"Try it, my little cabbage!"
There is a definite beauty in new things, excitement, a little rush. I love discovering new things to try in the kitchen, new stitches to knit, new parks and places to take the children, new books to read them, the new words that they learn. I especially love giving the little ones new foods to try. This is the start of a little series, on what I am introducing to the babies, and to myself. The special, seasonal, or exotic little things that make the regular things more exciting. The title is inspired by the book "French Kids Eat Everything", which has really helped me to focus on expanding Julian's palette, encouraging him to try new things (the other day he and Omi had braised leeks and loved them) so that hopefully, he wont be too picky and will have a healthy view of food, and new things in general, they aren't always scary.
This little confusing stone fruit is a must try. I thought it was a plum, a fuzzy plum. Then I cut it open, an apricot! How exciting! Apricots are in season in the U.S. in late spring and early summer, so I might try to make a jam out of these special fruits as well. It had the mouthfeel of an apricot, but tasted more like a sweet plum. I sat at the table with Julian and we split it, he slurped and sucked the juice happily, ate the yummy fleshy part and then spit the skin out. I just ate my half quietly, enjoying watching him try something new. It was hard to make it last more than a few bites.
I thought about it and other than raw, I think the best way to showcase this pretty thing was to do a simple tart. I read around and saw lots of different apricot tarts on pinterest, but I settled on a mix of this recipe for tart dough and this Apricot Almond filling. I did a few things different. I used one 1/2 cup oat flour (I just threw the oats in the food processor until they were ground up to a good fine flour) in the dough, and really roughly estimated on my butter (a super no no with baking! Never estimate unless you are a baking genius, or always lucky, this time, I was lucky) because I got a pound of local, amish style butter from the farmers market this weekend. The last one left!
This tart was so fun to make! I've never done a "Par -Baked" home made tart crust. It was pretty simple enough, and I loved the result. I used some black beans in foil instead of pie weights, I don't have the time or money to buy pie weights. Who really has pie weights? Probably professional bakers...
And here it is, Isn't she pretty? I think so. I left purple skin on so that you can tell it is not your ordinary apricot tart, but a blue velvet apricot tart. I love that you can make simple things like this shine just by using something different, a little more out of the ordinary.
Julian is sleeping right now, but I'm sure he will be happy to sample this for me when he wakes up. My mother in law, his "Abuelita" is in town for a little visit from Puerto Rico. Hence why I was able to spend an hour in the kitchen uninterrupted to make a tart. It is so sweet to see him spending time with her, and hearing the stories about my husband when he was little, singing little songs in Spanish. I brought her to Cafe Streets today to have some coffee, the barista did a little rosetta in her cappuccino and she was delighted. She told him she couldn't drink it because it was too pretty! We got to stop by Xavier's work and show her the roasters, we all had to wear hair nets. I was not happy about the hair nets, neither was Julian. It is really nice to have her here for a little while, I don't usually get a lot of time to myself, so Im going to try and enjoy it while I can. When the little one wakes up I am heading out sans bebe, sans computer, to sit and knit at a cafe, what a treat!
that looks SO delicious :) :)
ReplyDeleteYum!
ReplyDelete