eggs on medium speed for 3 minutes until pale and foamy. Reduce speed to low and add warm milk and whisk to combine. With the mixer running, gradually add flour mixture. Continue whisking for 3 minutes on medium speed. Let batter rest for 1 hour. When the batter has rested for an hour, quickly grease the popover pans and fill almost to the top with batter. Put trays in oven and bake for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees and bake for 25-30 minutes more, until golden brown. Serve warm, slathered generously with strawberry butter.

  More Popovers
Giant Cheese Popovers
Dark Chocolate and Coconut Popovers
Almond Popovers

Cheddar-Apple Muffins

Cheese has been on my mind lately. It's probably the turn of the seasons that leaves me wanting warm, bubbling, ooey-gooey cheese. On everything. But the urge to consume cheese in family-sized quantities is overwhelming.

Mostly, I've been pretty good. I try to treat cheese as a garnish, an embellishment. A sprinkle of cheddar on my baked potato, a flurry of parmesan on my soup. Sometimes, however, that just won't do. A few days ago I made cheddar-pancetta bread pudding, and it was so good. My friend Sophie and I demolished it before I could snap a picture and before anyone else had a chance to grab a bite.

Luckily, that wasn't the only cheesy indulgence. I whipped up a batch of cheddar-apple muffins to satisfy my cravings. They have just enough cheese to feel indulgent, but the apples and the whole wheat flour make them feel a little more healthful. That way you can eat as many as you want.

  Cheddar Apple Muffins
Makes 1 1/2 dozen

2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
1 1/2 cups shredded mature cheddar cheese
3 large eggs
2/3 cup whole milk
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium granny smith apples, peeled, cored, and grated


Preheat oven to 350. Line a 12-hole standard muffin tin with muffin cup liners. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder salt and thyme together. Add the cheese and toss to coat completely. In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, and olive oil. Slowly add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and fold to incorporate, careful not to overmix. Gently fold in apples. Divide between muffin tins. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Rest on a wire rack until cool.

  More Savory Muffins
Bacon Cheddar Corn Muffins
Butternut Squash and Feta Muffins
Herbed Polenta Muffins

Herbed Almond Crackers

For a while there, I thought I had a gluten allergy. My thyroid problems were making me react to all kinds of things, leaving me in a Benadryl-induced haze after I my neck would erupt in hives following one meal or another. My allergy tests kept coming back normal, but obviously that was not the case, so I ended up cutting out wheat for about eight months.

And let me tell you, the world of food allergies and dietary restrictions can be a dark and lifeless place. If any of you have ever tasted gluten-free pita bread, you know what I’m talking about. Everything is either bland, squeaky, or so full of unpronounceable ingredients that having these food limitations can seem like a death sentence. A girl cannot survive on broccoli and chocolate bars alone.

This is when having no problem poking around the kitchen for hours came in handy. I had attempted a few gluten-free cookies that came out tasty, but a little lacking on the texture front. It’s so difficult to get that balance between crunchy and chewy when you’re not using regular flour. And don’t even get me started on trying to make bread. But what I want to know is why try to mimic something else, when you could make something special and uniquely delicious in its own right? And that’s why I like almond flour.

Crackers are an easy foray into gluten-free baking. They are nearly impossible to mess up, and they come out tasty and exactly the way you’ve imagined them. They also use so few ingredients that it’s hard to believe they’ll work when you’re whipping up the dough. Make a batch or two, freeze one, and you’ll always have a munchable snack at the ready for when those carb cravings kick in, whether you're gluten free or simply looking for an addition to your after dinner cheese spread.

Herbed Almond Crackers

Makes 1 dozen crackers

1 1/2 cups almond flour

1 teaspoon Herbes de Provence

1/4 teaspoon salt, plus more for sprinkling

3 tablespoons ice water

Preheat oven to 375°F. Whisk together almond flour, Herbes de Provence, and salt. Stir in water. Gather dough into a ball and press between two pieces of plastic wrap until flat and 1/8 to 1/4-inch thick, depending upon how thin you like your crackers. Cut into shapes until all dough has been used. Place on an ungreased baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown and firm to the touch. Let cool.

