I have a little problem. I'm addicted to cookbooks, food writing, recipe collecting, and cooking. I have a lot of recipes waiting for me to try them, and ideas from articles, tv, and restaurants often lead to new dishes. I started losing track of what I've done. So now I'm taking photos and writing about what I've prepared—unless it's terrible in which case I forget it ever happened.
Apple fritters, apple dumplings, or a buttery apple-filled coffee cake would have been delicious, but I wanted to keep things a little less indulgent at least until Valentine’s Day. So, I found a great way to use the apples I’ve been getting from my CSA in Martha Stewart's Healthy Quick Cook. These are easy, little tarts to make with store-bought phyllo dough, and I even found whole wheat phyllo dough to make them that much more virtuous. The phyllo tart shells are baked empty to keep them very crisp, and the cooked apples with their syrup get spooned into the shells just before serving. The recipe was kept simple and low-calorie for a dessert by using minimal amounts of butter and sugar. I did complicate matters just slightly by adding two additional ingredients with rosemary and lemon zest.
Once the phyllo was thawed by leaving it in the refrigerator overnight, the sheets needed to be cut into squares. I doubled the recipe to make eight tart shells instead of four and used six sheets of phyllo which were stacked and cut into seven inch squares. I’m terrible at eye-balling a straight, even-sided square, so I used my trusty, kitchen ruler. Ordinarily, when using phyllo, each piece is brushed with melted butter before another layer is added, but here, the butter was only used on the second of three layers. A scant bit of sugar was sprinkled on each layer, and three squares were stacked for each tart. The stacked layers of dough were then gently fitted into ring molds that had been sprayed with oil. I used English muffins rings. Then, the tart shells were baked for about ten minutes until crisp and golden. Meanwhile, apples were chopped and combined with lemon juice and apple juice, and I left the peels on them. Butter was melted in a skillet, one tablespoon of sugar was added to caramelize, and a splash of cognac gave it another layer of flavor. Out of instinct, I added some sea salt to the caramel. Then, the apples and juices were added to the pan and were left to cook while the sauce reduced, and that’s when I added a sprig of rosemary. The cooked apples and sauce were spooned into the tart shells, and I garnished with chopped rosemary and some lemon zest.
If you don’t have ring molds or English muffin rings handy, you can also just make little stacks of crumpled phyllo sheets to be baked and then topped with the apples. On television years ago, I saw Michel Richard prepare a recipe involving just that with multiple layers of apples and phyllo pieces served with custard. But, if you have a way to form cup shapes with the layers of phyllo, they hold the filling perfectly. I loved how they shattered into flaky bits when cutting into them with a fork. And, the caramel sauce with lemon and subtle rosemary flavor made the apples special without being too rich.
While I was in the desert, Austin received a whole lot of rain, and since I’ve returned home, we’ve had a few more rainy days. All this rain means my basil plants couldn’t be happier. Happy basil means pesto. I found a slightly different approach to basil pesto in Martha Stewart's Healthy Quick Cook. That version uses roasted garlic and rough-cut basil leaves with very little olive oil. I went that route, sort of, for a lighter style of pesto. Rather than rough cutting, I tossed everything into a food processor, and I had some pine nuts on hand, so I added them as well. Also in that book, this light pesto is used on grilled portobellos topped with a cherry tomato salad with more roasted garlic and shavings of parmigiano reggiano. I’ve made a few versions of portobello pizzas before, and one of my favorites involved hummus and a thick slab of feta. The portobello pizzas shown here were much lighter but just as flavorful. It’s amazing how substantial a portobello seems although it’s all vegetable, and roasted garlic and parmigiano add great depth and interest.
