A Pie a Week - Savory tarts

Since starting my "Pie a Week" project this summer, I've eaten a lot of pie. I have to confess, though, it's not dessert pies I like best - it's savory tarts.

The recipe is pretty basic - You can make a savory tart with almost any combination of vegetables in your fridge. Bake the vegetable and cheese with a rich egg custard, and you have a delicious and elegant lunch or brunch. You can cook one in the morning, and then have a nice dinner in the evening without heating up the kitchen.

First, you have to make the tart shell.

I've become so comfortable with the all-butter pastry recipe from chef Gordon Hamersley that I can make it in a few minutes.

• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 Teaspoon salt
• 10 tablespoons (1 stick + 2 tablespoons) butter, cut into 1/4" slices
• 6 Tablespoons of ice water.

Mix the flour and salt in a bowl, then cut the butter into it with a pastry cutter, two knives, or your fingertips, until the butter is broken into pieces the size of a pea.

Pour the mixture onto a floured board and make a well in the center. A couple of Tablespoons at a time, mix in the ice water.

Gather the dough together, then roll into a log shape, about eight inches. With the heel of your hand, smear the dough on the board and gather it back together and repeat - this is called fraisage, and will form sheets of butter in the dough, creating the flake.

Shape the dough into a disc and wrap in plastic or foil and put in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

I use a Silpat sheet when I roll pastry dough. With a little bit of flour sprinkled on, I can roll this dough directly with my silicone rolling pin, but if your dough is sticking, you can roll it between two sheets of parchment paper or waxed paper. This dough stays together beautifully for me. If the edge gets misshapen, break off a piece and move it to where there's a gap - it should fill in nicely.

Line a tart pan with a removable bottom with the crust. For me, this dough is so easy to work with I can lift up the Silpat sheet and turn it upside down over the pan. Then I gently ease the sheet off the dough, and settle it into the pan. Trim the excess - you can roll it in a flat disc and freeze it for future use.

For a quiche or tart with custard, you have to pre-bake the shell. Line the shell with foil, and fill with dried beans or rice or pie-weights (you can buy these in cooking supply stores). Bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes, then remove the foil and the weights - use a fork to prick any places where there are air bubbles. Bake another 15 minutes, and cool.


What did I have in the fridge? I had some zucchini squash, some onions, and a half a large beefsteak tomato. I shredded the zucchini and chopped the onion, then sweated them in butter over the stove. I sprinkled in some fresh, chopped oregano for a little extra flavor.

I diced the tomato and let some of the liquid drain. I waited until the onion and zucchini were a little caramelized before adding the tomato. I spread the cooked vegetables in the bottom of the tart shell, and then grated some French Comte cheese I had in the fridge.

Then I whipped up a custard with eggs and half-and-half, poured it over the vegetables and cheese, and baked the tart in the oven at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.

It was pretty when it came out.

And look at how flakey the crust is! Also - buttery and delicious!

The classic quiche Lorraine is a tart with chopped ham or bacon. If you had nothing but an onion in your refrigerator, and some cheese parings, you could make a carmelized onion tart. Fennel would make an interesting tart, maybe with some tomato. You could use mushrooms, or peppers. Mild chiles with cheddar cheese would give a tart a Southwestern twist.

The combination of flavors is endless. And like pizza, it's a great way to use what's left in the fridge to make a great meal without having to go shopping.

What's in the Fridge? Holy Mole!

Do you like Mexican food? If so, Los Angeles is a great place to try your hand at cooking Mexican food yourself. Here at the Grand Central Market you can find all the ingredients you need.

I've already shown you the produce. But what about the special ingredients, the flavors and spices that make Mexican food unique?

I was at the Grand Central Market, walking down the south steps from the Hill Street side, when I noticed the display cases in front of AB Coffee/Central Bulk Foods. Behind the glass were pans of what looked like mud.

Mole (pronounced "moe-lay") may look like mud, but it's a concentrated paste of ground spices, chiles, vegetables, and other ingredients. Mole from Puebla - mole poblano - is common and often includes chocolate among its many ingredients. The state of Oaxaca is known for the "seven moles of Oaxaca." Oaxacan moles can come in a variety of colors, including coloradito (red), verde (green), amarillo (yellow), and negro (black.)

Moles are complex and time consuming to make. Dried ingredients like chiles, nuts, and herbs must be toasted, and ground. Fresh ingredients like tomatoes, tomatillos, onion and garlic must be fire or oven roasted, peeled, and chopped. Starches like masa harina, bread crumbs, or stale tortillas are added to thicken the sauce. Everything is blended together - thank goodness for food processors! - and it must be strained to be sure it's creamy and smooth. Then it's cooked down slowly until concentrated.

