When I decided to switch careers and attend culinary school I thought about opening a small cafe which focused on serving both savory and sweet tarts, as well as sandwiches, soups and baked goods. So I spent a lot of time researching tart and pie dough recipes and experimenting with different ingredients. But after working in the restaurant industry for the past three years, and being exposed to so many ingredients and techniques—the concept for my restaurant changes on a daily basis. I have at least 10 ideas going on at any given time—it’s exhausting! However, I still love working with dough—any type of dough—whether it be short crust, puff pastry, pizza, bread, or cookie dough.

Now that the fall season is here, I decided to create a Roasted Cauliflower, Caramelized Onion and Gruyere Tart with Fresh Figs and Ruby Port Reduction.  I really look forward to when the season changes and you have an opportunity to work with new ingredients.  And fall is my favorite time of year!

To make the tart dough, I used 4 cups of flour, 10 ounces of diced cold (frozen) butter, 1 tsp of salt and 3/4 to1 cup of ice cold water. After processing the dough, I let it rest in the walk-in for about an hour before rolling it out. I prefer using 4” individual tart pans, but somehow small items get lost in the restaurant and so I used a 10” pan and cut the tart into individual wedges.  Either way it looks beautiful on the plate.

I make my tart fillings different than most recipes whereby you saute your ingredients, let them cool and then whisk in cold cream and egg yolks. To me this has the consistency of French toast batter or scrambled eggs and you end up tasting more egg than the main ingredient.  I prefer to roast and then slowly saute all the ingredients and seasonings together and then add the cream and reduce until thick and creamy before tempering in the egg yolks and stirring in the cheese. You won’t believe the difference in flavor—it’s amazing!  We sold out of this tart during dinner service—everyone loved it—and so will you! Enjoy!!

Unfortunately, I have not had a chance to blog for the past week, but what can I say…it’s the most wonderful time of the year:-).

I wanted to create a different chef special this week so I decided to make spanakopita a Greek meze, which consists of spinach and cheese wrapped in filo dough pastry and then baked until puffy and golden brown. In my version, I like to drizzle the pastry with warm honey (to balance out the pungent flavor of the cheeses) and then serve it with a salad of baby mixed greens, arugula, toy-box tomatoes, shaved red onion, crumbled feta cheese, tossed in a lemon-oregano vinaigrette—it’s awesome!!

Filo dough is really versatile. You can stuff it, fold it, wrap it and fill it with almost anything including meat, fish, cheese and yes fruit or chocolate.   However, when working with filo dough, it’s really important that once you open the box and remove the dough from the plastic lining that you cover it immediately with towels or it will dry out in minutes and become unusable.

It’s hard for me to describe in writing how to make the filo triangles even though they are really easy to make. So if you’re interested, I’ll be more than happy to respond to any emails with specifics in more detail. But first, you need to make the filling. Sauté finely minced onion and garlic in olive oil until soft. Place in a bowl and cool to room temperature. Meanwhile, blanch spinach and wrap in a towel to remove any excess moisture, finely chop the spinach and add to the onion mixture. For the cheese, I like to use three different Greek cheeses such as feta, kasseri, and kefalotyri (if you can’t find kefalotyri cheese, then you can substitute shredded parmesan.)  Next add chopped fresh mint, salt and pepper to taste and a raw whole egg.  Mix all the ingredients together—you should end up with a thick, somewhat dry consistency. To fill the filo, use a small ice cream scoop or pipe the mixture onto the filo.

Once the triangles are assembled, chill completely until firm and then bake in a 400 degree oven until puffy, crisp and golden. When finished, drizzle with warmed honey and serve!