Apple Hearts

I had two aging Pink Lady apples in my fruit bowl for what seemed like months. They weren't to the shriveled stage - Pink Ladies are stayers - but that wasn't far behind so it was time to use them to make an apple tart.

The recipe I used before, however, called for five or six apples, not just two. Hmmm. Then, I read on the DuFour frozen pastry package that any leftover pastry could be used for other things, so I decided to try making as many tartlets as I had apples.

Using some of my sweet pomegranate syrup with a little tart lemon juice added (next time, I might try bathing them in maple syrup and lemon juice if I have run out of the pomegranate), I sliced the apples thinly and poured the syrup/lemon juice over them, mixing them up and letting them stand together while I rolled out the pastry. Because My Beloved was returning that day from a business trip, I used a cookie cutter to make the heart shapes to tickle his fancy.

Once the hearts were placed on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet, I laid four overlapping apple slices on each, sprinkled them with a light dusting of allspice and just a tad of coarse vanilla sugar before sliding them into a 375 degree oven for about 15-20 minutes. The pastry puffed up proudly and the apples relaxed like fruity odalisques onto the pastry pillows, turning just lightly brown at the tips while the rich scents of vanilla and allspice filled the kitchen.

The result was crispy on the bottoms and softly chewy on the tops, very apple-y and not very sweet, thanks to the extra lemon juice in the syrup. I like the allspice as a change from the more familiar cinnamon and the tiny pinch of vanilla sugar was just right.

I started out with the idea of making an Apple Tart, but these Apple Hearts are even better.

Applesauce, Take Two

Just as I was making applesauce from my generous neighbors' tree, My Beloved's niece Molly wrote a Bon Appetit article about a dessert that has always been my favorite, apple turnovers, and she mentioned that she likes her filling "soft and homey, on the applesauce end of the texture spectrum. I like a filling that, when you take a bite, tries to sneak out and slide down your chin."

Aha!

I simply had to try making apple turnovers with my applesauce - it's chunky anyway. I had played around with Dufour puff pastry once before with good results and happened to have it in the freezer so I decided to risk the turnovers.

They were amazingly easy to make, especially so since I already had the filling. I had not added quite enough apple cider for liquid when I made my first batch of applesauce, but it was perfect for the turnovers as it didn't run - just sat there obediently in the middle of the pastry. If you have runaway applesauce, you can follow Molly's directions (did I mention that she's our family celebrity and we are ever so proud of her? We drop her name at any and all foodie gatherings) and enjoy your apples in a second, more sumptuous, way.

Frugal Fishy Lunch

This amazing lunch came about through simple frugality, the urge to use up bits and pieces of several things I had on hand - a good-sized piece of puff pastry left over from making the fruit tarts, half a yellow heirloom tomato, most of a can of sardines and half a lemon after making Jamie's Chicken Caesar, a handful of dry farmed Early Girl tomatoes, half a jar of marinated artichoke hearts and a fennel bulb.

After rolling out the puff pastry and painting it with olive oil, I sliced the tomatoes thinly, settled a school of halved sardines on top of them, nestled slivers of artichoke heart in between, sprinkled fresh thyme from the garden and the lemon juice, scattered sliced fennel lightly, and drizzled some of the marinade from the artichoke bottle over the top. Baked it for about 20 minutes in a 375 degree oven.

Killer lunch! My Beloved and I enjoyed every savory bite.

The only thing I'd change would be to use my baking stone next time, as the center of the crust was soggy on my stainless baking sheet.

A final tip: dry farmed tomatoes - a new idea to me - are da bomb, so richly flavored and concentrated. Apparently, they don't water them at all once they get started so the fruit is smaller but ever so tasty! I'm going back to El Cerrito Natural Grocery, where I found them, today to snag some more.

Puff, the Magic Pastry

After all these years of cooking and baking, I had never before tried puff pastry. It always seemed too complicated to make from scratch and for some reason I just never tried the packaged kind.

I am a convert of the packaged kind.

Having discovered a recipe for an easy rustic pear tart in Sunset magazine last month and having one last lovely fresh pear from Casa Rancho in the fridge, I thought I'd finally break down and try puff pastry from the freezer case.

Sadly, my sentimental favorite, Pepperidge Farm, has gone to using (ick) margarine in their puff pastry so instead I plumped for DuFour brand, new to me but made with real butter. I rolled it out, lined up lovely pear slices on it, brushed with melted Meyer lemon marmalade (the original recipe called for orange marmalade), brushed the edges with egg wash, sprinkled it with just a little turbinado sugar, popped it in the oven and, alakazam! - a beautiful pear tart. Drizzled with creme fraiche.

And forgot to photograph it before it vanished into thin air - presto!

What's a blogger to do? Of course, I made another the very next day, this time with mixed fruits - the last Gravenstein apple from Chilebrown, a nice ripe nectarine and some strawberries - and this one was just as delicious as the all-pear version.

Puff pastry is kitchen magic and I'm a newly initiated wizard.