apples

Chipotle Kicks This Thin-Crusted Apple Tart Where You Least Expect It

15 Oct 2011
Thin-Crusted Apple Tart

Thin-Crusted Apple Tart with Chipotle Chili Powder. Yep, I’m smiling. But then again I geek out about this stuff, you know I do. I love unexpected ingredients.

It started with sea salt and caramel (back in the day). Salt on candy? Ewwwwe. No. Thank. You.

Then of course you tasted it. Suddenly all you thought you knew about life, mankind and our place in the continuum of the universe got kicked in the… um… well… below the belt.

From there it was like a house of cards– played too high and built too close to the slamming door. Crash and tumble. Screams and giggles. Pretty soon you were putting vinegar on strawberries, and squeezing limejuice onto corn. What would be next chocolate and chilies?

So when I saw this tart recipe in the LA Times I did not even blink an eye. Of course smoky, spicy chipotle powder BELONGS on an apple tart, right? Apples have always played nicely with cinnamon and spice. It just turns out its latest playmate is not that nice. Nope, devious chipotle doesn’t mind creeping up on you and biting you where you least expect.

Which is what I love about this recipe. The chipotle kick is subtle and sophisticated and downright addicting. But it’s a kick you won’t soon forget.

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Thin-Crusted Apple Tart with Chipotle Chili Powder

Apple Tart with Chipotle Chili
By jgreghenry Published October 14, 2011
Prep time: 5
Yield:1 (Servings)

Ingredients:

  • 1 flour
  • 0.5 t plus 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
  • 0.5 c unsalted butter, cut into ¼-inch cubes and chilled
  • 4 T ice water
  • 1 lemon, juice only
  • 4 apples, preferably gravenstein
  • 3 T melted butter
  • 3 T sugar
  • 1 t ground cinnamon
  • 0.125 t ground clove
  • 0.125 t ground nutmeg
  • 0.125 t chipotle chili powder
  • 3 T warm hot pepper jelly

Directions

In a large bowl, combine the flour with one-half teaspoon salt. Add the chilled butter cubes and use a pastry cutter or fork to work the butter into the flour, forming an even crumb. Work quickly so the butter stays cold. Drizzle over 3 tablespoons of ice water and mix quickly with a fork, careful not to overmix. The dough may not come together completely; this is fine. However, if the dough feels especially dry, drizzle over up to 1 additional tablespoon of ice water. Place the dough in the center of a large sheet of plastic wrap. Pull the edges of the plastic wrap around the dough, pressing the dough into a disk. Seal tightly and refrigerate until chilled, at least 1 hour. While the dough is chilling, fill a medium bowl half full with water and add the lemon juice. Peel the apples and halve them lengthwise. Core the apples with a sharp knife or melon baller and trim the ends. Place the apples in the acidulated water as they are peeled and trimmed so they do not brown. Cut the apples lengthwise into very thin (one-sixteenth inch) slices, and return to the water. Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Sprinkle your work surface generously with flour. Roll out the dough into an 11-inch circle; the dough will be about one-eighth-inch thick. Carefully transfer to a nonstick, rimmed baking pan. Turn up the outer edge of the circle of dough to form a one-half-inch rim. Use the tines of a fork to press the rim into place and to prick the tart in several places. Drain the apples, shaking them vigorously to remove excess water. Set the apples out on a dish towel to dry. Arrange a circle of overlapping apple slices at the far edge of the dough. Add a second circle inside the first and a third inside the second. Finish with a small circle of apples in the center. You may not use all the apples. Using a pastry brush, coat the apples and outer rim of the dough with the 3 tablespoons of melted butter. In a small bowl, combine the sugar, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, chipotle chili powder and remaining one-eighth teaspoon of salt. Sprinkle the mixture over the apples. Bake the tart until the apples are tender and the crust is golden brown, 40 to 45 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool for 5 minutes. Set the tart on a serving plate and gently brush the top of it with the warm pepper jelly. Cut the tart into wedges and serve immediately.
Source: Adapted from Michele Anna Jordan

Sup! Loves Cookbooks: Made In America

06 Oct 2011
Made In America

I like to give my thoughts on new cookbooks from time to time here at Sippity Sup. And that's sorta what I plan to do today.

