Bringing It: Rosh Hashanah Plum Tart

Dear Mouse,

Happy New Year!

Let it be known that I started writing this post as soon as I walked in the door  from the family dinner where I served the item to be discussed below. I think that's a first.

"... the late August abundance of italian prune plums, which i find better cooked than eaten out of hand."

                                    -Sarah Leah Chase, Nantucket Open House Cookbook

(Longtime readers will recall that the above words signify The Boo's unhealthy  obsession with said Chase cookbook, since she committed them to memory upon first reading Chase's "Purple Plum Crunch"   recipe (yes, republished by Ina) years ago. She now cannot mention, eat, or think  about prune plums without muttering this phrase inanely like some kind of fruit mantra. Oh, and lest she forget, The Mouse also likes to helpfully repeat it every time plums come up in conversation (surprisingly often). It's like that South Park when Cartman can't even think of the song "Sail Away" without having to sing the entire thing...? Anyway.)

As I mentioned in my last post and will probably repeat, I am Super Excited to greet Fall. And  I'm just going to keep it real for a second and say I'm maybe more excited than usual this year because, for me, the summer of 2012 .... sucked. Yep.  Winter/spring was great (work! love! income!). Then, come June, all of it, in the words of the great Eddie Izzard, "slowly collapsed, like a flan in a cupboard."
(He was talking about the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but that's basically the same thing as my life.)

Fortunately, I'm a big girl now and I recognize these droughts for what they are: droughts. End of career and personal life? Probably not. Hard? Yes. But there's always a choice. I could have spent all summer lying on my floor complaining to the fan.  Or,  I could do what I did: lie on the floor 60% of the time, and spend the rest in Spiritual Boot Camp. I read kind of every helpful Text I could get my hands on. I went on Yoga Retreat (Thanks Mom!) . I talked to various Advisors.  I - yes - cooked. And..

I re-enrolled in "Shouting Aerobics"!

...which is totally not what it's called but it makes me giggle every time I say it to myself.
And when you're sweating through 60 -75 minutes of cardio while also shouting positive statements like a New Age Cheerleader ("I GIVE! MY BEST! THE REST I LET GO!!"), you feel A) AMAZING, there's no way around it... and B) SO RIDICULOUS that it helps (at least the first time) to keep a little NYC snark on hand for balance. Whatever gets you through the squats.

                                                         Best Plum Tart (pre-cooking)

I think I really thought I was so out of shape that if I went back to class I might actually die. Like, I just flat-out couldn't and wouldn't make it. Then I did. And THEN, after not dying,  I had two Big Thoughts. One was "I am capable of more than I think"...  and,  right on its heels: "... and I should be acting like it more often."

Attention Must Be Paid: The Mother's showstopping version of  Beatty's Chocolate Cake (L), (so light and fluffy yet so deeply chocolatey!) and your take on Smitten Kitchen's Apple Charlotka ("more apples than batter") (R), both of which graced the Rosh Hashanah table. (Why don't I have a picture of The Aunt's cheesecake? Too busy eating.)

What if, I thought, I really, actually, did my best, in everything I do? What if I brought my best game to every task, no matter what, even if my best isn't that amazing on everything?  What would that be like? I decided I am going to spend this Fall finding out. Or, as I put it to Mr. Poet at our lunch the other day:

" I'm making a plum tart for Rosh Hashanah... 

and it is going to be the Best Damn Plum Tart I can possibly make! "  

                                                                   Here it is.

We clinked our (second round of) bloody marys together, and I went off to buy 14 italian prune plums...whichifindbettercoookedthaneatenoutofhandohmygodicantstop.

The experience was a great mix of improvisation and careful attention to detail. I went basically with Dorie Greenspan for both the filling (layer of jam, layer of plums, walnuts and sugar on top) and the crust (her Sweet Tart Dough). But I threw in a little cassis liqueur as homage to Chase. And I mistakenly bought an 11.5-inch pan when the recipe is meant for a 9-inch pan. ("Oh no don't burn it!" - alarmed Mouse Text.) But I decided I would just refrain from preheating too long, and then watched it like a hawk. It worked out great - I like a thin crust.  

Moral of the story? Success! The crust did not burn or tear. The plum juice did not ooze excessively. And it was consumed - almost entirely! - by our discerning family!  And I felt GREAT for having given my all to something and done it to the best of my ability. On one level, you could say it's just a small thing that doesn't have anything to do with Big Life Issues. On another, it makes me realize again how everything, actually, IS connected ... because the feeling of Kicking Ass in one area just makes you want to Bring It in others. A good reminder to always Give Your Best ... then, the Rest You can  Let Go. 

