Monthly Archives: February 2011

Apple and Brie Tart Recipe

I love making rectangular tarts. They look great and are really easy to slice and serve. I also love brie cheese in deserts. When it melts into fruit (and/or nuts) it turns slightly more sweet and has an amazing creaminess. Baking really opens it up!

Recipe: One recipe Shortbread Crust pressed into a 13 3/4″ X 4 1/2″ Tart pan

Preheat oven to 350F

filling:
1 large apple (cubed)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
3 tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
2 tbsp chestnut spread (optional)

Topping:
2 large apples (quartered and sliced thin)
3-4 ounces of brie (cut into 4-5, 4″ long slices)
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
pinch of ground ginger

For filling: melt butter in small skillet on medium/low heat. Add apples and saute until soft. Toss in brown sugar and all spices/salt/extract/chestnut spread and continue to saute for about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit until just warm to touch.

For the topping:
Slice the apples into quarters and then slice each quarter into very thin slices. Set aside.
Combine sugar, vanilla and spices (mixture should be rough and crumbly).

Assembly:
Portion out the filling in the bottom of the tart. Starting at the top of the pan and working your way to the back add a slab of brie and then a quarter of the apple slices ‘fanned out’ then another slice of brie and repeat. you may have to adjust the apples to fit everything into the tart. Once all apple slices and brie are portioned on top of the tart sprinkle the sugar/spice mixture down the center of the tart. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the tart crust just starts to brown.

Arganica Farm Club delivers at 6:05am

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So I signed up through LivingSocial for 6 months of Arganica Farm Club local food delivery. Basically the company supplies the washington DC and Virginia area with home delivered ‘locally’ grown food. You get an order once a week.

The main reason I tried this out is because the Harris Teeter near my home (the one at Pentagon Row) has some of the shittiest and most expensive produce i’ve ever seen. Seriously, Whole Foods is cheaper (and, of course, better).
I looked over their prices, did the math, and realized that I would actually SAVE about 10% on produce if I went with Arganica. Plus the added bonus of having it delivered to my door… the only downside is that my delivery window appears to be 6:05am on Sunday morning. Oh well, there are worse things in life than waking up to a rustic wooden box full of beautiful fruits and vegetables :-)

A couple notes about Arganica. The vegetables appear be very high quality. I also ordered eggs, butter, bacon and milk. The milk, apparently, sold out… because none showed up with my order. The butter is no better than the Kelly’s Irish butter you can get at any supermarket (for about 20cents cheaper), the eggs are comparable in price and quality to organic eggs at the super market, but the bacon is absolutely fantastic (very rich and fatty with a great spice rub).

In a couple weeks i’ll order some more veggies and (hopefully) some delicious local milk in a glass bottle…

rice pudding with coconut and cardamom recipe

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Mmmmm…. Rice pudding is awesome. Especially when you make it with coconut milk. it gives it this subtle coconut flavor and a nice fatty deliciousness that is coconut fat. its good. Throw in just a little sugar and sprinkle with cinnamon and cardamom and its rice pudding time!

Recipe:

1 can coconut milk
2 cups jasmine rice
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup shredded coconut (optional)
1 tsp cardamom (optional)
1tbsp cinnamon

Pour the can of coconut milk into a measuring cup. Add water until you can measure 3 total cups of liquid. Pour liquid into pot and bring it to boil (mix to make sure nothing gets burned on the bottom). Add rice, reduce heat to a simmer and cover pot. 15-20 minutes and the rice is done. Let rice cool till warm (45 min). While its still in the pot mix in sugar, milk and shredded coconut (optional). Recover rice and let sit for 1 hour. Serve with cinnamon and cardamom!

Lazy Sunday Afternoon Working Through WP Theme Issues

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Click to see full photo…

A Lazy Saturday Afternoon with an Octopus

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I got this great Octopus at Harris Teeter a few weeks ago with the intention on photographic it at some point. It had been sitting in my freezer when my weekend plans got thrown to the wind… so I pulled the old octopus out of the freezer and set up a fun photo session with my buddy Shawn.
Everything was fine until I decided to move the octopus (inside the large glass container) to the bathtub without supporting it from beneath… so of course the glass cylinder fell and the entire thing shattered across my living room floor… my carpets got soaked in octopus water (about 3 gallons). We cleaned up the water and glass pretty quick but my carpets still smell kind of fishy.
Anyway, we eventually finished the shoot in the bathroom and got some great shots of the octopus in the tub. A very satisfying Saturday afternoon!