This recipe is from Bon Appétit magazine and makes a great Summer dessert. I thought the filling maybe needed a bit more ooomph — next time, I may add a teaspoon or two of orange or lemon liqueur. Of course, this might also be because I used “light” cream cheese. Perhaps that was a mistake. Next time? Bring on the fat.

To get the crust nicely padded into the tart pan, I usually use a shot glass to help flatten the bottom and press the sides up. This works very well. I forget where I learned that tip but I did not make it up myself.

Use ripe, tasty nectarines for this — you will not be sorry.

Crust
25 gingersnap cookies, coarsely broken (about 6 ounces; about 2 1/4 cups pieces)
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted

Filling
1 8-ounce container mascarpone cheese
6 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp grated lemon peel
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp finely chopped crystallized ginger
Optional: 1-2 tsp of your favorite citrusy liqueur (Grand Marnier? Limoncello?)

Topping
4 to 5 small nectarines, halved, pitted, cut into thin slices
1/4 cup peach jam, warmed
2 tbsp finely chopped crystallized ginger

For crust:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Finely grind gingersnaps in processor. Add butter and blend until crumbs are evenly moistened. Press mixture over bottom and up sides of 9-inch-diameter tart pan with removable bottom. Use a shot glass for a nice, even surface!

Bake crust until color darkens, pressing sides with back of spoon if beginning to slide, about 8 minutes. Cool completely.

For filling:
Beat first 6 ingredients in medium bowl until smooth. Beat in crystallized ginger. Liqueur? Spread filling in prepared crust. Cover loosely and refrigerate at least 2 hours and up to 1 day.

For topping:
Overlap nectarine slices atop filling in concentric circles. Don’t feel bad if you get lazy by the time you get to the center. I did.

Brush with jam. Sprinkle with chopped crystallized ginger. Remove sides of tart pan by putting the tart on a can or jar and pulling the rim down. Serve, or refrigerate up to 6 hours.

***

I have read a bunch of great books lately. I thought I would share:

Spin

The Last Chinese Chef

One Thousand White Women

This is a great meal for when you don’t really know what you feel like or what you want for dinner. It has everything — bread, cheese, veggies, and basil. If you wanted to go crazy, I bet you could even add some cooked, cubed chicken. jwa and I enjoyed it quite a bit. The slightly sweet cornbread really works with the tomatoes, cheese (what doesn’t work with cheese?) and lemony olive oil.

I just used a box of cornbread mix (Trader Joe’s brand), baked that (I added a little garlic, sautéed leeks and fresh herbs to the mix) and then let it cool before cubing it and drying the cubes of bread out a little in a 290 degree oven. That worked just great.

Cornbread Panzanella Salad
This recipe is based on one by Giada De Laurentiis.
4 cups cornbread, cut into cubes
1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup fontina cheese, cubed
1/2 hothouse cucumber, cubed
1/4 cup red onion, diced
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 lemon, zested and juice
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
pinch red pepper flakes

Combine the cornbread, garlic, cheese, cucumber, onion, basil and cherry tomatoes in a large bowl. Toss gently.

Mix together the zest, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, and pepper flakes. Toss with the veggies and bread in the same large bowl.

Now, just sit down and eat!

Wedding Flowers

I kind of tested out making a hand-tied bouquet with some $3.99 a bunch irises. For the wedding, I’m going to use burgandy calla lilies (and possibly a few fiddlehead fern thingies), but I figured the small irises would be a good practice flower.

I think it’ll work. I’ve decided to go the diy-route with Fiftyflowers and for our size wedding and flower needs, I am convinced this is a great choice. I gathered the flowers in bunches of three (10 flowers each bunch) and secured with floral wire.

Then, I wrapped everything together with more wire and then wrapped the big bunch in chocolate-colored satin ribbon.

The other night we pulled the little Weber grill out of the garage again and grilled some chicken, caramelized some bell peppers and onions (inside, in a pan, with a little salt, cumin and chili powder), made some guacamole and to accompany it all there was a pitcher of tasty, tasty sangria.