More Cracker Recipes
Spicy Cheese Crackers
Lavash Crackers
Seeded Thyme Crackers

Mushroom Pizza with Thyme and Goat Cheese

As you know, I interned at Serious Eats over the summer. What could have been three months of intimidation and thankless work turned out to be three of the best months of my life. New York itself was incredible, offering a new gem of a restaurant around every corner, so many wonderful museums, and an unrivaled energy. But I'd have to say my favorite thing about my summer in the city was working with Will Levitt and Jordan Zimmerman. Sadly, they didn't work on the same days, so they rarely got to see each other, but I was lucky enough to get to know both of them. After reading The Dorm Room Dinner, Will's amazing blog, all summer, I knew I just had to have him write a guest post. So.....here goes!

*********************

The first food adventure Hayley and I ever went on, it was one of those days of summer in New York when the heat was simply unbearable. It was one of those days when you consider not getting off at your subway stop so you can stay in the air-conditioned car just a little longer. Let's just say it was hot. 

It was also the day Hayley and I started as interns at Serious Eats, where we would be working for the summer. And Ed Levine, the site's charismatic founder and all around expert eater, had a craving. 

"I think we need some donuts around here today," he proposed, "How about a dozen from Donut Planet?" Ed scanned the office, counting about seven of us. "Make it two dozen."  

Despite the heat, Hayley and I quickly jumped at the chance to go pick up some donuts, not wanting to miss out on any food adventures. 

"Before you leave," added one of the site's editors, "do me a favor. We're organizing a chocolate ice cream tasting for later this week. Do you think you guys could pick up 12 different brands of nationally available chocolate ice cream?" 

I'll tell you, before I go any further, that I do not like chocolate. I also do not like the heat. Hayley, who does like chocolate, isn't a huge fan of the heat either. Neither, I'll mention, is ice cream - chocolate or otherwise. 

From the Serious Eats office in Chinatown, we ventured out into the sun and first stopped at the Donut Planet. For those unfamiliar with this donut shop, it's like nothing you've ever seen. We looked through the glass case at flavors like Tres Leches, Blackout, Creme Brûlée, and Peanut Butter and Jelly.  Then we ordered one of everything (or was it two of everything?). Success.  

Donuts checked off our list, we headed to get ice cream. Ice cream is usually a splendid sweet to get on a hot day, but not when you're walking twenty blocks just find the one store in lower Manhattan that sells Edy's Chocolate Ice Cream.  A few hours, about seven grocery stores and a sun burn later, we returned with our chocolate ice cream, slightly melted, in hand. Success. We were starting to get an idea of what our summer might be like at this place called Serious Eats World Headquarters. If it involved donuts like these every day, I was happy. 

That was the first mission for Hayley and me, of which there were many more. Our summer at Serious Eats was filled with just about every type of eating you could imagine, from insane pizza and sandwiches to a string-cheese tasting and cereal flavored lip balm. Serious eating doesn't get much better than that. 

But Hayley and I, as if we weren't full enough from Serious Eats, also organized our eating adventures.

The last food mission Hayley and I went on was to to Motorino, a popular new pizza shop in the East Village, for a farewell dinner. Like our first food mission, it was hot out (and they didn't have air conditioning!) and it involved ordering a lot of food (duh). It was the perfect way to end our summer of food, and the pizza was seriously good stuff.  

In honor of our last food mission, I've prepared a pizza myself. It's topped with sautéed crimini and shiitake mushrooms, thyme, parmesan and goat cheese. The trick to this pizza is to load it up with a lot of mushrooms, creating a hearty, flavorful base. The rest of the flavors layer just right. 

When you've finished all the pizza, save some room: It pairs perfectly with slightly melted chocolate ice cream and donuts for dessert. 

Mushroom Pizza with Thyme and Goat Cheese

makes 2 large pizzas, serves 4-6

1 recipe pizza dough (below)

about 6 cups sliced mushrooms, such as crimini, button, shiitake or portobello 

8 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for brushing

4 cloves of garlic, minced 

1 tablespoon chopped thyme

1 small red onion, thinly sliced 

1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated

1 small log goat cheese (about 8 oz.), crumbled 

salt and pepper

Heat the oven to 500. Brush two sheet trays (cookie sheets) with olive oil. Remove dough from bowl and divide it into two equal pieces and place one on each tray. Allow to sit, covered with plastic wrap, for 15 minutes. Using the tips of your fingers, press the dough from the center out until it covers most of the tray, about a third of an inch thick. This may take a while, but be patient and don't overwork the dough (it keeps the final pizza lighter), it will eventually spread out into a large pizza. Using oiled fingers makes it easier. Cover with plastic wrap until read to use. 

