Blue Cheese and Red Potato Tart

Tried this tart made by Carrie. Delicious! She also added a crumbling of bacon to hers.

Source: Smitten Kitchen

Blue Cheese and Red Potato Tart
Adapted in a bunch of ways from Gourmet

I changed a slew of things: I opted out of the San Pellegrino and Plugrá, though you don’t need to if you’re feeling fancy. I swapped in my favorite quiche crust these days, which barely shrinks and manages to stay sturdy even without par-baking first. I made one large tart, rather than the 6 tartlets the original recipe called for, added more potatoes to compensate, and swapped tarragon (what I had on hand) for the suggested thyme and rosemary but think any herb you enjoy eating with potatoes and cheese would work.

One note: This is not a quiche. The filling will remain soft and custard-like after baked, not firm up like most egg fillings. I liked this texture; it was a little different but wanted to give a heads-up that the recipe hasn’t gone wrong if your potatoes can still be nudged a little after baking.

1 Savory Tart Shell, below, or recipe of your choice, in a 9-inch tart pan and ready to fill
1 pound small red potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 1/4-inch slices
1 cup heavy cream
1 large egg yolk
1/4 pound blue cheese, crumbled (about 3/4 cup)
1 tablespoons finely chopped herb or herbs of your choice, such as a mixture of thyme and rosemary
Fine sea salt for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a medium saucepan, cover potato slices with water by two inches. Simmer, uncovered, until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain. If the potatoes don’t seem very dry, pat them dry with towels.

Arrange potato slices, overlapping slightly, in concentric circles around the tart pan. Sprinkle blue cheese over potatoes. Whisk cream and egg yolk together and pour into tart shell, then sprinkle tart with herbs of your choice and salt.

Bake tart on a baking sheet until bubbling and golden brown, about 45 to 50 minutes. Cool in pan on rack and serve warm or cold. With a big green salad, for balance.

Savory Tart Shell

1 1/4 (5 1/2 ounces) cups flour
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons (3 ounces) butter, diced
1 large egg

In a large bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch and salt. Cut the butter in with a pastry blender, fork or two knives until it is in very tiny bits. Add one egg and mix with a fork until a dough forms. If this does not happen easily, toss it out onto a counter and knead it together. This dough is rather tough but with a little elbow grease, it does come together nicely.

This dough can also be made a food processor, or in a stand mixer, though I’ve only tried it in a food processor.

On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to a 12-inch circle. Place the dough in a 9-inch pie plate or tart pan and press to remove any air bubbles. Level the edges, and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Proceed with a filling of your choice, no parbaking required.

Ratatouille

Source: Smitten Kitchen

I had a bunch of zucchini and some homemade goat cheese ready,  and have been wanting to try this for a while so I went for it. Delicious and light!  I can only imagine how much better it would be with all the different veggies in it.  I also added some ground beef for some protein into the sauce.

Ratatouille’s Ratatouille
As envisioned by Smitten Kitchen
1/2 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, very thinly sliced
1 cup tomato puree (such as Pomi) - could use the whole can of tomato sauce if adding beef. I also add some honey to offset the acidity of tomatoes.
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 small eggplant (my store sells these “Italian Eggplant” that are less than half the size of regular ones; it worked perfectly)
1 smallish zucchini
1 smallish yellow squash
1 longish red bell pepper
Few sprigs fresh thyme  (I didn't have fresh thyme on hand so just liberally sprinkled some Italian seasoning on it)
Salt and pepper
Few tablespoons soft goat cheese, for serving


Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Pour tomato puree into bottom of an oval baking dish, approximately 10 inches across the long way. Drop the sliced garlic cloves and chopped onion into the sauce, stir in one tablespoon of the olive oil and season the sauce generously with salt and pepper.

Trim the ends off the eggplant, zucchini and yellow squash. As carefully as you can, trim the ends off the red pepper and remove the core, leaving the edges intact, like a tube.

On a mandoline, adjustable-blade slicer or with a very sharp knife, cut the eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash and red pepper into very thin slices, approximately 1/16-inch thick.

Atop the tomato sauce, arrange slices of prepared vegetables concentrically from the outer edge to the inside of the baking dish, overlapping so just a smidgen of each flat surface is visible, alternating vegetables. You may have a handful leftover that do not fit.

Drizzle the remaining tablespoon olive oil over the vegetables and season them generously with salt and pepper. Remove the leaves from the thyme sprigs with your fingertips, running them down the stem. Sprinkle the fresh thyme over the dish.

Cover dish with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit inside. (Tricky, I know, but the hardest thing about this.)
Bake for approximately 45 to 55 minutes, until vegetables have released their liquid and are clearly cooked, but with some structure left so they are not totally limp. They should not be brown at the edges, and you should see that the tomato sauce is bubbling up around them.

Serve with a dab of soft goat cheese on top, alone, or with some crusty French bread, atop polenta, couscous, or your choice of grain.

Roast Chicken with Potatoes, Lemon, and Asparagus

This is a favorite dish to serve company. We've made this many, many times!

 I love that you cook everything in the same dish.

Source: Everyday Food

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds new potatoes, halved
• 3 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1 package cut-up whole chicken (about 3 pounds)
• 1 bunch asparagus (1 pound), trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces
• 1 lemon, cut into 8 wedges
• 6 sprigs fresh thyme

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Place potatoes and half the butter in a roasting pan; season with salt and pepper. Roast, tossing once, until potatoes are golden, 20 to 25 minutes.
2. Place chicken, skin side up, on top of potatoes; season with salt and pepper. Roast until chicken begins to brown, about 20 minutes.
3. Scatter asparagus, lemon, remaining butter, and thyme around chicken. Roast until asparagus is tender and chicken is opaque throughout, 5 to 15 minutes. Serve chicken, vegetables, and lemon drizzled with pan juices.