pies Archives - Page 2 of 4 - The White Ramekins

Greek Yogurt Tart With Gluten Free Crust

April 16, 2014 by TheWhiteRamekins

Greek Yogurt, Labneh, Labni or strained yogurt tart, you can name it whatever you want. But above all, this is the one light velvety textured baked yogurt tart, which is not cloying too. A perfect dessert or a tea time snack for the present weather. It can be topped with whatever in-season fruits you get, or can just be enjoyed plain, no one would complain.

It somehow resembles to the the quark cheesecake I baked last year with balsamic roasted strawberries, the texture, the flavor and even the color. It could be because quark is nothing but the strained natural yogurt. I have been wanting to bake a yogurt tart but preferably the egg-free version. But most of the egg-free version called for a loads of sweetened condensed milk, which kinda put me off, thinking the over sweetness from the condensed milk could ruin the delicate flavors of yogurt.

Talking about the crust, I am not a gluten intolerant person, neither is anyone in my family and friends. But I thought it would be good, if I try some alternate flours for the crust. It might be challenging, the crust would not keep crisp or it might come out excessively crumbly. But after a lot of research on the internet, I decided onto replacing half of the flour with almond meal and rest half with oatmeal and cornmeal.

Oatmeal helps to make the crust crumbly, while cornmeal balances out with the body it gives and almond meal keeps the moistness of the crumb intact. A perfect winner for a tart crust, though I am not sure if this could be used for a traditional double crust pie. I am yet to figure that out.

I topped this tart with ruby red pomegranate seeds and some toasted slivered almonds, which made the tart all the more appealing, resting with high head in the middle of our dinner table!

Recipe adapted from SAVEUR

Ingredients

For the crust

1 cup almond meal
1/4 cup oatmeal, powdered in a food processor
1/4 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp kosher salt
80 gm unsalted butter, melted
3/4 tsp vanilla extract

For the filling

400 gm strained yogurt
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
3 eggs

Directions

To make the crust, preheat the oven to 180 degree C. Whisk almond meal, sugar, oatmeal, salt, cornmeal in a bowl. Stir in vanilla extract and butter, until the dough forms. Press into the bottoms and sides of a 9″ springform tart pan. Using a fork, prick dough all over. Line dough with parchment paper and fill with dried beans and bake until pale golden 13-15 minutes. Remove paper weights and bake for another 10-12 minutes. Let cool.
To make filling, lower the oven temperature to 150 degree C. Whisk all the ingredients in a bowl, until smooth. Fill in the pre-baked tart shell and bake until just set in the center, for about 20-25 minutes. Let cool. Top with fresh fruits and some nuts before serving.

Wild Mushroom Tart

July 28, 2013 by TheWhiteRamekins

Mushrooms have been our favorite family food and I have seen my mother cooking the quintessential mushroom and green pea curry, almost every week. She used to add a bit of yogurt to give the curry a richness and also a bit of sour flavor. That was one curry, which I used to love and would wipe my bowl clean with an unleavened bread.

My mother used to tell us proud stories, how her father {my grandfather} included these in their family food. But those were the wild variety, which would grow up during rainy season. According to my mother, my grandfather smartly knew which one were edible and to be picked up. And those would taste far better than the cultivated ones we get normally.

I as a child, never got to taste those wild mushrooms, but I always thoroughly enjoyed my mother’s repeated stories about them and remained nonetheless contented. Even today, she sometimes enjoys telling those old stories. Probably, this story telling takes her back to her childhood days and she likes taking us along as well to her times.

Recently, I got to have wild mushroom risotto at two of the restaurants, I visited with friends and I really liked the taste of both versions. Taste of wild mushrooms really paired well with the sharp cheeses that must have gone into the dishes. If accompanied with a light salad and a glass of red wine, that could turn into one gourmet meal.

And that taste and my mother’s interesting food story inspired me to bake/cook something with wild mushrooms. So I baked this wild mushroom tart from Smitten Kitchen Cookbook. Sadly I could not find fresh mushrooms and had to resort to the dried ones I found at a local grocery store, a mix of shitake and oysters.

The crust was perfectly buttery and crumbly, to which I had added whole wheat flour too. Mix of shitake, oyster and button mushrooms paired really well with smoked gouda and the parmesan reggiano cheeses. Mascarpone added to the richness. And the red onions brought in the sweetness to balance out the sharp flavor of cheese and mushrooms.

A perfect Sunday brunch tart, to be served with a light green salad and to be enjoyed with friends and family!

