a savory crostata

I was looking for something to make for dinner and I stumbled upon some fruit crostatas (a yummy looking dessert!)... and decided I'd make a savory one for dinner... we have a boatload of cherry tomatoes, half a bag of frozen spinach, a ton of yellow onions, some garlic, and some vegan "sausage" I've been meaning to use for a while. So I'm attempting to whip up some goodness.

There isn't any cheese in the house (if there were, we'd be enjoying goat cheese covered with a fabulous jalepeno strawberry jam a parishoner gave me during VBS week). Also, there's a storm rolling in so I don't feel like trekking to the store for one ingredient!So this is a cheeseless tart. It's readying itself, so I'll tell you what the ingredients are...

crust: 155g flour, 2 pinches of salt, chopped rosemary (about 2T worth), 2t sugar, and 6T butter, some ice water to make the dough come together. That was rolled out into an ovular shape, placed on a cookie sheet with the ends rolled up to make an edge.I cooked the crust for 10 minutes at 375.

the topping...

in one pan I caramelized onions, added the sausage, added a sweet cayenne pepper from the garden, and the half bag of spinach, plus a pinch of salt. spread this on the crust, then make two indentations with the back of a soup spoon in the middle of the tart (you're reserving this space for the eggs)

in a second pan I cooked chopped garlic and cherry tomatoes in balsamic vinegar and olive oil for about 15 minutes. I took the tomatoes and garlic out of the liquid and I spread this around on top of the green sausage mix. I cooked down the liquid to use as a garnish at the end.


I cooked the tart for 15 more minutes, then I pulled it out of the oven an dropped a raw egg into each indentation. Put everything back in the oven until the eggs whites set. I cooked it 17 minutes and got mostly cooked yolks,  Drizzle the eggs with the thickened balsamic vinegar mix leftover from the tomat's.

This was yummy. Next time I would remove sugar from the crust entirely and up the salt slightly. I will probably also try cooking 12-15 minutes after adding eggs to achieve the runny yolks I prefer.

For dessert we had blueberry cobbler cooked in my favorite cast iron skillet. In the pan: 2c bluberries tossed with 1T sugar, 1/2t cinnamon, a dash of nutmeg, 2T flour, and 3 T  lemon juice. For the topping: 80g white wheat flour, 1/3csugar, 1/4t salt, 1/4t baking powder, 1t vanilla, dash of cinnamon and nutmeg, 1 stick melted butter, and 1 egg. Mix it all together and spread it over the blueberries. Cook 40-50 minutes at 375. Let it cool for 10 minutes. I drizzled the servings with fresh raw cream and honey. DELISH!

easy bread?

ok, I'm trying this no-knead bread craze out (i'll leave the hard work to Jess!)... I read a whole bunch of websites and blogs posting a variety of recipes and this is what I'm trying:

3 c King Arthur White Wheat flour
1T vital wheat gluten
1t salt
.5t yeast (not instant)
1t braggs cider vinegar
1.75c warm water

I mixed it up and covered it with the shower cap. Will check on it sometime tomorrow morning or afternoon.

I'll let you know tomorrow if it worked.