asparagus tart with walnuts and parmesan

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This recipe just isn’t fair. I’m sorry. With its main components being butter, Mascarpone, asparagus, walnuts, and a dusting of Parmesan – there is little to no chance this won’t be an unforgettable dish.

I blame Delancey for planting the seed that sprouted this tart. On one of our regular visits I ordered a dish consisting of asparagus that was perfectly charred in their wood-burning oven, walnut cream, and slender shavings of Parmesan. It was a rare moment that I was cursing the fact that my children eat their vegetables as their little hands greedily swiped the slender green spears from my plate. I encouraged them to focus on their pizza and leave the asparagus for me as I painstakingly crafted the perfect bite with each component of the plate gracefully represented.

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It was then that I learned that walnuts, asparagus, and Parmesan seemed to have been made for one another. My addition of flaky puff pastry, and garlic and chili flake spiked Mascarpone simply forms a solid foundation for those three to steal the show.

If you aren’t familiar with Mascarpone I hope this recipe entices you enough to familiarize yourself with this triple cream cheese. Similar to cream cheese in texture but without the harsh twang. It spreads like a dream and tastes the way I imagine heaven will feel. It’s indulgent and immediately makes any dish sound and taste suitable for fine dining.

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For those of you who rush off to the store to buy Mascarpone to make this recipe – good for you. Then when you start cursing me when you see the cost of an 8 oz container, I apologize. Sit tight and I will soon share with you a recipe and method for making this soft cheese at home.

In place of the Mascarpone you may use Creme Fraiche.

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continue for recipe…

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Asparagus Tart

  With the addition of a simply dressed salad this tart makes for a perfect Summer lunch. serves 6-8 1 bunch asparagus (about 1 lb) 1 tablespoon olive oil ½ batch quick puff, classic puff (or store-bought puff ) ¼ cup Mascarpone ¼ cup heavy cream 1 large clove garlic, minced ½ cup walnuts, toasted and roughly chopped Parmesan pinch pepper flakes salt and pepper Pre-heat your oven to 420*. Line a baking sheet with parchment. Roll the puff to a rough 8x12 inch rectangle. Trim off the uneven edges. Carefully place the puff onto the baking sheet and chill in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. In a small bowl combine the Mascarpone, cream, garlic, pepper flakes, and a hefty pinch of salt and pepper. Remove the woody part of the asparagus by taking one spear and carefully bending until it snaps. Using that spear as your guide cut the remaining asparagus where your guide snapped. In a medium bowl toss the asparagus with 1 tablespoon olive oil.

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Film Friday: love and coffee edition

This post is part of a series entitled, Film Friday. All the images you see here were taken on a Canon EOS ELAN 7E using Kodak Portra 400.

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As one of the bench markers testing this relationships longevity, I asked Gabe if he liked The Simpsons shortly after we started “hanging out”. He seemed indifferent. – this was, at the time, a big deal for me as it was nearly an institution in our family. Sundays were not just “Nacho Night” they were “eat-nachos-in-front-of-the-tv-while-watching-The Simpons-night”. To not like The Simpsons was, in a sense, to not like a part of me. Luckily, I’ve changed.

He also didn’t like coffee. Luckily, he’s changed.

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This is what happens when you marry young. You know one another before you really know yourself. People warn you to live your life first, to discover who you are before the marriage seed is planted in your mind, and for some, that is probably a wise decision, but we were a different story. We met, hung out for a couple years, I moved to Italy for 6 months, and then I realized I would be crazy not to spend the rest of my life with this guy. This “Mexican with a beard”, (which is how I first described him to my parents when telling them of my crush) who wore two button-up shirts at one time, carved his beard into the most creative forms imaginable, played the bass (hot), and loved me in a way that I never thought possible.

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I was 21 when I told Gabe I would spend the rest of my life with him. He was 22. It never felt like a fairy tale, I couldn’t and wouldn’t tell you that Gabe was the only one for me but what I could tell you was that I loved him enough to choose to make this commitment and I vowed to make that choice everyday for the rest of my life. As life has carried us through different seasons of joy and sadness, as life has a way of doing, it becomes more and more clear to me that Gabe is indeed the one for me.

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And now he drinks coffee. He also slurps coffee producing an even spray across the tongue in order to best taste his brew. This is not how he always drinks coffee, thank goodness, instead this sort of seemingly rude behavior is reserved for cuppings – a session in which one tastes multiple coffees and then rates and discusses them at great length, marking their sweet, sour, and bitter notes on a scientific wheel while jotting down scribbles such as “shoe leather, fermented blueberries, and tobacco”. He liked that particular cup. I did not.

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When we were first married I was just beginning to fall in love with food. He patiently waited as I labored over cake batter tweaking and tasting, baking and re-baking, all the while he just wanted cake. Seven years later I still love food and I still love him even though it takes him a solid twenty minutes to produce one cup of coffee in the morning – you know what? I love him BECAUSE it takes him twenty minutes to skillfully brew his morning cup.

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Gabe has grown to appreciate all that goes into a single cup of coffee. He has traveled to Guatemala and met coffee growers. He returned with stunning images and the excitement of a young boy explaining to me the process of turning the red coffee cherry into a green bean ready to roast. And now I watch this man that I’ve known for nearly 11 years as he slurps, spits, and scribbles down notes in his journal that is in existence solely for the purpose of recording coffee flavors and I can’t help but fall in love with him more.

Never would I have imagined that my husband would be schooling me in the subject of coffee nor did he know what he was getting himself into but we made that commitment to love and support one another wherever that takes us. If I can love him in-spite of his undying devotion to nacho-cheese sauce that squirts out of a pump found at sporting events or gas stations then I’m pretty sure I can love him through anything.

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This cupping took place at Onyx Coffee which is located in Bellingham, WA. If you are ever in that area you must stop by. Their passion for coffee education is unmatched in the area. They are coffee purists encouraging you to leave the cream and sugar in order to taste the coffee the way the growers and the bean intended it to taste. Stop in for a coffee flight or just to hear Edwin and his crew speak about coffee with such passion and authority.

Previously on Film Friday

1, 2

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