Merci Madame: June 2010

American Blues

Shirt: Gap. Shorts: DIY Cut Offs. Shoes: Sperry Topsiders. Bag: Jcrew Men's Weekender. Sunglasses: Burberry. Jewelry: David Yurman, Michael Kors, Gap, BR, Max&Chloe.

Apricot, Pistachio and Lemon Shortbread Tart

It is always this time of year when the weather gets too hot to be outside when I start getting anxious to travel and I become even more melancholic about all my friends and family back home. Beaches flooded with people anxious to soak in the sunshine after a rainy spring. I too remember those times and I miss them.

This weekend, I found myself looking through the pages of Martin Berasategui's "Calendario de Nuestra Cocina Tradicional". It is one of my favorite Basque cookbooks as it depicts very well the seasonal approach to our cooking with emphasis on the quality of our raw ingredients and always with a modern approach.

The summer chapter is filled with colorful tomatoes, green peppers from Gernika, pisto, fruit salads. Just the colors alone are so inspiring.

I love seeing all the fruit stands filled with stone fruits and berries. It reminds me of my childhood and how my dad always filled up a cooler full of peaches, nectarines, apricot, saturn peaches or any other summer fruit when we took day trips to the beach or to the French border. Lots of fruit, tortilla and bread.

And when I came home with a bag full of apricots this week, I decided to make a simple tart. I know there are thousands of different ways of cooking with stone fruits, but for some reason, I always must have a tart. They are the perfect match and the simpler the tart the better.

This time I made a super quick gluten-free lemon shortbread recipe to fill the bottom of the tart pan. No need to roll it out. It is one of those doughs that you just press into the pan. Add some chopped pistachios on the bottom and fill the tart with fresh apricots. Lots of them tightly packed. Sprinkle some sugar, dab a bit of butter and a drizzle of honey. Simple and perfect for summer.

The fruit salad was also simple. I placed some yogurt over cheesecloth overnight and let it drain most of the whey. The next morning, you will have a thick yogurt that is perfect for a fruit salad with some honey. Kids love to arrange the fruit on the plate and dip it in the yogurt.

We are off to Seattle this week. I hear the weather is cool. It will be the perfect break from the Florida heat. Time with friends and family that we haven't seen in a long time. Can't wait to share with you photos and hopefully great meal reports.

Apricot, Pistachio and Lemon Shortbread Tart

makes a 10" tart or 8 individual tarts

225 grams butter or non-hydrogenated shortening
110 grams powdered sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp vanilla
170 grams superfine brown rice flour
110 grams cornstarch
30 grams tapioca starch
pinch of salt
chopped pistachios
sugar for topping
10-12 apricots
lemon thyme leaves, optional
honey, optional

Cream the butter and powdered sugar together. Add the zest and vanilla extract. Add the dry ingredients and mix until combined.

Press the dough into tart molds. Refrigerate the dough for about 30 minutes.

Cut the apricots into thin wedges. Sprinkle the chopped pistachios on the bottom of the tarts. Arrange the apricot slices inside tightly packed as they will shrink in the oven. Sprinkle more pistachios on top and some sugar.

Bake at 375F for about 30 minutes until golden. Drizzle honey and add some lemon thyme leaves on top, if desired.

Headstrong

Scarf: Emilio Pucci. Shirt: Boyfriend's. Shorts: DIY cut offs. Shoes: Pierre Hardy for Gap. Sunglasses: Randolph Engineering. Jewelry: David Yurman, Gap, BR, Michael Kors.

Summer Bay

Top: Jcrew. Pants: Elizabeth&James. Shoes: Pierre Hardy for Gap. Jewelry: David Yurman, Max&Chloe, Gap, Banana Republic, Michael Kors.

Butterscotch Smoked Almond, Raspberry Vanilla and Peach Basil... A Trio of Frozen Treats

Summers are always full of activity and hassle around here. I have been meaning to write about these ice creams and sorbets for days now, but something always seemed to come up. And aren't summers about relaxing and not rushing anyway?

The oven has been turned off for the most part. This heat and humidity deserve nothing but a freezer full of frozen treats and that is what we have been up to. As I mentioned to you in my last post, I spent an entire day in the kitchen making ice cream and sorbet bases. This is when I wish I had a commercial grade ice cream maker or even better, a PacoJet.

There are very different palates in this household so when it's time for ice cream, I must take into account everyone's preferences. The fact that I cannot have any dairy at the moment, certainly limits my choices of ice cream. That is really not that big of a deal as I prefer fresh fruit sorbets in the summer when fruit is so luscious.

