Beet, goat cheese and arugula tart with spiced walnuts

For the crust:

Ingredients
1 1/4 c. flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 stick unsalted butter
1/4 c. sour cream
2 tsp. lemon juice
1/4 c. ice water

Method
In a blender, combine flour, salt, and butter until crumbs form. In a separate bowl, whisk together sour cream, lemon juice, and water. Make a well in flour mixture, add liquid, and combine. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour. Roll out and place in pie tin, prick with fork and bake at 400 for 35-40 minutes until brown and flaky.

This dough is awesome for any number of creations-- including the Bourbon Peach Hand Pies (stolen from http://smittenkitchen.com/) that I made a few weeks ago. You can get creative with this one-- top or fill with anything!


For the filling:

Ingredients
1 small onion, sliced
1 tbsp butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
Beets, roasted
Goat cheese with honey
Arugula
Spiced walnuts: I added walnuts to a saucepan with a bunch of brown sugar, a sprinkle of water, cinnamon, paprika, and a pinch of red chili pepper flakes.

Method:
Melt butter and add onion. Caramelize over low heat for 15-20 minutes until translucent, slightly brown and sweet. Add garlic for last few minutes.

Roast beets in an oven at 400 degrees for approx 35 minutes. We trimmed off the tops and ends and put in a covered pan with 1/4" water, but I think that roasting on a cookie tin lined with aluminum foil and drizzled with a little oil would work just as well.

After the crust baked, I layered in the onions/garlic, arugula, beets, cheese, and topped with spiced walnuts.



Brian brought a few lovely accompaniments:

And for dessert? Frozen grapes. Thank you, summer. Please never end.

Thai Basil Caprese

Simple. Hard to mess up, especially with Jersey tomatoes (see that Jersey shout out?)
To incorporate my grocery shopping alternately at the Italian market and the Vietnamese supermarket:

Thai Basil Caprese with Sweet Olive Oil Tortillas


Ingredients:
Fresh Thai basil
Jersey tomatoes, sliced
Fresh mozzarella, sliced
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar

Method: Slice. Layer. Drizzle. Enjoy.

JLWOP and Something like Pad See Ew

Juvenile Life Without Parole
In May of this year, the United States Supreme Court came out with a ruling that severely limited the practice of incarceration without the possibility of parole for juvenile offenders. Specifically, the court ruled that it was unconstitutional to convict a young person to life without parole for any crime except homicide.

Now many inmates who were convicted as juveniles are filing for relief, even if they are incarcerated for murder charges, due to language in the ruling that points to the slow and continuing development of the youthful brain. Some folks are getting upset that convicted murderers are filing for relief, years after their convictions, due to some unspecific language about neurological development.

Seems reasonable.

But check out the short profiles of a few of the inmates filing for relief in Pennsylvania.
My two favorites:

"Tamika Bell. Bell was 16 when she and a friend robbed three people in a car parked at Penn's Landing in September 1995. Her friend shot the driver, Max Broyko, to death, and then both girls fled."

which is topped only by:

"Aaron Phillips. Phillips was 17 when he and two adult friends robbed a man in 1986... Phillips, now 41, and his accomplices were unarmed, but one of the robbers pushed the victim to the ground during the robbery. The victim died 18 days later from heart disease, but a coroner blamed the stress of the robbery as a contributing cause of death, prompting Phillips' arrest for murder."

For the full article, check out: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/20100717_May_ruling_gives_hope_to_5_pa__kid-lifers.html




In other news, on my walk home from facilitating a bike safety workshop for some of the immigrant families in South Philadelphia, I stopped at the Vietnamese supermarket. I was so excited by the cheap, interesting food options, that I ended up grocery shopping without much strategy.

So by the time I got home, I had to think of something to do with the random ingredients I had just purchased, as well as some of the produce I had picked up for a dollar a bag at the Italian market a few days earlier.

The result:

Something Like Pad See Ew


Ingredients
1 package Banh Cuon square tapioca noodles
1 small onion
1 clove garlic
1 bunch green beans
olive oil
hot chili oil
soy sauce
brown sugar
sriracha hot sauce
1 block tofu
Thai basil

Method:
Heat oils, add onions and garlic
Add tofu, top with sriracha, add a little soy sauce, and cook until browned on both sides
Chop greenbeans into 1" bites and add to pan, cooking until tender
Meanwhile, boil water and cook noodles (about 3 minutes, could probably have gone for less)
Turn down heat, add more soy sauce and a few pinches of brown sugar, and simmer until soy sauce cooks down
Add cooked noodles, toss until coated
Chop basil into small slivers and add

Tomatoes two ways with fussili linguini

It's summer, which since I moved back to the east coast, means fresh fruits and vegetables abound in a way that I'd almost forgotten. While in California you can buy beautiful peaches and enormous avocados every day of every month, in Philadelphia one is forced to have a slightly heightened awareness of the season's shifting.

I have begun walking to work in South Philadelphia through the Italian market, a small strip of stands and shops along 9th street that bustles, and where you can hear Italian, Vietnamese, and Spanish more often than English. In the summer months, it's also alive with color. On my way home from running a family health education class at a local church, a man selling baskets of vegetables caught my eye. When he told me that the entire basket of about 15 gorgeous, deep red tomatoes would cost $1.50, I couldn't resist.

And then I got home and had to figure out what do with 15 gorgeous deep red tomatoes.

Tomatoes Two Ways With Fussilli Linguini

Ingredients
Sliced tomatoes
Olive oil
Whole garlic cloves
Salt & pepper
Fresh herbs
Butter
Pasta

Oven-dried tomatoes
Heat oven to 250. Lay sliced tomatoes on a baking sheet with garlic, drizzle with olive oil, and season with salt, pepper, and any fresh herbs (I used some leftover rosemary). Bake for 1-2 hours.


Butter-seared tomatoes
Meanwhile, in a saucepan over low heat, melt butter. Add chopped tomatoes, garlic, and thyme-- saute until soft.



Pasta
Cook pasta according to packaging--the fresh pasta I bought from the Claudio's last week was definitely worth the extra money and time.


Serve with Parmesan or other Italian cheese

Sweet things

there are a few sweet things in life: flowers. sunshine. baked goods.
sometimes the simplest pleasures can be the sweetest.