At Noon / à Midi

I was born at noon. Warda was the name my nana gave me. She said she always wanted to give her daughter this name. She gave it to me. Warda. Flower. I was the second child, the second daughter; the second “floral” name in the family (my sister’s name is Yasmine, which means Jasmine).

I was born in a small clinic, in a small room. I was born on a warm spring day. My father still remembers the exact room where I was born. Every time we would go by the clinic he would show me the room and tell me these exact words: “Here! This is where you were born. You were a big baby and your face was so red that the nurse called you red mullet when handing you to your mother” I talked to him this morning, and he told me he is going to visit this exact room tomorrow. I smiled.

My parents were here when I gave birth to my daughter. My father walked me to the car and he didn’t want to let me go. He told me it was just yesterday that he was walking my mother to the clinic to bring me to the world, and now he was walking me to the car to have my first child. My mother smiled. I smiled. We both cried.

I was born into a loving home. I was born into a loving family. I was born into a family where my grandmother would make her memorable Jam Tart on birthdays.

Me and One Easy Dessert / Moi et Un Dessert Facile a Faire

I have been tagged this past week by Jaime and Naomie for a Meme. Basically, I have to share with you 7 things you don't know about me. It was hard to choose. An entire life can't be summed up in 7 lines, but here it is:

- Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day, and I drink at least 2 cups (500ml) of cold milk daily. I hate hot milk; it has to be mixed with coffee or chocolate for me to be able to drink it.
- I have a small collection of cows’ figurines around the house. What once started as a joke between my husband and I has now expended to salt and pepper shakers, kitchen apron, cell phone holder…etc. This cute cow on the photo is my latest baby, given to me by my beloved sister. Thank you very much, Y!
- I speak Arabic, French and English, and understand some Spanish. My husband is way better than me in Spanish and he likes to show it off from time to time just to upset me. Which always works!
- I don’t like Hummus. Although I love Chickpeas. Did you know that Hummus means Chickpea in Arabic? I am sure you all know it!
- I went to law school for one year before finding out that it was boring, corrupted and exhausting. I studied French Literature after that. I enjoyed it very much and miss sometimes my college years.
- I get scared easily. Very, very easily. My husband takes advantage of it a lot, and I am afraid I might have a heart attack one of those days. Not that long ago, thinking I’ve heard some noise in the kitchen, I woke up my husband and sent him to go see if there was something, or most specifically somebody downstairs. I felt really bad about waking him up and decided to go with him (Actually, I was left alone in the bedroom and I was scared that somebody might jump out of the closet. I have a vivid imagination). I followed him, carrying with me a big, heavy…candle that I have on my chest of drawers. He looked at me: “what do you think you’re doing with this candle?” “Well…it was the first thing I saw, and I thought this might protect us if there was somebody downstairs!” There was nobody downstairs that day. But every time I hear a noise in our house, he jokes and reminds me not to forget to take my candle with me.
- I love cheese. Especially Goat cheese, Roquefort, Camembert, Brie, Feta, Gruyere, Ricotta and Comté.

The food bloggers I am tagging for a Meme are:
- Christine, from Holybasil
- Marion, from Il en faut peu pour etre heureux
- Lydia, from The Perfect Pantry
- Aimee, from Under the High Chair
- Shayne, from Fruitcake or Nuts
- Anne, from Foodie Froggy
- Terry B, from Blue kitchen

Today’s recipe is very, very easy to make. The filling can be prepared a day, or even two days ahead and assembled the day you want to serve it. The golden phyllo dough gives this distinguish crunch to the dessert, and the creamy ricotta, infused with honey and cinnamon, adds a bewitching silkiness to the sautéed apples. I used Pink Lady Apples, because I love how both sweet and tangy they are, and how they hold their shape after cooking them. Avoid using ceramic or silicon muffin pans, as they retain moisture and you will end up with a mushy bottom.

