SAVORY CHERRY TOMATOES TARTE TATIN

tarte tatin with cherry tomatoes

This cherry tomatoes Tarte Tatin is a very intriguing and tasty appetizer which gives a new perspective to a typical Italian ingredient. in these last years, in Italy too there was the introduction of the recipe of the Taste Tatin with its fascinating story as one of the many masterpieces that was created by a mistake.

There are different versions in Italy, since many decided to replace the sweet apples with confit cherry tomatoes and the crisp pastry, in which Parmigiano cheese and thyme combine to make this heavenly Italian appetizer.

I copied this recipe from a brilliant blogger, one of the best in Italy, Sonia Peronaci  and if we follow the instructions you can make it perfectly every time.

In case you need to serve it to a celiac person or want to try a variation with spring onions there is an interesting variation in the blog.

Bring it to room temperature before serving.

 

Prep Time: 30 mins | Cooking Time: 35 mins | Yield: it serves 4.

 

Ingredients 

Ingredients for a 26 cm (10 inch) diameter cake tin,  3-4 cm (2-2,5 inch) high

For the savory shortcrust pastry

  • 250 g (2 cups) multi-purpose flour
  • 40 g (1,4 oz) Parmigiano Reggiano, grated
  • 140 g (5 oz) unsalted butter, very cold
  • 1 medium egg
  • 6 thyme sprigs
  • salt and pepper to taste

For the filling

  • 650 g (1,5 lb) red cherry tomatoes
  • 20 g (1 + 1/2 tbsp or 0,7 oz) white sugar
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 4- 5 thyme sprigs
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 15 g (0,5 oz) pine nuts

Preparation

The savory shortcrust pastry

In a food processor, add flour and cold butter into small piecesand blend for a few moments until the butter is reduced to very fine crumbs.

Add the grated cheese, egg, thyme, salt and pepper and blend again until all the ingredients are mixed together.

Turn the mixture over on the work surface and knead quickly until the mixture is smooth and homogeneous. Form a ball with the dough and, using a rolling pin, roll it out between two sheets of parchment paper. Once you have created a circle of about 30 cm, place it on a baking sheet and store in the refrigerator to firm.

The filling

Take a cake tin or pan suitable for baking in the oven and cooking on the stovetop with a diameter of 26 cm and add a little extra virgin olive oil to the bottom, a clove of garlic, and thyme leaves. On medium heat on the stove top, sauté and brown the garlic then remove it and put the whole tomatoes in a pan adding sugar, salt and pepper then cook for 10 minutes and then turn off the heat.

Pine nuts

Put the pine nuts in a pan on low heat and cook until golden and crispy, taking care to turn them often so as not to burn them. Let them cool.

Assemble and bake

Take the salted pastry, pierce the surface with the tines of a fork (or with a toothpick) and place it on the cherry tomatoes treading the outer edges towards the inside of the pan as if to embrace them. You can help yourself in this operation with a spatula.

Bake the tarte tatin in a preheated static oven at 175 degrees Celsius for about 35 minutes (or 350 F for 30 mins)

Remove from the oven, wait 10 minutes so that the juice of the tomatoes is absorbed by the pastry and turn it upside down on a serving plate. Add some toasted pine nuts on the surface, a few fresh thyme leaves and serve your slice of tasty salted tarte tatin with cherry tomatoes!




LINGUINI WITH ANCHOVIES: EASTERN SUGGESTIONS

The sauce of this unusual linguini with fresh anchovies combines ingredients that are characteristic of Mediterranean cuisine: olive oil, fish, and the introduction of raisins and dried fruit in savoury dishes. This Middle Eastern touch is typical in the cuisine of Italian cities that were in contact with the Arab world for centuries such as Sicily, whose cuisine was deeply influenced by it, like in the case of Sicilian rolls (link to recipe), as well as other cities on the Adriatic and Tyrrhenian Seas, like Venice, Pisa and Genoa, for example.

I had this pasta at Elba, a small beautiful island across from Livorno, rich in iron and exploited since Etruscan times, with a strategic position in the Mediterranean Sea. Pisa and Genoa fought for the dominion of the Tyrrhenian coasts for centuries.

