Key Lime Tarts

I got schoolgirl giddy when I passed by a sign at a local bakery that read, "KEY LIME SEASON IS HERE!" O.M.G. Key Lime Pie. WOOOT! If you've ever tasted key lime pie, and I mean real key lime pie (you know, with key limes) you know there's almost nothing that can beat that lip-puckering tart/sweet combo. Regular limes just don't cut it.

The thing about key limes is that they are annoyingly small. To get a good cup of juice you have to go through the agony of squeezing about 2 pounds worth of limes. Without the aid of a juicer or reamer, it can be a bit of a nightmare. Of course, I have neither. I found it helpful to slice the key limes in half and first press them in a bowl with the palm of my hand, to get most of the juice out, then tackle the last few squeezes with my fingertips.

The Secret to Dating a Chef

Dating a chef is tough. They seem to always be working on those "romantic holidays"... you know, Christmas, New Years Eve, and of course... Valentine's Day. So instead of sitting around and moping about it (which I felt myself starting to do yesterday), I got in the kitchen and made him a little midnight snack for when he got home:

Do something sweet for your luvvy. It doesn't have to be Valentine's Day.

Recipe is here.

Enjoy :)

Dark Chocolate Espresso Soufflés

If heaven were a dessert (I like to think that my heaven would be full of tasty treats), this would be it. Even Quentin, who doesn't usually like desserts or chocolate, goes into the kitchen to grab himself a spoon. For me, the crispy crackling top, gooey interior surrounded by an airy cake-like exterior and a crystal sugar crust make the soufflé one of the most texturally intriguing things I have ever put in my mouth. Every bite is different. Every bite is delicious.

I always thought that the intimidating soufflé was a little far out of my league. I haven't been cooking for that long, and I've heard horror stories of soufflés that never rose, ones that toppled over into a hot mess, and some that went plummeting once the oven door was opened. I wanted to really test my skills, so I gave it a shot.

I originally got the recipe from Cooking for Engineers, and the first time I made them, they came out perfectly, with their crisp tops rising above the fluffiness beneath. It wasn't so hard. Maybe I just got lucky. I tried the recipe again. Once more, they came out with their crowns held high. Then I started to experiment with the ingredients. I think that's how a lot of cooks, chefs, and food lovers come up with their own recipes. Test. Tweak. Re-test.

So here's how I came to mine. One day, I tried making them with whole milk (I was out of heavy cream) and cinnamon. I loved the lighter, more airy texture, but the cinnamon gave you too much of the "holiday" feeling, and I just wasn't feeling it. I tried it again, this time with the heavy cream, and a packet of Starbuck's Via instant coffee. It was good, but Starbuck's coffee sometimes leaves me with a burnt taste in the back of my mouth, and it did the same with the soufflés. I recently tested the recipe with instant espresso powder, fleur de sel, and fermented milk (not spoiled milk, actual, bought-from-the-store-fermented milk) just to see what it would do. Yeah, not doing that again. It wasn't horrible, but the fermented milk gave it a tang that was not what I wanted in my soufflé. 

I thought long and hard about what I liked and didn't like about each of my soufflé experiments. I loved the lightness of the soufflés that I made with the whole milk. The instant espresso really brought out the chocolate flavor in another batch I made, and the fleur de sel sprinkled on top were like little flavor bursts that enhanced all of the chocolatey flavors as the salt melted on your tongue. So here it is... my Ultimate Soufflé.

Dark Chocolate Espresso Soufflés

2oz (60ml) whole milk

8oz (230g) dark chocolate, chopped

1 tablespoon (14g) unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing ramekins

1 teaspoon instant espresso powder

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 egg yolks

5 egg whites

1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/3 cup (70g) superfine sugar, plus extra for dusting ramekins

fleur de sel, to taste (you can find fleur de sel at many specialty food stores, such as Williams-Sonoma)

Preheat oven to 375° Fahrenheit (190° Celsius). 

Grease the bottom and sides of four (4-inch wide by 2-inch deep) ramekins with butter and dust completely with sugar, being sure to knock off any excess. 

Separate the eggs into two bowls, one for the yolks, and one for the whites. Be sure to use the freshest eggs possible, as that will insure fluffy egg whites.

In a double boiler, or a large bowl over a pot of simmering water (make sure bottom of the pot does not touch the water) melt together the butter, milk, chocolate, vanilla, and espresso powder. Remove the bowl from the heat just before the chocolate has completely melted, so as not to scorch the chocolate. Stir until all of the chocolate has melted and let cool for about 3 minutes. Add the egg yolks one at a time and whisk to combine, making sure that all of the yolks are completely incorporated into the batter.

In a large bowl, beat the egg whites and the cream of tartar together with a hand mixer. Once the egg whites start form soft peaks, add the 1/3 cup (70g) of sugar and continue to beat until the egg whites form stiff peaks. *To test for peak stiffness, lift the beaters out of the egg whites and turn upwards, with the beaters facing the ceiling. For soft peaks, the tips of the egg whites will droop. For stiff peaks, the tips of the egg whites will stand pointed and firm.

Add 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and fold gently to combine. Once combined, continue with another 1/3 of the egg whites, again, folding in gently. Add the last 1/3 of the egg whites and without over mixing, fold into the batter.

Pour into ramekins and fill completely to the top. For a nice even top, fill the ramekins a little more than completely full, and use the flat edge of a spatula or back of a knife to even off the top (much like you would do when measuring flour).