You may also like:
Peach and Ricotta Parcels

Ricotta and apples Parcels

Recipe: serves 4
- 8 phyllo sheets, cut in half.
- 1 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
- 2 tbsp honey (use the one you like)
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 gg
- 1 Pink Lady apple (or any excellent cooking apple), peeled, cored and diced
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 3 tbsp melted butter.
- 1 tbsp ground pistachios (optional)

Using a whisk, mix the ricotta with honey, ¼ tsp ground cinnamon and the egg, until well combined. Set aside. On a medium flame, Heat a teaspoon of butter in a pan, and sauté the diced apples with the remaining cinnamon and the sugar until lightly golden brown on the edges, about 5 minutes.
Brush the muffin pan with a little bit of melted butter. Brush the phyllo sheets with some of the remaining butter and line each muffin cup with four phyllo sheets. Put inside each phyllo “nest” a layer of ricotta, a layer of apples and top with a little of pistachios. Fold the phyllo sheets over the filling as you would fold a bag. Continue with the remaining phyllo cups. Brush each phyllo parcel with the remaining melted butter and bake at 350F for 20 minutes, or until the top is golden brown. Let it cool for 5 minutes inside the muffin pan and invert gently without breaking the top of the parcels. serve warm or cold, topped with a little bit of ground pistachios and icing sugar.

Croustillants de Ricotta et Pommes

In Francais Please: Pour 4 Personnes
- 8 feuilles de filo, coupées en deux sur la largeur
- 200g de fromage de ricotta
- 2 c.s de miel (celui que vous preferez)
- ½ c.c de cannelle en poudre
- 1 oeuf
- 1 pomme Pink Lady, épluchée et coupé en des
- 1 c.s de sucre en poudre
- 3 c.s de beurre fondu
- 1 c.s de pistaches en poudre (facultatif0

A l’aide d’un fouet, mélanger la ricotta avec le miel, ¼ c.c de canelle et l’oeuf entier. Mettre de côté. Sur un feu moyen, faites fondre une c.c de beurre et faites sauter les pommes avec le reste de cannelle et le sucre, juqu’à ce qu’elle deviennent légerement dorées sur les bords, envirom 5 minutes.
Beurrer votre moule a muffins et vos feuilles de filo avec le beurre fondu. Laisser-en un peu pour la fin. Garnir chaque portion du moule avec 4 feuilles de filo et les remplir d’une couche de ricotta, puis une couche de pommes, et enfin un peu de pistaches en poudre. Fermer la pate à fillo sur la farce comme si vous fermez un sachet. Beurre la surface du beurre fondu restant. Faites cuire à 160C pendant 20 minutes. Laisser reffroidir 5 minutes dans le moule, puis démouler en faisant attention à ne pas abimer la surface. Servir tiède ou à temperature ambiante, saupoudré de pistaches en poudre et de sucre glace.

Daring Baker's Meringue Lemon Pie

Not being able to complete last month’s challenge, it felt like ages since my last Daring Baker’s Challenge. This time, Jen form Canadian Baker is our host and she had chosen the Classical Lemon Meringue pie for this Month’s challenge.

I believe I’ve mentioned before how my darling can’t stand the tart flavor of the lemon and that I have to add extra sugar to my lemon tarts to suit his taste. This time, not wanting to add the extra calories to my hips and thighs, and with the gorgeous lemons I’ve found at Whole Foods the other day, I’ve decided to use Meyer Lemons for my lemon meringue Pie. Meyer Lemons are believed to be a cross between real lemons and Mandarin Oranges. They are smaller in size and rounder than a lemon. They also have a light orange color when ripe. They are sweeter and less acidic than the lemons (Eureka and Lisbon) commonly found in the US, this is why I had to reduce the amount of sugar in the filling. Sssweet! Or should I say: Less Sssweet!

The Lemon meringue pie that I regularly make is my mother’s recipe. What differs it from the DB’s one is that my mother’s recipe uses fewer eggs for the filling, no butter and no cornstarch too. When making the filling, although the appearance of the lemon curd was gorgeous and smooth, it took a lot of time to thicken, past boiling point.

The crust was hard to work with at first, and I had to add some extra flour to stop it from sticking. And while the dough was able to hold the filling perfectly out of the pan, it wasn’t as flaky as I like it to be.
The meringue on the other hand was my favorite part: not too sweet and not too egg tasting.

Overall it was a fairly easy challenge, a little time consuming but I would have to say that my mother’s recipe remains my favorite by far.