In a large sauté pan on high heat, warm 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Add a quarter of the minced garlic and about a quarter of the mushrooms, not crowding the pan. Add a quarter of the thyme and season with salt and pepper. Cook until well browned, 5-7 minutes, and remove to a plate. Add another tablespoons olive oil to the pan, add another quarter of the garlic and mushrooms, and cook as before with the thyme. Remove and finish the mushrooms in rounds until all are cooked. 

With the dough ready on two sheet trays, top each evenly with mushrooms, parmesan cheese, raw red onion and the goat cheese. Drizzle on the remaining olive oil and season with more salt and pepper. Place the pizzas in the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes until the cheese is fully melted and the crust is lightly brown. Serve at once. 

Pizza Dough

makes 2 large pizzas

1 package instant yeast

1 cup warm water

1 teaspoon honey

1 teaspoon olive oil

3 cups all purpose flour 

1 teaspoon salt

In a small bowl, combine yeast, water, honey and olive oil. Allow to sit until it begins to bubble or foam, indicating that the yeast is active, about 5 minutes. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour and salt. Make a well in the center of the flour and pour in the yeast mixture. Combine with a wooden spoon or your hand until it comes together into a dough. You may need to add more flour or water. Turn dough onto a surface and knead until a smooth ball forms. Rub a large glass bowl with olive oil and place the dough inside. Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm spot for 1-2 hours until the dough has doubled. 

Note: For maximum flavor, allow the dough to rise for half an hour at room temperature, and then place in the fridge over night. Remove from fridge one hour before baking the pizza. 

More Pizza Recipes

Potato and Rosemary Pizza

Caramelized Onion and Gorgonzola Pizza

Plum and Mascarpone Streusel Pizza

Cheddar Crackers

Ahhhhhh! Finally. I'm leaving tomorrow to go back to school. I couldn't be more excited. It's been a very wonderful, yet very long summer. I'm probably the only kid around to complain about not having school. Nerdy as it may sound, I'm ready. Ready for new Moleskine notebooks. Ready for new pencils. Ready for fresh Latin textbooks.

I know what you're thinking. But Latin is actually really fun. I swear! One of the things I liked best about being in school when I was younger was lunchtime. Surprise, surprise. I couldn't wait to see what my mom had packed that day. I was lucky enough to have interesting and varied lunches. No peanut butter and jelly sandwich and an apple every day for me.

Sometimes I had sushi. Other times, it was a thermos full of chili. On special occasions I would get a pita pocket filled with curried chicken salad. Homemade bran muffins, chocolate-dipped biscotti, and peppermint ice cream all made appearances in the dessert course of my lunchbox. While most of the things in my lunch varied from day to day, there was almost always a little snack bag filled with goldfish.

At some time around 10th grade, my mom decided to stop buying the cheddar goldfish, instead bringing home the plain ones. They just didn't do it for me. They weren't goldfish. They were whitefish. And since that fateful day, I'm not sure that I've actually had  'real' goldfish. Blasphemy, right? So that's why I decided it was about high time I made some from scratch. And that way I could make them healthier. Well, at least I could convince myself they were healthier.

These crackers can be made into any shape, though I chose leaves, acorns, and apples in honor of my favorite season. They are wonderfully cheesy, and the whole wheat pastry flour makes them just the tiniest bit nutty. If you do decide to make them, be warned- once you start eating them, you won't be able to stop.

Cheddar Crackers
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Makes about 100

6 ounces of your favorite cheddar cheese, coarsely grated
4 tablespoons room temperature butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Place cheese, butter, flour, onion powder, and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until dough comes together in a ball, about two minutes. On a lightly-floured surface, roll dough out to about 1/8-inch thick. Cut into desired shapes, dipping the cookie cutter into flour between each use to achieve a clean cut. Transfer crackers to prepared baking sheets. Bake for 15 minutes, rotating halfway through, until firm to the touch and lightly golden at the edges. Cool on a wire rack.

