Tarte Aux Blettes, with roasted pear and ruby chard Moscato sauce and creme fraiche sherbet

Tarte aux Blettes, that’s the menu title, since I think most people would see Swiss chard tart on a dessert menu and pass it over for the Chocolate Snowball. I remember ordering this tart in Nice, France way back in 1986, for professional curiosity of course. After that, also a long time ago, I tried making it, likely from a recipe in the old Time-Life Food of the World series; it must have been the Cooking of Provincial France book. I didn’t like how that recipe came out—tough crust and odd mix of flavors, and the chard was probably old and bitter. Nevertheless, anytime I see another version of this Swiss chard tart, I am tempted to try again. A quick Google search shows that there are plenty of recipes out there, including translations from Boulud and Payard.

David Lebovitz, my favorite blogger, posted his rendition last year, writing about his almost fruitless search for more chard in Paris, after he’d decided he needed more to complete the recipe. Two pounds of chard for each tart is a lot, much more than one bunch, making this tart most appropriate when gardens are overflowing with chard. So, when I was asked to prepare dessert for Utah’s Slow Food gala dinner, I decided it was the perfect opportunity to perfect my own interpretation; my audience would be captive, meaning they wouldn’t choose that rich warm chocolate cake from the menu instead, because there would be no choice. And the date was mid-September, when gardens in our high altitudes are peaking; I was able to beg 22 pounds of sweet fresh-picked chard,  young and tender Blonde de Lyon chard from John at Ranui Gardens and rainbow chard with colorful stems from Daisy at Copper Moose Farm—two of our Wasatch back CSA farmers. I took David’s recipe and made it mine, with a sweet sugar cookie crust, no Parmesan cheese and fresh pears instead of apples. I served it with candied red chard stems and Moscato-poached Utah pears, both roasted to intensify their flavors, and crème fraîche sherbet.

Tarte aux Blettes

For the sugar cookie crust:

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

10 tablespoons cold unsalted butter

1 egg yolk

2 tablespoons heavy cream

For the filling:

¼ cup poire william sweet pear liqueur

1/3 cup golden raisins

2 pounds Swiss chard well washed, stems and veins removed, red and yellow stems reserved (you will end up with about 1 ½ pounds of leaves after stripping away the veins and stems)

Pinch salt

¼ cup lightly toasted pine nuts

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ cup organic cane sugar

2 eggs

1 ½ Bartlett pears, peeled and sliced

1 tablespoon tapioca flour or starch

Confectioners’ sugar

Make the crust:

Stir the flour and the sugar together in a medium bowl. Dice the butter into 1/2-inch pieces. Using a pastry blender or your fingers, cut the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolk and the cream. Sprinkle over the dough, stirring with a fork. Mix with your hands until the dough comes together, and divide in two portions, one a tiny bit larger than the other. Gently form each portion into a flattened 4-inch ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 2 hours.

Make the filling:

Put the raisins and pear liqueur in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat and set aside until the raisins are plump with the liqueur.

chard leaves, cooked, with all the water squeezed out, enough for 9 tarts

Put the chard leaves in a saucepan or skillet with about ¼ cup of water and a pinch of salt. Cover and cook the leaves until they are completely wilted and have shrunk incredibly. Drain the leaves and immediately run them under cold water to help keep the bright green color. When they are cool, squeeze as much water as you are able from the leaves.

Chop the cooked chard and put into a bowl. Drain any liqueur from the raisins and add them to the chard. Sip the pear brandy while you continue making the tart.

Chop the pine nuts coarsely and add them to the chard, along with the cinnamon, sugar and eggs. Mix well; set aside while you roll the crust.

Roll the crust and assemble and bake the tart:

The dough it must be worked by hand first or it will be too crumbly: Cut each portion of the cold dough into 1/2 cup portions and smear the pieces quickly with the palm of your hand–the motion is similar to kneading but more gentle.

Brush melted butter on the sides and bottom of a 9-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom, or spray with cooking spray. On a lightly floured surface, roll the larger portion of dough into a 12-inch circle, 1/8 to 1/4-inch thick. Use short coaxing strokes of the rolling pin and lift and turn the circle frequently, as often as every other roll of the pin. Use as little flour as possible, but dust the work surface and the rolling pin as needed to keep the dough from sticking. Transfer to the prepared pan by rolling the dough up onto the rolling pin and laying it over the pan. Ease the dough into the corners of the pan. Patch any tears by pressing the dough together with your fingers. Trim the edges, leaving one inch of the dough standing up above the sides of the pan.

