Late-summer Bounty: Tomato, Prosciutto, and Ricotta Tart

Screw Christmas - right now is the most wonderful time of the year! Okay, that was a bit harsh, but I don't see how Christmas can even compete with the glory that is tomato season. Right now, just when you feel like the days should be cooling down but they're readily throwing their 90F temperatures in your face; when all you want to do is start wearing sweaters and roast things, but you can barely stand to cook it's so hot in your house? This is the best part of summer for me. Granted, summer is probably my least favorite season, even though many of my favorite vegetables and fruits are in season, and especially THIS part of summer, garden- and market-fresh tomatoes make it all worthwhile. I can stand the hotter-than-hot afternoons and evenings knowing that a wonderful meal is only a few juicy slices away. This is the time of year I yearn for my own vegetable garden so I could brave the heat only to come back to the kitchen with a basket full of goodies to whip up into a meal like this: Tomato, Prosciutto, and Ricotta Tart.

I'll readily admit that ricotta is my least favorite of all the cheeses. There's just something about the texture and flavor that I never really got on board with. Now, I have made my own ricotta (I did so a couple of years ago for my Ina Garten-themed birthday party, where all the food I made was from The Barefoot Contessa and I even dressed up as her, and one of the dips was a homemade herbed ricotta cheese - it's super easy to make) and it was slightly better; at least it was more milky/creamy than whatever store-bought ricotta tastes like. I figure with this dish I could easily overlook the ricotta for the almost 2 pounds of tomatoes, fresh herbs, prosciutto, and puff pastry. I've always been delighted with the recipes from Sunset magazine and this one is no different. The flavors came together to create this light, and deceptively filling, tart. The fresh juicy tomatoes, the lemony ricotta cheese, the splash of fresh herbs (I went ahead and used BOTH basil and mint for one of the most excellent flavor combinations I've recently encountered), the salty tang of prosciutto, all supported by the buttery crispy puff pastry made for a wonderful summer Sunday meal. While I did groan a bit at having to turn on my oven for this, I soon forgot the heat after I bit into this tart. This is the perfect meal to have for kicking back in your garden with a glass of wine. This is also a perfect appetizer or first-course for a garden dinner party, too! A great thing about this dish is that it's easily vegetarian-friendly. Simply eliminate the prosciutto and you've got a great appetizer (or meal) that'll please just about everyone.

Oh yeah and it made for the perfect individually packaged lunches!

A few things of note:

• Don't even try to adhere to the tart measurements in the recipe. The puff pastry I bought for this (Pepperidge Farms) is two square sheets. Honestly, once thawed and rolled out a bit, it's the perfect size for a party of 4 as meal (or 2 meals for 2 people). I tried piecing together trimmed bits and I was left with the trimmed bits coming apart in the baking process. So not worth the hassle!
• I used a full pound of ricotta cheese and I think it was a bit too much, but measuring out the 1-1/3C would've left me with too little cheese in the package to save. I think I'd go just with the half-pound next time. However, if you like ricotta use as much as you like!
• As I said above, I used both basil and mint, when the recipe called for either/or. I also didn't deal with trimming the "tiny" whole leaves and just chiffonaded both the basil and mint leaves. Believe me, having both makes for a much more complex and refreshing flavor! I also cut too much herbs, so I threw them in with the simple salad I served alongside the tart (mixed greens + arugula, tossed with olive oil and lemon juice).
• I also used a mix of large heirloom tomatoes and cherry tomatoes (the cherry tomatoes were from my coworker's garden - they were delicious!). I thinly sliced the big tomatoes and halved the cherry tomatoes, per the recipe, and it worked out wonderfully. The more colorful the better, really!

Bon appetit!

