Vanilla Citrus Cocktail

We’re excited to announce that we’ve started writing a new cocktail column for Whole Foods, called Locally Mixed.  We’ll focus on seasonal cocktails made with fresh local flavors.  Here’s our first one – the Vanilla Citrus Cocktail!

The winter seasonal staple of citrus is mellowed and sweetened with fresh vanilla bean flecks and high quality (local) vodka in this lovely and simple cocktail.

Check out the full recipe here, in our first Whole Foods column!

Ganache

This very week, Two Tarts turns one year old! And what does our yearling blog deserve other than a chocolate cake? Well, we think it deserves a chocolate cake covered in rich and decadent ganache.

I'd never made ganache before. I'd never even considered making ganache. It is one of those confections that sounded so fancy-pants that I figured it was reserved for accomplished pastry chefs only. Turns out that it is really, really easy. 

Ganache involves only two ingredients: heavy cream and bittersweet chocolate. A little heating and a little whisking, and you've got yourself a very impressive and surprisingly versatile finishing touch for your dessert. While it is still warm you can use it as a glaze, or you can let it come to room temperature and use it as a frosting or filling. You can even use it to make truffles. Keep an eye out for the cake that we covered with ganache later this week.

Ganache

Adapted from French Farmhouse Cookbook

• 2 cups heavy cream

• 15 oz bittersweet chocolate, broken into pieces

Heat the cream over medium-high heat to just below a simmer. Remove from the heat, and add the chocolate piece by piece, stirring as it melts, until blended. While it is still quite warm, use as a glaze, or let cool for a few minutes until it is the consistency of a thick but easily spreadable frosting.

Lentil Goat Cheese Salad

Discs of plump brown lentils are tossed in a dijon vinaigrette alongside thinly sliced sweet carrots, fresh parsley, and tangy goat cheese. It’s the goat cheese crumbled over the top that makes this one special. And in second place is the dijon vinaigrette.

But honestly you can’t do without the sweetness of the carrots or the fresh parsley either. So don’t try to leave anything out, ok? I like this one because it’s a salad (toss everything together, exact quantities really don’t matter) and it can be served right away warm, or saved in the fridge and eaten cold anytime you want.

I got this from a Runner’s World a few years ago (so it is basically health food and appropriate for any of you marathon trainers out there). I don’t remember the exact recipe, but this is my rendition of it after making it many times over the years.

Lentil Goat Cheese Salad

• 1 cup brown (or Le Puy or Beluga) lentils, cooked
  
• 1 cup thinly sliced carrots (about 4 carrots)
  
• 1/2 cup chopped parsley
  
• 1/2 cup crumbed goat cheese
  
• 1/2 cup dijon vinaigrette (recipe below)

Cook the brown lentils in simmering water for approx 45 minutes, or until tender but not mushy.
Slice the carrots thinly, chop the parsley finely, add to a large bowl. Add warm cooked lentils, then drizzle the dijon vinaigrette over everything. Toss well, then sprinkle with crumbled goat cheese. Season with salt to to taste. Serve.

Dijon Vinaigrette

• 1/3 cup olive oil
  
• 2 Tbsp dijon mustard
  
• 2 Tbsp red wine vinegar

Whisk the mustard and red wine vinegar together in a large bowl, then continue to whisk as you drizzle in the olive oil. 

Baked Eggs with Crispy Hash Brown Crust

One of the highlights of our winter brunch menu was this dish:  Eggs topped with cheese, baked in a cast iron skillet, with a crispy hash brown crust hidden below.  This one is much simpler than it looks. It’s really only three ingredients: potatoes, eggs, and cheese. I love recipes that use ingredients I almost always have stocked.

The key to this one is pressing the freshly shredded potatoes between dish towels or layers of paper towels to get them as DRY as possible.  That dryness is what aids in their transformation to the crispy hash brown crust.  Once they’re dry you press them firmly and evenly into the bottom of a hot cast iron skillet. 
After the first side is browned you flip the whole crust over to brown on the other side.  The shredded potatoes are so intertwined that the flip is actually pretty easy to do.

I’ve made this multiple times over the past few weeks.  It feels special and fancy for a weekend morning breakfast, but it’s so easy to pull together. 

Baked Eggs with Crispy Hash Brown Crust

• 1 1/2 – 2 cups fresh shredded potato (about 4 medium sized red potatoes)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 6 eggs
• 3/4 cup shredded cheese (we used sharp white cheddar)
• 2 Tbsp olive oil for cast iron skillet

Shred the potatoes (I used my food processor to make quick work of this).  The quantity of potatoes you use is flexible – less will create a thinner crispier crust, more will create a thicker crust that’s soft in the middle.  I’ve done it both ways and I think I like the thinner/crispier crust… Toss the shredded potatoes with the salt, then press them firmly between two dish towels or a few layers of paper towels.  The goal is to get as much moisture out of the potatoes as possible so they’ll brown up nice and crisp.
Heat a cast iron skillet with the olive oil over medium high heat.  Add the potatoes and use the back of a large spoon to spread them evenly and then press them down firmly into a flat pancake.  Let them sit and brown, undisturbed, for about 3-4 minutes.  Make sure your heat isn’t so high that it burns the potatoes – you want them to get golden brown but not burn.  You can use your spoon to lift up an edge and take a peek to monitor progress.
When the first side is brown, use a large spatula to flip the whole thing over.  They shredded browned potatoes should be interwined with each other enough that this isn’t too difficult to do.  Let the 2nd side brown for an additional 4 minutes.
When both sides of the crust are browned, remove from heat and crack the 6 eggs evenly over the top.  Season with a little salt and pepper if desired, then sprinkle the 3/4 cup of shredded cheese over the eggs.
Pop in the oven on broil for 5-7 minutes, depending on whether you like your eggs to be soft or hard.  I like mine hard, so I let them broil for the full 7 minutes.  Slice, serve, enjoy!