Happy Fall (again),

Love
The Boo

The Boo's Best Plum Tart

Ingredients

Crust:

Make Dorie's "Sweet Tart Dough" (scroll to bottom of page for recipe). Follow her instructions exactly except the part about the 9-inch pan. For this recipe, you want my happily wrong proportions (11.5 - in tart pan with removable bottom). Crust-making-phobics (of which I am one) will note joyfully that you don't have to roll it out -- just press it into the pan with your fingers and chill that s*t for at least 30 minutes.

Filling

12-14 italian prune plums (ok if they're large you'll use fewer, I think I had about 10 in there. If you have extra, roast them and put them on your oatmeal, your chicken, anything.)
1/4 C plum jam (I used Sarabeth's "plum and sour cherry spreadable fruit", but my tart was quite tart. If you like things sweeter, maybe use regular sugary jam)
3 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp chopped walnuts
A splash (2 tbsp?) of cassis liqueur if you have it
1 tbsp cornstarch

Halve and pit the plums and put them into a bowl. If they're big plums, maybe slice each half again. Toss with cassis and cornstarch and set aside.

Mix walnuts and sugar in a bowl. Set aside.

Take out chilled tart shell and set on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, or a silpat, or whatever.

Spoon jam into chilled tart shell and spread across bottom. 


Arrange plum halves or slices in concentric circles on top of the jam, starting at the outer edge of the shell and working your way in.

Scatter sugar/walnut mixture over the fruit.

Cover in plastic wrap and let sit in a warm place for 30 minutes. 

Now, maybe with like 5 minutes to go, preheat the oven to 425. 

Remove plastic wrap from tart! (I almost forgot to do this), and put baking sheet with tart on it in oven for 20 minutes. (at 10 minutes give it a glance and check speed crust is browning).

After 20 minutes, take it out, tent it loosely with foil (to keep the crust from getting too dark) and put it back in for another 10.  It's done when the crust is a lovely golden brown and the fruit is bubbling. 

Let cool for at least 45 min, then remove outer ring of pan and slide the rest (with bottom) onto platter, Serve warm or at room temp.    

Lover Come Back To Me (Venus Retrograde Rose Cake)

Dear Mouse,

Oh how we have been neglecting this blog. You have a very good reason -- being the newest toast of NYC's downtown theatre scene for your beautiful play  - closes June 30!! -  does take a leetle precedence - even for us! - over kitchen and restaurant capers.












I too have a reason too for my long silence. I am currently Walking Through the Valley of the Shadow Between Acting Jobs - or maybe the 100-Degree Humidity Of Unemployment? I dunno -- which would seem to suggest that I have plenty of blogging time. And maybe I do ... but the thing is,  I haven't jumped in to post something sooner because:

                                        I was waiting for ingredients to come in the mail. 

                    These ingredients. 

                      L to R: Almond Flour, Rose Extract, Rose Syrup, all courtesy of Amazon.com

Yep.

So I know that my last few posts have had an astrological bent, but that's just because A) come on! there has been  SO MUCH going on in the skies of late!! it can't be ignored! and B) I'm always looking for new and indirect ways to talk about life.

So let's just say that in the last month or so, the SuperMoon came and went, as did the summer solstice. The partial lunar eclipse partially eclipsed, Venus (the planet of love and relationships) went into retrograde AND did a newsworthy once-in-a-lifetime 48-hour trot across the Sun, my show closed, some other things closed, yada yada yada, and THEN I fell in love ...

... with a cake.

Specifically,  the "Ispahan Loaf Cake" from Dorie Greenspan's "Around My French Table", which Mrs. BFF (formerly 'Mrs. Lawyer', a handle that got bad reviews)  gave me for Xmas this past year.

Again: almond flour, rose syrup, rose extract. Plus, you know, raspberries, and also butter and confectioner's sugar and egg whites lovingly whipped and folded into the batter just before baking...  It was supposed to come out pink ..? but didnt.  Still, possibly THE most romantic cake ever. 
                                                So,  I ... made it for myself!  Whoo hoo!
                      
                    

                          

   I bought new utensils for this cake!! 

Honestly, I don't know who was more whipped, me or the egg whites. 

I fell hard - HARD - for this cake, before I had ever so much as tasted it!  Just reading the recipe --well, you know I'm a sucker for a well-turrned ingredient list, and this one had me at "rose extract".  Boo, I argued with myself, calm down. You're in a vulnerable place. You don't even know if you LIKE rose flavor, and the syrup Dorie recommends is only available in a, well, giant bottle. A giant expensive bottle. Well, Dorie says it's expensive but it keeps a long time and you'll want to make the cake "many times thereafter", so that's ok, right? Oh, Boo, you sucker! Almond flour? You don't like any dessert in the almond family! You JUST had a conversation YESTERDAY about how almond croissants are a waste of croissants. Also, who is going to eat this cake? You don't know anyone who likes this kind of thing. Also, it's going to be, like, 100 degrees out the day you decide to bake! You don't know that part yet, but it's what's going to happen!  

