That's What Bob's Cooking: April 2017

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Rainbow Rose Veggie Tart

A few weeks back I came across a savory tart recipe, called Rainbow Rose Tart. I thought that's beautiful, but I'll never make it. Well the damn thing kept popping up everywhere I looked. So I looked into the recipe and then realized that it didn't involve much and with our CSA recently delivering the rainbow carrots, why not make it. And just in time for Easter.

Rainbow Rose Tart

Rainbow Rose Veggie Tart

Ingredients

1 roll puff pastry
15 ounces ricotta
3 eggs
6 ounces grated fresh Parmesan
1 pinch nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon dried oregano, (double if using fresh)
1⁄2 cup fresh mozzarella, shredded
4 large multi-colored carrots
2 zucchini

Directions

Unfold a puff pastry sheet over a tart pan. Place parchment paper or foil in the center and weight it down with beans or pie weight.
Bake the tart base in a preheated oven at 350°F for 15-20 minutes. Remove the weights and parchment paper. Let it cool. Raise over temp to 375°F.
In a food processor, add the eggs, ricotta, grated parmesan cheese, grated nutmeg and pinch of salt. Pulse until smooth. Add the mozzarella and oregano. Pulse mixture until smooth.
Slice strips of zucchini and carrots length-wise using a vegetable peeler or a mandolin. Place the slices in a bowl and cook in the microwave for 1-2 minutes. This step will soften the slices and make them much easier to roll.
Spread the cheese mixture on top of the tart base.
Take one slice of a vegetable and roll it up very tightly; this will form the core of the rose. Take another slice and keep rolling. With around 2-3 slices you should obtain a decent-size rose bud. Place the bud in the center of the tart, pushing it down into the cheese. Keep rolling roses of different colors and place them one next to the other in a spiral formation.
Brush olive oil on top of the vegetables and bake the tart at 375 degrees F for 50 minutes.

(Inspired from Food.com)

Notes:

make sure you use large carrots. And have an even selection of colors.
Use the pie weights. The sides of my pastry fell while baking. I improvised and it came out undetected.
Rolling the "roses" takes time. Allow yourself plenty of time! I rolled all of the roses up, the placed according to how many colors I had.
I used a vegetable peeler. Next time I might use the mandolin. The first piece needs to be paper thin to get the right tightness.
Next time I might use thyme in place of the oregano.
Might try a couple of tomatoes next time.

Teriyaki Chicken and Broccoli

One of my favorite quick go to dinners is Teriyaki Chicken. It's quick, so easy and customizable to your taste. Living in he Seattle area, you can get Teriyaki anywhere. It's almost like the Starbucks of Asian food. Some are good, others are great, everyone has their favorite. What I find is that all are way too salty for me.

Here are some interesting facts about soy sauce:

Soy sauce is arguably the most used condiment in the world.

Soy sauce is the product of fermented boiled soy beans.

Soy sauce was originally a way to stretch salt and fermented with fish. Fish was separated from the process, and created fish sauce as a separate ingredient.

Soy sauce was first introduced to the Webster culture in the Netherlands, decades before Asian foods were introduced, and the Europeans couldn't reproduce it, as they didn't understand the fermentation process, developed by the Chinese.

Light soy sauce traditionally has no reference to lower salt, as we know it today. It refers to it being fresh, or the first brewing. And lighter in color. (This is my favorite!!)

Dark refers to a thicker darker style. This is more common in the US.

There is a different style for almost every Asian region. From Chinese (where soy originated) to Burmese, Filipino, Hawaiian, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Malaysian, Singaporean, Taiwanese, Thai, & Vietnamese. And multiple styles within each region.

And a little bit on Teriyaki:

The word teriyaki derives from the word "Teri" which refers to a shine or luster given by the sugar content in the sauce, and yaki, which refers to the cooking method of grilling or broiling.

Traditionally the meat is dipped in or brushed with sauce several times during cooking. This popular dish was originally created by Japanese cooks of the seventeenth century, when urbanization, changes in agricultural methods and exposure to new ingredients from abroad gave rise to new, innovative cooking styles.