You can check out the detailed recipe here. Thank you Jen for this lemony Challenge, and be sure to visit my fellow Daring Baker’s for more mouthwatering creations.

Thanksgiving

I realize I am fashionably late bringing my tart to the Thanksgiving dinner. The turkey must be chilling, the menu must be fixed, the pans and pots must be singing and the kitchen is warm and eager to welcome the feast. Some of you must be packing to go see your loved ones. Others must already be at the airport, waiting for their plane to arrive. Wherever you are, you know Thanksgiving is just around the corner and can’t wait to start celebrating and filling your heart with sweet memories, and your tummy with scrumptious goodies.

Off you go my friends. You have a day to be thankful for.

There would be no recipe today, since this apple tart is just a variation of my fig frangipane tart. I just used three Granny Smith apples instead of figs and topped the tart with some roughly chopped walnuts. The filling is made with almonds meal (toasted, skinned then ground almonds) and ½ tsp of freshly ground nutmeg. It can be prepared one day ahead. Prebake the crust, until lightly golden on the edges, and store it at room temperature. Refrigerate the filling. For a shiny finish, you can brush the apples with some honey.

Happy Thanksgiving, Happy Feasting and Happy Memories.

Appearances Can Be Deceptive / Les Apparences sont Souvent Trompeuses

Before we get married and before we moved in together, my husband thought I didn’t know how to cook, or as he says in his own words: “ I thought you weren’t that great of a cook”. Nobody told him so, I guess, there was no sign on my forehead saying: “Kitchen Hazard” and I don’t remember him even asking me if I knew how to cook or if I love cooking.
Was it my look? My hands? My age? The way I eat, or may be the way I tilt my head back when I laugh? No! Nothing. He just figured I didn’t cook.

The first dish we had together coming home, after an eight hours flight and jet lagged was an onion and Gruyere omelet. I overcooked the omelet and it wasn’t as moist as I like it but he was stunned, charmed. In other words my omelet proved him wrong: I knew how to cook, sort of.

Since then, my skills in making omelets have improved and he had, hopefully, noticed how lucky he is to have such a talented, not to mention smart and beautiful woman.
He knows by now that as much as I love taking on new challenges and never made before recipes, there are those days when I am much happy with a simple salad, some mashed potatoes or a savory tart.

I saw this tart some weeks ago, and it was one of those recipes that I had to make. You know the feeling, right? You see a photograph that catches your attention. You start to read the recipe and get mesmerized by the combination of the ingredients and how they sound wonderful together. You start dreaming about it day and night and anticipating the flavors in your mouth until you have all the ingredients and decide to make it. I was in love before even making it.
I thought it must be like having a slice of Brie on a slice of bread in one hand and a fresh fig in the other, and popping the whole thing together in your mouth. It must be even better on a tart.

The first night, I served it hot since you can either serve it hot or cold according to the recipe. How do I say this delicately? I didn’t like it hot. I ate it because I was hungry. The figs were still bubbly hot and I couldn’t taste the cheese. You could have used any other cheese instead and I wouldn’t taste it anyway. That’s how strong the flavor of hot figs was. But the crust was delicious.

The second night, still wanting to give it another chance, I served it at room temperature. Reheated just a little bit and let it cooled before serving it. My husband said he liked it better this way. It’s true that the figs being cold, you can have a taste of all the ingredients together but the cheese, even being perfectly ripe, wasn’t as melting as I expected it to be. In fact baking it kind of spoiled it, and I know now that I prefer to have my Brie on a slice of bread.

This tart was not what I thought it would be like, not what I had imagined and looked forward to. Nobody promised me it was going to be an explosion of flavors in my mouth and that I will instantly love it. Was it the tempting picture? My weakness for figs, or my lack of judgment? I don’t know. I just figured it has to be delicious. I guess appearances can be deceptive after all.

Daring Bakers August Challenge: Eric Kayser's Milk Chocolate and Caramel Tarts

Saying that I was reticent about this month’s challenge is an understatement. My fear? The combination of milk chocolate and caramel that I find really odd. To me milk chocolate is just too sweet, and caramel…well it’s sugar!
I was afraid I would end up with something that tastes more like an overly sweet candy than a tart.
Dark chocolate being not allowed, I started to think about other ways to make the tart tastes a little less sweet than it sounds, without having to break my daring baker pledge or being pointed to as a rebel.

