The Madonna of Pasta

True stars are often known by his or her first name only.

Madonna.

Oprah.

Beyonce.

Bono.

Move over Madge, Queen of Pop and Oprah, Queen of Talk because there’s a new Queen in town: Pecorino, Queen of Pasta.

Commonly called Cacio e Pepe, I shortened the dish to simply: Pecorino. There is a reason Madonna does not go by her real name Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone. If you are a true star, one word says it all!

I had my first Pecorino experience while dining at a Mario Batali restaurant. I ordered a very simple dish on the menu listed as Cacio e Pepe. It was described as pasta with Pecorino Romano cheese and black pepper with a dash of olive oil and butter. As my husband will attest since he was there to witness my first meeting with the dish I call Pecorino, it was love at first bite. My eyes may or may not have rolled back in my head with the first bite as it was THAT good.

After my dinner of Pecorino, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Probably much like if you met Oprah or Madonna, it would be hard to stop recounting the experience of the meeting. A true star makes a lasting impression, right? As soon as we were wheels down in DC from Vegas, I immediately set out to re-create this amazing pasta dish and discovered it was surprisingly easy. In fact, I actually liked my version better than what I ate at the restaurant.

As my family of three is in the midst of packing for a move to a new house later this week, I prepared Pecorino over the weekend as it was quick, easy and filling and is great the next day.  To begin, you only need three ingredients: Pecorino Romano cheese (this is a sheep’s milk cheese), black pepper (preferably from a pepper grinder) and a medium thickness pasta. I prefer Bucatini for this recipe but a standard spaghetti will work fine.

If you can boil water, you can make Pecorino. Boil the water for your pasta and while the pasta boils, grate your Pecorino Romano cheese. I use the cheese quite liberally in this dish so you can figure on a little less than ½ pound of grated cheese for one pound pasta. When I am in a hurry, I often buy the Pecorino Romano already grated which is a nice convenience when making this dish.

Once the pasta is cooked (I prefer slightly al dente), remove and drain and reserve a bit of the water in which you cooked the pasta. Using tongs, put a quarter of the pasta in your serving dish. Sprinkle it with the cheese and plenty of black pepper and toss using the tongs.

You will see that the pecorino and pepper cling nicely to the noodles. Be as generous as you want with the cheese! Repeat until you’ve used all the pasta and each strand has a good coating of the cheese and black pepper. I don’t think this dish even needs salt because the Pecorino Romano has a salty flavor. If the pasta feels a bit dry, feel free to add some of the reserved pasta water.

Here is a picture of the finished product of cheesy, peppery goodness:

The beauty of Pecorino is that it is perfect to serve as a quick dinner or as a main dish for a dinner party.  These days, those are star quality characteristics for me!   

Pecorino (serves 4 as a main course)

Ingredients
1 lb Bucatini pasta (feel free to use spaghetti or another medium thickness noodle)
1/2 lb grated Pecorino Romano cheese
Ground black pepper (from a pepper mill)

Details
*Boil water and cook pasta until al dente
*Drain pasta and reserve some of the pasta water
*In a large serving bowl, deposit 1/4 of the pasta in the bowl with tongs.  Sprinkle liberally with the cheese and black pepper and toss until noodles are coated.  Repeat until all pasta is used and coated with pecorino and black pepper.

Remembering my Dad with Orzo ...

Father’s Day was extremely special at my house this year as we celebrated my husband’s first Father’s Day! Our son, Davis, is the light of his life (and mine) and Dan is a terrific dad. While Dan played a bit of Father’s Day golf in the morning, I decided to cook up a nice lunch for his return.

It was extraordinarily hot in DC over the weekend so I turned to a tried and true favorite, my Pat McCarthy Orzo Salad. It is a cool and refreshing dish that isn’t heavy but still filling and satisfying.