The new cookbook currently in my hands is from Lucy Lean. It’s called Made In America: Our Best Chefs Reinvent Comfort Food. It’s a visually stunning book, introduced by Joseph Bastianch and filled with American recipes from this country’s greatest cooks. A bushel of the best in fact. I quit counting at 50 and there were still loads left to count.

This book is filled with great recipes reinterpreted by great chefs– just as you would expect. But there are stories attached too. Stories about food, sure, but also stories from the lives of your favorite cooks.

The kind of stories you fantasize hearing as you sit around a big communal table at one amazing dinner party.

Which got me thinking. What sort of story would I contribute to a meal such as this? Well, as I was thumbing through the book, I came across an Apple Chess Pie (pg 310) from Evan Kleiman of Los Angeles’ iconic Angeli café. I knew immediately I would be making that pie for you today and sharing my story about Angeli café– a restaurant that holds a special place in my heart.

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Apple Chess Pie

Apple Chess Pie
By jgreghenry Published October 6, 2011
Prep time: 120
Yield:1 (Servings)

Ingredients:

  • 1 (11-inch) round of rolled out pie dough
  • 5 sweet juicy apples, such as golden delicious or fuji, peeled, cored and sliced (no too thick)
  • 1 T all-purpose flour
  • 2 T brown sugar
  • 1 pn salt
  • 3 large eggs
  • 0.5 c granulated sugar
  • 8 T melted, unsalted butter
  • 2 T freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1 T fine corn flour
  • 1 pn ground cinnamon

Directions

Once the dough is rolled out, gently fold it in half, and in one movement lift it off the rolling surface and into the pie pan. Unfold the dough circle and gently ease into an 8 or 9-inch pie pan; do not stretch the dough. When it heats up in baking, it will bounce back. If there is excess dough hanging over the lip of the pie pan, simply fold the dough so that the rim of the pan supports it. You can then either crimp the edge with the tines of a fork or flute the edge with your fingers. Refrigerate or freeze for at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Remove the piecrust from the refrigerator or freezer. Mix the sliced apples with the brown sugar and arrange then in the cold crust. Cover the pie, including the fluted edge. tightly with aluminum foil. Place in the oven and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the apples are just tender when pierced with a knife.

While the pie is baking, make the chess pie custard. Whisk the eggs, sugar, melted butter, lemon juice, corn flour, and cinnamon together until well blended.

When the apples are done, remove the foil. Don't be scared of the amount of juice you may see, the custard will bind the juice. Pour the custard over the apples using a knife to help the custard fill the gaps.

Return the pie to the oven, uncovered. Bake until the custard is set, the top is dotted with deep golden brown spots, and the crust is done, 15 to 20 minutes. Serve warm or chilled.

Source: Made in America

Meat & Potatoes: Satisfyingly Sweet and Savory Molasses Roasted Pork Tenderloin

18 Feb 2010
Roasted pork tenderloin with sweet potatoes and apples

This is the fourth day of Meat & Potatoes. Which is a lot of these hearty starchy partners, I know. But I have promised a week of these satisfying meals– so plod on I must!

We started with a traditional Pot Roast. Well, not that traditional, because I roasted my veggies separate and gave the sauce a big swig of vinegar. Thus improving both the taste and texture of this one-dish-wonder.

Speaking of traditions. The French have a Lamb & Potatoes gratin of sorts that they call Lamb Champvallon. In Day 2 I tweeked tradition, re-wrote history and updated my version with a bold new spice and boneless chunks of succulent lamb.

So as not to appear ready to re-write the culinary history of just one country. I also let loose my imagination on the Scots. They have a traditional side dish made with Turnips & Potatoes that they call Neeps & Tatties. Well, Sippity Sup was named after a nursery rhyme afterall, so it just made sense to translate the lyrical nature in that phrase for my selfish purposes. So I came up with Neeps & Tattie-Cakes, making my version reminiscent of another great bit a children's verse. I chose to serve these Tattie-Cakes with Zinfandel Braised Short Ribs.

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