Tarts: Part III

If fruit isn’t really your thing, maybe you would prefer a homemade caramel and toasted walnut tart. It's delicious!

Again, the recipes are from a pastry class that I took at Whole Foods…although I did adjust the measurements to standard cup measurements rather than grams and/or ounces (because I don’t have a kitchen scale).

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Caramel Walnut Tart

2 cups toasted walnuts (To toast, place the walnuts in a single layer on a baking sheet. Place in a 350F degree oven for 8-10 minutes; checking and stirring regularly.)
3 oz. heavy cream
4 ½ oz. honey
6 tablespoons butter
½ cup + 1 tablespoon sugar
pinch of salt
vanilla (I think I used about 1/8 teaspoon)

In a heavy bottom sauce pan, cook cream, honey and butter until butter is fully incorporated. Add sugar and salt – cooking over medium heat to 238F degrees or the consistency of a softball sugar. Stir as necessary to prevent burning, but don’t stir continuously. (Softball sugar is when you use the ice water method for checking the caramel, details in the Tips section below. I don’t have a candy thermometer yet and I had never used the ice water method before, so don’t get too stressed about make sure it’s perfect, I just considered it done when I thought it was kind of close to what it should be like and it turned out great.)

Cool slightly, add vanilla.

Leave baked tart crust in the pan for support. Place the toasted walnuts in the tart shell. Pour warm caramel over the walnuts and allow to set at room temperature for a bit. (I actually served mine a little warm with vanilla bean ice cream. If you make it ahead of time, just place the completed Caramel Walnut Tart in the oven at the lowest temperature setting for 5-10 minutes to warm it up a bit and serve with ice cream.)

Tips:
This caramel should remain soft but firm enough not to run when the tart is cut and should be on the transparent side.
If the caramel is opaque and runny it should be cooked longer.
If the caramel is hard and very clear it has been overcooked.
You can absolutely use the ice water method for checking the cooking of the caramel mixture, simply use a spoon to bring some of the caramel in to ice water and look for soft ball consistency (the caramel should form into a soft ball either on contact with the water or between your fingers, but be careful the caramel is VERY hot!)

Serve alone or accompanied with ice cream.

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Valentine's Day Dinner

It was a lovely Valentine’s Day.

Beautiful roses from my fiancé.

Every year my fiancé and I trade off who gets to plan Valentine’s Day. Neither of us really likes going out on Valentine’s Day (everything is so crowded and expensive), so we spend the evening at one of our homes and enjoy a nice relaxing dinner.

This year was my turn!

For dinner I made Stuffed Shells with a spinach cheese filling and served it with salad and chopped garlic bread of course.

Top View

Side View

For the stuffed shells I modified a recipe from one of my cookbooks. I adjusted amounts of ingredients and added in some additional seasoning to the cheese and spinach filling to make it similar (but not exactly the same as) Noni's lasagna filling. I did, however, use a canned sauce as the recipe suggested because we had some other things going on earlier in the day that prevented me from having enough time to make the family sauce. Plus, I finally found a canned sauce that is actually pretty good and has a fresh taste…Muir Glen Organic Italian Herb Pasta Sauce.

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Spinach-Stuffed Shells

24 dried jumbo pasta shells
1 12-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed
3 eggs
4 cups shredded Italian cheese blend (16 oz)
2 ¼ cups ricotta cheese
2 25.5 oz jars pasta sauce
black pepper (to your preference, about ¾ teaspoon is a good start)
dried parsley (to your preference, about ½ teaspoon is a good start)

Cook jumbo pasta shells according to package directions or slightly less than package directions. Drain pasta and rinse with cold water; drain again.

While pasta is cooking or after draining pasta, drain thawed spinach very well.

Preheat oven to 350F. In a bowl, prepare filling by mixing spinach, eggs, 3 ½ cups of shredded Italian cheese blend, ricotta cheese, a pinch or more of dried parsley and ground black pepper to your personal preference.

Spoon about 2 tablespoons of filling into each shell and place shells in a 13x9 baking dish. Pour sauce over shells.
Cover with foil and bake for about 40 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Sprinkle remaining ½ cup of shredded Italian cheese blend on top and place back in the oven for 5-10 minutes. Let stand before serving.

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For dessert I made a Caramel Walnut Tart and served it warm with vanilla bean ice cream.

This dough was actually the second half of the dough I made for the fruit tart. I wrapped it up in plastic wrap and put it in a freezer bag and placed it in the freezer. I took it out a day or so before I needed it and let it thaw out in the fridge.

The caramel was made from scratch, with honey! It’s the first time I’ve made homemade caramel and it was yummy.

I’ll post this recipe later along with the recipe for the fruit tart.