Roll the remaining dough for the top crust. Make it a circle, 1/8-inch thick, a little wider than the pan. Set aside.

Spread the chard filling into the tart shell. Toss the pear slices with the tapioca flour. Arrange them evenly over the filling.

Fold the extended inch of pastry over the filling and pears. Brush this edge with water so the top crust will seal to it. Lay the top crust on top of the filling. Use your fingers to pinch off the excess dough and seal it the top to the bottom.

Cut 6 slits in the crust to allow steam to escape. Place on a large baking sheet and bake 40 to 60 minutes, until the top crust is golden brown. Some of the filling may leak; this is typical. Cool at least one hour.

Remove the fluted pan rim and bottom; you may need to slip a flat knife between the pastry and the pan bottom to release it. Center a 7-inch plate or a cardboard circle on top of the tart as a stencil and sift confectioners’ sugar over the exposed border. Serve at room temperature.

So rich in color and abundance, so full of optimism, with smells easily and not so easily identified, give me a Mexican Mercado any day over a supermarket with higher prices and sterile packaging, and lacking the bright vibrancy of life.

Carmen browsing the fruit stall

Usually I can’t buy much—a banana or orange here or there, and I can never get out of Mexico without a new bolsa—the inexpensive shopping bags print-screened with images of Frida or the Virgin Guadalupe.

But I have a kitchen this week—here in San Miguel de Allende with Felipe and Diana.

On Tuesday we wandered the 8 acre portable market; they began unloading and set-up at 4 am and by the time our taxi dropped us off around 10:30 it was in full crescendo, tiny brown, wrinkled senoras wrapped in their traditional shawls selling avocados and limes from their garden, old cowboys with older tools arranged on a blanket, and more than I could count tables, in front of stands with each vendor hand forming tortillas, or other shapes to hold a selection of frijoles, thinly sliced meat, red and green salsa, grated cheese—it all depends on the menu, and it is all cooked right there in front of you.

Candied Limes and Coconut

Felipe says he loves to watch women shop for food and that we did. We had a mission of sorts and our purchases have defined our meals for the week. I bought a fresh coconut that I have yet you grate, to fill the hollowed-out limes that today I will simmer in sugar syrup until they are soft and sweet. Laura treated us to a snack of corn on the cob right off the grill. The girl cut it in 2-inch pieces and put it in a plastic bag before she added the chile powder and fresh-squeezed lime juice. We moved on slowly around each corner and passageway, taking it all in through our skin. We found beans call Peruana, a white bean that makes the creamiest of refried beans; dried guajillo chiles and garlic and onion we bought to flavor the beans. The freshest of green poblano chiles and small white potatoes eventually became dinner that night. Oh and we needed fresh tomatoes for sauce and jalapeno chiles and avocados for guacamole. Fragile purple orchids went in Diana’s shopping bolsa at the very end and now they grace the kitchen counter.

Poblano Chiles Stuffed with Potatoes and Cheese

4 poblano chiles

About 1 ½ pounds of Yukon gold potatoes, (peeled or not,) steamed until a fork pierces easily

1 tablespoon olive oil

½ of an onion

½ cup (1/4-inch) diced zucchini squash

½ cup grated mozzarella cheese

Crema (from the Mexican grocery)

Real Salt and freshly ground pepper

1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 clove garlic

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 cube instant vegetable bullion

Roast the chiles over an open flame or broiler–on your grill is best: Heat the broiler (or flame grill) to high. Place the peppers directly under the hot broiler (or on the hot grill) and cook, turning occasionally, until blistered and blackened on all surfaces, about 3 to 5 minutes for each exposed surface; set aside to cool. Once cooled, run the peppers under a stream of cool water and pull off the blackened skin and seeds. Set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a skillet and cook and stir the onion until it is transparent. Add the diced squash and cook and stir a few more minutes. Season with salt to taste.

Mash the potatoes with some salt and a bit of crema if needed. Mix in the cooked onion and zucchini and the diced cheese. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper.

Stuff the peeled peppers with the potato mixture.