Bake in the center rack of the oven for 15 minutes, being sure not to open the oven door until they are finished! Sprinkle the tops of the soufflés with fleur de sel, and serve immediately. Serves 4-8(two can share one).

*On a healthier note, yesterday was day one of my LifeGreens programme bien être (well-being program). Don't worry, I will still post some cakes and not-so healthy recipes here and there... but since I've moved away from the processed foods and cheeseburger-filled diet that was my life in the States, I've noticed quite a large shift in the way I'm eating. Living in a country where the overall eating mentality is not about counting calories or eating low-fat this or non-fat that, but about the quality and freshness of the food you eat; I have decided to mirror my efforts on eating well, and improving my overall well-being.

My friend Jules, CEO of LifeGreens, introduced me to his LifeGreens blé en herbe (wheat grass) supplements a few months ago. I noticed the wheat grass trend growing in the States, and it is seems to just now be breaking through here in France. In the States, I've watched people down unappetizing cups of freshly pressed wheat grass like a shot of grain alcohol, nose plugged, eyes closed. Yum. But with smoothie shops and juice bars popping up all over the place here, it's only a matter of time before wheat grass shots become a must-have on the menu.

I was apprehensive about trying Jules' supplements, but he explained to me how his product actually tastes better, and is easier to incorporate into my diet than the unappealing shot of green muck. LifeGreens supplements are winter wheat grass in powdered form, mixed with papaya enzyme, which aides in digestion and absorption by the body. I think the papaya also makes it a little more palatable. You can mix the LifeGreens blé en herbe with fruit juices, in recipes, or just in a glass of cold water. I could go on to explaining the details, but all the information is on the website, so you can check it out here. To all my non-French speaking readers, sorry! The site is completely in French, but Google Translate seems to work fairly well.

Day one (yesterday), I had it with a glass of water and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. Not bad.

This morning, I mixed it in a glass of orange juice... much better.

I'm interested to see how the daily addition of LifeGreens along with healthy eating, exercise (hopefully), and meditation will improve my well-being. Check back to see how I'm doing!

Tart Tuesday: Veulettes and a Tarte aux Mûres (Blackberry Tart)

This past weekend I got my first taste of the French countryside... both literally and figuratively. Our friend Jules (who also was kind enough to host my birthday party) and his family have a country house, or compound rather, in the coastal town of Veulettes sur Mer. It's located in the Normandy region on the coast of France, about 2 hours northwest of Paris. They share the compound with his whole family, aunts, uncles, and grandmother, each with their own home, a shared pool, trampoline, game house, etc.

We spent the weekend basking in the sun and eating our hearts out. We jumped like little kids on the big trampoline, and drank the night away. One of the best parts about this time of year is that it's blackberry season. If picking almost 3 kilos (almost 6 1/2 pounds) of blackberries with Quentin and his mother in the forest behind their apartment (just the day before, mind you) wasn't enough, Veulettes was loaded with unpicked bushes of the tart little morsels. We picked enough to make a tart (and a little extra)... you know, since we didn't already have tons of food... and went back to the house to look up some recipes. I came across one recipe which called for créme fraîche and since we just bought some of the most delicious créme fraîche from the supermarket that morning, I thought it would only make the tart that much better.

The tart was delicious. Blackberries taste so much better when you pick them yourself. It's probably due to all the hard work that goes into picking them... since they have super sharp thorns and tend grow alongside massive bushes of poison ivy (eek!). It's sooo worth it.

I didn't actually get a chance to take pictures of the tart we made in Veulettes... it was just so good, and  disappeared so quickly. So I went back into the forest when we got back to Bougival, and picked my way through the thorns and poison ivy to get enough blackberries to make one more tart. I added some lemon zest to this one, to brighten up the flavors even more.

So in honor of the blackberry, I'm substituting Tartine Tuesday with Tart Tuesday... it just seems fitting.

Tarte aux Mûres (Blackberry Tart)

Pâte Brisée (Pastry Dough):

250g flour

125g room temperature butter

1 egg yolk
pinch of salt

water

Cut room temperature butter into small pieces. In a large bowl, add flour and a pinch of salt. Stir to combine. Add the pieces of softened butter to the flour. Using your fingertips, loosely incorporate butter into flour just until the butter/flour mixture becomes flaky. 

Add the egg yolk into the bowl. Begin gradually incorporating the flour into the egg yolk with your fingertips and add a little water if necessary. Mix until all the flour is incorporated into the dough, and you are able to form it into a ball. Be careful not to overwork the dough. Wrap ball of dough in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. 

Once dough has rested, roll out in a circle wide enough to fit an 11-inch tart pan.

Filling:

600g blackberries

1/2 cup créme fraîche (if you don't have access to créme fraîche, I guess you could use sour cream... *sigh*... just make sure it's full fat, none of that low fat stuff!)

1/2 cup milk

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon flour

1 egg

zest of 1 lemon

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).

Wash blackberries in a colander and set aside. Line an 11-inch tart pan with pâte brisée (pastry dough) and arrange the blackberries on top. In one bowl, whisk the milk and créme fraîche together until there are no more lumps of créme fraîche. In another bowl, combine sugar, brown sugar, lemon zest, and flour. Stir to combine. Add egg and mix into the flour/sugar mixture. Finally, add milk/créme fraîche mixture into the flour/sugar/egg mixture and whisk to combine. Pour the mixture over the berries. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Serves 6.