These peaches were super ripe and juicy. I love their color once they were blanched and peeled. So bright. I made a simple syrup flavored with some of my own thai basil and lemon thyme and then added the pureed fruit. Once frozen I served it with a little bit of raspberry syrup and fresh raspberries. Amazing.

When we move to C's flavor territory, he wants chocolate, vanilla, nuts, caramel... All those flavors that I reserve for colder months. I had to grant his wish for ice cream sandwiches with gluten free fudge cookies and butterscotch and smoked almond ice cream. For a minute, I almost licked the spoon as I was making the butterscotch anglaise with all that muscovado and vanilla bean. Almost.

J. is always simple. Vanilla ice cream. Not many add-ons or texture contrast. He is a boy of simple needs, but I did sneak in some raspberries in there for these vanilla and raspberry swirl ice cream cones. The cones were also used as bribing mechanism to prolong a modeling shoot I had with miss D. She was a trooper, but once she was done with the ice cream, that was it. She was done, done.

Our sumer travels begin this week with our trip to Seattle where I will be visiting family, friends and teaching a small workshop. The class is full and I hope it doesn't disappoint. I can't wait to get there and smell the rugged Pacific NW sea. It has been too long.

Peach, Basil and Lemon Thyme Sorbet

600 grams fresh peach puree (from about 6-7 peaches)
150 ml water
150 grams sugar
Juice of half a lemon
1-2 Tbs fresh basil and lemon thyme leaves, to taste

Make a syrup with the water and the sugar by bringing them to a boil. When sugar dissolves, turn the heat off, add the herbs and let them steep in the syrup for a couple of minutes. Taste it to see the intensity you like. Strain the syrup and let it cool completely. Refrigerate for an hour or until chilled.

Blanch the peaches in boiling water for a few seconds to peel the skins. Shock them in ice water. The skin will come right off. Cut the flesh and puree it in the food processor. We want about 600 grams of puree.

Mix the peach puree with simple syrup and lemon juice. Churn in ice cream machine. Add a few leaves of lemon thyme at the end if you would like. Freeze.

Butterscotch and Smoked Almond Ice Cream

450 grams heavy cream
250 grams whole milk
1 vanilla bean, scraped and seeded
75 grams butter
150 grams muscovado sugar
1/2 tsp salt
6 egg yolks
125 grams smoked almonds, coarsely chopped

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter with the muscovado. Don't caramelize it or it will turn bitter, only melt them. Add the heavy cream, milk and salt and bring them to a boil.

Whisk the egg yolks in a bowl and temper the liquid into them. Return the custard back to the pot and cook on low heat until it reaches 84C or 183F. Strain the custard through a fine sieve and chill it over an ice bath. When cooled, refrigerate the mixture overnight. Churn it in the ice cream machine and add the chopped smoked almonds at the end. Freeze.

Vanilla and Raspberry Swirl Ice Cream

500 grams whole milk
140 grams heavy cream
150 grams sugar
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
6 egg yolks
175 grams raspberries
40 grams sugar

Place the whole milk, heavy cream, vanilla bean and half of the first amount of sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. In the meantime, whisk together the egg yolk and the other half of sugar in a medium bowl. Temper the hot milk mixture into the egg yolks while whisking. Return this to the pan and cook to 84C or 183F. Strain the ice cream base through a fine sieve into a clean bowl and chill over an ice bath. When cool, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 8 hours.

In the meantime, macerate the raspberries with the 40 grams of sugar (even mash them a bit) until sugar dissolves and juices come out.

Churn the vanilla ice cream base in the ice cream machine. When finished, add the raspberries, mix and transfer to a container and freeze.

Homeward Bound

Jacket: Elizabeth&James. Tee: Madewell. Skirt: Pleasure Doing Business With You. Booties: Steve Madden. Sunglasses: Chanel. Jewelry: Michele, David Yurman, F21.

Today I am heading home to the East Coast, so expect a change of scenery for my next couple posts. I am looking forward to spending time with my family, watching one of my best friends in the world get married, and maybe even getting a tan.

I have added the Bloglovin' feature to site. If you haven't used it before it is a really easy way to keep up with your favorite blogs...

A Week of Frozen Treats

It has been so hot these last few days and I have been so busy with family and various projects that not much baking has taken place in our kitchen. However, last week, we spent a whole day making ice cream and sorbet bases to fight this summer heat.

Here is a little sneak peek into what we made. Peach, basil and lemon thyme sorbet with lightly poached raspberries. Delicious and refreshing. Can't wait to share more!

Also, this is an outtake from a shoot I did this week with a darling little girl. She was such a trooper and she also enjoyed some of the frozen treats we made.

And I hope you have noticed the new summer banner. Thank you Kaytlyn!