Roasted Tomato and Zucchini Tarts

Backyard dinners have a whole new life this summer. With the COVID raging its way through the US, we’ve basically taken to imagining the backyard as a little-known, outdoor cafe where you can escape for a leisurely, relaxing meal beneath the redwoods. The suspension of disbelief gets us through the cooking and the eating; it’s the cleaning and doing dishes bit where the fantasy starts to crumble.

Melissa Clark’s recipes continue to rock my world. These tarts are very summery and worked well with David Lebovitz’s Fennel, Radish, Orange and Crab Salad.

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE CRUSTS

• ¾ cup (97 grams) all-purpose flour
• ½ cup (77 grams) whole-wheat flour
• ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
• 10 tablespoons (1¼ sticks / 141 grams) unsalted butter, cold, cut into cubes, plus more for greasing
• 1 large egg yolk
• 2 tablespoons ice water, plus more as needed

FOR THE FILLING

• 1 pound zucchini, trimmed and cut into ½-inch cubes
• 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
• 1½ teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
• ¾ teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more as needed
• Freshly ground black pepper, as needed
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• ½ cup (4 ounces) fresh whole-milk ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons mixed chopped fresh herbs, such as parsley, thyme, and chives
• 1 small garlic clove, finely grated or minced
• 5 tablespoons (1¼ ounces) finely grated Parmesan cheese

1. Make the crusts: Using the ingredients listed above, prepare the crust according to the directions on this page, adding the egg yolk along with the ice water. Gather the dough into a ball and then form it into a disk. Wrap the disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 1 hour. (Note that this sticky dough comes together best in the food processor—which distributes the butter and egg more evenly—but you can do it by hand.)
2. Heat the oven to 375°F.
3. Grease 8 cups of a standard 12-cup muffin tin, leaving the other 4 cups ungreased (or use two 6-cup pans). Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces, shape each one into a golf ball–size sphere, and roll each ball out to form a ⅛-inch-thick round. Press each round into a greased muffin cup and lightly crimp the edges. Nestle a second muffin pan on top of the first to help weight down the crusts. (If you don’t have a second muffin tin, crumple up balls of foil and place them in each dough-lined muffin cup instead; the goal here is to keep the pastry from shrinking too much.) Transfer the muffin tin(s) to the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Remove the top tin (or foil balls) and continue to bake until the bottom of each crust is just dry to the touch, about 5 minutes more. Transfer the muffin tin to a wire rack to cool.
4. Prepare the filling: While crusts cool, raise the oven temperature to 400°F.
5. In a bowl, toss the zucchini and tomatoes with the rosemary, salt, pepper, and oil. Spread the mixture out on a rimmed baking sheet and roast it, tossing the vegetables occasionally, until they are tender and light golden, about 25 minutes.
6. In a small bowl, whisk together the ricotta, egg, mixed herbs, and garlic. Season with a large pinch each of salt and pepper.
7. Spoon an equal amount of the ricotta mixture (about a heaping tablespoon) into each cooled crust. Top the ricotta with the roasted vegetables. Sprinkle the Parmesan over the top. Transfer the muffin tin to the oven and bake until the tarts are bubbling and golden, about 25 minutes. Cool slightly before serving.

From Dinner in French by Melissa Clark

Pork Tenderloin with Juniper Berries, Sage and Garlic Potatoes with Green Beans

Pork with Juniper Berries

One of my favorite aspects about being home for several weeknights in a row is that I get to make nice dinners.  I scour my various cooking magazine subscriptions in the evenings and try to pick something I think Bri would love to come home to the next night.  Tonight’s offering from Saveur is absolutely amazing.  It’s a super flavorful Italian dish from the Umbria Region.  It’s a little complicated, but well worth it.

I’m on a continued quest to lose weight so I made severe adjustments to the amount of oil used.  We couldn’t tell the difference.

FILETO di MAIALE con BACCHE di GINEPRO (Pork with Juniper Berries)

For the Potatoes

• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 large russet potatoes
• 12 oz green beans, washed and trimmed
• 1 ½ Tbsp minced sage
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• Kosher salt, and freshly ground black pepper to taste

For the Pork

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 4 oz pancetta
• 1 1 lb pork tenderloin
• kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1 Tbsp juniper berries
• 4 sprigs rosemary
• 4 sprigs thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup chicken stock

1. Make the potatoes: Heat oil in a 12″ skillet over medium-high.  Cook potatoes until golden, 10-12 minutes.  Stir in green beans, sage garlic, salt and pepper.  Reduce heat to medium; cook covered until potatoes are tender, 6-8 minutes.  Transfer to a bowl ; keep warm
2. Make the pork:  Wipe skillet clean and heat olive oil over medium-high.  Cook pancetta until crisp, 2-3 minutes.  Using slotted spoon, transfer to a plate lined with paper towels.  Season pork with salt and pepper; cook, turning as needed until browned, 8-10 minutes.  Add junior berries, rosemary, thyme, bay leaves and garlic and cook 1-2 minutes.  Add wine; stirring and scraping up browned bits from bottom of skillet, until evaporated, 12-15 minutes.  Add stock; boil.  Reduce heat to medium; cook, slightly covered until an instant read thermometer inserted into pork reads 145 degrees F.  Let pork rest 5 minutes, then slice ½” thick; divide between plates.  Simmer sauce until thickened, 10-12 minutes.  Discard herbs and stir in reserved pancetta, salt pepper; spoon over pork.  Service with potatoes and green beans.