The sangria recipe is from the old red and white checked Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. This is probably one of the only recipes I still use this cookbook for, but that alone makes it worth the shelf space, imho. I’m not sure how completely authentic it is, but it is dependably good.

Really Good Summer Sangria
1 bottle red wine (I used $4 barefoot merlot)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 lemon, sliced
1 orange, sliced
1 lime, sliced
1-2 cups sparkling water

Add the sugar, water and the end fruit slices (6 total from the ends of the lemon, lime and orange) to the pan and heat until boiling and all the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat and let cool.

Meanwhile, pour the wine into a big pitcher and add the uncooked fruit slices. After the syrup has cooled down add that too, reserving the cooked fruit slices. Squeeze as much juice out of those as you can into the pitcher and then discard. Stir.

I usually make this a couple of hours before serving, just storing it in the fridge. When you are ready to drink it, add a cup of the sparkling water. Taste. Add more sparkling water if desired and serve over ice.

Now, to go with your awesome sangria, you may just want to grill some chicken. If you do, first slather some boneless, skinless chicken breasts with a paste made of fresh cilantro leaves (2 big handfuls), garlic (1-2 cloves), lime juice (about 1 tbsp), jalapeno pepper (1/2 a pepper), salt, olive oil (1/4 cup or so) and green onion (2-3). You get this paste by adding all these items to a food processor and letting it go for a few minutes. *whir* *whir* *whir*

Slather. Then grill. Then eat.

We recently did a first grilling of the season test by making two huge, juicy cheeseburgers. There are no pictures of the cheeseburgers because I did not trust jwa with my plate so that I could go get the camera. Plus, it was so delicious I did not want to leave it. Sometimes, this is what happens when you have an awesome cheeseburger meal.

To accompany the cheeseburgers, I threw together some lemony and herby three bean salad. This recipe is based on one I found at Whole Foods Market.

Thee Bean Salad
1 can kidney beans, drained
1 can garbanzo beans, drained
1 big bunch of green beans, trimmed and steamed until tender
1 tbsp fresh thyme, chopped
1 tbsp fresh chives, chopped
Dressing
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp sugar
salt & pepper to taste
pinch of crushed red pepper flakes

Mix all salad ingredients together.

In a separate bowl, whisk together all dressing ingredients. Toss over the salad beans. Adjust seasonings and oil-to-vinegar ratio to taste. Let it all meld in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours before serving.

Next, start the grill…

Friday’s post will involve a drink recipe. Woo!

I originally envisioned this post for Weekend Cookbook Challenge 17, but I didn’t get it up in time. Most of this week (in the evening) has been devoted to working on the wedding website with jwa. Happily, save the date cards went out last Thursday. Well, at least the main bulk of them — there’s a few still lingering on the dining room table while we locate addresses.. Hopefully, those will make it out this week.

But, let’s move on. This recipe is from Everyday Italian and it turned out pretty well. The texture is a little different due to the cornmeal but once you get used to that, it’s really quite good. In addition to the almond paste, I also added about a teaspoon of almond extract, based on the recommendations from reviewers on the site.

Almond Cake
1/2 cup fine yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup almond paste, cut into half-inch pieces
1 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar, plus more for dusting
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
2 eggs
4 egg yolks
1/4 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8-inch round cake pan with vegetable spray or you could also butter and flour the cake pan. Your choice. After you decide that, in a medium bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, cake flour and baking powder and set aside.

Then, using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and almond paste on high speed until smooth, about 5 minutes. Reduce speed to low and slowly add confectioners’ sugar. Mix until thoroughly combined and light and fluffy.

Raise speed to high and add the vanilla and almond extracts, whole eggs and egg yolks, 1 at a time. Mix until well combined. Reduce speed to medium and add the sour cream and dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and smooth the surface with a spatula.

Bake in the lower third of the oven for 35 minutes, or until the cake is golden and pulls away from the sides of the pan.

Transfer pan to a wire rack and let cool. Remove from pan and dust with confectioners’ sugar.

Let cool a few minutes and dive in!