Pistachio Tart with Strawberries and Rhubarb

I wasn't sure if anyone grew rhubarb in central Texas. For the last couple of years when I was looking for it, I never saw any at our farmers' markets. Some people even told me that rhubarb is more common in the north than it is in the south. Then, all of sudden this spring, I started hearing rumors of locally grown rhubarb being available at markets and farm stands. I stopped by the farm stand at Boggy Creek Farm one morning, and they indeed had freshly cut rhubarb. It wasn't as big or as red as the stalks I see in the grocery store, but it was grown with no chemicals right here in Austin, so I was proud to bring it home. I had a mash-up of a plan in mind for it. In Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook, there were ideas from two different tarts that I wanted to combine into one dessert. The rhubarb tart recipe in the book suggests cooking big pieces of rhubarb in a sugar syrup with a vanilla bean and beet wedges. The beet wedges give the syrup and the rhubarb more red color. Once the rhubarb was tender, it was removed, and the syrup was reduced to a thick glaze. The other tart from the book was made with a pistachio crust, was filled with a creme fraiche and whipped cream mixture, and was topped with berries and whole pistachios. I wanted both.

I made the pistachio dough as instructed by finely grinding shelled pistachios and adding them to butter mixed with confectioners' sugar. Egg yolks were added to that followed by flour, salt, and a little cream. The dough was soft and slightly sticky, so it was necessary to chill it before rolling. Then, rather than making individual tartlets as shown in the book, I made one rectangular tart. There was extra dough, so I did make a few tartlets as well to freeze and use another time. The tart crust was blind baked with pie weights and then allowed to cool. Going back to the rhubarb tart in the book, I cooked the cut pieces of rhubarb as suggested with sugar, water, a vanilla bean, and one beet cut into wedges. Since my rhubarb was more green than red, it required a little extra cooking time to become tender and sweet. Then, it was removed and allowed to dry on paper towels. The sugar syrup was strained and then poured into a clean pan to reduce until thick. One more flip back to the pistachio tarts to make the filling which was a mix of creme fraiche, cream, and sugar. That was spread in the cooled crust and then topped with halved strawberries, whole pistachios, the drained rhubarb, and last was drizzled with the cooled red, sugar syrup glaze.

The glaze was bright red from the beet, full of vanilla flavor, and was delightful. It was so pretty, I wanted to boil it to a higher temperature so I could turn it into lollipops. The pistachio crust was a winner too. It was easy to shape it in the tart pan, and the faint green tint contrasted well with the filling and toppings. I had no uncertainty about the creme fraiche and whipped cream layer under the strawberries and rhubarb, and it was tangy and rich as it should be. So, this mix of two tarts made one pleasing dessert.

Cherry-Zucchini Muffins

In my last CSA pick-up, I received a gigantic zucchini that could have fed an army. I asked around for ideas for using it in multiple dishes. Someone on Twitter mentioned that when his zucchini get that large, he feeds them to his animals. I can understand that given that at this kind of size there are bigger seeds and the texture is starchier, but I was determined to make good use of this monster for human consumption. In the end, I chopped some of it and roasted it for a pasta dish, and for the rest, some sort of zucchini bread was a no-brainer. A quick bread is a good way to go with a big, starchy zucchini because it’s grated before being mixed into the batter, and the texture matters less that way. After looking at a few options for zucchini bread, I came upon a recipe for muffins in Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook. In the book, these are actually cranberry-zucchini muffins, but I used cherries because that felt summerier.

This is a very quick muffin batter to assemble. The great big half of zucchini was grated and set aside. Eggs, sugar, oil, and vanilla were whisked together, and then the zucchini was added. Flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt were incorporated before frozen cherries were folded into the batter. Into the oven went the muffins, and they emerged golden with little, green flecks.

I liked seeing the bits of green from the zucchini just to remember that it was in there. It’s, of course, completely imperceptible in the flavor, but it does a magic trick on the texture. This is a muffin that can sit for a few days and still taste just as tender and delicious as the first day thanks to all that grated zucchini. These muffins also freeze very well, and I’ve already pulled the second half of the batch out of the freezer to finish them. This size of zucchini wouldn’t be a good choice for a raw salad or for pickles, but it did make some very fine muffins.

Ricotta Cheesecake

Every once in a while, I do ask Kurt what he would like for me to make. It’s only fair given that he suffers the brunt of all of my failed attempts in the kitchen. For Easter, I asked what he thought would be good for dessert. Without even a moment to ponder, he fired back: cheesecake. I liked that idea and of course, chose to make one I hadn’t tried before. This is from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook, and it states in the intro to the recipe, this is about the easiest cheesecake you can make.

There are two steps which require different appliances, but they’re quick and simple. First, put some fresh ricotta in a food processor and process until smooth. Next, use a mixer to beat egg whites to a stiff, glossy state. That’s it. The rest was just a matter of folding things together. In a large mixing bowl, the ricotta was mixed with egg yolks, flour, some sugar, orange zest, and salt. Then, the egg whites were folded into that mixture. It all went into a springform pan and was baked for about one hour. There was no water bath, so no need to wrap the springform pan in foil. It really was a very easy cheesecake to make.

It came out of the oven puffed like a souffle, but it didn’t drop like one. It settled into a flat shape with just a little ridge around the outside. The instructions in the book mention turning the cake out of the pan and then inverting it back right side up, but I’m not sure why. I just removed the outer ring of the springform pan and let it sit on the base of the pan. Once it cooled to room temperature, I chilled it in the refrigerator in an airtight container. This was a sleek, grown up kind of cheesecake. It had no crust, no cream cheese, and it wasn’t as sweet as other cheesecakes I’ve made. The texture was lightened by the egg whites but still had some sense of density from the ricotta. It was mildly flavored with an orange accent, and would be perfect with espresso. Since I didn’t think to buy some espresso beans, I served it with a strawberry coulis. Dark chocolate sauce would be another option or maybe a melted marmalade. I think this particular cheesecake could be taken in all kinds of directions with sauces and toppings, and it was pretty delicious all by itself too.