Fresh Berry Tart

The best thing about Oregon in the summer is the abundance of berries. Oregon berries are sweeter and juicier than berries from the store. But because of this, they're pretty delicate and spoil quickly. We picked 20 quarts of strawberries on Friday and I had to find some uses for them besides just freezing the little guys. I stumbled upon and adapted this recipe from Oregon Live and it was absolutely insanely perfect. It wasn't THAT difficult but looked so impressive for our graduation party. Ma requested that I make it again for Independence Day and add blueberries (red white and blue, heh, yeah).

This was my first time making a real pastry cream and I've decided it will be my go to recipe for cream puffs or Boston cream pies. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
Vanilla pastry cream

* 3 cups whole milk
* 1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped, or 2 teaspoons vanilla (see note)
* 3/4 cup granulated sugar
* 4 tablespoons cornstarch
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 2 eggs
* 2 egg yolks

Crust

* 24 butter cookies (7 ounces), such as Le Petit Beurre, or enough to make 2 cups cookie crumbs
* 1/3 cup butter, melted

Fresh Fruit
1 pound fresh strawberries, hulled, or other fresh berries

Glaze (optional)
Current jelly or homemade strawberry jelly

Instructions

To make pastry cream: Bring the milk to a boil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the vanilla bean pod and seeds, remove from the heat, cover and steep for 15 minutes.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the sugar, cornstarch and salt until there are no lumps. You may need to sift your mixture to ensure that there are no lumps. This is very important in this recipe! Add the eggs and yolks and whisk until very smooth. Discard the vanilla bean pod from the milk and gently bring milk back to a boil.

Wrap a damp towel around the base of the mixing bowl with the egg mixture to secure it. Temper the eggs by whisking in one-quarter of the hot milk. Then, pour all the contents of the mixing bowl back into the saucepan. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until it suddenly thickens and boils. Use a heatproof rubber spatula to scrape into the corners of the pan, then whisk for 1 minute more.

Remove from heat. Immediately use the spatula to scrape the pastry cream into a clean bowl, cover immediately with plastic wrap directly on the surface to prevent a skin from forming, and refrigerate for at least 1 1/2 hours and up to 5 days.

To make crust: Place the cookies in a resealable plastic bag and use a rolling pin to pound and roll them into fine crumbs. Pour the cookie crumbs into a mixing bowl and drizzle the melted butter all over. Use a rubber spatula to coat the cookie crumbs with the butter.

Spread the cookie crumb mixture into a 9-inch springform pan. Use a metal measuring cup to tamp them down into the bottom and 1 inch up the sides. Chill for at least 1 hour uncovered and up to 5 days in plastic wrap.

To assemble, evenly spread the pastry cream on the chilled crumb crust. Cut stems off berries and half them from stem top to pointy bottom. Arrange strawberries in concentric circles, cut side down, working from the outside in. For the best appearance, use the largest strawberries on the outside edge and the smallest on the inner rings. Chill until ready to serve. Glazing with jelly gives it a fresh, shiny appearance. To glaze, use a pastry brush and delicately glaze each berry so that it shines.

To serve, remove the ring from the springform pan and slide onto a serving platter. Some of the crust will crumble off. Use a sharp knife to cut into 8 to 10 serving pieces, wiping the blade in between each slice.

Thai-style Black Bean Salad

Friends, friends, friends. Seriously. I made this salad tonight before mutual, let it refrigerate for about 2 hours (okay, 1 hour, because Mark got it out of the fridge at 7 and forgot about it...), then tried some, and I couldn't wait to post it on here for your viewing (& eating) pleasure. So good!! And so healthy. I got the brilliant idea to eat mine with tortilla chips and it was a perfect match. Here goes:

1 c. frozen corn

1 can (15 oz) black beans, rinsed and drained

1 small onion, chopped

1 celery rib, sliced thin

1 small sweet red pepper, chopped

1/4 c. minced fresh cilantro

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped fine

2 T. sesame oil

1 T. rice vinegar

1 T. lime juice

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 t. minced fresh gingerroot

1/2 t. salt

Modifications: I doubled it, but left out the celery and jalapeno, and only used 1 medium red pepper instead of 2 small ones.

Directions: heat frozen corn according to package directions. Add beans, onion, celery, peppers, and cilantro. In a small bowl whisk together the last 6 ingredients. Pour over bean mixture and mix to coat. Chill for at least one hour to allow the flavors to marry.

Hallelujah for this recipe. It really hit the spot for me tonight! I hope you will try it.

Russian Borscht

Even when you are in post-law school and post-cruise dietary redemption mode, food still should taste GOOD. Borscht (or borshch as my Russian-speaking friend corrects me . . . say that ten times fast) is a great vegetarian soup made with beautiful veggies. The beets make it a gorgeous purpley red color. Borscht can be served warm or cold (I tend to prefer it warm, but it's up to you).

Step 1:

2 regular carrots, peeled and finely chopped

3 celery stalked, finely chopped

1 parsnip, peeled very finely chopped (looks like a long, gnarly, white carrot if you aren't familiar)

1 can diced beets (you can use fresh beets, too, but can be messy), undrained

1 white onion, finely chopped

2-3 garlic cloves

Barely cover veggies with water, bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 20 minutes.

Step 2:

2 c. chopped cabbage

2 c. beef broth (I've used chicken broth without incident)

1 Tbsp. butter

Add broth, butter, chopped cabbage and simmer another 20 minutes.

Step 3:

Seasonings:

3 Tbsp. dry sherry

1 Tbsp. (or more) red wine vinegar

1 tsp. paprika

1 Tbsp. dried dill (and more to garnish)

I like a dash of Tabasco, but you can skip it if you want

Juice of one lemon

Salt and pepper to tastes

(Note: these measurements are approximate. Borscht is one of those dishes I throw in ingredients until it "tastes right." Feel free to mess around with proportions.)

Serve with a dollop of sour cream or a dash of creme fraiche, garnish with dried dill, and a little trickle of a beautiful finishing oil (I suggest on from this brand).

Yummy.