Make the sauce: Puree the tomatoes, onion and garlic in a blender. Heat the oil in a skillet and add the tomato mixture. Cook, stirring occasionally. Mash the bullion cube and stir into the sauce. Cook until any traces of bullion have become part of the sauce.

Spread the sauce in the bottom of a shallow casserole dish. Lay the rellenos in the sauce. Cover and cook until the sauce is bubbling and the cheese has melted.  Drizzle with the crema.

Makes 4 servings.

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 pound potatoes, well-scrubbed and cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

7 cups vegetable stock

1 (15-ounce) can pinto beans, rinsed and drained

1 cup hominy, rinsed and drained

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 serrano or jalapeno chile, seeds and veins removed, finely chopped

1 teaspoon ground cumin

7 ounces (6 cups) fresh greens, such as mess o’ greens

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice or rice wine vinegar

Crumbled cotija or feta cheese for garnish (optional)

In a non-stick skillet, heat oil over medium-high. Add potatoes and salt and pepper and cook, stirring often, about 8 to 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the vegetable broth in a large soup pot. Add the pinto beans, garlic, chile pepper and cumin. Wash the greens and remove the stems. Coarsely chop them and stir into the broth. When the potatoes are golden brown, add them. Simmer the soup until the potatoes are just tender. Add the lemon juice, taste and season with more salt and pepper, if needed.

Makes about 6 servings.

1 pound potatoes, scrubbed

2 tablespoons olive oil

6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

Black truffle salt or Real Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup white wine

About 1 1/2 cups vegetable stock

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Slice the potatoes as thinly as possible. Heat the olive oil in an ovenproof skillet over low heat. Add the garlic and season with salt and pepper. Allow to soften, about 5 minutes. Increase the heat to medium-high; pour in the white wine and 1/4 cup of the veggie stock. Cook until most of the liquid evaporates, then remove from the heat.

Cover the garlic with a single layer of potato slices. Then, starting at the outside edge of the pan, arrange another layer of potato slices in overlapping, concentric circles. Ladle on veggie stock until it comes just up to the level of the potatoes. Sprinkle with a bit of (truffle) salt and pepper.

Return to the heat and bring the liquid to a boil. Place the skillet in the oven and bake about 40 minutes, ladling a little more stock onto the top layer of potatoes every 10 minutes. When the potatoes are soft and beginning to brown on the edges, the stock should be reduced to a syrupy consistency—if there is too much liquid, pour it off and cook the potatoes just a little more.

Serve straight from the pan, cutting into wedges like a pie.

Makes about 4 servings.

1 clove garlic, minced

½ teaspoon Real Salt

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

1 tablespoon maple syrup

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Freshly ground black pepper

3 tablespoons chopped pecans

1 tablespoon sugar

3 handfuls arugula leaves

2 or 3 French breakfast radishes

2 carrots

In a small bowl, whisk the garlic salt and vinegar until the salt mostly dissolves. Whisk in the maple syrup and the olive oil. Season to taste with freshly ground pepper.

Ina small skillet over medium high heat, stir the pecans and the sugar with a wooden spoon until the sugar melts. Remove from the heat and transfer to a bowl to cool.

Tear arugula leaves and slice breakfast radishes and carrots. Toss together. Sprinkle with the candied pecans and drizzle with the maple vinaigrette.

Makes enough dressing for 3 salads.

For the potato topping:

2 pounds Sangre potatoes, well-scrubbed (or peeled if desired)

About 8 ounces lite coconut milk (from a 14-ounce can)

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the gravy sauce:

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

8 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced

2 tablespoons whole wheat flour

1 cup vegetable stock

½ teaspoon poultry seasoning, or 1/2 ground sage and 1/2 dried marjoram.

For the filling:

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 onion, chopped

2 carrots, cut in ½-inch dice

1 small cauliflower, cut into florets

½ to 1 cup vegetable stock

1 cup frozen peas

½ cup frozen corn kernels

1 (8-ounce) package Lemon Pepper baked marinated tofu, cut into ¾-inch cubes

1 teaspoon tamari soy sauce

Pinch cayenne pepper

Make the potato topping.

Cut the potatoes into cubes. Place in cold salted water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a low simmer and cook until the potatoes are fork tender, about 20 minutes. Drain and mash with the coconut milk and olive oil until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste and set aside.

