its SPRING!!!

I'm blaming winter on my absence from this blog. I always get horribly depressed during the winter months... I start contemplating life... channeling Kafka... general wintry blues...

And my absence does have something to do with attending a cooking session with Virginia Willis. Gwen and I went to see her in November 2011 and I've been far too intimidated to write down any of my recipes after seeing her. She is brilliant! She is genuine. I was intimidated...

Alright... if I'm honest with myself, she would have encouraged me to keep blogging... but then winter set in and I went into hibernation...

But its finally spring! So I'm back :)

So, in typical Dani style, I decided to cook every dish I could possibly think of over the weekend. I made Beef Tangine (because I've always wanted to make a tangine)

Beef Tangine with Butternut Squash
This is a good recipe to follow- although I didn't have ground ginger so put a little ground clove for extra spice- it was delicious.

I think I will use lamb, and ground ginger next time though.

 I also made asparagus and English pea risotto (because after the Top Chef episodes of failed risottos I wanted to try it out) and I made shrimp with broccoli and peppers (because I didn't want to freeze the fresh shrimp).

The risotto was fairly simple to make- 
- saute, in 1 tbsp butter, green onions (1/2 cup), onions (1 cup), and garlic (4 cloves) till translucent
- stir in arborio rice (2 cups) and stir/ cook for 3 min
- add one cup of chicken broth at a time to the rice to cook. (I added about 6 cups of stock- one at a time) 
- I added 1 cup of chopped asparagus and 1 cup fresh English peas midway through cooking. 
- once the rice is cooked, I turned off the heat, added one tbsp of butter and 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese and stirred in. 


The shrimp was even easier to cook- 
Saute onions, garlic till softened
- Add red bell peppers and broccoli and saute till softened
- Add salt to taste and 1 tbsp of crushed red pepper flakes
- add 1 cup of tomato sauce- I used Pomi since its 100% tomato- no preservatives!
- add 1lb of shrimp and cook till pink!
- add 2 tbsp of fresh chopped basil
And you're done!


And then finally- I made a fresh fruit tart- OK...a lazy man's tart...

Crust:
In a bowl, mix 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour, 1 1/2 sticks of cold butter (diced), 3/4 cup of sugar, and 2-4 tbsp of water. Mix into a dough, refrigerate for 10 min. 
- Preheat oven to 350
- then press ball of dough into a greased, fluted tart pan and refrigerated this for 20 min (it allows the dough to set and allows it to keep its shape better when baking)
 - Bake in oven for about 12 min.

Filling: again- pretty lazy method but after cooking 3 dishes I was tired...
- Follow directions of Jello- Instant Pudding
*note- its INSTANT... Its been so long since I've used instant pudding mixes that I was thoroughly confused when my pudding on the stove was congealing... I kept whisking it and whisking it and it then dawned on me... oh about 5 minutes into whisking that it's supposed to firm up quickly... 
- Cool filling


- chop any fruit that you will use on the tart as well. I sliced strawberries while my dough was baking and cooling


Glaze: also lazy method- you're noticing a theme right?
- Open jar of Dickenson's Lemon Curd. Heat two tablespoons of the curd in the microwave- voila- glaze!


Assembly:
- Spread filling mix onto the baked and cooled tart crust
- spread  layer of raspberries, blackberries, kiwis, and chopped strawberries (or whatever your preferred fruit is)
- with a pastry brush, spread glaze over fruit