This past Sunday is just the one a series of "family" dinners I hope to blog about here. The menu this week, an ode to summer. A rustic tart of caramelized onions, goat cheese, tomatoes and time paired with fresh shrimp and a classic Caesar salad. For dessert, another "tart" of sorts with lemon curd, fresh blackberry and blueberry "jam" and homemade whipped cream.
I'll let you in on a little secret, the dessert "tart" was created more out of necessity rather than the desire for a sweet ending. I hate to waste anything and I was only preparing dinner for two on Sunday. Instead of keeping a lone sheet of pastry in the freezer, I researched some recipes to base dessert on. You'll see all the recipes in just a bit.
After working all day, this menu was an undertaking that I wasn't certain of. As much as I love to cook, I've never worked with puff pastry before and my nerves were at an all time high. Give me phyllo dough and I've got you covered, but for some reason puff pastry scared the heck out of me! Never fear, I am happy to report things went smoothly and everyone left full.
I know that I put a disclaimer on my last post but it can't hurt to reiterate it. Here is my warning: I am a terrible recipe follower. Maybe it is my penchant for questioning authority or maybe it is just irreverence, either way I use recipes as guidelines. This being said, I'll do my best to make notes along the way of changes I made or things I omitted.
Let me just say, Ina Garten is a genius. If there is one "celebrity" chef that I want to adopt me, it is her hands down. Don't get me wrong, I love Paula Deen as much as the next Southern girl, but Ina has got something! She certainly got it right with this one.
Garten's "Tomato and Goat Cheese Tart" not only looked delicious, but it was easy too. I didn't have a bottle of dry white wine that I wanted to sacrifice for the good of the tart, so it was omitted as well as the basil leaves (the market was fresh out Saturday). Again, another reason I meant to start my own herb garden. I also halved the recipe since I only need to make two of the four tarts it produced, that's where dessert came from.
In reviewing the finished product Megan, my dinner guest, and I both agreed it needed a little more salt and cheese. We both agreed there can never be enough cheese, yes my arteries are clogging just hearing this. Megan also noted that she likes her food a little on the salty side whereas I tend to under-salt recipes that include cheese.
As I mentioned earlier, shrimp accompanied the tart as the main dish. Usually I restrict myself to using only Carolina-caught shrimp, but again my local Harris Teeter was out. I settled for farm-raised shrimp of the 16/20 count variety.
About 30 minutes before I was ready to sauté the shrimp I made a little marinade. You take a little bit of EVOO, some red pepper flakes (err on the side of caution if you don't like things spicy), thyme, salt, pepper and just a few minutes before they jumped into the pan, some fresh lemon juice. That's all it takes! If you wanted to squeeze some extra flavor out of the sea creatures you could always throw some finely diced garlic into the mix.
My next tip about this dinner is cooking the shrimp. Things can get a little tricky with the timing of the dishes. The tart needed to bake about 25 minutes and the shrimp were going to take about five minutes from start to finish. Thus, I slid the shrimp into a pan on medium-high heat with a little less than five minutes left on the tart timer.
Once the shrimp turn that opaque whiteish-pink color with a little sear on them you are all set. The biggest mistake people make with shrimp anywhere, restaurant or otherwise, is to overcook them. Most seafood is delicate and shouldn't cooked to well-done temperatures. We'll get to my feelings on how other meats should be cooked a little later.
All that's left to do is toss the salad Megan brought and eat up!
I served my favorite Shelton Vineyards Reisling with the meal and it paired wonderfully! If you're ever in the Charlotte, N.C.-area it is definitely worth the trip. They have an excellent restaurant on the property aptly named the Harvest Grill Restaurant.
Up next, my summer berry tart...
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