So here is my version of:

Teriyaki Chicken, with Broccoli

Mix together:

1/2 c Soy sauce (use low sodium, you won't miss the salt!)1/2 c Rice wine vinegar

2 T Garlic, diced (or use the prediced kind you can buy)

1/2 t Red pepper flakes, adjust according to your taste)

1/4 c Brown sugar

2-3 T Oil

2 boneless Chicken breasts, roughly chopped (boneless thighs would be great in this too)

1 Onion, chopped

12 oz fresh Mushrooms, sliced

1 head fresh Broccoli, chopped into florets

6-8 oz fresh Snow peas

1 can Water chestnuts, sliced, and drained

Prepare pan by heating oil. Carefully add chicken and onions. Once the chicken is cooked and onions are translucent, add Mushrooms and Broccoli. Cook 3-4 minutes, constantly stirring. Add in sauce mixture and stir. Before serving, add water chestnuts and snow peas. Serve over rice.

My Complete Profile

I was born and raised on the East side of Portland Oregon, by two native and second generation, Oregonians, my Mom and Dad (Jack and Joan). Oregon, and the Northwest are deep in my blood. That being said, I have always had an interest in cooking. I would love to add a warm loving story here about how my Mom nurtured my love of cooking by setting me up on or near the counter top to help with whatever she was cooking. Well, that's not exactly the case.

Being a child of the 70's and 80's, I had a great exposure to classic foods like Spam, Tang, Rice-a-Roni and Hamburger Helper. While many of these premade, sodium roller coaster, treats where regulars on our table, my Mom would have to hold the title as "casserole queen". Casseroles are her favorite and her specialty. Whereas, my Dad was more of a spur of the moment kind of cook. His creations included many of the items from our makeshift pantry. Sometimes, i think he was thinking, "the more ingredients, the better it'll be!". I think my first attempt at cooking would have to have been making cookies, either peanut butter (with the criss-cross fork tine print on top), or chocolate chip cookies. Over the years I have made so many of both of these recipes, I have surely lost count.

During middle school, my Mom encouraged me to take Home Economics, thinking that all kids, boy or girl, should know how to cook out in this world. This sparked a growing interest in cooking. So when I entered my junior year of High School, at David Douglas, I enrolled in the culinary arts program, we called it Food Services I. This was a class that had been offered many years before, where the students ran a restaurant, The Kilt, during the lunch periods. Unfortunately, since the class had not been offered in several years, so we didn’t have enough students to open the restaurant, that year. Within the first few weeks of this class, my instructor asked if I'd like to be involved in an outside "club" (kind of like a version of Eagle Scouts) that was mentored by local business owners. It sounded interesting so I joined (not to mention it got me out of the first 2 periods of the day).

At our first meeting I was approached by Sylvia Poesdel, the owner of the Portland landmark restaurant, Sylvia's Italian Restaurant & Dinner Theatre. She asked me if I would be interested in an afterschool job, coming to work for her to learn the cooking/chef trade on the job. I jumped at the chance and started in October of 1985. During my senior year I rejoined the culinary arts program (Food Services II) and this year we were able to reopened the restaurant, which the rest of the students voted me to manage. I just absolutely loved it! I worked at Sylvia's until after I graduated, in 1989. I learned a lot about the restaurant industry, and I would have to say it would be one of just a few life altering jobs I have had throughout my career.

After high school, while I was working at Sylvia's, I applied to culinary arts school. The Two things kept me from continuing my career in culinary arts, were financial and having worked out in the field, I saw so many negative attributes to being a chef, I decided that since I love to cook, I wanted it to be a hobby, and not a drag to go work each day.

When I left Sylvia's, I worked at a hotel, then Safeway. From there I joined Fred Meyer in the Service Deli, and was quickly promoted to a manager. During the next 8 years, I worked throughout the Portland and Southern Oregon areas. In 1998, I earned a promotion to the regional specialist position (District Manager) in Seattle. During this career move, I learned so much about the Food Service industry. I was charged to develop a new service salad case program, as well as work on a new catering program. I had the opportunity to work with manufacturers to develop these new programs.

In 2000, I met the love of my life, Craig. I also, moved from the food service program to the grocery department as an assistant manager. In the capacity I learned to develop my management skills as well as managing inventory. By being the best in my category, I earned the position of manager, where I moved from store to store cleaning up and reorganizing as I went. I also was entrusted with training future Food managers for the region. At which point I was pursued by another company to run a store for them, and enter back into the restaurant industry. During these 3 years, I learned the Restaurant Supplier side of the business. While I enjoyed the time I spent in this opportunity, I yearned to go back to the Grocery industry, and spend more time with my first love, cooking, and writing about my adventures….in the kitchen!