Erica

Pear Frangipane Tart

November 28, 2012 by Erica

Look familiar?

Yes… I posted a picture of this tart in the oven on Facebook a few weeks ago now. Sorry for not sharing it before! I made it for a Thanksgiving party, but the truth is, it’s probably more appropriate for Christmas. So now, rather than being late for Thanskgiving, I’m early for Christmas. I love the way that works!

Have you ever had frangipane? It is a sugary, creamy almond paste that is often layered under fruit in tarts. It’s probably one of the most delicious things on earth, especially if you’re a marzipan lover, like me. I was veeeery skeptical about a frangipane without eggs, but I was proven wrong. Granted it’s been a while since I last baked a pear frangipane tart, but I don’t think you can tell this one is vegan!

This is definitely a tart for those with a sweet tooth (kind of the opposite of the cranberry walnut one). I HIGHLY recommend baking it around the holidays to impress your guests!

For such a pretty and fancy tart, I didn’t take any pictures of the finished product on a serving dish. Sorry. That was mostly because I was driving it across town to a friend’s house, and there was no way I was taking it out of the springform pan before the car ride… no way. (On a side note, does anyone have any tips for transporting pies/cakes in the car? I did a lot of driving around with pies on the floor over Thanksgiving weekend, and it seemed VERY risky.)

Back to baking. One big recommendation here: Use white sugar in the frangipane. I used natural cane sugar in mine, and it turned out the granules were too coarse. You can notice in the pictures that the frangipane looks a bit grainy when baked. It still tasted amazing, but if I were to do it again, I would use white granulated sugar. I’ve never used superfine sugar, but that might be an option for an even creamier texture.

America’s Test Kitchen has a great post on the secrets to assembling a pear frangipane tart. I recommend checking it out before you get started!

Oh, and coring your pears with an ice cream scoop totally does the trick!

Crust and tart recipes are from the Post Punk Kitchen! Feel free to use this crust or a regular pastry crust.

4.5 from 2 reviews

Pear Frangipane Tart

Hands-on time

2 hours

Cook time

1 hour

Total time

3 hours

Author: Coffee & Quinoa

Yields: 10

Ingredients

FOR THE CRUST:
2/3 cup slivered almonds
1 cup all purpose flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
6 Tbsp canola oil
4 Tbsp cold almond milk
FOR THE TART:
6 Tbsp Earth Balance, cut into pieces
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 cup blanched sliced almonds
2 Tbsp cornstarch
pinch salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2/3 cup plain unsweetened almond milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
4 pears (Bartlet or Bosc), peeled, halved, cored and sliced thinly crosswise
1/4 cup apricot jam, melted

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a tart pan, springform pan or pie dish with cooking spray.
First, prepare the crust. In a food processor, pulse almonds into a fine meal. Add flour and salt and pulse to combine. Stream in canola oil and 3 Tbsp of almond milk while continuing to pulse. Mixture should hold together when pressed between your fingertips; if it still feels a little dry, mix in one more additional Tbsp of almond milk at a time.
Sprinkle almond mixture into prepared pan and press to the bottom and sides. Press the crust as far up the sides as you can to hold in the filling.
Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Remove and allow to cool while you prepare the filling, but keep oven at 350.
To make the frangipane, process almonds to a fine meal in the food processor. Pulse in Earth Balance, sugar, cornstarch, ground cinnamon, and salt until crumbly. Continue to pulse and stream in almond milk, vanilla extract, and almond extract to form a thick batter. Spread frangipane mixture into cooled tart shell.
Pat the pears dry with a paper towel. Gently press one sliced pear into the frangipane in the center of the tart. This is best done with an offset spatula, but can be done carefully with a knife. For the rest of the pears, tip the slices over so that they are leaning over, rather than standing straight up (see pictures or America's Test Kitchen link above). Carefully place them in a circle around the center pear, thin ends pointing inward.
Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until tart is golden brown. Remove from oven and cool for 20 minutes, then brush (carefully!) with melted jam. Cool completely before slicing.

Enjoy!

Citrus Beet Salad with Rosemary Vinaigrette

November 27, 2012 by Erica

How about a salad?

I don’t know about you, but after a weekend of bingeing on Thanksgiving leftovers, that’s just what I need.

This salad makes me happy because it’s fresh and colorful, while still being made with winter produce. You may not be able to tell from my 8:00 am iPhone photos here, but between the beets and the citrus, the colors are beautiful.

I’ve been mildly obsessed with beets lately, starting with the roasted beet hummus I made for Thanksgiving. They’re just so pretty! If you’ve been scared of roasting beets, like I was before last week, don’t be. You stick them in the oven and forget about them, then easily push the skin off with a knife once they’re cool. Easy as pie! No… way easier than pie.

5.0 from 1 reviews

Citrus Beet Salad with Rosemary Vinaigrette

Hands-on time

20 mins

Cook time

60 mins

Total time

1 hour 20 mins

The beets can be roasted ahead of time and stored in the fridge either before or after peeling.