As many of you know, my beloved dad passed away almost six years ago and loved food and cooking. Being that it was Father’s Day, I couldn’t help but think of him even more than usual. I wanted to cook something that reminded me of him to celebrate his life and honor him on Father’s Day. Because I know that he was looking down at me from above and saying, “C’mon Colleen, cook something I would have loved today to share with your husband and son on Dan’s first Father’s Day.”

In the Fall of 2004, my dad was recovering from his cancer surgery and had some time on his hands. It was during this time that he discovered Food Network and more specifically, Ina Garten, better known as the Barefoot Contessa. He thought Ina Garten was terrific and the dishes she prepared on her show appealed to him and inspired him. My dad was a planner when it came to food. He would eat breakfast and already be thinking about what we were going to make for dinner.

In that fashion, I remember the call from my dad in early November 2004 that he had just watched the Barefoot Contessa prepare a side dish of orzo with roasted vegetables and he was so excited because he decided he would cook it for our family for our Christmas dinner along with crab cakes. He wanted to make a special dinner for us as we would be together as a family for the holiday. With his cancer battle and my brother having gotten out of the military that year, it was going to be a special Christmas for us.

We hadn’t eaten orzo in my house growing up so he was beyond excited to cook up this delicious concoction for us. If I remember right, he even told the nurses at the hospital where he was getting his chemotherapy treatments about his new orzo dish he was going to cook for Christmas Dinner. My dad passed away on December 22, 2004 so we never did get to have his orzo with roasted vegetables but I chose to remember him and celebrate his life on Father’s Day by making something similar.

I started with some whole wheat orzo which doesn’t taste much different than regular orzo. I boiled the orzo and then added a quick lemon vinaigrette to the orzo. Then, I tossed in chickpeas, kalamata olives and diced roasted red peppers. I also sprinkled some feta cheese on top.  You can use any vegetables you want or even add in some chicken or shrimp to make this a main course. I ate some of it while it was still warm but it was still delicious served cold when my husband arrived home from golf. This is also great served with my favorite hummus.

Although this dish is a summer version of what my dad had planned to prepare, it made me feel so good to prepare something I know my dad would have enjoyed. One of my goals in writing this blog is to pass on the joy of cooking and food that my dad passed on to anyone who met him.

So, here’s to you, Dad! We felt your presence with us with each bite of orzo. In memory, here is a pick of me and my dad that I love taken 11 years ago.  We were sharing a piece of cheesecake.  One of the most important things my dad taught me was never to forget a good meal or dessert!

Pat McCarthy Orzo Salad (serves 4 as a side dish)

Ingredients
*1 ½ cups orzo
*1/4 cup olive oil
*1 ½ teaspoon minced garlic
*1 tablespoon dried oregano
*3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
*A few splashes of balsamic vinegar to taste
*3/4 cup kalamata olives
*1/2 cup chickpeas
*1/2 cup roasted red peppers
*Feta cheese



Details
*Add orzo to boiling water and cook until tender.
*In a small bowl, whisk the lemon juice, garlic and oregano. Slowly add the olive oil while whisking.
*Add a few splashes of balsamic vinegar to taste
*Add orzo to serving bowl and slowly add the vinaigrette while tossing the orzo.
*Add roasted red peppers, chickpeas and kalamata olives and toss. Sprinkle with Feta cheese.

Just like college ...

My apologies, loyal readers, for my lack of blog posts. My sweet baby boy was sick at the end of last week and most of the weekend so it put a hold on my cooking. In fact, for two days, my husband and I existed on pizza from Pete’s Apizza. If you live in DC, I highly recommend getting yourself to Pete's ASAP.  Being that we didn’t sleep for 48 hours, it was much easier to reheat pizza than to cook. Or, frankly, to just eat the pizza cold.

It was somewhat like exam week at college with little sleep and eating cold pizza. 

Thankfully, our sweet boy is much better now.


A blog post from my scaled-back cooking over the weekend will be up later tonight!

Crumblies, Anyone?

My dad LOVED dessert.  Carrot cake may have been his favorite dessert (which will be another post down the road as I have found a delish carrot cake recipe) but not far behind was anything with "crumblies" on top.

