Christmas Week -- Carambola Tarte Tatin, Stuffed Peppers and Rib Roast

Carambola Tarte Tatin

We were gifted with a dozen or so medium sized Starfruit – Carambola in Spanish – it being “that time of year”. Starfruit are available from October into March around here. I hadn't made a Tarte Tatin in ages, and never with starfruit, so I thought I'd give it a try.

The recipe I followed, from the NY Times Cooking section, sounded alright, and came out OK, but I'm going to tell you how I would do the same ingredients the next time, to make it better. This will make a nice 8-9” tarte – dessert for 3 or 4 people.

2 or 3 Starfruit, sliced into 1/2” to 3/4” stars, tips trimmed if they are dark/stiff

1/3 cup Brown Sugar

1/3 cup Butter

Mace or Nutmeg and Cinnamon to taste

1 sheet Puff Pastry

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Thaw the sheet of puff pastry and cut a circle of dough the same diameter as the skillet (trace the rim of the pan with a sharp knife.

Put the sugar and butter in a 9” non-stick oven-proof skillet on medium heat, and stir to combine. Cook a few minutes until the mixture starts to thicken. Remove from the heat. Add a layer of stars, interlocking, all the way to the edge of the pan. Follow with another layer of fruit on top. Dust with the spices. 

This photo shows the NYT method which was to smear butter and spread sugar 

over the cold skillet, then heat it up. 

Cover with the pastry and tuck it around the edges of the fruit. Return to the heat and cook another 3-5 minutes until the caramel is bubbling around the edges.

The NYT wanted you to cover the fruit before beginning to cook, 

the result is insufficiently cooked filling in the tarte.

Bake in the pre-heated oven for 30-45 minutes until the pastry is browned and firm.

Place a plate on top of the tarte and flip the whole thing over so the bottom becomes the top. 

Although I followed the NYT recipe the result was certainly tasty.  

Follow my directions instead.

If you're not serving immediately, you can leave the skillet upright, and then re-heat in a 350F oven 10 minutes or so until the caramel softens. Then flip it over. Top with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream if you choose.

Cauliflower & Broccoli Casserole

I had both, and wanted to do something other than just steam or roast them. I found this casserole recipe, and simplified it for all of us.

2+ cups Broccoli florets

2+ cups Cauliflower florets

1/3 cup diced Onion

3 Tbsp Butter

Flour to make a roux

2 cups Milk or Half & Half

1/2 cup shredded cheese

1/3 cup Bread crumbs

2 Tbsp Butter, melted

Saute the onion in the butter, until soft. And some flour (a couple tablespoons) to absorb the butter and cook the roux a minute or two. Slowly add the milk, stirring, and dissolve the roux. Bring to a boil until it starts to thicken. In a casserole dish, pour the roux over the mixed florets, and top with cheese. Lastly, combine the melted butter and breadcrumbs and top the dish. Bake at 375 F for 30-45 minutes until browned and bubbly.

Holly's Stuffed Peppers

My guest chef this week is Sally's daughter, Holly, who is “Home for the Holiday”. Her claim to culinary fame lies in the simple but tasty dish of Stuffed Peppers. 

Her use of Orzo rather than rice for the filler is a great touch. Couscous (especially the large grain 'Israeli' version) would also be a good 'filler' if you don't happen to have Orzo handy.

4-6 Bell Peppers, topped, seeded and veined; keep the tops

4-6 oz Orzo

1 lb Ground Beef

1/2 Onion

2 Tbsp Garlic, minced

3 Tbsp Soy Sauce

1/2+ Jar Marinara Sauce

Salt & Pepper to taste

Assembly is pretty straightforward. Pre-heat the oven to 400 F. Put the cleaned peppers on a tray and place in the oven to soften, but not brown. 

While that's going on, saute the onion and garlic. Then add the hamburger and brown it with the soy sauce and spices before stirring in the marinara and orzo. Cook for an additional 10 minutes or so, to marry the flavors.

Stuff the softened peppers and pack the filling down well. Put the tops on and bake for 45 minutes. The tops help prevent the filling from drying out during the baking process.

Christmas Roast

We had our English Christmas Dinner on Boxing Day (Dec 26) this year. I got a really nice, nearly 6 lb Rib Roast.

Sally wants to do it the way her family traditionally makes Christmas Din, so she's the Guest Chef this time, with Holly as her Sous Chef.   This is one meal a year that I can sit back and watch rather than cook!

Sally marinates the roast overnight (10+ hours) in half a bottle of red wine, after liberally “stabbing” the meat with a dozen cloves of garlic. She then cooks it in a “cooking bag” to the medium side of medium-rare (two hours in this case to 143 F). In this case the medium side of medium-rare.

The traditional accompaniments for this feast are: roasted peeled potatoes, parsnips & carrots, along with a green veg – steamed green beans with a splash of soy sauce. 

 To this Sally adds her family style Yorkshire Puddings, which I covered in detail last year, and her Mum contributes the Christmas Pudding which she made back in January and has been 'aging' in the refrigerator throughout the year.

Mold-baked Yorkshire Puddings

My only job for this meal is to simmer the Christmas Pud for several hours so it's nice and warm and will un-mold properly. For that I'm using our Saladmastertm MP-5 – a very deep electric pot with controlled temperatures from 150-500F. I put a stand-off block in the pot, then added water, and lastly added the plastic sealed Christmas Pud in its steel bowl. I ran the temperature up to 225 F, and put on the lid.  When I got a light boil I reduced the heat to 210.  It takes a good 2-3 hours to bring a Christmas Pud up to serving temperature.  When it's ready to serve, warmed brandy is poured on the pudding and ceremonially lit:

Flaming Christmas Pudding.