Ingredients

Tart Crust:

1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
85 gm butter
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg

Filling:

1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
2 medium red onions, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove minced
400 gm button mushrooms, sliced
250 gm wild mushrooms (mix of shitake and oyster), sliced
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
1 tsp fresh oregano leaves
1 tsp salt
freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup mascarpone cheese {homemade recipe}
1/4 cup milk
2 large eggs
1/2 cup grated gouda cheese
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

Instructions

For the crust, pulse both flours, cornmeal and salt in a food processor. Add chopped butter and pulse 15-20 times, to make fine crumb.
Add the egg and pulse for another 10 times to bring the crumbs together.
Place the dough between two large sheets of cling wrap to form a round disc. Roll the dough into a 12 inch circle. Peel one side of cling wrap and invert the rolled pastry loosely onto a 9 inch tart pan. Using your finger tips, gently snug the pastry into the tart pan, peel the other cling wrap. Cover with aluminium foil and bake for 10 minutes in a 375 degree C oven.
Remove the foil and bake for another 10 minutes, until tart becomes golden.
For the filling, heat butter and oil in a pan. Add onions and garlic and cook on medium heat until onions become pale and translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the sliced mushrooms, oregano and thyme leaves and cook for about 10 minutes, until all the water from mushrooms is evaporated and mushrooms are cooked through. Add salt and pepper and mix well.
In a bowl, whisk mascarpone with milk. Add gouda and parmesan cheese and mix. Mix in cooked mushrooms.
Preheat the oven at 350 degree C. Place the tart pan on a baking sheet, fill the tart shell with the filling. Bake the tart for 35 – 40 minutes, until filling is cooked through.
Let cool for 10 minutes. Serve warm.

Nectarine & Cherry Almond Tarts

July 20, 2013 by TheWhiteRamekins

This humid weather and false hopes of rains by the Weather Gods has been a damper from past couple of weeks. Although there’s a respite from the sultry sun of peak summers, but humidity keeps me low. The continuous sweating and the need of air conditioner refrains me a lot from stepping out. And all that made me more dull and lazy. So, I needed some really good dessert to cheer me up. And I made these bright colored stone fruit tarts.

The buttery flaky almond shortcrust pastry, velvety crème pâtissière, and fragrant and juicy nectarine and vibrantly red cherries, when all married together, made up to these wonderful tarts.

Here in India, we get fresh seasonal locally produced peaches, plums, cherries and apricots, loads and loads of them, but not the nectarines. And I missed them a lot {from my short stay in US}, their super peachy fragrance, bright red skin…totally totally adorable they are! But recently, I spotted them at a local fruit seller. I was all excited and bought a kilo of them. Came home with a bag full of nectarines and gobbled them up as is within an hour {it was a nectarine and a fruit yogurt meal, I had that afternoon}.

But I wasn’t satisfied yet! So rushed back to the same fruit seller, hoping they were not sold out completely. And to all my happiness, the fruit seller welcomed me back with a big smile on his face {perhaps, he could read that excitement on my face}. He gave a shout to his helper and the helper ran away disappearing from the scene. Puzzled by the act, I stared at the fruit seller and the seller responded back with a reassuring smile, once again!

So before I could get anymore restless, the helper came back with a fresh new unopened box full of nectarines. Yay! I said to myself, this time without being looked ecstatic {I didn’t want to give that fruit seller any chance to think that I was mad, though I know he must have figured that out by that time.}.

I already knew, what I was going to make with them, so I thought to perk up these tarts by adding some fresh bright red cherries and some mint leaves, which I also picked from the same vendor. Those beautiful fruits stayed in my fridge for two days, before I eventually got to made these tarts. I had planned to make them on Saturday early morning, before I left for a friend’s wedding outstation. But that last minute planning didn’t help. So when I came back on Sunday afternoon, I had ample time and finally gave these tarts a shot!

The recipe yielded four of these tarts. I took two to my friend’s, reserving remaining two for myself, to be enjoyed later. Tarts came out really wonderful with a perfect balance of texture and flavors. And do you know, they brought some good luck too, I suppose. It’s been raining here since morning, while I share these thoughts with you 🙂

Recipe adapted from BBC Food & Food Network

Ingredients

For the shortcrust pastry:
Heaping 1/3 cup blanched almonds
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons chilled butter, cubed
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 egg white

For crème pâtissière:
250 ml full fat milk
1 vanilla pod, seeds removed and pods retained
3 eggs yolks
60 gm caster sugar
25 gm plain flour

Filling:
2-3 sliced nectarines
1 cup of pitted cherries
2 tbsp clear apricot jam
few mint sprigs
1 tbsp water
crushed almonds, to top

Instructions

For the pastry, preheat the oven to 190 degree C.
Grind the almonds in a food processor to a fine crumb. Add the pastry flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar to the almond in the processor and pulse 5 times to incorporate.
Add butter and oil and pulse for about 20 seconds, until mixture forms small clumps. Add the egg white and pulse an additional 20 to 30 times, until mixture forms a ball, being sure not to over-process.
Dough will hold together, but be slightly sticky. Evenly press dough into the bottom and sides 4 2 1/2-inch tart pans with a detachable bottoms. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until surface of tart is no longer shiny and edges become golden. Remove from oven and let cool.
For the crème patissière, place the milk, vanilla seeds and pods into a large saucepan and warm though.
Place the eggs, sugar and flour in a large mixing bowl and whisk until the color changes and becomes pale.
Gradually add the warm milk and vanilla to the egg mixture, whisk together, then return the mixture to the pan. Cook on a low heat until it the mixture thickens, then pour into a clean bowl. Place a circle of grease proof paper on the mixture, to stop a skin forming.
To assemble the tarts, spoon the crème patissière in a piping bag, and pipe into the pastry cases. Top the tarts with the sliced nectarines and pitted cherries.
Put the apricot jam and water in a small sauce pan and warm it through, so it loosens up and becomes more liquid. Lightly brush the fruit to glaze. Garnish with mint sprigs and crushed almonds.