Taking a simple jar of jam to the top of the culinary world, a change of perspective is in order. A journey into the jam jar...in this sticky sweet environment lurks the greatest culinary advancement since Cheez Wiz. When I speak of Cheez Wiz, I am not talking about the liquid over salty cheese product, I am talking about when did "cheese on toast" become a breakfast food? Cheez Wiz was developed by a team led by food scientist Edwin Traisman, its national debut as 1953...and over the years it has graced foods like hot dogs, nacho chips, cheese steaks and toast!!! If Cheez Wiz can morphine to breakfast....THAN a simple jar of jam can morphine to the dinner table!!!!
Jenn's Rustic Poached Pear,"Italian Plum Conserve"and Confit de Canard Galette
Pastry
2 cups of all-purpose flour or whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 tsp sea salt
12 tbsp cold butter, cut into small pieces
1/3 to 1/2 cup ice water as needed
To make the rustic tart dough, mix the flour and salt together in a bowl. Cut in the butter by hand or using a mixer with a paddle attachment, leaving some pea-sized chunks. Sprinkle the ice water over the top by the tablespoon and toss it with the flour mixture until you can bring the dough together into a ball. Press it into a disk and refrigerate and let the dough chill for 15 minutes.
To form a galette, roll it out on a lightly floured counter into a 14-inch irregular circle about 1/8-inch thick. Fold it into quarters and transfer it to the back of a sheet pan or a cookie sheet without sides. Unfold it. It will be larger than the pan.
Confit de Canard:
4 duck legs (about 3 pounds/1.35 g)
2 cloves garlic, peeled and split in half
1 ounce/30 g coarse salt
4 peppercorns
2 bay leaves
2 sprigs fresh thyme
5 cups/1 kg (not a litre, weigh it!) duck fat, melted, more if needed to cover the legs completely
Rub the duck legs all over with the split garlic cloves and put them in a glass bowl with the salt, pepper, bay leaves, and thyme. Cover with a tea towel and refrigerate overnight or up to 48 hours, turning once.
Heat the oven to 200 degrees F. Rinse the duck and pat dry with a towel. Set the legs in a baking dish and tuck in the garlic cloves. Pour over enough fat to cover them, place over heat and when you see the first bubble, set it on a rimmed baking sheet in the oven and bake uncovered until the meat is very tender and shrinks away from the bone, about 4 hours. Cool slightly in the fat, then carefully lift them out.
While the confit cooks, soak 2 wooden skewers in a saucepan and boil 5 minutes to sterilise. Lay in the bottom of two sterilised glass loaf pans (breaking the sticks if needed). Lay on the duck legs and ladle over the fat, leaving any juices behind. Make sure they are well covered. Cover with foil or plastic wrap, and refrigerate a week to mellow.
Remove skin and bones of the confit and shredded meat gently
Poached Pears:
1 (750-ml) bottle white wine, Riesling or Viognier
1 cup water
5 ounces vanilla sugar, approximately 3/4 cup
1 whole vanilla bean, split and scraped
4 firm Bartlett, Anjou or Bosc pears, peeled leaving the stem intact
Place the white wine, water, sugar and vanilla bean and pulp into a 4-quart saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil.
Core the pears from the bottom. Decrease the heat to medium low and place the pears into the liquid, cover and cook for 30 minutes or until the pears are tender but not falling apart. Maintain a gentle simmer. Remove the pears to a serving dish, standing them upright, and place in the refrigerator.
Remove the vanilla bean from the saucepan, increase the heat to high and reduce the syrup to approximately 1 cup of liquid, approximately 20 to 25 minutes. Do not allow the syrup to turn brown. Place the syrup in a heatproof container and place in the refrigerator until cool, approximately 1 hour.
Slice pears thinly
Roasted Walnut Italian Prune Plum Conserve: Purchase at Petty Catwater this Holiday Season
Farm House Kabritt Cheese: this can be purchased on line
Gouda Cheese: we are looking for a non-smoked or flavoured Gouda
To assemble the tart: we layer our ingredients as shown below. I use a pizza pan and my over hanging edge is about 2 inches. I spread all ingredients to the edge of the pan.
First spread the grated Kabritt cheese over the prepared pastry than spread evenly the following layer by layer, a layer of Roasted Walnut Plum Conserve, add layer of grated Gouda cheese, add a layer of sliced poached pears, add a layer of grated Gouda, add a layer of shredded Confit de Canard...add the last layer of grated Kabritt cheese to the top... Fold the edges of the dough over the layers, creasing every inch or so. Brush the top lightly with olive oil.
To bake the tart, preheat oven to 375 degrees and bake until the crust is golden, 25 to 30 minutes.
Petty Catwater's Roasted Walnut & Italian Prune Plum Conserve and Purple Haze Carrot Cake Jam has made a huge leap this weekend....what has long been a established breakfast condiment has made it's way to your lunch and dinner table. Sometimes just tilting your head a little to the left makes all the difference on how we see a simple jar of jam.
Grow, Harvest, Cook, Eat, and now on a diet
Jenn