Make the gravy:

Heat the oil in a saucepan; add the mushrooms and stir. The heat should be hot enough to sear or brown the mushrooms to keep them from losing water and to enhance their flavor. Continue to sauté on high heat for 3 or 4 more minutes, stirring frequently so they don’t burn.

Lower the heat to medium and stir in the flour. Cook a few minutes. Add the vegetable stock, stirring continuously. Stir in the poultry seasoning.  Set aside.

Make the filling:

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and carrot and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes.

Add the cauliflower and about ½ cup of vegetable stock. Cover and reduce the heat; let the vegetables simmer until the cauliflower is almost tender, about 10 minutes.

Stir in the peas and corn and cubes of tofu and cook, uncovered, until the peas and corn thaw. Stir in the mushroom gravy. Season to taste with the tamari and cayenne.

Preheat oven to 375° F. Lightly oil a 9 x 13-inch casserole pan. Spread the vegetables and gravy in the pan. Top with the mashed potatoes. Bake 20 minutes.

Switch the oven to broil. Broil until the potatoes are golden brown on top.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

In Super Natural Every Day, there is a recipe for Chickpeas and Dandelion Greens. Here is my twist, with mizuna, another green (with a bitter edge of flavor) that we find in our Ranui Gardens CSA box this week.

2 cups cooked chickpeas (otherwise known as garbanzo beans), or 1 (15-ounce can) garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes

Real Salt

½ pound (or so) mizuna leaves

1 teaspoon sherry wine vinegar

¼ cup toasted pinenuts or walnut pieces

Put the oil, garlic, red pepper flakes and some salt in a large skillet. Heat over a low flame, stirring often, until the garlic begins to sizzle, but before it gets any brown color at all. Stir in the chickpeas. Add the mizuna to the skillet and stir as it wilts. Sprinkle on the sherry wine vinegar, stirring. Transfer to a serving dish and garnish with the nuts.

Makes 2 to 4 servings.

This week girlfriend Laurie pulled off a last-minute dinner for 9 people—the aforementioned burgers slathered with basil pesto, served on a bed of mashed potatoes. Laurie says she learned about the salmon burgers and pesto at our house–thanks Laurie for the potato idea.

Dill marries well with potatoes and it is a fine complement to salmon. Its distinctive flavor is lost with heating so always add it after cooking. Yogurt adds tang to the potatoes—but milk and butter or buttermilk or crème fraîche are other ideas. I sometimes add coconut milk because I always have a can in my pantry. Most folks peel their potatoes before cooking and mashing—but I say why bother when you have gorgeous organic, pesticide-free Ranui Gardens potatoes. If you have time, roast the potatoes for a more buttery addition. Roasted garlic mashed potatoes are classic.

About 3 pounds potatoes, well-scrubbed

1 teaspoon salt

3 to 5 cloves garlic, peeled

½ to 1 cup plain yogurt

3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh dill

Freshly ground black pepper

Sprigs of fresh dill

Cut the potatoes into chunks about 1-inch in measure. Place in a saucepan with the garlic and cover with water. Add the salt, cover and simmer, until the potatoes are tender. Drain.

Use a potato masher to mash the potatoes and garlic together. Mash in the yogurt, enough to moisten as you prefer, and fresh dill. Season to taste with more salt and freshly ground pepper.

To cook the salmon burgers:

While the potatoes are cooking, heat some olive oil in a large skillet. Slip in the salmon burgers and cook about 5 minutes, until light golden on the bottom. Flip the burgers and cook another 5 minutes. (This is where you would slather generously with basil pesto—but today we are featuring another herb—dill.)

Cook another 5 minutes—you will see some of the salmon fat oozing white on the sides and top. Keep warm.

To serve: Spoon some of the garlic dill mashed potatoes on a plate and set the salmon burger on top. Garnish with fresh dill sprigs.

