TWD - French Apple Tart

A year ago yesterday our dog, Crash, passed away. We declared yesterday Crash day and honored him by eating his favorite food, chicken. Crash loved chicken more than life itself. He loved chicken so much that one time when he was eating his dog food my husband said chicken (in regards to our upcoming supper) and Crash spit out his dog food and whipped his head around looking for the chicken. I've never laughed so hard in my life. This dog loved chicken.

So yesterday instead of making the tart, I looked at pictures of Crash, ate a little chicken and cried a little. But it's ok. I'm ok and Crash is ok because I'm pretty sure he's getting all the chicken he's ever wanted.

miss you

Well don't let Crash fool you, he had a sweet tooth too and would've loved this tart. And I have always wanted to make a French tart. I love the thin apples carefully laid out in a circle. It really appeals to my OCD side. I have to channel that for good and not evil.

thank gravy for my mandolin!

After baking this little beaute, I didn't feel I had properly achieved the caramelized edges that were pictured in the book. So out comes the blow torch! Don't worry it's just a little guy. Just the perfect size to sizzle each apple edge. Yes more OCD. But look at this picture, wasn't it worth it?

torched to perfection

Ok, now for the 64 dollar question...what did I change? Well everything...almost. I did use granny smith's called for in the recipe. But I used this pie dough recipe. And for the apple mixture, I omitted the cinnamon and added 2 tablespoons of tamarind paste. Yes, tamarind. It's so tangy and sweet. I highly recommend everyone running out right now and getting some at your local latin store. Back? Good, eat some.

Here's our hostest with the mostest for this week, Laws of the Kitchen. She's a lawyer, so you better follow her recipe to the T! Don't do what I did and throw caution to the wind...well maybe throw a little.

later gaters

TWD - Pizza with Onion Confit

So I missed a TWD post. It was the Finnish Pulla. Why did I miss the Pulla? Well I pulla' my back. haha, sorry. I couldn't help it. I pulled a muscle in my back that prohibited me from doing anything except watch tv and be provided food. That's what the doctor told me to do (well I'm sure he would've if I had gone).

But in all seriouslyness, I couldn't stand upright for more than a few minutes for several days. We're just lucky I can take quick showers. I do plan on making it up and will be back on track with no missed recipes though!

Now check this out, for a whole year I've been baking and cooking out of this book and bothering readers with my overuse of commas. I think in all reality we're looking at about 2 more years or so with this. That's pretty nifty.

Now on to this week's gem....pizza with onion confit. I'm in the midst of making it all. It seems to be how I work. Bake, write, finish, taste, write, blog.

Very, very tasty

The dough is rising and the onions are cooking off their delicious drunkenness as we speak. Check out this week's host to get a sneak peak of what's to come. But you have to come back to my blog and finish reading what I have wrote. It will be extremely vital.

So I know you are asking what changes did I make. (I always make changes, right?) Well, I really didn't make any this time. I didn't change the pizza dough recipe and I didn't change the onion confit recipe. The only thing I did do was add some espresso balsamic figs that I had made up a while ago and tossed into the freezer. Think about it...balsamic figs, onions cooked in wine and topped with goat cheese. ooo lala

Pizza's in the oven and wowza does it smell good.

ta da!

It's magnific! I cannot wait to make another....maybe just a bit more cheese. You can never have too much cheese.

later kids