What I did differently:
First, I divided the recipe in half. Nothing to do with sweetness you might say, but it was to minimize any final bad surprise.
Second, I wanted to have small portions, similar to petits fours, so I went with my mini brioche molds.
Third, I replaced ground hazelnut in the crust by ground walnuts. I find walnuts being bitter than hazelnuts. If it makes any sense!
And finally, I used walnuts halves to decorate my tiny tarts instead of caramel bits.
Overall, everything went smoothly. I tried to use the dry method to making caramel Veronica, but immediately switched to my usual water and sugar method when I saw it drying out. The caramel was a success, smooth with a gorgeous color.
I didn’t expect the pastry to puff that much when baking. My brioche molds being so small, I didn’t have much space left to fill it with the caramel and the milk chocolate mousse. The shortbread pastry was so flaky and melts in your mouth with the exact amount of sweetness, that I couldn’t stop eating it.

The milk chocolate mousse was surprisingly not as sugary as I imagined it would be! The only mistake that I made is when I finished making the mousse, before even pouring it over the cooled caramel, my daughter woke up from her nap, crying. I had to put the bowl of mousse in the fridge and went to console her. Fifteen minutes later, after wiping her tears and feeding her, I remembered the mousse. It had already set, so when pouring it over the caramel it looked more like a puree than a mousse.
Despite some bumps here and there, my hubby and I enjoyed these tarts very much. We shared most of them with his co-workers who just went crazy for them.
Now the combination of milk chocolate and caramel makes more sense to me, thanks to Patricia and Vero. But when it comes to chocolate nibbling, I am a dark chocolate girl through and through.
You can head to Patricia's and Veronica's blogs for the recipe.

A Crush on Carrots / Un Amour de Carottes

I am known to be a sensitive person. Stop laughing honey. I can see you from here. Where was I again? Oh yes, the sensitive part of me.
I am a very sensitive person: I am the kind of person who will cry hours after the generic of a movie, the kind of person who won’t kill a spider because it’s just wrong, but will most definitely kill a cockroach. I am the kind of person who will feel really bad when I forget watering my plants or when I, unintentionally, hurt somebody else’s feeling. I am the kind of person who will collect park tickets and dried roses as memories, and the kind of person who can’t stop cooking again and again her latest crush. Even if it is as simple as a carrot dish.
I had this idea of a savory tart Tatin, instead of the traditional apple Tatin, after I saw some cute cherry tomatoes tartlets Tatin.
Instead of using tomatoes, I decided to use carrots because I can’t have enough of caramelized carrots with herbs. I usually use sage with my carrots but this time I went with thyme as I wanted a more woody and rustic flair to my tart.
The tart can be made in individual sizes and served as little appetizers.
Now, what’s so special about caramelized carrots on a crust? Nothing, in fact.just the beauty of a simple dish that doesn’t need a lot of skills or time to make and which happened to be my latest discovery and my shameless sweet crush.

Rustic Carrots Tart Tatin

Recipe:
- See recipe here for Pastry crust, but do not use the sugar and substitute the 1 tbsp of orange blossom water by ice water
- 10 mini carrots, peeled (depending on the size of your pan)
- 5 sprigs of fresh thyme
- 1 tsp brown sugar
- Salt, pepper

Make the pastry crust and let it chill until needed. In the meantime, melt 1 tsp butter with 1 tsp vegetable oil in a cast iron pan. Put the carrots in a pan. Season with salt and pepper and let them cook covered on medium heat. Uncover the pan and flip the carrots when they become tender. Let them cook this time uncovered. When cooked through, transfer the carrots to a cutting board and split them in half. Set aside.
Roll out the pastry crust and cut a circle a little bigger than the size of your pan. Freeze the rest of the crust for another time.
Put three sprigs of thyme in the pan and add the brown sugar on top. Cook on medium low heat just until the sugar starts to melt. Put the carrots back to the pan.
Cover the carrots with the crust disc and tuck on the sides. Let it cook, again on medium-low heat for 5 min then put in a 350F until golden brown on top, about 15 to 20 min.
Let it cool in the pan for 10 min then invert to a plate. Sprinkle with the remaining thyme leaves and serve, as a suggestion, with a peppery salad, such as escarole or endive.