In this recipe, the prep steps for the tofu, potatoes and kale are given separately. Multi-tasking is efficient here: prepare the potatoes while the tofu is being pressed, and boil the potatoes while the tofu is crisping and boil the kale while the onion and garlic cooks.

well-scrubbed potatoes

Curried Potatoes and Kale

1 (12 ounce) block extra firm tofu

1 tablespoon plus 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

4 medium potatoes, any variety, well-scrubbed

1 bunch kale, stems removed and discarded

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 ½ teaspoons turmeric

Pinch cayenne

½ teaspoon (or more, to taste) dried red chile pepper flakes

1 (13.5 ounce) can coconut milk

Salt to taste

Drain the tofu from its water and cut in half lengthwise. Place on a tea towel in a baking dish and cover with a part of the towel. Top with a second baking dish and place something heavy inside; it should weigh 1 to 2 pounds. Monitor so that the weight stays centered over the tofu pieces and press for about 10 minutes. The tea towel will absorb much extra moisture, even though you started with extra firm tofu. Dice the pressed tofu into ½-inch to ¾-inch cubes.

Golden Tofu Cubes

Heat the first tablespoon of oil in a large skillet over medium flame. Add the tofu cubes and cook about 10 minutes, turning the tofu after a few minutes, until the cubes are golden on at least 2 sides. Remove from the pan and set aside on paper towels.

Bring a saucepan of water to boil with a good amount of salt. Cut the potatoes into 1-inch chunks, add them to the pot and simmer until the potatoes are just tender, about 20 minutes. Remove the potatoes from the pot and set aside.

Add the kale leaves to the salted water. Simmer them until the greens are tender to your tongue, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from the water, saving about 2 cups of the cooking water. Let the kale cool on a cutting board and then chop—about 1 inch apart with your knife, in both directions to cut the leaves.

Heat the remaining oil in the skillet over medium flame. Add the onion and garlic and cook and stir until the garlic is translucent, 5 to 8 minutes. Stir in the turmeric and cayenne and the pepper flakes. Add the coconut milk, and the cooked potatoes and chopped kale, stirring everything around. Stir in the golden tofu cubes and enough of the reserved cooking water to make a wet sauce. Cook, stirring occasionally to let the flavors meld and heat the vegetables and tofu. Season with salt and more chile pepper flakes to taste.

Makes about 4 servings.

Pizza in America is not what people usually make at home—but a quick and easy order and delivery. Robbie even fell for a dinner invitation recently; when the host said we were having pizza, Robbie pictured homemade crust and creative toppings. Boy was he surprised when dinner came out of a box.

We went to Moab for a 3-day desert holiday on Monday and I was in charge of dinner that evening.

Bron French mandoline

I packed our pizza stone and the mandoline and made sure to bring the green chile pesto and the package of Iraqi flatbread, a gift from our friend Peter, that I had been hoarding in the freezer. In Salt Lake City, pick up this yummy Persian flatbread at Pars Market on Highland Drive.

Iraqi flat bread

I used the mandoline to quickly slice the potatoes thinly, and I even impressed myself with how easily the pizzas came together.

This recipe is for one pizza, but you can make as many as you wish. Use my whole wheat pizza dough recipe or pick up some Iraqi flatbread—the cooking time will vary, depending on which you use, the dough and the cooking vehicle itself.

Pesto, Potato and Red Onion Pizza

1 10-inch pizza crust, raw and freshly shaped, or pre-baked

Several Warba, yellow or red potatoes (6 to 10 ounces total) well-scrubbed and very thinly sliced

1 clove garlic, chopped

Extra virgin olive oil

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Green chile or regular pesto

¼ cup very thinly sliced red onion

About 4 ounces smoked cheddar or mozzarella cheese, grated

Over low flame, heat a couple of tablespoons of the olive oil in a large skillet. Add the sliced potatoes and the garlic and season with salt. Cook and stir for about 5 minutes. Add 3 tablespoons of water and cover the skillet. Cook another 5 minutes, just until the potatoes are tender. Take off the cover and let any remaining water cook away. Set aside.

Place the pizza stone in the oven or grill and preheat to 450 degrees or as hot as you can get the grill.

Put the pizza crust on a pizza peel or an upside-down pizza pan that you have sprinkled lightly with cornmeal. (The cornmeal acts as ball bearings so the pizza can slide onto the stone.)

Drizzle some olive oil on the crust and spread it around with a brush or your fingers. Spread about 3 tablespoons of pesto on next, followed by the red onion slices and some of the cheese. Now arrange the potatoes, so that all of the dough is covered except for ¾ of an inch around the edge. Season with salt and plenty of freshly ground pepper. Sprinkle the remaining cheese evenly over the potatoes.

Slide the pizza onto the stone and bake it for 6 to 10 minutes, until the edges and bottom are deep golden brown.

Makes 1 pizza