Patrick has left me some fairly large shoes to fill (size 11W, to be exact) as the full-time parent. Not only has he managed to establish daily routines, provide childcare and perform household maintenance, he also polished his culinary talents to impressive levels. Seriously, how can I compete with this?
Patrick's signature dish - other than his Greek cookies ("Kholouria") that he makes every Christmas - is this beautiful Almond Tart from The Cafe Cookbook, a wonderful collection of rustic Italian recipes written by Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers, who run The River Cafe in England and who have a captivating cooking show that used to air on PBS and from which I learned the immeasurable benefit of cooking with really good sea salt.
Patrick made this beauty last night to take to an end-of-the-year dinner for the cooperative preschool board on which he served. He brought back about half - it's in the refrigerator right now. Odds say it will be down to a slim quarter by daybreak tomorrow.
So, without further adieu and in full tribute to Patrick's culinary and domestic talents all around, today's Food Glorious Food post features the recipe for this wonderful dish, which I hope Ms. Gray and Ms. Rogers will not view as copyright infringement but, rather, free publicity for their many cookbooks. . . which you should go out and purchase or order through Amazon.com.
Torta di Mandorle
Almond Tart
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
A pinch of salt
11 tablespoons unsalted cold butter, cut into cubes
½ cup powdered sugar
2 large organic egg yolks (the recipe actually specifies ‘organic’ – that’s not just Patrick being green)
Filling
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons superfine sugar
8 ounces blanched whole almonds
3 large organic eggs
For the pastry, pulse the flour, salt, and butter in a food processor until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs. Add the sugar, then egg yolks and pulse until the mixture begins to form clumps. Remove, flatten into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for at least an hour until very firm.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coarsely grate the pastry into a 12-inch loose-bottomed tart pan, then press it evenly on to the sides and bottom. Line the pastry with aluminum foil, then dried beans. (Yes, dried beans - I guess this is to just help it lay flat? I don't know if Patrick has ever tried this without the beans.) Bake for 10 minutes, remove foil and beans. Bake until very light brown, 10 minutes or more. Cool. Reduce the temperature to 300 degrees.
For the filing, cream the butter and sugar until the mixture is pale and light. In a food processor, chop the almonds until fine. Add the butter and sugar and blend, then add the eggs one by one. Spread into the pastry and bake for 45-50 minutes, until top is golden brown (see photo above). Cool and over with seasonal fruits. (Patrick almost always uses strawberries, but added blueberries for the Fourth of July once).
Serves 10-12 (or really more like 20 - this thing is huge!) Manga!
Alternate title: What We Did On Spring Break, Part II
Our drive to and from Michigan takes us along a strip of I-75 that sits about 5 miles away from four enormous wind turbines that were erected a few years ago. As Patrick loves all things green, this portion of the trip becomes a bit precarious as he tries to spy the whirling giants through the tree tops and misty skies. Once spotted, I am always amazed at how larger-than-life they appear, even from miles away.
This last time we passed by the turbines, it was a glorious day, and we had some time to spare, so I gave Patrick the go ahead to exit the freeway and head toward the giant pinwheels. Our little jaunt turned out to be an educational sight-seeing venture and unique photo shoot:
Patrick could hardly contain himself.
According to this information published by Green Energy Ohio (Patrick is a member, of course), the first two turbines went up in 2003.
Family photo. An is thinking "Why am I standing here in the middle of a cornfield? All of my friends got to go to the beach!"
I had Logan pose for perspective, to help give a sense of the size of these things. Although they are enormous, they are amazingly silent. The three blades are also unexpectedly narrow, but apparently designed for maximum efficiency.
Looking over these pictures during Easter week, I couldn't help but think of images of the cross.
Modern symbols of sacrifice and renewal.
TWO special somebodies have birthdays today . . .
Today, Patrick and Logan turn 34 and 6, respectively. The shot above was taken when Logan was about a week old. It's always been one of my favorites. There's something about the way Logan has his head tipped back and his eyes opened wide, as if he's really trying to comprehend all of Patrick's face, or at least his eyebrows.
Let's take a closer look for some boyish resemblance. Here's one of Patrick, age 2, with Helen and Dale:
And here's Patrick eating cake in 1979:
I think I see more of Keelin in that one. Then we have Patrick circa 1984:
Just Beat It.
And here's what Patrick looked like in 1993 when we met, costumed for his role in that fateful production of Romeo & Juliet:
Yes, I do think fatherhood has done wonders for Pat's image:
Easter 2002
Good genes run in the family:
Three generations - Logan, Patrick and "Grandpa Choo Choo", August 2001
Then again . . .
Halloween 2001
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