Crumblies?

You know, the delicious streusel-like topping that is a combination of brown sugar, rolled oats, flour, a pinch of cinnamon and a whole lot of butter to hold it all together.

He always loved the apple pie my mom made that didn't have the traditional lattice-work on top but rather the crumblies.  I've acquired my dad's love of crumblies and to me, the filling of fruit is the sideshow but the delicious topping is the main attraction!  In typical fashion, my dad would justify this as an almost healthy dessert because it involved fruit.

This past weekend, I made a Strawberry and Peach Crumble that I know my dad would have loved.  My son was napping and I had a craving for something sweet but couldn't run to the grocery store while he was asleep so I had to make do with the ingredients I had in the house.  I happened to have a container of strawberries that was in need of being eaten within two days or thrown away and I hate to waste so into the Crumble they went!  Then, I moved on to the freezer.  We are moving in a couple weeks so I am trying to use up as much food as possible pre-move.  Lo and behold, there was a bag of frozen peaches I had purchased when I thought my son might have an interest in trying peaches.  Turns out, he had no interest.  So, into the Crumble went the peaches. 

I found a great recipe to pull together my random fruit assortment online.  God bless "The Google."  It turns out, Giada De Laurentiis must have found herself in the same position one day and she made a dessert with strawberries, peaches and a crumble topping.  Occasionally when I have made an Apple Crumble, the topping is a bit more high maintenance and involves blending by hand, but this was very easy.  I simply blended brown sugar, flour, and a stick of butter in the food processor while holding my breath that the whir of the food processor wouldn't wake up my sleeping son.  Thankfully, it didn't and about 40 minutes later, I took the bubbling, sweet Crumble from the oven and had a very nice treat as my son napped.  While I was sitting eating this glorious dessert, I couldn't help wishing my dad was with me to share in some strawberry and peaches with crumblies.  But, proving that he is with me and that my son is like him in so many ways, I gave Davis a bit of Crumble after his nap and he loved it. 

It seems that even at 11 months old, crumblies are just too good to pass up!

Here is the recipe:

Strawberry and Peach Crumble

Ingredients
Filling
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (about 1/2 large lemon)
1.5-2 tablespoons corn starch
1 pound strawberries, halved
1 pound frozen peach slices (feel free to use fresh later this summer once they are in season)
1/2 cup light brown sugar

Topping
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup old fashioned style oats
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 stick unsalted butter, chilled, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

Details
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray medium baking dish, similar to this one with cooking spray.
*For the filling whisk together the lemon juice and corn starch until smooth. 
*Add the strawberries, peaches and brown sugar and toss until fruit is coated.  Pour the mixture into the dish.
*For the topping, combine the oats, brown sugar, cinnamon and sea salt in a food processor.  Pulse until mixed.
*Add the butter and pulse until the butter is the size of peas.
*Sprinkle th emixture over the filling and bake for 40 to 45 minutes until the filling is bubbling and the top is light golden.

Recipe adapted from Giada De Laurentiis' Strawberry and Peach Crumble recipe

A Milestone for Weekend Gourmet

Very exciting day for the blog today!

After just 3 1/2 weeks of existence, Weekend Gourmet has officially passed the 1,000 visitor mark.

Hooray!

Thank you all for reading and sharing my blog with your friends.  Feel free to pass it along to others if you like what you are seeing!  

And, if you have suggestions or comments, feel free to email me at: wkndgourmet@gmail.com .

In the meantime, thank you again and be on the lookout for a Strawberry and Peach Crumble recipe later this week.

--Colleen

Ready to Roll?

Last year, in an effort to add more variety to my cooking repertoire, I took a cooking class focused on preparing various Asian dishes. One of the best recipes I learned in this class was for Summer Rolls. I made the rolls multiple times last summer as an appetizer for parties but also as a light side dish to accompany a main course. Not only do the Summer Rolls make a pretty presentation as an appetizer but they are loaded with vegetables which is great if you are attempting to eat healthy without sacrificing taste for less calories.