More Cracker Recipes
Olive Oil Crackers
Parmesan Rosemary Crackers
Buckwheat Almond Crackers

Cheddar-Prosciutto Bread Pudding

I'm getting antsy. It's not that I'm not enjoying my time here in New York, but I'm just a little exhausted. Work is great, and it's been a blast getting to explore the city. I think I just need a break. I came home from school and only had a week to spend lolling about, doing a whole lot of nothing. Up here, everything is pretty much non-stop. Go, go, go.

Now, I'm actually sort of pining for the slow South. I cannot wait to curl up with a warm cup of tea and a good book (I just finished Timequake, so I'm on the lookout for new one!), inside, of course. Because there is absolutely no way I'll be outdoors in Charleston in August. What I'm most excited about, though, is food. Shocked? Yeah, I didn't think so.

This summer has been a flurry of restaurant meals, haphazard dinners thrown together in my miniature kitchen, and bags of kettlecorn. Some of the things I've eaten at restaurants have been incredible, but, in my mind, nothing can measure up to a meal made in my own kitchen. My mom is quite a healthy cook, but nothing is ever bland. As my brothers and I grew up, it was a rare occasion when she didn't have a fresh and delicious dinner on the table for us after our soccer practices, swim meets, and piano lessons.

Since my older brother and I aren't at home during the year or this summer, it's been harder for her to make meals. Too little food, and my dad and little brother aren't satisfied. Too much, and it will undoubtedly go to waste. To help her out (and as a thank you for years of food and really inspiring my love of cooking and baking) I whipped up this bread pudding that she could pull out of the fridge for the boys. 

Like the white chocolate bread pudding, this is really just a template. You can tweak it to your liking or what you have on hand. Swap goat cheese for the cheddar and add asparagus for a springy variation. Forget the prosciutto and use feta and sundried tomatoes for a filling vegetarian take. The cheddar and prosciutto were delicious and easy, as I had them in my fridge.

Cheddar-Prosciutto Bread Pudding

Serves 4

2 cups whole milk

3 eggs

1/2 salt

1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

About 2 1/2 cups stale whole-wheat bread, crusts removed, torn into pieces

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided

4 slices prosciutto, torn into small pieces

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter the inside of a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan. Whisk together the milk, eggs, salt, and pepper. Add the torn bread to the custard mixture until there is little extra liquid lurking in the bowl. Fold in the 2/3 cup cheese and prosciutto. Pour into prepared baking pan. Sprinkle remaining 1/3 cup cheese over top. Bake for 1 hour, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve warm with a light green salad.

More Savory Bread Puddings

Cauliflower Bread Pudding

Bread Pudding with Spinach and Mushrooms

Mushroom and Radicchio Bread Pudding

Olive Oil Biscuits

Do you know what I just realized? I haven't posted a single biscuit recipe. How is that possible? I spent three months of my life eating, sleeping, and thinking about biscuits. Before I started working with Nathalie, I always turned my nose up at biscuits. I honestly wasn't even tempted by the trays stacked high with miniature ham-filled biscuits or the gigantic, fluffy ones at restaurants like Hominy Grill.

This was a sort of saving grace for me, as I have extreme difficulty passing on nearly any other baked good. Pound cake? I'm done. Oatmeal raisin cookies? No hope for me. But biscuits? I just found them, well, boring. It didn't help that I am not a devotee of Southern cooking. The collards, fried chicken, baked beans, and banana pudding that make up the core of Southern food really never drew me in. I find their flavors muddled and their heavy, artery-clogging nature utterly unappealing.

I put biscuits on the back burner in favor of scones. I first fell in love with scones when a second grade classmate brought in a rock-like batch that she had tie-dyed with blue and green food coloring; despite all of their flaws I was hooked. My love affair with scones has lasted since then, but my passion for biscuits didn't start until I tasted these olive oil biscuits early on last summer.

Julia, Nathalie, and I had been baking up a storm, testing every combination of flours, fats, and flavors we could think of. I grew to have a sort of indifference toward biscuits, but I didn't love them. One day, Julia, a recent Johnson and Wales graduate who loves healthy cooking as much as I do (hey! I swear I do...it's not always sweets central in my kitchen), suggested substituting olive oil for the butter in our biscuits. They were wonderful.

