tea time and me time

It's a bit crazy to think that even though I'm currently unemployed I still have a hard time carving out a bit of time in my day to just relax and indulge in the little things that I love - like a cup of coffee and a stack of deliciously glossy American mags. I went a little overboard in Hudson News at JFK and treated myself to upwards of 18 magazines, from food to fashion and everything in between, and I decided to read a few of them yesterday with an afternoon coffee. Add a flakey, buttery apple tart to the mix and I'm in heaven.
Speaking of heaven, the weather in Zurich has been absolutely incredible AND I finally bought a coffee maker. I was having a hard time spending $100 on a cheap plastic coffee maker, but I couldn't find a cheaper one that looked half decent and I NEEDED coffee. I'm not sure all my lovely blog readers in the states realize how rare a nice big cup of coffee is in Zurich. If you order café you are going to get a tiny, milk-less shot of espresso, which is certainly delicious, but an entirely different drink all together. Add some steamed and foamy milk to that café and call it a cappuccino and I'll drink it up in a second, but I'm not quite ready to sip the dark and strong straight-up espresso. Something to aspire to... If the mention of butter makes you jump on the stair-master then this recipe is not for you. This tart is o-so-buttery and delicious. First it's the butter that goes in the dough and then it's the butter that is rubbed on the dough once it is formed around the apples and even then it's the butter that is poured over the apples once they are in the tart. Since moving to Zurich I have actually found a love for butter that I never new I had. The butter here is yellow and creamy and I wouldn't be surprised if it replaces the cheese on my afternoon piece of toast.
apple tart ingredients:

I used a combo of recipes from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything, Alice Water's The Art of Simple Food and an apple tart recipe from the most recent Savour

the dough

- 2 cups all purpose flour

- 1/2 tsp salt if using unsalted butter

- 12 tablespoons (1.5 sticks) of butter

- 1/2 cup of ice cold water

this recipe makes two balls of dough, enough for two 11" tarts

Work the butter into the flour with a couple of knives and then with your fingers, leaving some fairly large, irregular pieces (1-2 minutes). Pour 3/4 of the ice cold water in a little bit at a time, stirring continuously with a fork. Keep adding water until the dough begins to form clumps. Add the remaining 1/4 of water if needed. Divide dough into two balls, form each into a ball, wrap in plastic and flatten them into disks. Refrigerate for at least an hour. I made my dough the day before and let it sit for a night.

the tart

- 4 apples, peeled cored and finely sliced. I sliced way too many apples, but I also realized that I could have added some more to the tart before baking

- 2 tbs of chunky sugar for the crust

- 2 tbs normal sugar to sprinkle on the apples

- 2 tbs butter - melted to spread on dough

- 3 tbs strained apricot preserves

Roll out the dough until it is approximately 1/16" - 1/8" thick. Place apples in a spiral pattern, leaving a 1.5" border around the edge. Continue concentric circles until apples are roughly 1.5"-2" thick. Fold up the edges and pinch to keep in place. Brush the melted butter on the dough butter - be generous! Pour any additional butter over the apples. Sprinkle chunky sugar on the dough and fine sugar on the apples. Bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees or until crust is golden brown. While tart is baking heat up the preserves over low heat with a tablespoon of water. While tart is cooling brush on the apples, or serve on the side.

Don't worry Zach helped me eat the rest of the tart last night for desert, after our dinner of leftover shepherd's pie (leftover shepherd's pie is almost better than fresh out of the oven shepherd's pie).
Coral peonies in House Beautiful...wedding inspiration!!! Eat, read, sip some coffee and enjoy.

shepherd's pie back in switzerland

I arrived back in Zürich yesterday after a wonderful week at home with family and friends. Our wedding is only two months away and I cannot believe how quickly the time is flying by. All of the details for the weekend are coming together and it has been satisfying to check things off our seemingly endless list. It's hard to believe that the next time I see most of my friends and a good part of my extended family will be in Florida for our wedding. -- after posting this I realized that our wedding is EXACTLY two months from TODAY - wow!
The blog got lost in the shuffle of last weeks happenings, but I'm excited to be posting again. When I got home yesterday I was greeted by a loving fiancé and a completely empty fridge. Assuming that Z survived on cereal and pasta for the entire week, I decided to make a nice hearty shepherd's pie for dinner. Growing up my brother Pete and I had an Irish nanny who would make the most delicious shepherd's pie for us. I think it was her way of tricking us into eating vegetables, but it worked and now I double the amount of veggies that the recipe calls for.


ingredients:

for the mashed potatoes

- roughly 2lbs of russet potatoes. I couldn't find russet potatoes in my local swiss market so I used a standard small-medium sized potato.

- 1/2 stick of butter

- half and half or cream to liking

- salt and pepper

- one egg yolk

Dice the potatoes into 1/2 pieces, place in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Cover the saucepan and bring the water to a boil. Once boiling, uncover and lower the heat to a simmer. Cook for an additional 10-15 minutes or until you can easily pierce the potatoes with a fork. Strain the potatoes and then return them to the saucepan. With a fork begin to mash the pieces. Add the butter and continue to mash. Depending on how you like your potatoes - chunky or creamy - add half and half or some milk. I added a bit of both until the potatoes were a consistency I liked. If you aren't using salted butter then add some salt to taste as well as a bit of pepper. Once mashed add the egg yolk and mix in. Place potatoes to the side until you are ready to cover your filling

filling

- 2 tbs olive oil

- 3 to 4 carrots chopped

- 1 onion chopped

- 2 celery stalks chopped

- 2 garlic cloves

- 1 1/2 lbs ground sirloin or lamb (I used sirloin)

- 2 tbs tomato paste

- 1 cups chicken broth

- 1 tsp chopped rosemary

- 1 tsp chopped thyme

- 1/2 cup frozen peas

- 1/2 cup frozen corn (not canned corn, frozen corn - which I couldn't find)

Pour the olive oil into a large saute pan. Let the oil heat for about a minute and then add the chopped onion, carrot and celery to the pan. Cook until the onion is translucent, about 6ish minutes. Add the sirloin to the pan and cook until browned through. Once the sirloin is cooked add the tomato paste, chicken broth, rosemary and thyme. Bring the liquid to a boil, reduce heat and allow to simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the sauce has begun to thicken. Uncover and add the peas and corn to the mix.

Spread the filling into your favorite bake dish. Choose a deep dish if you like a thick layer of filling and potato or use a shallow dish if you like a thin layer of each. I chose a deep dish for thicker proportions. Once the filling is in add the mashed potatoes on top with a plastic baking spoon, making sure to seal the edges to prevent bubbling over (you can see that I did not do this successfully and the filling bubbled up onto the mashed potatoes.) Bake for 25 minutes at 400 degrees or until the potatoes begin to brown. In the states we add some French's onion rings to the top, but the swiss must be too healthy because I couldn't find them in the store. I sauteed some shallots until crispy for a replacement.

some chevron shutters in honor of my return to Zürich
Enjoy!