This is a recipe that much like my Timeless Tart as you can make it feel new each time you prepare it by varying the filling.  I've made Summer Rolls with a variety of different vegetables and have even added shrimp or rice noodles to make the rolls more hearty. Since we like things spicy at my house, I occasionally add jalapeno as well.

I marinated the vegetables in sesame oil, ginger, soy sauce and lime. A little goes a long way with these ingredients! You can make your own dipping sauce or even buy some sweet chili sauce in the store and it is a great compliment to the Summer Rolls. For the filling, I used a red and orange bell pepper, green onions and shitake mushrooms. I julienned the peppers so they would be approximately the same size as the mushrooms. I bought the mushrooms pre-sliced and with their narrow cut, they worked perfectly with the peppers. I used rice paper to wrap the vegetables.  All you need to do is submerge the paper in warm water for 10 seconds and then you are ready to roll.  Literally!

Since it is tricky to explain how to roll the Summer Rolls, I enlisted my husband to take a quick video of me preparing the Summer Rolls. Please don't mind the dishes in the sink or the background noises from our son!

Enjoy this versatile recipe and definitely experiment with your favorite filling. One last thing: be sure to place the Summer Rolls on damp paper towel and cover with damp paper towel as well before serving to make sure they retain their moisture.

C's Summer Rolls (makes approximately 20-25 rolls)


Ingredients
Rice paper
1 red bell pepper
1 orange bell pepper
1 package of pre-sliced shitake mushrooms
Green onions
1 lime, squeezed
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1 teaspoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons ginger (I bought the kind you squeeze from a tube)



Details
*Slice the peppers into matchstick slices and place in a small bowl with the mushrooms and sliced green onion.
*In a small bowl whisk together the sesame oil, soy sauce, lime juice and ginger.
*Pour the sauce over the vegetables and mix well.
*Begin assembling the Summer Rolls (see video above) by placing the rice paper in warm water for 10 seconds. Remove the paper from the water, pat with a towel and then fill with the ingredients and roll. Be sure to place the rolls on damp paper towel and cover with damp paper towel until ready to serve.

Guacamole I Cannot Live Without (and a preview of what I am cooking this weekend)

I've been traveling this week for work so I've had less time to cook than I would like. Tomorrow, we are headed to dinner at Rosa Mexicano, one of our favorite Mexican restaurants and a sentimental favorite as it is where we had our rehearsal dinner (those who attended remember the pomegranate margaritas for sure!!). My husband and I adore Rosa's guacamole too and we hope our son might enjoy a little tomorrow night.

Click here to try the Rosa Mexicano guacamole recipe. It is just too good! I think the only way to eat guacamole is having it made fresh with ripe avocados, fresh cilantro and a good squeeze of lime juice. This recipe is by far the best.

But, be sure to stop by on Sunday for a new recipe for Summer Rolls. They are light, veggie-heavy and an impressive little appetizer for summer barbecues or even as a light accompaniment to dinner on a hot night.

Putting Your Margarita Glasses to Good Use (with something other than margaritas)

When I got married in 2006, one of the most enjoyable parts of the engagement process outside of the fun of planning our future and wedding was registering for items to fill our new home. And I embraced it with passion. In fact, as a resident of a two bedroom apartment, we registered for far more items than we could possibly keep in our apartment. My theory was register for the house we will have one day, not the dwelling where we currently lived. As someone who loves to entertain and cook, I had a little too much fun with this process. Hence, we ended up with glassware galore and more platters than anyone could ever really need.

Which brings me to the inspiration for the recipe I cooked this weekend, gazpacho. When we unpacked 10 margarita glasses out of a gift box, my husband rolled his eyes. And, rightfully so given that our apartment can hold about four people for dinner and that is a tight squeeze! I decided if we were going to keep the glasses and not return them (we did return four of the 10 as I reasoned we could maybe squeeze in six people for a party), I needed to find multiple uses for the glasses rather than just using them for margaritas. A few summers ago, we had a small group for dinner and as I looked at the margarita glasses, I decided to use them to serve gazpacho and garnish each glass with a lemon so that it looked like a cocktail. It definitely made a traditional summer dish more visually appealing and was a special touch for dinner guests. Since that summer night, this has become one of my favorite recipes.