They don't have that characteristic flake that some of you may expect from good Souther biscuits, but their flavor is round and complex. They are quite savory, especially if you gild the lily by brushing a thin layer of salted butter on top, so they're a lovely base for a Mediterranean take on the breakfast sandwich: crisp up some pancetta, fry an egg, slather some pesto on the biscuit, and slice a fresh heirloom tomato and you're good to go.

Olive Oil Biscuits

Adapted from Southern Biscuits

Makes 12 biscuits

2 cups self-rising flour

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup 2% milk, divided

All-purpose flour, as needed

Salted butter, at room temperature, for brushing

Position the rack on the top shelf of the oven. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Whisk self-rising flour in a bowl to ensure no lumps remain. Pour the olive oil into 3/4 cup milk. Make a well in the flour and slowly pour the milk mixture into it. Stir in a figure-8 motion until the dough comes together. Add the remaining milk 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough is shaggy but cohesive. Dust your work surface with all-purpose flour and coat your hands. Fold the dough in half; pat it out into a 1/3- to 1/2-inch-thick round, using a little additional flour only if needed. Fold the dough in half a second time. If the dough is still clumpy, pat and fold a third time. Pat the dough out into a round 1/2-inch thick. Brush off any visible flour from the top. For each biscuit, dip a 2 1/2-inch biscuit cutter into the reserved 1/4 cup of flour; cut out the biscuits, pressing firmly, starting at the outside edge and cutting very close together, being careful not to twist the cutter. Transfer the biscuits to a baking sheet, each butting up against another. Bake for 10-14 minutes, until the biscuits are a light, honey color. Turn the biscuits out upside-down onto a plate. Turn over and brush with salted butter.

More Biscuit Recipes

Buttermilk Biscuits

Cheese Biscuits

Cream Cheese Biscuits

Caramelized Onion Tart

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm..........sometimes savory can be so much better than sweet. Just imagine it- melty cheese, golden onions, and flaky pastry. Tell me you aren't drooling. Caramelized onion tart is one of my favorite things to make for dinner parties. I can't remember if I've told you or not, but every week I host Sunday Supper.

Each sunday, a big group of my friends and I gather together, lately out in the grassy courtyard outside of my dorm, and eat. I can't think of anything I'd rather do than eat a delicious meal with all of my friends in the sun. There are some regular attendees, but I'm nearly always surprised by a new guest star every week. I try to mix things up, bringing out new recipes, not returning to a fall-back meal in order to avoid boring those who come again and again.

I've roasted chickens with sauteed zucchini and onions stuffed under the skins, and I've roasted them smothered in an Indian spiced yogurt sauce. I made my family's prize-winning chili and my favorite spaghetti bolognese. I whipped up a tomato and mozzarella couscous in a nod to the lovely spring weather. I even made a chicken and lemongrass stir-fry. Though I try to diversify my cooking, one dish has made the rounds a few times. One special meal has made it into the Sunday Supper hall of fame.

You guessed it. The caramelized onion tart! It is unbelievably simple to make. I almost feel embarrassed sharing the recipe with you to be honest. The nice thing is that you will likely have every single ingredient on hand. If you're feeling adventurous you can easily make your own crust, but, to be honest, people never notice the difference, so a good store-bought short crust pastry works equally well. If you feel super indulgent, you could even have some for breakfast. It's ok....I won't tell anyone. The flavor is rich and addictive. The salty cheese meets the sweet onions in a delightfully unctuous way, balancing the delicate crumble of the crust, all working together to make the perfect star of your next meal.

Caramelized Onion Tart
Serves 6

1 shortcrust pastry
2-3 tablespoons of butter
5 medium onions, thinly sliced
1 cup finely grated Grano Padano cheese
1 cup finely grated Gruyere cheese
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon water

Preheat the oven as directed on the pastry package. Roll out the pastry on a lightly greased baking sheet. Heat the butter in a skillet on medium heat. Add the sliced onions and cook on low heat until they are fragrant, soft, and a deep honey color. Sprinkle the Grano Padano cheese over top of the pastry, leaving a 1 inch border . Sprinkle the Gruyere on top. Scatter the onions over the cheese. Fold the edges over the onions. Whisk together the egg yolk and the water. Brush exposed pastry with egg mixture. Bake as directed on the pastry package.