Author: Coffee & Quinoa

Yields: 6

Ingredients

FOR THE SALAD:
1 medium beet (or 2 small beets)
1 grapefruit, peeled and segmented
2 oranges, peeled and segmented
1 avocado, chopped
5 oz. baby spinach
several handfuls pine nuts, toasted
FOR THE DRESSING:
juice of 1 orange
1 tsp finely chopped rosemary
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp white wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

To roast the beet(s), preheat oven to 400. Trim stems and scrub off dirt. Loosely wrap in foil. Roast for 60 minutes or until a fork slides easily to the center of the beet. Remove from oven, unwrap and set aside until cool enough to handle.
Once beet has cooled, slide the skin off using the back of a knife. Slice off top and bottom and chop into small cubes.
To make dressing, whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl.
To assemble, layer salad ingredients and top with dressing.

Still Stuffed

November 26, 2012 by Erica

Well, that’s a total lie. I can always eat more.

But I figured we could all use a break from the recipes today, right? We can get back to that business tomorrow. After a week of cooking and an extended weekend of eating, I’m finding it a little hard to get excited to get back in the kitchen. (I’m also finding it a little hard to get back to work.) I would rather just look at pictures and pretend I have another four-day weekend coming up. So how about a Thanksgiving recap?

So much food.

This was my first vegan Thanksgiving! I was determined to make it as easy on myself as possible by making tons of delicious vegan dishes. My contributions to Thanksgiving dinner were:

– roasted beet hummus from Cooking Stoned with veggies and pitas

– mushroom sourdough stuffing from Eat Live Run

– cheesy herb drop biscuits from Oh She Glows

– baked sweet potatoes

– apple pie and pumpkin pie from Pickles & Honey

Everything was pretty good, if I do say so myself! We had an absurd amount of food. My friend Kate cooked a 22 pound turkey (which looked and smelled delicious!), and she and Pete did a great job carving it:

Hah! That’s my absolute favorite picture of the night.

Anyway, Kate also made the gravy, a beautiful salad with homemade candied pecans, homemade Chex mix, guacamole, and cranberry sauce. Her friend Kristin made mashed potatoes, stuffing, a beautiful baked brie, and spiced hot cider. I’m sure there were other things I forgot, too! Check out the absurdity of our spread:

The food prep was not without drama, though. I mentioned on Thursday that my apple pie was a minor disaster. Welllll let me tell you what happened. Basically, I’ve never really been scared of pie dough like some people are, although rolling out a double crust is generally a little more effort than I like to put in. I usually mix my crust by hand, but having recently bought a food processor and heard how amazing it is for pie crusts, I decided I would use it to save a few minutes. It was also my first time making a crust with vegan butter. I should NOT have tried two new things at once. I ended up making the crust way too wet and doubling the recipe without realizing it, which led to a thick and doughy crust:

Then, to make matters worse, I forgot to dot the apples with butter before I put the top crust on. I was convinced the pie was ruined. I agonized about it for a while before I made a trip to the supermarket and bought ingredients for a new pie. That might sound ridiculous… OK, it was a little ridiculous… but I know people think the vegan thing is kind of weird, and I definitely didn’t want anyone’s first experience with vegan pie to be disappointing in any way. It turned out the “reject” pie was actually not bad at all – we ate it the whole rest of the weekend. I’ll call it a win – extra leftover pie can’t possibly be a bad thing.

So that made Thursday morning a little crazier. In addition to the stuffing and biscuits I had planned to make, I was also making a second apple pie. So much for my carefully drawn out plans!

This time I overcorrected a little on the crust and probably could have added another tablespoon of water. Whatever, it was extra flaky. And I made sure to add that butter before closing up the pie!

Also, make sure to note the pi sign on the pie… har har har. My dad started that tradition!

My hand was sore all weekend from peeling and coring all the apples… seriously.

I escaped with only one addition to my collection of forearm burns, although I think Kate ended up with a few more from the turkey. That was it for holiday drama, fortunately. Once our umpteen dishes were ready, we ate…

…the boys watched football…

…and I fell asleep on the couch once the Pats were up 28-0 and may or may not have been out for the next 3 hours. We played Jenga…

…and watched the Adjustment Bureau and part of The Descendants., followed by Megamind (a surprisingly good movie!) the next morning. We definitely got our share of movies in this weekend! Perfectly relaxing.

We had such a good time celebrating Thanksgiving with friends! I was proud of us girls for doing so well with the food. Does that mean we’re finally adults? I guess I have to admit that we are.

Other weekend activities included watching more football, shopping, lots of pie eating, even more football, running (!), skiiing, oh did I mention football? and demolishing all of our leftovers. It was a great long weekend! I have to say I didn’t do much cooking after the craziness of Thanksgiving prep, so this week may be a little light on recipes. Forgive me? I’ll get back into the swing of things soon!

Hope you had a great holiday weekend!

Happy Thanksgiving!

November 22, 2012 by Erica

Happy Turkey Day! Well, more like Vegan Stuffing and Pie Day around here. Doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, but sounds delicious nonetheless!