Tarte Tatin Rustique aux carottes

In francais please:
- Voir ici la recette pour la pâte, mais sans sucre et en subsituant la c.s d’eau de fleur d’oranger par de l’eau glacé
- 10 mini carottes, épluchees (le nombre depends de la taille de votre poele)
- 5 brins de thym frais
- 1 c.c de sucre brun
- Sel, poivre

Faites votre pâte et mettre au frais jusqu’a utilization. Entre temps, dans une poele, antiadhesive, allant au four, faites fondre 1 c.c de beurre avec 1 c.c d’huile vegetale. Versez les carottes dans la poele. Assaisonnez de sel, poivre et laisser cuire couverts sur feu doux. Decouvrir la poele et retourner es carottes quand ils commencent a cuire d’un côté. Laisser cuire sans couvercle. Quand les carottes sont cuites, transvaser les carottes vers votre planche de travail et les couper en deux. Mettre de côté.
Faites sortir la pâte et l’etaler sur une surface legerment farine. Couper un disc de la pâte avec un diameter un peu plus grand que celui de votre poele. Congeler le reste de pâte pour une autre utilisation.
Remettre votre poele sur feu tres doux et mettre dedans trois brins de thym, puis le sucre brun. Laisser sur feu jusqu’a ce que le sucre commence a peine a fondre. Remettre les carottes dans la poele. Couvrir les carottes du disc de pâte en faisant en sorte de bien la faire rentrer sur les bords. Laisser cuire 5 min puis continuer sa cuisson dans un four prechauffe a 180C pendant 15- 20min ou jusqu’a ce que la pâte devienne doré.
Soritr du four et laisser refroidir dans la poele 10 min puis invertir dans une assiette. Servir avec une salade de frisée ou d’endives.

Sweet Laziness / Douce Paresse

I am a total bore sometimes. I wish I could tell you that this dessert has a story of sweet childhood memories and stained white little dresses. I wish I could tell you that this dessert has grown on me through the years, reminiscence of a peach tree planted in the courtyard of my grandparents. I wish I could tell you that my inspiration came from a trip to south of Spain years ago, sitting on my father’s shoulders and indulging myself to sweet peach tarts. I wish I could tell you that while making this dessert, unicorns were stirring my ricotta, birds were singing at my window and bees were offering me their honey.

But I won’t. Because my only excuses behind making this improvised yet delicious dessert were a promise I made, a lazy afternoon and some ripe peaches. I am such a lame. I know. You can boo at me all you want, for now. Because once you’ve tasted my peach parcel with creamy ricotta and fragrant lavender honey, you will start cheering me up and start singing the merits of laziness for generations to come.



Peach Parcels with Ricotta and Lavender Honey

Recipe: Serves 4
- 2 ripe yellow peaches
- 3.5 oz Ricotta cheese
- 2 tbsp honey
- ½ tsp Orange blossom water
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tsp candied ginger, diced
- ½ tsp dried lavender flowers, plus a few for decorating
- 1 tbsp flaked almonds
- Filo dough
- 2 tbsp melted butter

Using a knife, make an incision on top of each peach. In simmering water, blanch your peaches for only 2 minutes then start peeling off the skin. Cut each peach in quarter and set aside. In a saucepan, put 1 tbsp of honey with lavender pods. Bring to boil then set aside to infuse the honey with the lavender. Using a whisk, mix the ricotta cheese with the remaining honey, the egg yolk and the orange blossom water.
Cut 4 small rectangular out of the filo dough, and then process layering (see picture) brushing the dough with butter at each stage. Sprinkle the candied peaches on the peaches and close your parcel by forming any shape you want. Just keep in mind to leave an opening on top of the parcel. Bush with some butter again and drizzle some of the lavender honey on top of each parcel. Sprinkle with some flaked almonds and bake in a preheated 350F oven for about 20 min or until golden brown on top. Serve warm with some lavender pods on each parcel.

