Cranberry Goat Cheese Tart with Almond Shortbread Crust

It seems that I've been blessed with really wonderful away-from-home Thanksgivings. There was two years ago at the Saltsman's in Maryland, all those spectacular Maine Thanksgivings, and this year's with Brent's family in Delaware.

We got in late Wednesday night, and after hanging out in the living room and a tour of Sandy & Dan's lovely antique-filled home, we quickly split into two groups. The ladies hung out in Jessie's red room, for girl talk--mostly family storytelling and remarks on how Neville Longbottom is kind of a babe now, while the guys, well I'm not sure what they were up to--probably drinking whiskey and watching the History Channel. In the morning we awoke to a beautiful unseasonably warm day along what I couldn't tell was there in the dark of night-- the Brandywine River.



After some online shopping, I joined Sandy in the kitchen to work on this Cranberry Goat Cheese Tart with Almond Shortbread Crust, which was, along with a Drunken Pumpkin Bourbon Pie, my contribution to the feast. I'd made a version of this for Kickasserole last year, with a regular pie crust in rectangular tart pans, but I only got to try a sliver. This time I added an almond shortbread crust, spiked the cranberry-orange compote with Grand Marnier, and baked it in a full 11-inch tart shell.

I was really pleased with the result. The goat cheese filling is smooth and rich, similar to cheesecake but lighter (and with less lactose, which is good for a slightly dairy-intolerant like me), and the cranberry compote was perfectly sweet-tart.

Cranberry Goat Cheese Tart with Almond Shortbread Crust

Filling adapted from Maggie Foard's goatcheese; Compote adapted from Gourmet

Ingredients
For crust:
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour, sifted
1 c. almond meal (make your own by grinding almonds in the food processor)
3/4 c. confectioner's sugar
10 Tblsp. (1 stick +2 Tblsp.) butter
4 egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. almond extract
1 T. ice water

For filling:
8 oz. fresh chevre
8 oz. ricotta (goat or cow)
4 large eggs
2/3 c. + 2 Tblsp. sugar
1/4 c. lemon juice
1 Tblsp. lemon zest

For cranberry-orange compote:
3/4 c. water
3/4 c. sugar
1 large navel orange, quartered and thinly sliced
1/4 c. fresh cranberries
1 Tblsp. Grand Marnier or another orange liqueur

Directions
For crust:
1. Combine flour, almond meal, and sugar in a food processor and pulse until well combined. Add cold butter chunks to the almond mixture and process until mix is the size of small peas. Add egg yolks, extracts, and ice water and pulse just until dough begins to form. Remove pastry dough from the food processor and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Chill for at least one hour and up to 1 day.

2. After dough has chilled, lightly grease the bottom and sides of an 11-inch tart pan. Remove the dough from the fridge. Roll out dough between two sheets of parchment paper and transfer to the tart pan, forming the crust up the sides (dough will be crumbly, so you may have to piece it together). Fold dough over the sides to ensure that the tart will have a strong edge. Prick all over the bottom with a fork. Chill for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the filling.

For filling:
1. Preheat over to 350. Blend chevre, eggs, 2/3 c. of sugar, and lemon juice. Zest the lemon and combine with the 2 Tblsp. of sugar. Combine the chevre & lemon mixtures until smooth. 

2. Pour the mixture into the tart shell, place on a cookie sheet and bake for 45 minutes until crust is golden brown and filling is set (you may want to prepare the compote while the tart is baking). Let the tart cool on a cooling rack.

For compote and assembly:
1. In a medium saucepan, bring water and sugar to a boil over medium heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Add the orange slices and cranberries and simmer over low-medium heat, uncovered, stirring occasionally until the mixture turns red, thick, and coats the back of a spoon, about 25-35 minutes. Add in the Grand Marnier and transfer the compote to a heatproof bowl. Let cool.

2. Once tart is baked and cooled, spoon the compote onto the tart and spread evenly with an offset or rubber spatula. Put in the refrigerator to set, about 30 minutes. Keep tart chilled until about 15 minutes before serving. Serve slightly chilled or at room temperature.

My favorite part of the day was an afternoon fire along the Brandywine. We brought down mugs of mulled wine and watched the resident family of ducks while Jack the dog enjoyed his natural habitat and dug up rocks. Brent and I brought down our instruments and played a few tunes until sunset. Then it was back inside for the final dinner preparations.

Thanksgiving dinner was classic and very delicious, with brined turkey, carrot souffle (I need the recipe for that one), Italian green beans, homemade stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potato casserole,  and cranberry sauce (and more which I'm sure I'm forgetting). This Cranberry Goat Cheese Tart and Drunken Pumpkin Pie were joined on the dessert table by Sandy's fantastic Pecan and Chocolate Pies. Then us "kids" naughtily printed out a version of Cards Against Humanity and forced the adults to play it--rather risqué and totally hilarious.

Thanks so much to Sandy and Dan (and Jack!) for hosting, and Brent, Brian, Luigia, Jessie, and the rest of the family for welcoming me in their Thanksgiving feast.

Pickling & Preserving Party!

A few weeks ago there was a post on Food52 about National Can-It-Forward Day. I had never heard of such a day, but they were offering coupons for free Ball jars for folks who were interested in hosting pickling and preserving parties on Saturday, July 14th. I love canning, I love pickles, and I love parties, so I decided to cast my name into the hat. Sure enough, a week or so later, a FedEx envelope with 6 coupons for free Ball jar sets arrived on my doorstep. Score!