The recipe I used is from Tyler Florence. I omitted a couple ingredients including cucumbers and parsley as I don't care for either. In the past, I have also added jalapenos to increase the heat of the dish. Feel free to personalize the dish. It is delicious with shrimp or scallops if you want to turn it into a main course. Additionally, you can enjoy the leftovers for several days and the gazpacho gets even better each day the longer it sits.

Don't hesitate to make this recipe even though tomatoes are not in season right now. I suggest looking for the vine-ripened tomatoes at your local grocery store which tend to be flavorful and not too watery.

Now, the thought of chopping all the vegetables could be slightly daunting if you are pressed for time but luckily, nothing needs to be chopped perfectly. I prefer to use a more 'rustic' chop (read: various shapes and sizes and utilizing none of the learned skills from my knife skills class). Once everything is chopped, deposit it in the food processor with bread crumbs. If you do not have a large food processor, you may need to puree in batches. The original recipe calls for using day-old bread but the bread crumbs are much easier. Once the puree is complete, you add paprika, sugar, salt and pepper, olive oil, tomato juice, fresh lemon juice and olive oil.

You are left with a fantastic and refreshing summer dish. And, another use for those margarita glasses that sit on the shelves between crazy margarita parties. Oh wait, we've never really had those so good thing I came up with the gazpacho idea!

Margarita Glass Gazpacho

Ingredients (Serves 4-6)
*2 lbs tomatoes, chopped
*1 red bell pepper, chopped
*1 yellow bell pepper, chopped
*1 medium onion, chopped
*2 teaspoons minced garlic
*Salt and pepper to taste
*1 1/2 cups plain breadcrumbs
*1 tablespoon sugar
*1 tablespoon paprika
*1/4 cup sherry wine vinegar
*1/2 cup olive oil
*2 cups tomato juice
*1 lemon, squeezed

Details

*In a food processor, combine the tomatoes, red and yellow peppers, onion, garlic and breadcrumbs. Puree until almost smooth. Transfer to a large bowl.

*Add to the vegetable mixture salt and pepper to taste, sugar, paprika, sherry wine vinegar, olive oil and tomato juice. Squeeze juice of one fresh lemon into the gazpacho.

*Pour into a margarita glass or bowl and garnish with a lemon wedge.

Recipe Adapted from Tyler Florence Gazpacho Recipe

A Cheesehead's Delight, With Less Calories!

Growing up in the land of all things dairy in Wisconsin and home of the Cheesehead (for the record, I do not own one), I am inherently skeptical of anything that is reduced-fat when it comes to dairy products for desserts or comfort food dishes like macaroni and cheese or mashed potatoes. If I am going to indulge, I am going to do it right. Part of the reason for my vehemence for not using reduced-fat ingredients in desserts or hearty food is that I don’t want to sacrifice the taste to spare myself the extra calories. I definitely inherited this from my dad who refused to sacrifice taste for less calories. In fact, he would usually draw an amused look from waiters at restaurants when he would order an enormous breakfast and then order water for a drink saying, “You have to cut back somewhere.”

But these days, I am often looking for ways to eat healthier. After my son went to bed last night, I was paging through Cooking Light Magazine and came across a great article on using reduced-fat versus full-fat dairy in cooking. Since the link isn’t online for this article, the tips they gave are below. Picking and choosing when to use reduced-fat versus full-fat ingredients is the key.

Thanks to this article, I will no longer be fearful of having the cream cheese frosting of my favorite carrot cake recipe taste like it is “reduced-fat.” Or, having my Timeless Tart filling not taste like the real thing.

