Tag: tart

Love Actually

Love Actually

It’s almost Christmas as I write this, so Love Actually is, actually, all around. Thankfully, it’s a delightful movie full of relatable characters (except Kyra Knightly, who always sucks) and poignant moments that still make me ugly happy cry 20 yrs later. I have to 

The Red Balloon

The Red Balloon

For a period of time in the 60’s and 70’s, Albert Lamorisse’s short film Le Ballon Rouge (The Red Balloon) was one of the most acclaimed and beloved children’s movies in the world. I myself was not exposed to this charming fantasy short until college, 

Inception

Inception

Most of us can’t see Tenet in theaters (already dating this post), so I figured there’s no better time for Inception– a mind-bendy Chris Nolan film with an equally mind-bendy menu. 

Rewatching Inception, I always hearken back to older retro sci-fis like Dreamscape and Dark City— two of my nerdy favorites from the 80’s/90’s. But Nolan’s take is, as always, unique in its ability to straddle the realms of the intellectual and the commercial. Inception follows Leonardo DiCaprio as a super cool thief Cobb who, together with an all star crew, is tasked with implanting an idea into a man’s mind through his dreams– all for the sake of a buck. Of course, Cobb has some gnarly nightmares of his own, and everything starts to go sideways (and upside down, and diagonal) when his dead wife (Marion Cotillard) starts making unexpected dream cameos.

The cast alone would be enough to recommend this film. In addition to the aforementioned, you’ve got stellar performances by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Elliot Page, Cillian Murphy, Michael Caine, and the love of my life Tom Hardy. But diving even deeper– Inception leverages an emotional (often tragically so) undertow that makes you question your very existence. This is all enhanced by visuals of architecture defying gravity, incredible fight choreography (that also defies gravity), and of course– Tom Hardy sass. WHAT MORE COULD YOU ASK FOR?

… Maybe lots more Tom Hardy. Definitely more Tom Hardy.

But now it’s time to enter the dream. But maybe find your totem first. You don’t want to get lost down there.

 

The Movie

 

The Menu

Revolver cocktail

Revolver with a Kick

Yield: 1 Cocktail
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 5 minutes

An elegant but deadly cocktail with a hint of coffee and spice to keep you awake.

Ingredients

  • 2 Shots Bourbon (Bulleit is recommended, 'cause duh)
  • 1 Shot Coffee Liqueur
  • 3 Dashes Orange Bitters
  • Pinch of Chipotle Chili Pepper
  • Wide Strip of Orange Zest

Instructions

Fill a shaker with ice and add all ingredients except the orange zest. Shake for about a minute until chilly as a Canadian ski resort. Pour into a coupe glass and wipe your orange peel around the rim before dropping it into the cocktail. Serve chilled.

vegetable tart pre bake

Spiral Tart

Yield: 4 Servings
Cook Time: 2 hours
Total Time: 2 hours

This dreamy tart has layers on layers on layers on layers. Did I include four vegetable zones to represent the four dream levels into which Cobb's team ventures? Are there actually five zones to show that the outermost "real world" is just the innermost dreamscape? WHAT DOES THE CRUST MEAN???

Ingredients

  • 2 cups All-Purpose Flour (with more for dusting)
  • 1 tsp Kosher Salt
  • ¼ tsp Sugar
  • 10 tbsp (1 1/4 sticks) Chilled Unsalted Butter, cut into 1/2' cubes
  • 1 tbsp Olive Oil, plus more for drizzling
  • ½ Medium White/Yellow Onion (about ¾ cup), chopped
  • 1/3 cup Goat Cheese
  • 1 Tbsp Heavy Cream
  • 1 Tbsp Cream Cheese
  • ½ Tsp Fresh Thyme
  • Salt and Pepper
  • 1 Small Japanese Eggplant
  • 1 Small Sweet Potato
  • 1 Zucchini
  • 1 Yellow Squash

Instructions

For the Pastry:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix flour, salt, and sugar in a medium bowl until fully incorporated. Add butter; you can either use two knives to “cut” the butter into the flour (helpful tutuorial here), or you can get in there with your hands and break up the butter until pea-size lumps form. Drizzle 3 Tbsp. ice water over mixture and continue to mix until the lumps start to pull together. Drop onto a cutting board and add more ice water by 1/2-tablespoonfuls until the dough comes together.

Gather the dough into a tight ball; flatten into a disk. Wrap in plastic; chill until firm, at least 1 hour and up to 2 days.

pastry dough set

When you’re ready to pre-bake your crust, remove your dough from the fridge and let sit for 5-10 minutes to allow dough to soften just a bit. Roll out dough on a lightly floured sheet of parchment paper to a 12" round (dough should be between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick).

rolled pastry

Flip the crust into a 9 inch tart; press onto bottom and up sides of dish to form the rim of the tart. Using a cutting board, press down on the top of the crust so that you are left with a clean cut around the rim of the tart pan. Freeze any excess dough.

pastry crust

Now it’s time to pre-bake your crust! Line dough with foil; fill with dried beans or pie weights. Be sure to cover the edges of the crust so that they do not brown too quickly in the oven.

pastry weights

Bake for 25 minutes. Remove foil and beans. Return to oven and bake until crust is light golden brown, 25–30 minutes longer. Let crust cool completely. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.

