Apricot Tarte Tatin with Chamomile and Pistachio

I am always looking for ways to use chamomile in both sweet and savory dishes. This tarte is one of my favorites. I love the combination of apricots, chamomile, and pistachios. A tarte tatin is always a crowd-pleaser, especially with summer’s delicious fruits, and is super simple to make (especially if you use bought puff pastry!). I love this warm with vanilla gelato, or at room temperature with a dollop of Greek yogurt.

Makes one 9-inch tart

INGREDIENTS

12-15 apricots, halved and pitted
150 grams organic cane sugar
2 TB unsalted butter
1 tsp dried chamomile flowers, plus more for garnish
1 sheet of frozen puff pastry (or make your own!)
3 strips of candied orange peel, chopped
2 TB raw pistachios (shelled, unsalted)

PROCEDURE

• Preheat the oven to 350 Unroll the puff pastry sheet and cut out a circle slightly larger than the diameter of the cooking pan.

• Make the caramel: In a 9-inch cast iron pan, melt sugar (with a few tablespoons of water) over low to medium heat. Once caramel turns a light amber color (this will take approximately 7-8 minutes), remove the pan from heat, add 1 tsp dried chamomile flowers, and then stir in the butter using a wooden spoon.

• Once the butter has melted and incorporated into the caramel, arrange the apricots, skin side down, on the caramel, closing the gaps with pieces of candied orange peel. Leave a bit of space around the apricots to tuck in the puff pastry.

• Place the puff pastry on top of the apricots, tucking in the edges around the fruits. Prick the pastry gently a few times with a sausage pricker or a fork.

• Bake at 350°F for about 35 minutes.

• While tart is baking, toast the pistachios in a dry pan, and then chop them roughly with a knife or a nut grinder.

• Remove the tart from the oven, and allow to cool slightly (about 10 minutes) before inverting onto a serving plate.

• Sprinkle with pistachios and additional dried chamomile blossoms. Serve warm with vanilla gelato, greek yogurt, or creme fraiche.

Strawberry Ricotta Cake

My boyfriend has an amazing strawberry patch in his backyard garden, and we have collected more than 5 pounds of berries so far this season! We like to have a little cake - not to sweet - with our morning coffee, and this moist and flavorful cake fits the bill. Fresh ricotta from Blue Ridge Dairy and homegrown strawberries . . . this is the essence of Spring. It’s also nice to marinate the strawberries with some fresh garden herbs like tarragon, mint, or if you can find it, anise hyssop.

Makes one 9-inch cake

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups whole milk ricotta
1 tsp  almond extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
1 cup strawberries (approx. 15-20, depending on size), stem removed and halved
2 tablespoons light brown granulated sugar

PROCEDURE

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9-inch pan.

• In a medium mixing bowl whisk together flour, baking powder and salt set aside.

• Cream the butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating each one in.

• Next add the ricotta, extracts, and lemon zest, and mix well.

• Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, just folding them in until mixed. Don’t over beat.

• Fold in half of the strawberries.

• Pour batter into the prepared pan. 

• Place the remaining strawberries on top of the batter, cut side up, pressing them in a bit.

• Sprinkle the cake with the sugar and bake until golden brown and when a tester comes out clean, about 50-60 minutes. Let cool, then remove from the pan, slice and serve.

Foraged Mulberry Buckwheat Buckle

This nice breakfast or tea cake combines two of my favorite things - mulberries and buckwheat flour. I was way overzealous in my foraging last year, and I had pounds of mulberries that needed to be used so I could refill with the new pickings! For an even brighter mulberry flavor, I like to macerate them in a little sugar and lime zest before adding to the cake.

Serves 8

Ingredients

For the Streusel
50 g rolled oats
45 g buckwheat flour
110 g packed brown sugar
¼ tsp salt
Pinch freshly grated nutmeg
57 g (½ stick, or 4 TB) unsalted butter, at room temperature

For the Cake
160 g all purpose flour
90 g buckwheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp salt
85 g (6 TB) unsalted butter, at room temperature
150 g granulated sugar
2 large eggs
160 ml yogurt
1 TB fresh lime zest
435 g mulberries (or huckleberries, blackberries or blueberries  . . .)

Procedure

• Preheat the oven to 350 and set the rack in the middle. Grease a 9”x9” pan.
  Prepare the streusel: Combine oats, buckwheat, brown sugar, salt, nutmeg, and butter in a medium bowl. Work the butter in with your fingertips until it's crumbly. Set aside.

• Make the cake: In a medium bowl, whisk together the ingredients from the flour through the salt.

• In the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and granulated sugar on medium high speed until lightened, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping the bowl down after each addition, and beat  until fluffy and light, about 3 minutes. Add the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the yogurt . Add the lime zest, and then fold in half of the mulberries.

• Spread the batter in the prepared pan. Scatter the remaining berries on top, and then the streusel. Bake for approximately 40  minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

• Cool on a rack for at least 10 minutes before serving.

Rhubarb-Apricot Rye Cake

I’ve been mostly staying out of grocery stores and shopping the Arlington, Virginia farmers markets during the quarantine. They are extremely well organized to keep people safe. Gone (for now) are the days of browsing and daydreaming; you have to go to the market with a clear mission and often a pre-order. However, there is still an opportunity for impulse buys, like the stalks of rhubarb at the Lubber Run Farmers Market. I snatched them up, thinking I’d make some version of a classic strawberry-rhubarb tart.

I ended up making a rhubarb compote with some dried apricots and sugar, and then swirling that into a cake batter funked up with some rye flour and studded with chopped candied orange zest.

Makes one 9-inch cake

INGREDIENTS

For the Compote

1 lb rhubarb, roughly chopped into ¼-inch pieces
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup white wine
Zest of 1 orange
1 cup dried apricots, cut into small pieces

For the Cake

1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup rye flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
¾ tsp fine sea salt
1 ½ sticks butter, at room temperature
½ cup granulated sugar
⅓ cup packed dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
½ tsp almond extract
Juice from ½ orange, plus enough milk to equal 1 cup total liquid
1/4 cup chopped candied orange zest (homemade! recipe TK)

PROCEDURE

• Make the compote. Combine the rhubarb, apricots, sugar, and wine in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat and bring the mixture to a boil. Boil, uncovered, stirring frequently, until the rhubarb has mostly broken down, the apricot pieces are soft and plumped, and most of the liquid has absorbed. This will take approximately 20 minutes. The texture should be jammy. Set aside.

• Preheat the oven to 350° F. Butter a 9-inch cake pan (a springform pan works best, if you have one).

• In a large bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

• Cream the butter with the granulated sugar and brown sugar in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, until the butter is light and fluffy.

• Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the almond extract.

• With the mixer on low, add 1/3 of the flour mixture and mix just until incorporated. Add 1/2 of the orange juice-milk mixture. Add another 1/3 of the flour, the remaining milk mixture, and then the last of the flour. Mix just to combine.

• Transfer the batter to the prepared pan. Spoon the compote over top of the batter, then swirl it in.

• Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, until the cake is golden brown on top and the edges just start to pull away from the sides. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack, then turn it out onto a plate.

• Serve the cake warm or at room temperature.

NOTE: The cake is excellent served warm with vanilla ice cream. It’s also delicious room temperature as a breakfast cake with cofffee.