G: Goat Cheese, Leek, and Walnut Tart

My travels abroad have so far consisted of one week in London where I was staying with my friend Sarah, and the rest of the time in Edinburgh where I have started studying. Thankfully I was able to find an apartment a few days after I arrived here and, even better, it has a kitchen that is sufficiently equipped for my cooking and baking needs. There is an oven, a gas stovetop, adequate counter space, and some other convenient odds and ends.  When I was still in London I was not sure what kitchen conditions to anticipate in Edinburgh.  I thought it would be wise to get a couple of recipes under my belt before I left the comforts of Sarah’s flat so a big thanks to her and her mum for letting me do so.

 This tart (from Maxine Clark’s Tarts: Sweet and Savoury) was so flavourful and delicious and went perfectly with a nice green salad. It was very garlicky but I have a feeling I put an extra clove in (my bad) so it was good that everyone present tried a slice. There were some slight changes I had to make to the original recipe due to the absence of ingredients or tools but they had no major effect on the final result:

1) Extra virgin olive oil was used to replace the walnut oil but I am curious as to how the flavours would compare

 2) I was able to find a log of goat cheese but it had no rind. The exterior was very soft and this made it difficult to slice the cheese in symmetrical circles as the original recipe suggested. I ended up crumbling the cheese which would only be a problem if you are serving the tart to guests who are extremely picky when it comes to presentation...if that is the case I recommend rolling out some interesting shapes from any leftover puff pastry (eg. the letter G, dollar signs, a self-portrait..) to distract them from the cheese's dishevelled state J

3) When I prepared the walnut paste, I used a blender instead of a food processor.  The flat- bottomed shape of a food processor bowl and the length of the blade help evenly chop and combine all of the contents. Instead, the blender combined about half of the content into a paste and left the remaining nuts still coarsely chopped. I thought it was nice having some texture in the paste so I just gave it a stir to even it out.  If you would rather have no crunch, try chopping the walnuts as finely as possible before putting them in the blender. If you have neither a processor nor a blender, chop the nuts finely and perhaps use a little less oil.

F: Fondue

Happy New Year everyone!  I hope that you have all been enjoying 2011 so far. Very recently I flew over to the UK where I will be for a little while for school.  I have been having a nice time, catching up with old friends, and I am very excited for the possible adventures to come. I feel that working on this blog will become a bit of an adventure in itself because completing recipes with all the exact ingredients and tools will become a much greater challenge so please bear with me.

So far I have been on a slight hiatus while I have been trying to get settled here. I made the following dishes a little while ago but as a consolation there are two for the price of one! In honour of the various festivities that just passed as well as the winter weather, I wanted to post a comfort food recipe that is great for gatherings amongst close friends: fondue. I always find fondue a lot of fun and the little party that took place in its honour was a great way to use my two fondue pots which often get neglected. One pot is heated by a gas gel and I use it for cheese recipes. My other is a ceramic bowl which is heated by a tea light and I use it for chocolate recipes because it does not get as hot.

Below are two different fondue recipes (one savoury and one sweet) that have been adapted from the book of the same title. The first is an Irish Stout Fondue that was so delicious I have trouble keeping my focus while writing about it. It was made with Guinness beer and Dubliner cheddar cheese, though any sharp cheddar would work. The addition of the grainy mustard gives it a nice bite. I really think that the flavours of the cheddar, stout, and mustard combined would also be really tasty in a macaroni and cheese dish...just saying.

For accompaniments we had apple and baguette cut into cubes.  There were also baby potatoes and slices of onion that had been seasoned with olive oil and salt and pepper and then roasted at 400F/200C for approximately an hour. The sweet fondue was chocolate and was served with pound cake, brownies, bananas, and strawberries.  There are so many other options for appropriate dippers so just take a look at what is leftover in your fridge and be creative!