Tomatoes Tarte Tatin

I love tarte Tatin. Caramelised apples on a buttery pastry. This is not something one messes with and I have always seen the other-than-apple tarte Tatin as a failed way to improve it. I have never been so wrong because the idea is actually to apply this marvelous combination to other ingredients to try to improve them (and not the original tarte).
But then I read this appealing tomatoes tarte Tatin recipe:

PART I

- 400g cherry tomatoes cut in halves and de-seeded (otherwise pastry gets soggy)

- 1 red oignon

Lay out on a baking tray with a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper. Bake at 180°C for 20 minutes.

PART II

- 30g butter

- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

- 2 tbsp brown sugar

- 2 cloves or garlic

- 2 tbsp thyme

Color for a couple of minutes in the pan then mix with the tomatoes and onion. Lay the pastry above it, tucking in the edges and bake for 20-30 minutes at 200°C.

It was amazing!! I loved the balance between sweetness of the caramelised onions and sharpness of garlic & vinegar.

Spinach Pasta

Last test with the pasta machine: spinach pasta!

I used my TurboTup (from a Tupperware diner party) to mix 100g cooked spinach (just 1 min covered in microwave) with 1 whole egg.

I incorporated this liquid mixture into 200g flour 00.

The dough is not as green as I would have hoped (I guess it needs more processing for a solid green), and softer than normal pasta. I dusted it with semolina to be able to hand-cut folds into thick parpadelle.

I let cook for 1 min in salted water boiling actively.

Here they are, served with the leanest duck breast I have ever cooked (I guess they don't force-feed them around here).

I find the pasta has a nice spinach flavor and looks better than pasta and spinach (as it often makes small blobs at the bottom of the dish).

That's the end of my pasta-test and I have to admit that after five consecutive days of pasta I am a bit sick of it... Still, I am excited about ravioli-making and that may be a reason big enough for me to get a machine!

Chocolate Pasta

This week I have been trying out a pasta machine. I did simple tagliatelle, then my two favorites ravioli (prawn & chives, spinach & ricotta) and I am now going wild making chocolate pasta (I did not even now it existed before a colleague warmly recommended it to me!).

I am replacing 1/10th of the flour by 70% dark cocoa powder (10 grams cocoa for 90g flour). The dough has an homogenous nice dark chocolate color which does not alter while cooking. 

Because the recipe does not have any sugar in it and as the chocolate is dark (70%) the taste is of almost bitter chocolate, so in my opinion this calls for a sweet topping. 

Many recipes suggest to serve them with red berries and/or vanilla (ice) cream. I did not have any of those on hand so chose to topped the pasta with honey & ricotta instead.

It is my first time eating chocolate pasta and I was really happy with them (of course they are nice: there is chocolate!). 

Pasta machine?

I love pasta. They are cheap and easy to prepare, but I have heard many times that making your own is totally worth it. So before buying another kitchen gadget, we've borrowed one from colleagues for me to try!

The habit of passing the Fimo paste (polymer clay for jewelry) takes over and I am working the dough until it gets soft.
Then I go down the thickness and appreciate having a machine - that's an easy job compared to a rolling pin! 

It is so thin we can see my fingers through it!

I quickly learn that lightly flouring the cut pasta is not enough to prevent them to stick together!

Here is the result of the first test with tomato sauce

They are amazingly silky, soft and thin (I chose to make this first batch really thin). Taste-wise: no difference really, they are quite blank (did not blend in any seasoning). 

Overall I enjoyed the experience, all went really well and the process is surprisingly quick. I loved this silky texture and I look forward to try new shapes. I am thinking of trying thicker, ridged and ravioli. Any suggestion is welcome!!

Small drawer unit

I brought back from Australia a small drawer unit to decorate from Kaisercraft, and I finally finished it this weekend!

A layer of paint, pasting papers then finish with embellishments.

I needed quite a lot of material!

I left a 3mm gap border so that the edges would be neat

I also decorated the sides of the drawers

And used tiny antique handles

A part of my material is now neatly stored inside =)