More Savory Tarts
Onion, Cheese, and Bacon Tart
Carrot and Tarragon Tart
Potato, Feta, and Thyme Tart

Beer Bread

What To Do with a Straggler

So you’ve rushed back from Tesco, thrown your Innocent Bombay Curry in the fridge, and collapsed on the sofa for a relaxing evening watching The Inbetweeners. Halfway through, something catches your eye. One of your beers didn’t make it into the fridge; it is now room temperature, not exactly the refreshing accompaniment to your meal that you had hoped for. 

Of course, you could add it to your impressive collection, waiting four hours until it is perfectly frosty and ready to drink. Or you could whip up a loaf of beer bread. In under an hour. Now why hadn’t you thought of this before?

            Beer bread is a simple quick bread that takes minimal time and even less effort to make. Unlike a traditional French baguette or loaf of rye bread, beer bread is not leavened with yeast. Beer bread and other quick breads employ baking powder to help them rise. The yeast in the beer provides an additional lift, making beer bread light and airy and just what you want to mop up the last drops of lentil soup in your bowl.

            The sugar in beer bread is a wonderful contrast to the malt-y flavor of the beer, and only enhances the golden crispiness of the butter-drizzled crust. It is a very adaptable recipe and can be made in any shape, from a simple loaf to a round cake-like version to mini muffins so enticing no one will be able to resist sneaking one while the table is being set. 

Do you want to know the best part about it? You do not need a Grande Diplome from Le Cordon Bleu to make it. If you can turn on the oven, then you are less than 45 minutes away from the best thing since, well, sliced bread. Slather it with salted butter at dinner, or dollop it with jam and clotted cream at tea. Either way, you are in for a treat.

Beer Bread

Makes 1 loaf

375 grams or 3 cups all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons firmly packed light brown sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 12-oz. bottle beer, unopened and at room temperature

57 grams or 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus extra for greasing

Preheat oven to 190 degrees celcius or 375 degrees farenheit. Grease a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan. In a bowl, stir together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt. Open the beer and add it all at once; it will foam up. Stir briskly just until combined, about 20 strokes. The batter should be slightly lumpy. Pour into the prepared loaf pan and drizzle with the melted butter. Bake until the top is crusty and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 35-40 minutes. Let rest in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn the loaf out onto a rack. Serve warm or at room temperature the day it is made. Cut into thick slices and accompany with plenty of butter.

More Easy Breads
Buttermilk Biscuits
Olive Gouda Quick Bread

Goat Butter Biscuits

Bagels

So I told you about the joys of yeast the other day. But I didn't actually share a recipe for any breads that use yeast. That is not fair at all. How could I do that to you? Well, I'm going to make it up to you today. I am going to give you a recipe that might just change your life.

Ok, ok. It probably can't do that. It will, however, brighten your day. I realize that this is an awfully ambitious recipe for me to share with you as our first yeast bread, but it is so worth it. My dad, king of the bagels, declared these to be the best bagels he's ever had. It is so difficult to get a good bagel in Charleston. So many of them are dense and bready and entirely flavorless.

In fact, I haven't had any really delicious bagels outside of New York. I actually read an article about a man who hypothesized that it is New York's water that makes all the difference. He recreated the pH and the mineral composition of New York's water and ended up with a very tasty bagel that rivaled those in the big apple. While this isn't exactly the kind you'd find in a deli or at a street cart in the city, it is awfully yummy.

Each one is a bit different in shape, but it is endearing actually. I had a great time playing around with the flavors of the bagels, experimenting with toppings. Some got a sprinkle of cheddar cheese. A few got black sesame seeds, while others received a handful of white sesame seeds. My sweet tooth got the best of me, resulting in a couple with a brown sugar topping. And to please the traditionalists in my house, I made some with sea salt and some with poppy seeds. They are the perfect blank canvas.