Croustillant de Pêche a la Ricotta et Miel de Lavande

In francais please: Pour 4 personnes
- 2 peches jaunes, mures
- 100g de fromage ricotta
- 2 c.s de miel
- ½ c.c d’eau de fleur d’oranger
- 1 jaune d’oeuf
- 1c.c de gingembre confit
- ½ c.c de fleurs de lavande sechees, plus quelques fleurs pour decorer
- 1 c.s d’amandes effilees
- 2 c.s de beurre fondu

A l’aide d’un couteau, faites une incision en forme de croix sur chaque peche. Mettre de l’eau a bouillir dans une casserole puis faites blanchir les peches pendant 2 min. Eplucher les peches et couper chacune d’entre elles en quatre. Mettre de cote. Dans une autre casserole, mettre une c.s de miel avec les fleurs de lavande et des que le miel commence a bouillir, retirer- le du feu et laisser de cote pour infuser. A l’aide d’un foeut, melanger la ricotta avec le reste de miel, le jaune d’oeuf, et l’eau de fleur d’oranger.
Couper 4 petits rectangles de votre pate a filo, puis commencer a monter votre dessert (voir photo) en badigeonnant de beurre fondu a chaque etape. Parsemer quelques morceaux de gingembre confit sur chaque peche et fermer votre petit rectangle sous la forme que vous desirer. N’oubliez seulement pas de laisser une petite ouverture au sommet de chaque portion. Badigonner de beurre fondu toute la surface de la pate a filo, Verser une peu du miel parfume a la lavande sur chauqe portion et saupoudrer d’amandes effilees. Faites cuire dans un four prechauffe a 180C pendant 20 min ou jusqu’a ce que la surface soit bien doree. Servir a temperature ambiante saupoudrer de quelques fleurs de lavande sur chaque croustillant.

Celebrating Summer / Célébrer l'été

When I think about summer, I think about the beach, the long days spent at the beach with my parents and siblings and the painful sunburn on my shoulders and back.
When I think about summer, I think about the naps we would take my mother and I in the living room because it was the coolest room in the house. We would sleep on a thin mattress right on the floor and wake up sore all over and completely disoriented. We would swear to never take a nap on hot days again but would do it again the next day.
When I think about summer I think about my father bringing home every afternoon two watermelons, a melon and three pounds of prickly pears that he had bought from roadside stands. I see my father sitting on his favorite small bench in the kitchen deck, holding the prickly pear with newspaper paper in one hand, the knife in the other hand to open the fruit and asking my mother to remove the fruit from its prickly skin.
When I think about summer, I think about children in my neighborhood cooling off as much as they can by swimming in the fountain square.
When I think about summer, I think about open-air markets, fishermen yelling: “Sardines! Sardines! La belle sardine!” fruits and vegetables trying to steal the highlight from one another, people laughing, speaking out loud and bumping into one another. When I think about summer, I think about my mother’s frenzy for red peppers. Every time we would go to the market, she would go straight to the red peppers stand, claiming that there is not much left at home. Although I know and she knows and our fridge knows that it’s already full of red peppers. Raw, grilled, stuffed, roasted, she is always looking for new ways to cook it, but the most recurrent and craved red pepper dish at home is simply roasted and marinated in olive oil, salt and garlic.
In this personalized recipe I took my mother’s recipe, added some crumbled goat cheese, sage, laid it on a flaky crust and drizzled some honey on top of each tartlets. The spiciness of the sage and goat cheese is balanced by the sweetness of the honey and the red peppers, and the crust is so flaky that you wouldn’t need to use a knife or even a fork. These kinds of tartlets are perfect as a light summer lunch, along with, if I may suggest, a bowl of mixed green. A bite of them and you will find yourself sitting next to the peppers stand of our market. Just don’t serve my mother some of your red peppers if you see her coming your way.