When Fandoms Attack: Spicy Dark Chocolate-Coffee Cupcakes

So, about two years ago, the husband was advised, nay ordered, by a friend to play a new (well, newly discovered) video game. it was around the time that World of Warcraft died down in our household and, while I was still busy with grad school, my husband was looking for something to fill the time in the evenings and on weekends. World of Warcraft (or WoW) was a huge deal in our house until then. We were part of a guild and we ran raids and did dungeon runs together. But, just before our wedding, we decided that we needed to focus our attention on, well, our wedding, and both agreed to stop playing. We both realized that WoW wasn't holding our attention as much as it did before and a few months after we got married, we cancelled our accounts. One of our good friends had recently picked up a game called Mass Effect. It was a sci-fi space-faring RPG and apparently it grabbed our friend more than any other game before it. The husband was intrigued and borrowed a copy from another friend who had played it and finished it. The husband was, for lack of a better word, enraptured by the game. He couldn't put it down. He dove headfirst into the world of Mass Effect (or ME) fandom and joined all the fan communities on LiveJournal, even got a handle/profile on the game forums. Soon after he finished the first one, the sequel came out and I don't think I saw him for days as he consumed every bit of that game. His fandom grew and he started to write fanfiction, the sort of level-cap to any fandom. During this time, he kept suggesting that I play, too. Given the timing, I didn't really have much in the way of free time, but during one of my breaks I picked up ME1 and started playing. I loved it. I couldn't get enough of it. While my fandom never fully capped like my husband's, I was in it for the long-haul. I played through ME1 multiple times and imported all my saved games into ME2; bought the downloadable content; bought ME-themed apparel; the works. When ME3 released earlier this year, we both ordered our own copies of the Collector's Edition of ME3. While this certainly isn't the forum for expressing how we eventually felt about the trilogy's ending, suffice it to say we're still hooked. ME remains a huge deal in our household. While I might not be writing my own fanfiction, I help proofread the husband's works and I follow a few choice fanfiction authors online now. So yeah, pretty big deal.

But, La Petite Chef, how is this related to food? Oh, dear reader, everything in my life can be related to food. Sometimes I feel like Monica on Friends when she's told that the only reason she became a chef was so people would like her (that's another fandom entirely, believe me). I tell you about this Mass Effect fandom to lay the groundwork for what I did last year.

Last year was the husband's 30th birthday. One of those milestone birthdays and we went all out. I even organized with one of his best men at our wedding to come up from LA to visit and celebrate with us. We had a ton of people over at my parent's house and cooked up a huge variety of street-style Mexican tacos. We had carne asada, carnitas, grilled chicken, and even some grilled portobello mushrooms for our vegetarian friends. Accompanying these we had all the condiments: homemade guacamole, pico de gallo, salsa verde, pickled onions. Let's just say the crowd did not leave hungry that day. The thing is, the husband did all of this himself. Well, okay, I helped a lot with the prep-work, but he manned the grill, and served everything up on his birthday. He loved it. I, on the other hand, kept the dessert a secret. I only asked him what kind of cupcakes he wanted. He simply said spicy chocolate. Off to the internet I went and found a beautiful recipe for Spicy Dark Chocolate-Coffee Cupcakes with Cardamom Buttercream. I ran it by him, he approved, and I made them. What the husband didn't know was how they were going to be decorated. Little did he know, I had been making sketches of my idea a few weeks leading up to the party. I wanted it to be perfect. I researched what I wanted to draw, bought a whole mess of food colorings, pastry bags, and piping tips. I spent the night before the party at my parent's house, baking and decorating and getting everything set up. I loved every minute of it. Only thing I wish I had was a picture of the two of us holding the tray of cupcakes on his birthday. Oh well, let's just say, he was pleased.

The cupcakes and buttercream was easy enough to make, really. I find cupcakes to be easier to bake than whole cakes and for almost every special occasion in the last 3 years, I've been happy to bake cupcakes for birthdays and other events. I made 2 batches of Root Beer Float Cupcakes for my niece and nephew's 5th birthday party, as well as cupcakes for the last few birthdays for the husband. These particular cupcakes were quite delicious. The spice was a little more subdued than I was expecting; there was definitely more coffee than spice, but I don't think I would try and add MORE spice as I wouldn't want the cupcakes to end up bitter. The cardamom buttercream was an excellent complement, although I was rather sick of cardamom after making these, considering how much I had to handle the frosting during the decorating phase. My nephew, who isn't big on cupcakes at all, said they were his favorite. The reason being is that I lightly ice my cupcakes. Like my nephew, I do not like a ton of frosting or icing on my cupcakes. It's too sweet, especially when all I want is the cake. So yeah, the cupcakes, both as food and a gift, went over well. Not everyone in the crowd understood the significance, but it was my gift to my husband. While my fandom will never surpass his completely, at least he knows I'm just as much of a fan in my own way.