Bagels

Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Bread

Makes 12 bagels

4 teaspoons active dry yeast

2 tablespoons sugar, divided

2 cups warm water, divided

5 1/2 cups bread flour, divided

1 tablespoon salt

2 tablespoons canola oil

Cooking spray

1 tablespoon baking soda

1 egg white beaten with 1 tablespoon water until foamy

Desired toppings (cheese, salt, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, cinnamon sugar, etc)

Mix the yeast, a pinch of the sugar, and 1/2 cup of the water together in a small bowl. Let stand for 5 minutes until it is foamy. Whisk 2 cups of the flour, the remaining sugar, and the salt together in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the remaining 1 1/2 cups of the water and the canola oil and beat to combine. Add the yeast mixture and another cup of the flour, beating for one minute until the mixture is creamy and smooth. 1/2 cup at a time, add the remaining 2 1/2 cups of flour. Beat until the dough is cohesive and forms a ball. Replace the paddle attachment with the dough hook and knead for 6 minutes. Transfer to a well-oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled in bulk, about an hour. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and spray lightly with the vegetable spray. Divide the dough into 4 portions on a lightly floured surface. Cut each portion into 3 smaller pieces, shaping each piece into a ball. Create a hole in the center of each ball and place on a baking sheet. Spray the bagels with vegetable oil cooking spray and let rise for 20 minutes more. Bring a large pot of water (4-6 quarts) to a boil, and add the baking soda. Lower the heat so the water is only gently boiling; preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Place 3 bagels into the water. After 2 minutes, flip bagels over and allow to boil for 2 minutes more. Repeat with the other bagels. Set the bagels on the baking sheets lined with parchment paper and brush with the egg white mixture. Sprinkle each bagel with the desired toppings. Bake for 15 minutes, or until the bagels are a deep, honey color. Toast bagels before serving and spread with butter, cream cheese, or jam.

More Special Breakfast Recipes

Baked Lemon Doughnuts

Dutch Baby Pancakes

Gold Toast French Toast

CSA Vegetable Pizza

I know it. I've fooled you. I have led all of you to believe that the only things I make are sweet. In fact, you probably even think that the only things that you can bake are desserts. I, myself, began to believe it. I knew that I needed to shake myself out of the pattern, and I thought you'd appreciate a change of pace.

For my internship, I spend my days testing recipes. Many, many of them have been biscuit recipes, and all of them have been splendid. Nathalie is incredibly generous, and she has let me contribute a few recipes for her column in the newspaper. The article that she's working on for next week is about CSAs; for those of you who don't know, a CSA is a community of individuals who pledge support to a farm operation where the growers and consumers share the risks and benefits of food production, usually consisting of a system of weekly delivery or pick-up of vegetables and fruit in a vegetable box scheme, sometimes including dairy products and meat.

She requested that we develop a few recipes that would employ a number of the vegetables that were in her box. Julia created some lovely pickles and crunchy, addicting kale chips. I decided to make a Thai Cucumber Salad and a pizza. I wanted the pizza to use as many of the vegetables as it could, as my salad only used the cucumbers. In the end, I decided on a Eggplant, Squash, and Zucchini Pizza with Sauteed Mustard Greens.

Oh my lord. I hate to toot my own horn, but boy was this tasty. The ricotta base of the pizza was a wonderful partner for the vegetables, which became succulent and sweet in the oven, and the sauteed mustard greens were salty and a bit robust. The mozzarella added structure and tradition, and the little drizzle of homemade garlic basil oil on top really livened things up. This pizza was so good that I made a second batch and proceeded to eat another whole pizza!

CSA Vegetable Pizza

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling over pizza

1/2 bunch mustard greens, de-ribbed and roughly chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

Unbaked pizza crust

Salt and pepper

1 cup ricotta

1 small eggplant, sliced

1 small zucchini, sliced

1 small squash, sliced

8 oz fresh mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced

1 egg, optional

Preheat oven to 500°. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-low heat. Add the greens and garlic and sauté over medium-low heat until soft and slightly wilted. Remove from heat and set aside. Prepare pizza crust, as directed, and transfer to a rimless cookie sheet. Drizzle crust with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spread the ricotta over the pizza crust. Arrange the eggplant, zucchini, and squash in a single layer on the crust. Arrange the mozzarella slices on top of the vegetables. Place pizza in oven and bake 6 minutes. Scatter mustard greens over pizza and crack egg onto the center of pizza, if using. Return to oven for about 6 minutes longer, or until the crust is golden, the cheese is bubbly, and the egg has cooked. Transfer to a cutting board; slice and serve hot.

More Pizza Recipes

Potato Leek Pizza

Quattro Formaggi Pizza

Rustic Fig and Goat Cheese Pizza