Red peppers, sage and goat cheese tartlets

Recipe: Serves 4
- See this recipe for the crust, but without sugar and orange blossom water
- 4 red peppers, roasted and peeled
- 3 big garlic cloves, finely diced
- Some soft goat cheese, crumbled
- 1 sprig of sage, chopped plus extra for decoration
- Honey
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- Salt, pepper

Cut the peppers into thick juliennes. Season with salt peppers and add the olive oil, leaves of sage chopped and garlic. Toss and let marinate for ½ hour or more if you have time. The more you let it marinate, the better it will be. Make the crust following the recipe. Using a cookie cutter, cut discs into your crust and decorate with some crust leaves or whatever you desire. Bake your discs at a preheated 400F oven for 10min then reduce to 350F and continue baking until lightly brown. Spoon the mixture of red peppers into the crust discs, trying not to over fill it and not let it drip too much with olive oil, and top each tartlets with the crumbled goat cheese, a leaf of sage and drizzle some honey on top. Return them to the oven for 5-7 min until the cheese has slightly began to melt and brown. Let cool on a wire rack. Serve warm

Tartelettes aux poivrons rouges, fromage de chèvre et sauge

In francais please: Pour 4 personnes
- Voir le recette de la pate ici, mais sans sucre et sans l'eau de fleur d'oranger
- 4 poivron rouges, grilles et epluches
- 3 grosses gousses d’ail, hachees
- Du fromage de chèvre, emiette
- 1 brin de sauge, les feuilles hachees plus quelques feuille pour deco
- Miel
- 60 ml d’huile d’olive
- Sel, poivre

Couper les poivrons en lamelles et les melanger a l’ail, feuilles de sauge, sel, poivre et huile d’olive. Laisser mariner ½ heures ou plus si vous avex le temps. Plus vous le laisser mieux le resultat sera. Faire votre pate selon la recette. A l’aide d’un emporte piece, couper des discs de la pate, decorer avec des feuilles ou autres selon votre desir. Faites cuires vos discs de pate dans un four prechauffe a 200C pendant 10m min, puis reduire le four a 160C et laisser cuire jusqu’a ce la pate brunisse legerement (voir photo). Mettre un peu du mélange de poivron rouge sur vos discs de pate, en faisant en sorte de pas mettre trop d’huile d’olive sur les discs de tartelettes et en evitant de trop remplir ces dernieres. Decorer chaque tartelette de fromage de chevre emiette, d’une feuille de sauge et de quelques gouttes de miel. Retourner les tartelettes au four pendant 5 –7 min juste afin que le fromage fonde un peu et se colore legerement. Laisser refroidir sur une grille a patisserie puis servir tiede accompagnees d’une simple salade verte.

Tartelettes For Your Brain / Des Tartelettes Pour Votre Cerveau

According to health magazines, cherries, along with almonds, apricots, plums and peaches boost our supplies of the antioxidants that protect against free radical damage, which can injure the brain.
Cherries are packed with melatonin, a hormone found in all living creatures, which has been shown to be important for the function of the immune system and the heart.
So, cherries make you smart and are good for your health. Why am I the last one to know this kind of information? I would have used it as an excuse when I was a kid.
“Rose! Is that you who finished all the cherries that were in the fridge?”
“Yes, maman. But I was just feeding my brain so I can grow up being a smart person”
I bet my parents wouldn’t be able to argue with such an elaborate excuse, right?
Instead, I drove them crazy, lying and accusing my younger brother of doing it. Yes, I admit that when it comes to cherries, I was one selfish little girl.
But look at me now. Eating a lot of cherries has paid off. I am a smart woman and…euhh! That doesn’t sound credible!
Let’s do it again. Blablabla…. has paid off. Everyone tells me that I am a smart person… Much better.

You see there are two ways to know how smart of a person you are:
First, if you can predict in advance that taking the shoulder of the road in the middle of traffic jam isn’t going to solve anything.
Second, if you can ask yourself: “Do I really need two telescoping back scratchers even if the second one is free?”

You are not sure again if you really need to boost your brain, memory and mental focus, then there are three symptoms to detect a hungry brain:
- Standing in the middle of the room and asking yourself: “why did I came here for again?”
- Calling your friend by your pet’s name.
- Asking yourself: “ what was the third symptom again?”. I am serious. It just happened to me while writing it.

Which brings me to my recipe for a smart, brain booster tartelette, although it is a bit high in calories. The idea of this cherries and almonds tartelette with orange blossom water, cardamom and cinnamon came about seven years ago while I was still living at my parents’ house. My mother had made us for lunch her incredible Tajine of meddler, stuffed with almonds, orange blossom water and cinnamon. I loved how the subtlety of the almonds worked with the sweetness of the fruits and the orange blossom water.

