Fig Frangipane Tart

I spent last week visiting my aunt and uncle (I also got to see my brother and sister-in-law). It was really fun! It gave me opportunity to bake lots of delicious things. I had fun going through my aunt's recipes. She saves recipes from magazines and newspapers which is different since I get most of my recipes online. She had this one from Aug 2009 in the LA Times. Frangipane is used most often to refer to an almond custard (either with almonds or almond flavor). We got figs at the farmer's market (along with some amazing cherry tomatoes). Fig season is in the early fall, so you should be able to find some fresh ones.

Apricot Tart

I got a ton of apricots and peaches in my CSA and then the next week I got a ton more.  I tried my best but it is difficult to eat that many apricots and peaches.  I know that sounds silly but it is true!  I mean you're talking to the girl who, when living in Rome, preferred to go to the market to get a fresh peach or  nectarine every day then gelato.  Okay, to be fair I also ate a lot of gelato, but those peaches and nectarines were one of the  most delicious things I have ever eaten.  But I digress, my point is I had a lot of apricots and peaches and they started to go bad and that is just tragic.  So I made a tart.  And my co-workers annihilated it in less than 10 minutes, I am not even joking.

Nectarine Galette

If you love pies and flaky crusts but haven't had much success previously with them, this is the recipe for you. It is the easiest recipe I have encounter that falls into the tart/pie catagory. On second thought, if you aren't allergic to nectarines or almonds, this is probably the recipe for you.

Nutmeg-Maple Cream Tart

I want to share with you a story lest you have any misconceptions about my innate cooking abilities.

This tart is not a complicated recipe but it does require par-baking the crust. (In case you, like me until two days ago, don't know par-bake stands for partially bake. Crazy, I know!). First you bake the crust (at 375) and then make the filling. Then you have to reduce the temperature of the oven to 300, fill the crust and bake for about 1 hour.

Rhubarb Tart

 My favorite thing in Paris was probably the cooking class we took.  It was a four hour, English-language, class through La Cuisine Paris.  We began at the market to shop for food.
    

After that we went back to the kitchen to make and then eat an amazing lunch.  We had cod with shallots and thyme, asparagus and peas, turnips with hazelnuts and parsley, salad, a variety of goat cheeses with a cherry chutney.

For dessert we had a delicious rhubarb tart with a strawberry mint compote.

Key Lime Pie

Or: if this dessert was any easier it would come in a box.

Seriously, it is taking me more time to write the blog post than it did to make the pie.  First the graham cracker crust is crushed graham crackers, sugar and butter.

Pi Day

Yesterday was 3/14, which, as I'm sure you are all aware, is Pi day. Pi is the ratio of the circumference to diameter of a circle. If you take -e (the base of the natural logarithm) and raise it to pi * i (the imaginary number, or the square root of negative 1) you get 1. The important thing to take away from all this is that the obvious way to celebrate pi day is with pie!