I wanted to make another attempt at that summer squash lattice tart from Martha Stewart - another chance to wow people with how cool it looks if nothing else! So first you make the crust - you mix up flour, salt and sugar...
I went ahead and added a handful of minced herbs, mostly thyme, to give it more flavor/flair.
Whizz that up.
Add chilled butter cubes (which were clearly cut on the same board where I minced the herbs):
Til it looks like cornmeal.
Then, while the blade is running, quickly add a little ice water - and voila, dough! Er, eh hm, pate brisee. (Yeah right. Dough.)
Pat it. Wrap it. Chill it.
Next saute: 2 leeks (the white parts, cleaned and cut small), a zucchini (diced small) and a yellow squash (also dice small). Season with salt and pepper.
With another zucchini and another yellow squash, run them through the thinnest setting on a mandolin, making sure NOT to also shave off thin layers of your hand. Don't worry - this is all squash.
Roll out the dough, put in the tart pan, freeze awhile, bake with beans in the middle first, then finish without the beans til nice and golden.
Next fill it with the squash/leek mixture, pour in an egg, an egg yolk, and a quart cup of cream (blended together), and then quickly and easily form a lattice top with the mandolined squash. Easy, breezy, beautiful. A kindergartner could do it. I could do it with one hand tied behind my back. AND blindfolded! (You believe me, right?) ;-)
Really - it's not all that bad. NONE of the squash are ever the perfect length/size, but you can usually hide imperfections under the layers of the lattice.
Now while this was all going on, I was also working on my second attempt with the smoker since mom and dad's visit last week (I'll post on dad and I installing it whenever I get the pics from them).
The main attraction is a bone-in full turkey breast (I've never worked with one of these before). Dad gave me the recipe he really liked - you inject the breast the night before with a combination of garlic oil and beer and something else. Um. Hm. Don't have an injector. Don't have garlic oil.
Ok, so I roughly chopped three garlic cloves, added them to a small bowl of olive oil and nuked til it looked like it would explode (sure boils quickly!). I assaulted the turkey breast with the cool 48-blade meat tenderizer Brett got me a couple years ago, dumped it in a zip-lock bag, dumped in the oil/garlic, and a beer. Good enough!
The next morning I dumped the marinade in the drip/liquid-smoker tray, rubbed the breast (don't be dirty - I don't swing that way!) with Canadian Poultry Rub, added another beer and some rosemary to the tray, and crossed my fingers.
After a four hours and 3 changes of the mesquite smoking wood chips, here's what it looked like:
And here you see some Zweigles red-hots and white-hots on the top two shelves - Brett and I have found these are just so-so on the grill, but smoked? YUUUUUUM!!!!
Oh, and the tart? Looking gooooood! Still not much browning on top, but that's a'ight.
The turkey breast got a bit higher temp than it should've - I thought it would take a lot longer to cook (per the recipe) and didn't have the digital thermometer in place. It should've come out at 180, but actually hit 190 - so it was a little firm. But tasty. OH so tasty. In fact, I think it was the big hit for our cookout!
You can almost make out the smoke ring - I think it got in the meat about a quarter inch? (I'm just learning about this - but I'm guessing that's not too bad!)
And the 'dogs/sausages? MMM! These got finished off on the grill for just a few minutes....
I also whipped up a quick caprese salad with some fresh pickin's and fresh mozarella cheese.
In addition to all that good food, after hearing about the smoked ribs from last weekend (and there are a few left), Brett's folks wanted to try them. Linda said they were the most tender she'd ever had, and sucked the bone clean!
Marty and Linda brought a really good cheese ball, some of the best corn on the cob we had all summer, plus dessert (more on that in a bit!). Oh, and did I mention the day was getting REALLY REALLY HOT!?
Even though we were partly shaded by the umbrella, and there was a mild breeze, plus the box fan was going, it was pretty darn hot.
Until this wonderful breeze blew through.
Hm.
Maybe "breeze" isn't the right word.
Gail force winds?
I know hurricanes are starting to brew.
Oh wait - it's just Brett trying out the new leaf blower my folks sent us last week. Thanks mom and dad - we've added another good purpose for the blower! ;-)
Ok, back to the food. The peanut butter fudge Linda and Marty made was a real hit!!!
At some point Brett told Linda I wanted them to ask me to take them on a yard tour. Did ya get all that? Here Linda's loving some tomatoes I picked for her. I think she assumed she was only getting a couple.
Here's me wading around among the squash, pumpkins and peppers.
Linda's checking out more tomatoes... Marty looks like the garden just swallowed him!
Mmmm....eating cherry tomatoes right off the vine.
Oh, and Tucker found the catnip again.
Maybe just one more tomato.... (Check out how tall the brussels sprouts are getting - blueish leafed plants along the right edge of the pic)
We were talking about how it's odd - no one else down along our side of the road has done any backyard landscaping, or even decks/patios, yet!
And to our other side is an undeveloped lot (I'm NOT complaining). Those houses over on the other side and down the street have more landscaping/decking...
Hm....this view of the back of the house makes me think something's missing. Like maybe more trees?
Linda's LOOOOVING those tomatoes! (I hooked them up with two small boxes worth of mixed varieties)
Tucker hiding behind the Forget Me Nots.
Looks like I've been swallowed by the sunflowers.
Showing Marty and Linda about the yard-long beans climbing the sunflowers.
Back inside, we chilled for awhile. Brett was eating Oreos, but not sharing with his mom...
Even inside the sun was following us, thanks to the high arched window in the living room.
Hope you all had as great a Labor Day weekend as we did!
1 comment:
I was already drooling (and I had a good dinner, so I'm not exactly hungry) looking at the meats and the tart preparation, but the salad platter put me over the edge. Gorgeous. All there is to say about that.
Chico State? How did you end up with that t-shirt? It's a neat little college town - I rather liked it when we visited two years ago.
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