For the Filling:

Heat olive oil in a medium skillet. Add onion and caramelize over low-medium heat, seasoning with salt and pepper to taste. Once fully translucent (about 10 minutes), remove from heat and combine with cream cheese, cream, thyme, and a pinch more each of salt and pepper.

Spread the cheese mixture along the bottom of the chilled pastry dough, at an even thickness. Continue to refrigerate while you cut your vegetables.

Using a mandolin, thinly slice eggplant, zucchini, squash, and sweet potato into strips. When you place them into the tart, you will want them to be the same height, so you may need to fold and slice the vegetable strips lengthwise if necessary.

thinly sliced squash

Form the first piece of eggplant into a tight spiral shape—place this coil into the center of the cheese, pushing down slightly to ensure that the spiral stands up on its own. Build on this shape with more strips of eggplant, staggering one strip at a time until you have an inner core of overlapping purple spiral.

vegetable tart assembly

Lay in a strip or two of sweet potato, followed by a strip or two more of eggplant—this will cause the colors to bleed into one another. Next, commit to your sweet potato ring, continuing to add strips of orange until you get to halfway from the center. Gradually lay in strips of yellow squash, again creating a color bleed effect and eventually adding only the yellow squash for a purely yellow "zone".

spiral tart progress

Continue until you are ready to begin layering in the green zucchini. Remember, through it all, keep the strips at an equal height, pushing down slightly to ensure they are anchored into the cheese mix as a base. Finish off with a few strips of eggplant—because sometimes outside is in and the inside is out and you never REALLY know what level you’re on…

vegetable tart pre bake

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Spray the top of the tart vegetables with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover the rim of the crust with aluminum foil to prevent burning, and bake for 60 minutes. Uncover the pastry rim and bake at 400 for 15 more minutes, monitoring crusts to ensure they don’t burn.

Remove tart from the oven and set on a cooling rack for 10 minutes, sprinkling with thyme leaves. Drop tart rim and, using a sharp knife, cut into eighths to serve.

vegetable tart

Recommended Products

inception totems glamour

Dark Chocolate Totem

Yield: Who Cares? Are They Even Real?
Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Additional Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 2 hours 15 minutes

While they may not spin very well, these chocolate totems are filled with a delicious dark cherry flavored caramel. In addition to reminding me of the dark beauty of Marion Cotillard's Mal, cherries contain tryptophan-- the amino acid that helps you fall into a deep REM sleep. Just an fyi for next time you are suffering from insomnia and don't have a Thanksgiving turkey handy.

Ingredients

  • 1 dozen Cherries
  • ½ cup Water
  • 1 tsp Sugar
  • 1/2 cup Caramel (see "On The Side" recipes)
  • 8-10 Dark Chocolate Hershey's Kisses, unwrapped

Instructions

Place chocolate kisses in freezer and chill for at least 1 hour.

Meanwhile, bring cherries, water, and sugar to a boil, simmering for a couple of minutes, allowing them to release juices. Turn off heat and mash cherries with a fork or masher, further releasing juice. Let sit for 15-20 minutes, and strain.

cherry syrup

Rinse out saucepan and add caramel. Heat only briefly to soften, and add cherry syrup, stirring with a rubber spatula to incorporate. Refrigerate until ready to use.

cherry in caramel

Remove kisses from freezer. Being sure not to handle them excessively (or the chocolate will melt!), use a sharp knife to carve a hole into the bottom half of each kiss. I’ve found that using plastic wrap both buffers the heat of my fingers and prevents fingerprints from appearing on the surface of the chocolate. Note—you may need to place the kisses back into the freezer after this step depending on environmental heat/humidity.

Hershey's kiss totem

Place a small strip of aluminum foil into an ice tray and press down slightly to create dents that a kiss can sit comfortably in. Fill the holes you’ve made in your “bottom halves” with caramel sauce. Do the same with your top halves, setting gently aside. Heat the tip of a sharp knife and quickly press into the rim of your bottom kiss to heat the chocolate—place your top halves over the bottom halves and press down. The caramel and slightly melted chocolate should glue the two halves together.

totem progress

Once done, place into the freezer for at least 15 minutes to let your totems set. When ready to serve, let sit at room temperature for no more than a few minutes.

Then play with a bunch of mirrors and realize that it's IMPOSSIBLE not to see your phone camera lens in frame.

inception totems

Weeeeeeeee

inception totems

inception totem

This last one wasn't me. It was just for reference.

Notes

Seriously, make the most of your freezer-- chocolate and caramel are both increbily heat reactive. And, once again, recipe is here

 

Epilogue

I’ll just leave this here:

tumblr_3dc80cf37d6ac8135677aa49e20e56e1_f8f00381_500.gif [optimize output image]

 

For more menus, check out my movie directory here!