Many Mexican cooks use prepared mole pastes as a short cut. Teloloapan is a city in northern Guerrero state, southwest of Mexico City, that's known for its prepared mole pastes.

I asked the woman at AB Coffees which mole she recommended, and she sold me a small container of mole poblano. It cost three dollars. You could smell the touch of chocolate in the dark oily paste. She said the paste would last for six months kept in the refrigerator. I asked her how to prepare it, and she said mix it with chicken broth, and then simmer the meat in the sauce.


If you want to try your hand at making mole from scratch, you can find a lot of the necessary ingredients at Valeria's spice stall, just across from Sarita's Pupusas. Dried chiles are the basis for most moles, and you can see the variety they have.

Just standing next to the open bins makes your nose tingle with the alkaline bite of capsicum! The scents are marvelous, ranging from the smokiness of chipotles to the deeper raisin-like sweetness of anchos, and the fruity tang of guajillos.

Peanuts, almonds, toasted pumpkin seeds and sesame seeds are common ingredients for mole. Also dried fruit, like raisins. You'll find them here at Valeria's, along with the Mexican chocolate needed for mole poblano.

Diana Kennedy and Rick Bayless are two well-known experts on Mexican food, Mexican cooking, and especially moles. Both of them have great cookbooks that include mole recipes.

But I was set with my little container from AB Coffee!

At room temperature, it's a thick oily paste, but just out of the fridge it's more solid, like frozen ice cream, or solidified chocolate. I let it sit to soften up while I put on some rice and opened a can of black beans to heat up.

I had some boneless chicken breasts, which I divided into four relatively equal chunks. I poached them for about 10 minutes in a cup of chicken broth in a wide pan, and then I added about a quarter cup of mole, and watched it slowly dissolve and blend into the broth. The proportion of 4:1 seemed about right - when I touched my tongue to a little dab of straight, undiluted mole, it was very intense!

I covered the pan and let the chicken simmer with the mole for another 10 minutes or so, and then I took the lid off and let the sauce thicken down a bit. By the time my rice was done, it looked like it was ready.

Here's my chicken breast in Teloloapan mole, served with steamed rice and black beans. Pardon the less-than-perfect plating - I have to confess - I was so hungry I started eating it before I remembered to take a photo!

Adventurous eating can be surprisingly easy when you have a container of mole paste in the fridge.

What's in the Fridge Salad

I was too tired to stop at the store on the way home from work, and the kitchen was too hot to cook hot food, anyway.

So I made a great dinner salad with what I had in the fridge.

• Three slices of bacon, fried crisp and drained
• Iceberg lettuce, broken into bite-sized pieces
• Baby salad greens
• Savoy cabbage, shredded
• Cherry tomatoes, quartered
• Sugar snap peas, blanched for 30 seconds in boiling water, drained and halved
• Mozzarella cheese, cubed
• 1 tablespoon light mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon creme fraiche
• Juice of one lime
• 1 teaspoon sugar
  
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped basil
• salt, pepper, pinch of cayenne
  

Salad: Mix lettuces and shredded cabbage on platter. Evenly distribute quartered cherry tomatoes, mozzarella cubes and snap peas on top. Top with crumbled bacon.

Dressing: Mix mayonnaise, creme fraiche, lime juice, sugar, and basil. Add water by 1/2 teaspoon if needed to thin consistency. Season with salt, pepper and cayenne.

Serve

What's in the Fridge for breakfast?

Sunday morning. Three hungry people in the house. What's in the fridge?

Only two slices of bacon. No onions. One quarter of a red bell pepper. A couple of scallions. A single ear of sweet corn (3 for $1 - only 2 of us had dinner at home last night). Some wilted basil leaves. What's in those baggies? A rind of aged gouda cheese and some crumbles of sharp cheddar.

Cook bacon until crisp and drain, reserving bacon fat. Cut kernels off ear of corn. Chop red bell pepper into 1/4 dice. Thinly slice white and light green part of scallions.

Heat reserved bacon fat in saute pan, and saute chopped vegetables until onion and pepper are wilted:
Break 6 eggs into bowl and lightly beat.
Add finely chopped basil:

Pour eggs into pan with vegetables, making sure entire bottom of pan is covered with egg mixture and vegetables are evenly distributed. Lower heat to Medium Low.

Break bacon into bite-size pieces and sprinkle into egg mixture. Grate gouda cheese and mix with cheddar bits; sprinkle over eggs.


Pre-heat broiler - yes I know it's not good to use the oven when it's hot out - this is just for a few minutes.

When egg mixture in pan is almost set, remove from stove and place under hot broiler for 2 minutes, or until eggs are completely set and top is lightly browned. Remove from heat, being careful with the hot handle.

Put a large plate on top of the pan, hold carefully with one hand, and with the other, turn the pan upside down so that frittata ends up on the plate:
Slice like a pie, and serve.