Because this book is devoted to healthy dishes, very little oil is used in the recipes. Now, ordinarily, when I roast garlic, I cut off the tops of the bulbs, pour olive oil over them, and add salt and pepper. This time, I skipped the oil on the garlic and just added a small pinch of salt and some crushed red pepper flakes. I wrapped the garlic in parchment and foil and roasted it for about 40 minutes. Once cool enough to handle, I squeezed the soft garlic from the bulbs. It’s just as delicious without the oil. Some of that was used in the basil pesto, and the rest was used in the cherry tomato salad. Thyme leaves and chopped cherry tomatoes were added to the mashed, roasted garlic and a scant tablespoon of olive oil, and it was tossed to combine. I used some locally grown portobellos that were lightly brushed with oil and seasoned before being grilled for four minutes per side. They were then topped with the cherry tomato and roasted garlic salad, they got a drizzle of basil pesto, and shaved parmigiano reggiano was set on top of each.
Admittedly, I don’t always cook with light and healthy in mind, but a dish like this is a great reminder than you don’t always need as much oil in a recipe as you might think. This certainly didn’t taste like diet food. It was also a reminder that with ingredients like homegrown basil, fresh, local tomatoes and portobellos, and great cheese, you don’t need to embellish them much. And, with this way of cooking, my bottle of olive oil will last a little longer.
Does anyone remember Martha Stewart's Healthy Quick Cook? It was published in 1997, and I’m not sure how popular it was. I got a copy when it first appeared and cooked from it frequently. I remember trying the vegetable handrolls, the hot and sour broth with shredded chicken, the apricot-glazed chicken, the warm wheatberry salad, and the sage egg-white frittata, and all were delicious. Also, the open-faced seared tuna burger with wasabi mayonnaise became a much-repeated favorite of ours. Then, for some reason, the book sat untouched for years. Last week, I wanted to plan some light meals with fresh flavors for the weekend, and I finally opened this book again. It’s divided into seasons, and 13 entire menus are presented for each. What I chose was actually from the spring section, but I think it worked fine as a summer meal. The complete menu was: wine-poached chicken with charmoula and couscous, chopped salad with tarragon vinaigrette, and Moroccan pudding, but I only made the chicken, charmoula, and couscous. This was my first time making charmoula which is a Moroccan sauce or marinade used on fish or meat. It’s spicy, packed with fresh herbs, and was just the kind of thing I wanted for dinner.
This particular recipe for charmoula, as I’m sure there are infinite variations, was very simple. Garlic was minced, parsley and cilantro leaves were finely chopped, and all of that was mixed with cumin, paprika, cayenne, lemon juice, olive oil, tomato juice, and salt and pepper. That was easily prepared in the time it took for chicken breasts to poach in white wine with black peppercorns and cilantro sprigs. The couscous recipe in the book included only turmeric as an added ingredient, but I chose to stir in some baby spinach leaves and sauteed, sliced garlic as well. Since experiencing the best couscous ever earlier this year, I had to mimic it with the sauteed garlic. This time, I used a scant bit of olive oil for sauteing rather than half a stick of butter and used whole wheat couscous, but it still had great flavor.
I always like what happens in a sauce when tomato juice is combined with lemon, and the charmoula offered that zing along with bold spice and fresh herbs. The raw garlic mixed into the other flavors well and didn’t dominate as it so often does. I was perfectly happy with the poached chicken and its simplicity, but Kurt informed me that while it was fine, he prefers the texture of grilled chicken. He'd never mentioned that before. Coming to think of it, he may be becoming pickier about food than I am. We did both agree the sauce was excellent and would love to try it with grilled fish next.
. These are easy, little tarts to make with store-bought phyllo dough, and I even found whole wheat phyllo dough to make them that much more virtuous. The phyllo tart shells are baked empty to keep them very crisp, and the cooked apples with their syrup get spooned into the shells just before serving. The recipe was kept simple and low-calorie for a dessert by using minimal amounts of butter and sugar. I did complicate matters just slightly by adding two additional ingredients with rosemary and lemon zest.
I always like what happens in a sauce when tomato juice is combined with lemon, and the charmoula offered that zing along with bold spice and fresh herbs. The raw garlic mixed into the other flavors well and didn’t dominate as it so often does. I was perfectly happy with the poached chicken and its simplicity, but Kurt informed me that while it was fine, he prefers the texture of grilled chicken. He'd never mentioned that before. Coming to think of it, he may be becoming pickier about food than I am. We did both agree the sauce was excellent and would love to try it with grilled fish next.