In fact, this article made me think about my mother-in-law’s sinful (but not really sinful when it comes to calories) macaroni and cheese. When you take the first bite, you will swear it must have about 5,000 calories in each bite because it is so delicious. However, she has a secret ingredient that cuts the calories and lends to the creaminess: to create the creaminess of the sauce that the noodles are usually soaked in, she uses evaporated milk in place of heavy cream and cheese which are usually the base of the white sauce for homemade macaroni and cheese. This makes it easier for you to use full-fat cheese as a topping for the dish (since you are saving the calories with the filling) instead of reduced-fat cheese which will get rubbery when heated. We had a half-used bag of shredded cheddar and monterey jack cheese so I used that as a topping for my macaroni and cheese. You could easily make this a bit more sophisticated with more "luxurious" cheeses like goat cheese, gouda or a good, aged parmesan.

For parents, this is a wonderful dish to make for yourself that your children will also come to love. My 10 1/2 month old son LOVED this dish. It is also incredibly economical. I can remember making a four cheese mac and cheese a while ago that became incredibly expensive due to the exotic cheeses in the dish. It was delicious but not practical to make on a regular basis. And, it was incredibly time consuming but not this macaroni and cheese. It takes slightly longer than making it out of a box but it is worth the extra minutes when you take that first gooey bite of macaroni and cheese out of the oven!

Indulgent food that still tastes good but with less calories is TRULY indulgent!

Here are Cooking Light Magazine’s helpful hints on this topic from the June 2010 issue:

Cheese

Use reduced-fat …

*In recipes where cheese is just one component. In this case, let it melt into the sauce, soup or casserole instead of using it as a topping as reduced-fat cheese becomes rubbery when heated.

Use full-fat …

*In recipes where you only need a small amount such as for a topping on a dish.

Milk

Use reduced-fat …

*When other ingredients will provide flavors or textures that round out the dish. Consider using flour or egg to thicken a sauce instead.

Use full-fat …

*To give recipes body and richness. Use a splash of whole milk to soups or sauces to give the dish a luxurious taste.

Cream Cheese

*Good news! The full-fat and reduced-fat cream cheese products are interchangeable and behave identically.

The above tips are excerpted from Cooking Light Magazine, June 2010 Issue

And, here is the delicious recipe for macaroni and cheese from my mother-in-law, JoAnn:

JoAnn’s Macaroni and Cheese

Serves 4 if used as a side dish

Ingredients

*2 tablespoons unsalted butter

*1 tablespoon flour

*1 cup elbow noodles

*1 cup evaporated milk

*Cheese of your choice to top the macaroni and cheese

*Salt and Pepper to taste

Details

*Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

*Boil noodles until tender, drain and place in casserole dish.

*In a small sauce pan, melt butter and then stir in the flour and finally the evaporated milk to form the white sauce for the dish. Take care not to let the butter and flour mixture overcook or burn.

*Pour the sauce over the noodles and top with cheese.

*Bake in the oven at 375 degrees until bubbling and top is golden brown.

Recipe courtesy of JoAnn Turrentine

A Timeless Tart (a.k.a. The Little Black Dress of Desserts)

This weekend, I was reminded that like the little black dress in your closet, everyone needs a timeless dessert recipe. A recipe that, much like a little black dress that you have worn to multiple weddings and parties, you can make for many occasions but change it’s “accessories” so that it always feels fresh and new and is perfect for any occasion, especially in a pinch when the shopping excursion doesn’t yield just what you were hoping to find.

Fast forward to Monday morning at my apartment. I set out this weekend to make a key lime pie topped with fresh raspberries with a graham cracker crust accompanied by a raspberry coulis. However, my plan was derailed when I could not find key lime juice at multiple grocery stores and I did not have time to hit a specialty store like Dean and DeLuca or Balduccis.

These are the moments when you need a tried and true dessert recipe to call on. I try not to make the same dessert twice for the same group of people. To me, part of the fun of cooking is to try making new things to challenge myself and to get feedback from people on the new culinary offering. Given my key lime juice predicament, I came back to my Timeless Tart recipe. As I clicked through my online recipe box, it felt like going to my closet and finding the black dress I had forgotten about for a last minute party and putting it on and having it fit perfect, feel good and look fabulous with a few new accessories!