Pisa and Genoa, with Amalfi and Venice were referred to as the Maritime Republics by 19th century historians. They were city-states that were formally independent. During the time of their independence, all these cities had similar (though not identical) systems of government, in which the merchant class had considerable power. Their power and richness came from the economic growth of Europe around the year 1000, together with the hazards of the mainland trading routes, which made the development of major commercial routes along the Mediterranean coast possible. The Maritime Republics’ relationship with the Middle East was constant, alternating periods of peace and fruitful commercial trade with hostility, due to their involvement in the crusades and territorial competition with the Byzantine and Islamic maritime powers. The complex relationship that Italy always had with the Middle East profoundly influenced its cuisine, like this complex sweet and sour taste which cannot be found in other parts of Italy’s cuisine.

Prep Time: 45 minutes | Cooking Time: 15 minutes | Total Time: 60 minutes | Yield: Makes 4 servings.

Ingredients for pasta

  • 3¼ cups all-purpose flour (400 grams)
  • 4 eggs

Ingredients for sauce

  • 300 g fresh anchovies, cleaned*
  • 40 g pine nuts
  • 3 tbsps. breadcrumbs or a slice of stale bread, chopped with a knife
  • 30 g raisins, softened in tepid water
  • 1 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
  • 4 tbsps. olive oil

Instructions for pasta

 

On a wooden pastry board, pour the flour in a mound, make a well in its centre and crack the eggs into it. Blend by hand, making a dough that you are going to smooth with a rolling pin.  It should be rolled to a 3 mm thickness.  Then cut it into rectangles that will be cut on the chitarra.

Cook the pasta in salted water; if it is fresh, it will cook in a few seconds.

The proportion is always 100 g = 1 egg, per person. Of course since the eggs are never regular you might need to add some flour if the dough is too wet or some water if it is too dry and impossible to work.

TIPS:

As you work it, keep the dough near your belly, when kneading and rolling.

Lean into the dough as you work, exploit gravity, not your shoulders and arms.

 

Instructions for sauce

 

In a non-stick frying pan, toast the pine nuts for 2 minutes, and chop them roughly.

Sauté the breadcrumbs in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. When they are golden, add the raisins and pine nuts and sauté together for a minute. Pour everything into a bowl and sauté the anchovies in the same pan for a couple of minutes.

Add the parsley to the other ingredients and mix delicately. Cook the pasta in salted water and add it to the sauce with a couple of tablespoons of its cooking water. Toss with a bit of olive oil and serve.

 

*Remember to cut off the heads toward the belly and tail, (the direction is important). Pull delicately and the guts will follow too. Insert a finger and detach the spine from the flesh, then break off the spine near the tail.




CERTOSINO CAKE, CHRISTMAS IN BOLOGNA

With the Bologna Certosino (Chartreuse cake) I want to introduce you to a typical Christmas cake of Bologna cuisine, with almonds, pine nuts, unsweetened chocolate and candied fruit. It is almost unknown out of Emilia-Romagna region: sadly, the fame of many regional cakes is clouded by industrial products, which I am not a great fan of.

This cake is called panspeziale (apothecaries’ bread) – a kind of gingerbread, since in Middle Age it was created and baked by apothecaries (speziali).

Later, the Bologna Chartreuse friars began to bake it, and it was named after them. Other scholars believe the origin of his name is due to “special bread” (pan spzièl ) in Bologna dialect.

 

After careful historic researches, in the summer of 2003, Bologna delegation of Academy of Italian Cuisine deposited at Bologna Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture, the official recipe of Certosino.

This one, nevertheless, is not the canonic recipe but my mum’s, since that, like in all families, there is always the addition of little personal touches.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cooking Time: 40 minutes | Total Time: 50 minutes | Yield: Makes 8-10 servings.

Ingredients

 

  • ¾ cup (100 g.) whole almonds, peeled
  • ¾ cup (100 g.) pine nuts
  • 1 cup (100 g.) dried figs, in chunks
  • ¾ cup (100 g.) raisins
  • 1-cup (100 g.) walnuts
  • 7 oz (g. 200) diced candied fruit mix
  • 21 oz. (g. 600) whole candied fruit (orange, cherries, cedar)
  • 1-tablespoon anise seeds
  • 1-teaspoon cinnamon powder
  • 3 tablespoons honey
  • 2 cups (250 g.) pastry flour
  • ½-cup (100 g.) white sugar
  • ¾ cup (80 g.) unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1-teaspoon baking soda
  • Tepid water

 

Instructions

Heat the oven, 350 F. (180 C.)