This afternoon Nate and I are heading up to Park City for a Thanksgiving dinner with friends. We’re actually doing it at the house where my friend Kate house-sits. That might sound odd, BUT we all have tiny apartments, and this house has a gorgeous kitchen with two ovens. No-brainer! There are only six of us, but we are making TONS of food. I can’t wait. I’m bringing lots of tupperware for leftovers!

So far I’m right on track with my big list of dishes to prepare. The pumpkin pie was made on Tuesday night, apple pie and beet hummus last night (the vegan apple pie was a minor disaster… I won’t know how bad until we actually eat it), and stuffing, vegan gravy, rolls and sweet potatoes will be made today. Now you know what I’ll be doing all morning!

Today, like every day of my life, I have a lot to be thankful for. Loving and supportive parents, the sweetest sisters a girl could ask for, and amazing friends. My wonderful boyfriend, who makes me laugh every day, and the opportunity to experience beautiful new places in our country with him. I’m also thankful to have a job that pays the bills and even allows me to buy twice as many groceries as I really should! And I’m thankful for the opportunity to write here and share my ridiculous passion for food with others who feel the same way.

I’m missing my parents and sisters today. Not only do I miss my mom’s cooking, I miss all being together in my parents’ big house. I don’t think I realized that as my sisters and I grew older, we might permanently settle far away from each other. Caitlin and Alban are both in North Carolina, and I’m out here in Utah. Sometimes I ask myself what I’m doing so far away from them! I still have my fingers crossed that someday we’ll all live in the same town and have our babies play in the bathtub together.

In the meantime, I’m looking forward to Christmas, when my whole family will pile into my parents’ house, drive each other crazy for a week, and finally escape back to our respective states! :)

This Thanksgiving, as I’m not travelling, I have a whole four-day weekend to cook, ski with friends, catch up on my reading, and just generally fulfill my weekday fantasy of curling up on the couch in the middle of the day. With enormous tupperwares of Thanksgiving leftovers… yum.

Happy Thanksgiving – enjoy the time with family and friends!

Mexican Butternut Squash Soup

November 21, 2012 by Erica

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Do you know what you’re eating?

Not for dinner, silly. What kind of question is that? If you’re like me, you’ve been dreaming about Thanksgiving dinner for the past two weeks. I have lists made, not only of the dishes I’m making and the groceries that I (still – eek!) have to buy, but of when I should prepare what. Organization is kind of my thing.

Anyway, no, I’m not asking if you’ve given any thought to your Thanksgiving dinner, because I’m sure you have. I’m talking about lunch, the oft-forgotten Thanksgiving meal. If you’re eating dinner around noon, you can obviously forego lunch. But if you eat Thanksgiving dinner around 3:00 or 4:00, as my family typically does, you might find yourself in the kitchen come 1:00, trying to put together a sandwich or salad out of scraps from the fridge. It’s kind of weird to realize that in the frenzy of dinner planning, you’ve totally forgotten to plan a lunch… especially if you have holiday house guests. You don’t want anyone going hungry!

Luckily, my mom is always prepared (in this situation, as well as most others). Her solution is soup.

Soup for Thanksgiving lunch – it’s perfect! It’s autumnal and comforting, but not too filling, so you’ll still be able to stuff yourself in a few hours. Mom likes to serve her lunchtime soup in big mugs, although you can feel free to use a bowl.

This soup has a butternut squash base and uses chipotle chiles in adobo sauce for a nice little Mexican kick. Top with cilantro and a squeeze of lime, and you have the perfect light but satisfying lunch.

Mexican Butternut Squash Soup

Hands-on time

15 mins

Cook time

55 mins

Total time

1 hour 10 mins

Author: Coffee & Quinoa

Yields: 6-8

Ingredients

1 medium-sized butternut squash, peeled and chopped
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, chopped
5 cups vegetable broth
1 bay leaf
2 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce (or more if you’d like it spicy!)
2 tsp cumin
½ tsp coriander
½ cup non-dairy milk (I used regular unsweetened almond milk)
cilantro, for serving
lime wedges, for serving

Instructions

First, chop all vegetables. To make the butternut squash easier to peel and chop, consider piercing it several times with a sharp knife and nuking for 2 minutes or so. This softens the skin and makes it just that much less likely that you’ll cut your finger off!
Heat a bit of olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion and saute 2-3 minutes. Add the garlic and saute another 2-3 minutes, until the onion is softened and beginning to brown.
Add the rest of the vegetables (squash, carrots and celery), vegetable broth, and bay leaf. Simmer until vegetables are tender and starting to get mushy, about 45-50 minutes.
While soup is simmering, chop chiles, cilantro and lime wedges.
Remove bay leaf from the soup. (If you don’t, it’s no big deal. I actually forgot and it turned out fine!) Add chopped chiles and puree until smooth using an immersion blender. (If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can transfer the soup in batches to a blender and then into another pot or a bowl.)
Stir in cumin, coriander, and milk.Taste and adjust seasonings - you can add more chiles if you’d like it spicier!
Serve hot. Garnish with chopped cilantro and a squeeze of lime juice.

Notes

Adapted from http://www.anothermarvelousmeal.com/2011/10/mexican-spiced-butternut-squash-soup.html

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