Tart Apple Cobbler

Tart enough to prompt one guest at dinner to ask whether there was rhubarb as well as apples in this cobbler!

Tart Apple Cobbler

1 recipe cobbler batter (see here)

5 cooking apples, skin-on, diced roughly (2 Granny Smith and 3 Braeburn is a good combination)
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp powdered ginger
1/2 tsp allspice
2 tbsp all-purpose flour

Preheat the oven to 375. In a mixing bowl, mix together apples, sugar, spices, and flour until apples are well coated. Pour into an 11x7 baking dish and bake 20 minutes.

While baking, make cobbler batter (using the zest of 1 entire lemon rather than half). After 20 minutes, take the apples out of the oven (leaving the oven on) and, being careful not to burn yourself, dot the top of the apples with the cobbler dough in a grid of marble-sized dots, leaving space between them. Return to oven and bake about 40 minutes, until the dough is golden and crisp.

Serves 8 or more.

Tomato-Pistachio Loaf

Owes a lot to the Tomato, Pistachio, and Chorizo Loaf in Clotilde Dusoulier's Chocolate and Zucchini cookbook, but of course I had no yogurt on hand, no chorizo, no parsley, no dried tomatoes, no loaf pan... so it's morphed into its own thing. Cilantro and toasted mustard seeds make up for some of the sharpness of flavor that the chorizo would bring.

Tomato-Pistachio Loaf

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
3 large eggs
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 cup + 1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
2/3 cup grape tomatoes
3/4 cup shelled unsalted pistachios, toasted
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1 tsp mustard seeds

In a small skillet, saute the tomatoes in 1tbsp olive oil over medium-high heat until they begin to blister and blacken. Turn the heat to low, add the mustard seeds to the oil, and cook several minutes longer, until the mustard seeds are browned. Remove from heat.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 6 by 6 baking dish (or probably a 9 by 5 loaf pan, since that was what this was meant to be baked in). In a large mixing bowl, beat together the eggs, salt, and pepper with a wooden spoon. Beat in the oil and ricotta and continue beating until creamy and well-blended, with no ricotta lumps. Add the flour and baking powder, and mix just until incorporated. Do not overmix. Fold in the pistachios, tomatoes (with any oil remaining), and cilantro.

Bake 40-45 minutes, until slightly golden and a knife inserted comes out cleanly. Serve in cubes as a cocktail appetizer or in more substantial slices as a light lunch with a green salad.

Serves about 16 as an appetizer or 4 - 6 as a lunch.

Zucchini-Ricotta Rigatoni

Not much of a story behind this one.

Zucchini-Ricotta Rigatoni

1 medium zucchini, sliced 1 cm thick and each slice cut into 2 half-moons
1 small or 1/2 large sweet onion, sliced into long thin strips
2/3 cup grape tomatoes
1/3 lb rigatoni pasta
5 oz part-skim ricotta cheese
1/2 tsp dried thyme
2 tbsp olive oil, separated
salt to taste

Put water on to boil for the pasta in a large pot. In a large saucepan, heat 1tbsp of olive oil with the thyme until hot; add the zucchini and onion and cook over medium heat, covered, stirring frequently until the both onion and zucchini are quite colored. Keep warm. Meanwhile, cook pasta when the water boils. In a small, separate saucepan, saute tomatoes in remaining oil over medium-high to high heat until they soften, shrink, and the skins begin to slip off. Keep warm.

When pasta is done cooking, drain it and add the ricotta and salt to the pasta in the pot. Mix to coat the pasta well. Divide the pasta between two bowls. Top each with 1/2 the zucchini-onion mixture. Divide the cherry tomatoes between the two bowls as garnish.

Serves 2.

Pistachio Cookies

Pistachios are my new favorite nut. These showcase the pistachios very well; the flecks of lime zest pick up the green color. They are crisp and not too sweet, ideal for dunking in tea.

Pistachio Cookies

3/4 cup pistachio nutmeats, chopped roughly (put them in a plastic bag and whack them with a rolling pin)
1 2/3 cups white flour
2/3 cup quick-cooking rolled oats
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 egg
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp powdered cardamom
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, chilled and diced
2 tbsp water, or more as needed
grated zest of 1 lime


Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Grease a cookie sheet.
In a large bowl, mix together flour, oats, nuts, sugar, baking soda, salt, cardamom, and lime zest. With your fingers, rub the butter into the dry ingredients until it reaches the texture of coarse sand. Add the egg and stir until incorporated (the dough will still not come together into a ball). Add the water, beginning with 2 tbsp, and mix with your hands until the dough just comes together into a ball (it may take more like 4 tbsp). Shape into balls slightly larger than walnuts, flatten slightly, and place on cookie sheet. Bake about 30 minutes, until crisp and slightly colored. Makes about 24 - 28 cookies.