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.

Matcha Chamomile Shortbread Cookies

This is one of my favorite cookies for an afternoon tea. For the coarse sea salt I like to use the Flor de Sal d’Es Trenc Sri Lanka, which contains a blend of coriander seeds, turmeric, fenugreek, cardamom, chilli, black pepper, cayenne, cinnamon, cloves, and, of course, coarse sea salt. I was lucky enough to have a great harvest of chamomile flowers in my garden this year, which I dried in the dehydrator for about 24 hours at 95 degrees Fahrenheit.

Makes approximately 40 1 1/2 inch cookies)

INGREDIENTS

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp matcha powder
½ tsp kosher salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
½ cup lightly packed brown sugar
½ tsp almond extract
1 TB dried chamomile flowers
Coarse sea salt, such as Flor de Sal d’Es Trenc

PROCEDURE

• Preheat the oven to 325°. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, matcha powder and salt. In a large bowl or bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the almond extract. Add the dry ingredients and mix until a dough forms (it may be slightly crumbly).

• Turn the dough out onto a work surface and knead once or twice to bring any loose crumbs together. Roll the dough out to 1/2-inch thickness and cut out 1 1/2-inch squares. Place the squares about 1/2 inch apart on the baking sheets and sprinkle with the chamomile and coarse sea salt.

• Bake for 20-25 minutes until the cookies are just lightly  browned. Let cool and serve.

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.

Rose & Rye Chocolate Chunk Cookies

This is probably one of my favorite cookie recipes. A pinch of Flor de Sal d’Es Trenc Rosa from the island of Mallorca is a beautiful foil for the depth and richness of the chocolate. It’s a delicious and beautiful blend of the hand-harvested sea salt with rose petals, sarawak and szechuan peppers. If you can’t find it or something similar, a plain flaky sea salt will work too. The addition of more rose petals makes these decadent cookies fragrant and beautiful.

Yields 12 (very large!) cookies

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup rye flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp Kosher salt
1/2 lb. unsalted butter,  at room temperature
1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp molasses
2 Tbsp water
8 oz semi-sweet chocolate (broken in large-ish pieces), I like to use Theo dark chocolate bars
Flor de sal d’Es Trenc Rosa sea salt, or other flaky salt, for sprinkling
Organic dried rose petals, I buy from Kalustyans

Procedure

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F, and put two baking sheets in the freezer (this helps slow the cookies’ spreading as they bake).

• In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.

• In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugars on medium-high until smooth.

• Add the egg, vanilla, molasses, and water and then mix until well-combined.

• Add the flour mix to the wet mix and beat to combine. Stir in the chocolate pieces, mixing until evenly combined. (I do this step by hand).

• Scoop mounds of dough (I like to use a 2 oz portion scoop or “squeeze disher”), onto the prepared baking sheets, and put them back into the freezer.

• Work in batches to bake the cookies; I usually only do 3 or 4 cookies per sheet so that the cookies do not spread into each other during baking.

• Bake for 15 minutes - but after 10 minutes, lift and drop the corner of the pan every few minutes to create the ripple effect on the cookies.

• Remove the cookies from the oven, sprinkle them right away with the flaky salt and the dried rose petals, and allow them to cool and firm up a bit before moving them to a cooling rack. Repeat the process until you’ve used all the dough.