In a bowl, combine all the ingredients, adding the diced mixed fruit, except the candied ones which must be left in a whole.

Pour the mixture in a baking pan, previously covered with parchment. Use the candied fruits to decorate the top of the mix and bake it for 40 minutes at 350 F. (180 C.).

Check with a wooden toothpick if it is cooked. If the stick is still wet, add 10 minutes.




SICILIAN BEEF ROLLS, A STORY FROM THE MIDDLE EAST

This simple dish demonstrates the deep interconnection of Italy with the Middle East and the Arab world. In all Italy, mainly along the coasts, we have the introduction of pine nuts and raisins in many dishes; see for example the Liguria cuisine, or Venice one, as a demonstration that along the century the contacts have been intense.

The case of Sicily is special since the Muslim Arab directly ruled it for centuries. This is not a history blog, so I need to summarize briefly a complicated but very interesting period.

Sicily, which was part of the Byzantine Empire, fell under Arab control first in the 7th century, in a short-lived conquest, that ended briefly. The systematic invasion of the island was concluded in 965 after a prolonged series of conflicts from 827 to 902.

The Muslim Arabs created a multi-ethnic society, where the previous Byzantine Sicilian inhabitants and a Jewish minority were “tolerated” and were able to flourish. In agriculture, the Arabs promoted a land reform, encouraging the growth of smallholdings and the subsequent increase in productivity. We also owe them the introduction of oranges, lemons, pistachio, almonds, and sugarcane to Sicily, as well as the improvement of the irrigation system thanks to the Qanats.

Due to intra-dynastic quarrels, which took place within the Muslim regime, the island fragmented into four areas. These internal divisions led to the progressive weakening of the Arab rule and the success of the plot of the princes from the inland, who enrolled Christian Norman mercenaries. The Emirate was conquered in 1071.

The Normans were great admirers of the Arab culture and under their rule, Sicily enjoyed a period of prosperity and the flourishing of Siculo-Norman architecture and art. 

This vocation towards multi-ethnicity perpetuates nowadays: the local dialects and cuisines in centuries have been embracing ingredients and other languages in its local culture, from France and Spain because of dominations, and the culture of the Mediterranean. Nowadays the cultural melting-pot has one of its most poignant symbol in the couscous festival, which is held every September in San Vito Lo Capo.

SICILIAN BEEF ROLLS

  • 20 slices beef top round (about 1 pound total), pounded 1/8″ thick*
  • ½ + ¼ cups (100 g.) breadcrumbs
  • 5 tablespoons olive oil, divided
  • 2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted and grossly chopped
  • 3,5 oz. (100 g.) Caciocavallo cheese, finely grated
  • 24 bay leaves
  • 2 red onions, possibly Tropea ones, one of them finely minced
  • 2 tablespoons chopped raisins
  • marine salt and black pepper to season
  1. Heat 3 tbsp. oil in a small skillet over medium-high and sauté the minced onion. Add the breadcrumbs and mix carefully.
  2. Combine cheese and the mixture of onion and breadcrumbs in a medium bowl. The mixture must be a moist and soft, so if necessary add 1-2 tablespoons oil.
  3. Lay beef flat on a work surface; brush with oil and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle evenly with 1/2 cup breadcrumb mixture. Working one at a time and starting at the short end, roll up beef, first along the long side, then turn the shorter rim right inside, in order not to make the stuffing waste during the cooking process. Cut the onion and make layers as long as the rolls. Thread together the rolls in a wooden skewer, alternating them with a bay leave and an onion leaf. Make four rolls for each skewer.
  4. Again, brush the rolls with oil and sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Grill the rolls 2 minutes for each part and serve. If you do not have a grill, pour 1 tbsp. olive oil in a non-stick pan and cook 2 minutes for each part. Alternatively, put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F, then cook for 3 minutes for each part.