So on the morning of the 14th, three friends and I, Andy, Annie, and Lars met at up at the Mt. Pleasant Farmers' Market, checked out what produce looked the best, and planned our attack. We decided to do vinegar cucumber pickles, dilly beans, and pickled okra, a peach-jalapeno jam, and a blueberry-basil jam. We were able to find almost all of our ingredients at the market, thanks in a large part to the very friendly farmers at Earth Spring Farm who had herbs and jalapenos, pickling cucumbers and okra.


We headed to Bestworld to get the rest of our ingredients, as well as some beer and lunch fixins, for we needed to fuel up for our day-long kitchen activities. Next stop was the hardware store for jars...we were able to get one set at the adorable Old School Hardware in Mt. Pleasant. Then we tried the Ace in Takoma Park, but unfortunately they did not take manufacturer's coupons, so we ended up having to buy our jars. No worries, though--I'm sure the coupons will be put to use at some point 'cause we'll definitely be doing this again.

Back home in the kitchen, we spread out our bounty. Andy went to work on our open-face quesadilla (open faceadilla) lunch, Annie put on some summer jams and then we all tied on aprons, cracked beers, and started peeling peaches, stringing beans, and chopping basil.

It was a collaborative process, with everyone helping with each item...prepping produce, stirring jam pots, and sealing jars. Though we're still waiting on the pickles (they need 6 weeks to "pickle"), the blueberry-basil jam was probably our favorite. And since this is a pie blog, I'll say that it would go great on this lemon goat-cheese tart (replace the blackberry preserves with the blueberry-basil jam) or in this almond crostata (replace the marmalade with the jam). Here's the very easy recipe we used, adapted from Rustic Kitchen.

Blueberry-Basil Jam
Adapted from Rustic Kitchen

Ingredients
8 c. fresh blueberries
5 c. sugar
about 1/2 c. minced purple basil (to taste)
5 Tbslp. lemon juice

Directions
Pour fresh, washed blueberries into a large saucepan. Stir in sugar, purple basil, and lemon juice. Boil, stirring occasionally, until the mixture reads 225 degrees F on a candy thermometer and coats the back of a spoon. Once the mixture is ready to can, pour into sterilized jars and seal (make sure to follow proper instructions for sterilization and canning--you can find some on the Ball jar site). Makes about 3 pints.


In the end, we had almost 50 jars of pickles and jams and spent a lovely overcast Saturday sharing skills and stories, listening to tunes, and making deliciousness-in-jars from our local farmers' market bounty. Many thanks to Andy, Annie, and Lars for being such awesome pals and picklers. And thanks to Food52 for inspiring us and donating the jars-- even if we didn't get to use them this time, we'll definitely be having another pickling & jam party soon.

Our "Revolution is Round" in Zenchilada!

A few months ago, Ronni Lundy, author of Shuck Beans, Stack Cakes, and Honest Fried Chicken and Southern Foodways Alliance Lifetime Achievement Award winner, asked if my friend Lora and I would contribute an article on Pi(e) Day to Zenchilada, the online culinary magazine Lundy edits with Patricia West-Barker. We wrote the piece as two friends in conversation and used pie as a lens to discuss our ideas of female friendship, tradition, and the domestic arts, all topics we often talk about when we are baking and cooking together in real life.

Zenchilada also used three of the recipes we used in last year's Pi(e) Day-- lemon goat cheese tart with blackberry preserves, avocado pie, and pimento cheese and tomato pie-- as featured recipes in the journal. Wow, they look good when made and photographed by their professional chefs, food stylists, and photographers!


We are so honored to have our words and photos featured in the Winter 2011 issue of Zenchilada. You can read the entire article and photographs here and see our recipe pages starting here. And while your at it, read the rest of the issue. It's excellent and delicious!

Wild Blackberry Lemon-Goat Cheese Tart

I'm working out at Celebrity Dairy Goat Farm for the month of July, learning to make cheese and filling in for Lora while she is away on her honeymoon. There are two things we have a lot of out here at the Dairy--one is goat cheese (clearly) and the other is blackberries. I've been foraging for them in the woods and from the patch outside the cheese room almost everyday. I needed to put all this usufruct to use, and remembered that Brooke, the Celebrity Dairy Inn Keeper, had made this Lemon-Blackberry Goat Cheese Tart on Pi(e) Day. See Lora's post about it here.

Wild Blackberry Lemon-Goat Cheese Tart
adapted from Maggie Foard's goatcheese. 

Ingredients
Nothing-in-the-House Pie Crust, halved
16 oz. fresh chevre (this is about $20 worth of goat cheese, which I wouldn't be able to afford, necessarily, if I wasn't working at a goat farm! Maggie's recipe calls for 8oz. chevre and 8 oz. goat ricotta, but I'm sure you could use the less-expensive cow ricotta to save $.)
4 extra-large eggs
2/3 c. + 2 Tblsp. sugar
1/4 c. lemon juice
1 Tblsp. lemon zest
Blackberry jam/preserves (I made a quick jam, with 1 c. of fresh berries and 1/2 c. sugar, cooked on low until thick)

Directions
1. Preheat over to 350. Blend chevre, eggs, 2/3 c. of sugar, and lemon juice. Zest the lemon and combine with the 2 Tblsp. of sugar. Combine the chevre & lemon mixtures until smooth. 

2. Pour the mixture into the tart shell, place on a cookie sheet at bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Let the tart cool on an oven rack. 

3. When cool, spread jam over tart, and garnish with lemon or fresh blackberries.


I took it over to my friends' Phaedra and Justin's house, where it was accompanied by Justin's delicious savory tomato goat cheese tart. Tale (or should I say tail? maybe not) of two goat cheese tarts.