My Timeless Tart is a true classic. And, fairly easy to make. Until I found this recipe, the thought of making a tart was quite intimidating. I had always seen the beautiful French tarts in patisseries and bakeries and marveled at the artistic arrangement of the fruit and the beautiful tart crusts that held the creamy filling.

I used an 11 inch tart pan for this recipe but you could certainly use a smaller tart pan or even individual tart pans.

The crust for this tart is simple. If you can crush graham crackers and melt butter in the microwave and have sugar on-hand, you’ve got yourself a tart crust. I deposited my graham crackers in a ziploc bag and used the flat side of a meat tenderizer to crush the graham crackers in the bag.

I made a bit more of this portion of the tart than I actually needed since I have found that adding a thicker layer of crust makes it stay together better when slicing it once you are ready to eat the tart. As you go to put the tart crust in the pan, it will start to bind together because of the sugar and butter and will be easy for you to press into the crevices in the pan using your hands. However, don’t hesitate to use the back of a spoon to help press the crust into place and into the little crevices in the pan. This crust would also work well for a pie crust if you don’t have a tart pan handy.
The filling is creamy and divine. Unlike some fillings for tarts that require a laborious process creating a custard or letting the filling set overnight in the refrigerator, this filling is delightfully simple and requires none of the above. The filling consists of sour cream, brown sugar, vanilla and cream cheese with a bit of lemon zest to give the tart a nice, tangy and refreshing flavor. You can certainly use low-fat cream cheese and sour cream for this recipe as well. The lemon flavor is not overwhelming but just enough. In fact, you can definitely leave out the lemon zest as the filling on its own is delightful. This would be the perfect dessert to make in the fall minus the lemon zest as the brown sugar in the filling would work well with some baked cinnamon apples as a topping for the tart or even cranberries.

The final piece of the tart is the topping or the “accessories”. Feel free to use anything! If you’ve planned, pick up certain kinds of fruit at the store and create a design like the one on the tart I have made using blueberries, raspberries and blackberries. Or, if you have odds and ends of fruit in your refrigerator, go for a more “rustic” look and sprinkle the fruit here and there on the tart.
The end result should be a very attractive and tasty tart that makes it hard for anyone to resist having a second helping. In fact, after our Memorial Day barbecue last night, I found my husband paying my cooking a very high compliment. I walked into the kitchen after putting our son to bed and found my dear husband eating the remains of the tart with a spoon and washing it all down with a big glass of milk. Needless to say, we finished it off together and there wasn’t a crumb left. Clearly, no matter how many times my husband has eaten this exact tart -- albeit in many different reincarnations thanks to changing toppings -- he still hasn’t tired of this dessert. Now that is the kind of timeless dessert that everyone needs in his or her repertoire.
Ingredients
3 cups graham cracker crumbs
4 ½ tablespoons granulated sugar
1 ½ sticks (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted
6 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
¾ cup sour cream
¾ teaspoon vanilla
12 oz cream cheese, softened
3 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
Fruit of your choice for topping

Details
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees with a baking sheet on the middle rack.
*Stir together the graham cracker crumbs, granulated sugar and butter in a bowl with a fork until combined well.
*Press mixture with your fingers and back of a spoon evenly and firmly onto bottom and up the sides of the tart pan.
*Put tart pan on the baking sheet and bake the crust until slightly darker, approximately 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool the tart crust. Gently push the bottom of the pan to loosen crust and place on a plate.
*While the crust cools, whisk together the brown sugar, sour cream and vanilla in a small bowl until the sugar is dissolved.
*Beat the cream cheese in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth and then add the sour cream mixture and lemon zest. Beat until smooth and combined well.
*Spread mixture into tart crust and decorate with fruit topping.
*Chill until serving.

Recipe adapted from Gourmet, July 2003