I felt like one of those old cartoons with the angel and the devil on opposite shoulders, arguing. The thing is, they were both Dorie Greenspan, so ... she won.

What do two tablespoons of whole milk look like when mixed with 2 tablespoons of Rose Syrup?

 SO PRETTY, that's what. 

I was smitten, I tell you. Smitten.   I didn't even know what "Ispahan" meant - I had to have it.  Of course,  I know now, because Dorie explains it: it's the name of a kind of "profoundly fragrant rose" and also "the once-capital of Persia". (Yes, Mouse, from memory.) It also seems to have become the name for a potent flavor combination  - rose, raspberry, and lychee - unleashed upon France by pastry chef Pierre Herme some time ago, and now so popular that it's available in almost every dessert form including supermarket yogurt.  Here in the States, however, it's remained pretty much unknown ... until now.  (You're welcome.)

                                                                     No lychees in this one, but it still counts.

The moral of the story is that there are times in life when you just have to do something that seems crazy, when you just have to follow your heart, even when a whole planet seems to be turned against you. I baked my Ispahan confection in near-100 heat, the air conditioner losing to the oven, with kind of not enough time before having to leave for Penn Station. I was determined.  I whipped and folded and measured and placed raspberries in fussy triple rows, pouring batter over them. I waited patiently for 65 minutes, looking at my large bottle of Monin Rose Syrup and thinking what have I done, maybe. And when I tasted it ...I had to sit down. I think I actually said, "Wow".  And then I ate two pieces.

Simple yet maddeningly complex in flavor. Innocent and fresh and not-too sweet, yet intoxicatingly perfumed and studded with just-cooked raspberries. Dense and almondy but not heavy or particularly rich.  You could dress it up with whipped cream, or a raspberry coulis, garnish it with rose petals or raspberries. Or you could have it plain and warm with a no-nonsense mug of strong coffee or tea. It is, like a great love affair, provocative, complex, mysterious yet profoundly innocent at the same time.  And certainly worth waiting (3-5 days standard shipping) for.

I hung a chunk of the cake on your doorknob, and tucked the rest snugly in my weekend bag for the the BFF Family in NJ.  I wasn't sure if the kids would go for it. When the 5-year old tasted it, he shouted "I LOVE IT!" and immediately crawled under the table and proceeded to remove his pants. If that's not a rave review, I don't know what is.

And Venus Retrograde ends on Wednesday. 

Love and Roses, 

The Boo

Rose-Raspberry Cake 

(From Dorie Greenspan's "Ispahan Loaf Cake" recipe in 'Around my French Table')

Note:  This cake calls for Rose Syrup, NOT Rose Water!!! I believe this is the difference between an enchanted, subtly floral confection and a cake that tastes like Chanel No. 5.  Also, i THINK Almond Flour is NOT the same as Almond Meal? I'm not 100% on that. (PS. Later note: Oh it probably doesn't matter. 9/5/12)

Ingredients

2.5 tbsp Rose Syrup  

2 tbsp whole milk

2 C almond flour

1 C confectioner's sugar

3 large eggs, separated, plus 1 large egg at room temp

2.5 tbsp sugar

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter

1/4 tsp rose extract

1/2 C plus 1 tbsp all-purpose flour

1 pint raspberries (but I didn't use that many)

Center a rack in oven, preheat to 350. Butter a 9x5 loaf pan and dust with flour. 

Stir rose syrup into milk. 

Put almond flour and confectioner's sugar in a sieve set over a bowl and stir to pass them through. Or, if you're me, just put them in a bowl. Whisk together. 

Beat egg whites in another bowl until they start to hold their shape, then gradually add the sugar, beating until the whites hold "firm, glossy peaks". Slide the egg whites into another bowl (and don't worry about cleaning the mixing bowl before carrying on).

Put almond-flour mixture and butter into mixer bowl and beat for 3 minutes or until very smooth.

Working at med speed, add egg yolks one at a time, beating for a minute after each. Then beat in whole egg. 

Add rose-flavored milk and rose extract and beat one more minute.

Give the egg whites a quick whisk and stir 1/4 - 1/3 of them into the batter. With a spatula, and a "light touch", alternately fold in remaining whites and all-purpose flour into batter, "as quickly and gently as you can, folding in flour in 3 additions and whites in 2". 

Scrape 1/3 of batter into prepared loaf pan, spread to even it.

Make 3 rows of raspberries down the length of the pan - dont let berries touch the sides - and then cover with half the remaining batter.

Make 3 more rows of berries, top with last of batter.

Lower oven to 300 and bake for 55-65 min or until a knife comes out clean. 

Transfer to cooling rack, let rest 3 min. Unmold, invert, let cool to room temp.