Up to this day, these tartelettes are my favorite way of making dessert out of cherries. I use ground whole almonds because you can really taste the almond flavor in the filling when you leave the skin on. The cherries are marinated for an hour in the orange blossom water, the cinnamon and the cardamom, and then I use the marinade for the filling along with the almonds. It gives it a nice subtle aroma with a smooth, silky body and a flaky, buttery crust. I pitted the cherries by using a hairpin bend, a clean hairpin bend, and it works wonderfully.

These cherries and almonds tartelettes are guaranteed to be a hit for a nice dinner dessert, and also a great way to feed your brain without giving up on sweets. But to make sure that no unnecessary calories will be ruining your summer, go for a long walk after finishing your dessert.

Cherries and almonds tartelettes

Recipe:
- 1 ½ lb cherries, pitted
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground cardamom
- 1 tbsp orange blossom water
- For the filling:
- 4 ½ ounces ground almonds, with the skin on
- 3 ½ ounces sugar
- 2 ounces butter, at room temperature
- 2 eggs
- For the pastry crust:
- 7 ounces of flour
- 3 ½ ounces butter, at room temperature
- ½ tsp sugar
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tbsp orange blossom water
- 3 tbsp ice water
- To finish:
- 1 tbsp icing sugar

Put the cherries, sugar, cinnamon, cardamom and orange blossom water in a bowl. Mix all the ingredients together and let it marinate for an hour in the fridge.
Meanwhile, make the pastry crust. Mix the flour, the butter and the sugar together. Rub them between your hands until it becomes sand like. Add the egg yolks and the orange blossom water and mix until it all comes together. Do not overmix the dough. Cover with a plastic wrap and chill for ½ an hour. Make the cream. Mix the almonds with the sugar until combined. Add the butter, the eggs beaten and the juice of the cherry marinade. Whisk all together until it looks like a smooth cream.
Roll out the dough on a floured surface and line your greased tartelette molds with the crust. Chill for another 10 min. Line your crust with foil, filled with dried beans. Prebake your tartelette crust at 400F for 15 min, then remove the foil, reduce the heat to 350F and continue baking the crust for another 5 min to dry it out.
Fill the crust with the cream and top it with the cherries. Bake it until it is golden brown, about 20- 25 min. Let the tartelettes cool on a wire rack then dust with the icing sugar.

Tartelettes aux cerises et aux amandes

In francais please:
- 700g de cerises, denoyautees
- 1 c.s de sucre
- 1 c.c de canelle
- ½ c.c de cardamom
- 1 c.s d’eau de fleur d’oranger
- Pour la crème aux amandes:
- 125g de poudre d’amande, avec leur peau
- 100g de sucre
- 60g de beurre ramolli
- 2 oeufs
- Pour la pate:
- 200g de farine
- 100g de beurre ramolli
- 1 jaune d’oeuf
- 1 c.s d’eau de fleur d’oanger
-3 c.s d'eau glacé

Mettre les cerises, le sucre, la cannelle, la cardamome et l’eau de fleir d’oranger dans une jatte. Melanger le tout et reserver au frais pendant une heure. Entre temps faire la pate. Melanger la farine avec le sucre et le beurre. Frotter entre vos main jusqu’a ce que le mélange resemble a du sable. Ajouter le jaune d’oeuf et l’eau de fleur doranger. Melanger mais sans en abuser. Mettre en boule, couvrir de film plastique et laisser reposer pendant ½ heure au frais. Preparer votre crème aux amandes. Melanger les amandes, le sucre. Ajouter le beurre ramolli, les oeufs battu et le jus rendu par les cerises.
Abaisser votre pate. Garnir vos moules a tartelettes de la pate. Remettre au frais pendat 10 min. Garnir vos moiles d’aluminium remplie d’haricots secs et faites cuire la pate a blanc dans un four prechauffe a 200 C pendant 15 min. Puis reduire la temperature de votre four a 180 C, enlever les feuilles d’aluminium et continuer a cuire pendant 5 min pour assecher la pate.
Garnir vos moule de la crème aux amandes puis avec quelques cerises. Faites cuire jusqu’a ce que les tartelettes deviennent dorees, environ 20-25 min. Laisser refroidir sur une plaque a patisserie puis saupoudrer de sucre glace.