Ricotta tart for Easter

Recipes seem to be slipping away from me this week: first, cheese gougères, and just now the ricotta tart I love to make for Easter. I referred to it in this blog on an earlier Easter -- but that time I just gave a link to the New York Times, where my recipe originated. I clicked, but it took awhile for the recipe to pop up, so I wondered if there's a shelf-life to old NYT recipes. Luckily, this one is still alive online. But I copied it just in case, and here it is. I'm also going to print it out. 

I make half this recipe, for one cheesecake. I'm going to make ours on Saturday.

RICOTTA TART

Adapted from Pepolino restaurant

Time: 2 1/2 hours plus cooling

1 3/4 cups sugar

11 ounces (2 3/4 sticks) slightly softened unsalted butter, in pieces

2 egg yolks

4 cups cake flour, approximately

2 1/2 pounds ricotta cheese

5 eggs, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups heavy cream

Confectioners' sugar.

1. Combine 3/4 cup sugar, the butter and egg yolks in a food processor or a large mixing bowl. Process or beat until smooth. Add flour about 1 cup at a time, pulsing until blended if using a food processor, or mixing by hand until a soft, smooth dough can be gathered in a ball. Divide in two, flatten each portion into a disk, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 40 minutes.

2. Heat oven to 500 degrees. Roll out one disk on a lightly floured board to a thickness of 1/8 inch. Fit dough into a 9-inch springform pan or a 9-inch round cake pan 1 1/2 inches deep with a removable bottom. In springform pan, dough should come up 2 inches on sides; with cake pan, dough should be even with top edge. Repeat with second pan. If you do not have two pans, second tart can be made after first has finished baking.

3. In a large bowl or in an electric mixer on low speed, beat together ricotta, remaining sugar, whole eggs, vanilla and cream until well blended and smooth. Ladle filling into prepared pans.

4. Bake 10 minutes. Reduce temperature to 300 degrees and continue baking for one hour and 10 minutes, until top is puffed and golden -- some cracking is to be expected -- and a knife inserted in center comes out clean. Transfer to a rack and cool 10 minutes. Remove outer ring from pan and cool tart to room temperature. Filling will sink as it cools. Tart can be refrigerated. Dust with confectioners' sugar before serving.

Yield: 2 tarts, 16 servings.

Popovers from the past

Yesterday's anticipation of Cheese Gougères has led to today's recipe for good old popovers. Here, Mary, as you requested, is Mom's recipe. I remember them filled with melting butter (Please don't remind me that it was really margarine!) and homemade strawberry jam.

Mom's Popovers

Sift:
1 1/2 C. flour
1/2 tsp. salt

Beat:
3 eggs

Add:
1 1/2 C. milk

Stir eggs and milk into the flour mixture.
Beat thoroughly.

Fill muffin pans 2/3 full. (Recipe doesn't say anything about greasing them, and I can't remember ... but can't hurt to grease the pans.)

Bake at 450° for 15 minutes, then at 350° for 20 minutes more.  I can't really make out that last number. My recipe card is tattered and ripped there. It looks very much like a 20, but it could be 30. Check after 20.

This is even quicker than gougères. Send photos!

When it's in a frame it's art ... Do you agree?

The people at Sacred Threads led me to this video hinting at the healing power of quilts. I love the beautiful art, yes, but ... OK, I am warped ... what really catches my eye is the way they are displayed. In frames. And I've got to watch it again, but I think I saw a glint: they're glassed in!

I love the tactile quality of quilts. I think it is part of their power. You do not se El Anatsui's massive textural pieces under glass, and quilts shouldn't be trapped by glass either.

I like to consider ways to display quilts. I suppose it's a phase and will pass; I will settle on one or two ideal for me. Frames are great. It's the glass I hate.

Gougères du Soleil

Dear Mary,

Right after you texted for my recipe for Gruyère popovers I panicked. Haven't made them in so long ... where is that recipe?? I recently gave away some old cookbooks -- those I thought had not a single good recipe. Maybe I gave that great recipe away!! At first I couldn't find it, and I called Patrice, at all three numbers, but no answer. 

Then I did find it, because I would never give away my Classic Cuisine of Provence by Diane Holuigue. 

I know you're in a hurry. Here it is. (And will you text me a photo of the finished puffs so I can use it here? ) OK, OK, here's the recipe:

Gougères du Soleil

Pastry

1 C. cold water

pinch salt

5 T. butter, diced

1 1/4 C. flour

4 small eggs

Filling

1/3 C Gruyère cheese

salt

pepper

And these ingredients, which I don't add:

10 anchovy fillets, diced

2 cloves garlic, finely diced

10 black olives, pitted and diced

4 sun-dried tomatoes,diced

The choux pastry: Place cold water in a saucepan with the salt and butter. Bring to the boil, stirring to make sure the butter melts completely by the time the water boils. (Further boiling evaporates the water, so just bring it to the boiling point.)

Remove from heat and add the flour, all at once. Stir well, with wooden spatula, then return to stove for the count of 20, or until the mixture rolls off the sides of the saucepan and clings in a ball to the spatula. Remove from heat again. Add the eggs, two at a time, stirring in completely each time. 

Fold the filling ingredients into the pastry. When Patrice and I would make these for Christmas Eve,  we might have added more cheese, but be careful. 

Spoon into small balls on a lightly greased baking sheet, well-spaced to allow for swelling. We used to make then into a circle like a wreath -- with a little space between them. Then you can pull them apart. 

Bake at 400° for 20-25 minutes, reducing heat if they brown too early. Remove when golden brown. Best served immediately out of the oven.

They'll go fast, so don't forget to photo them quick!

Flower art

Stephanie's Flowers
49" x 49"

Stephanie showed me art she likes; a collaboration in the spirit of designer Diane von Furstenburg and artist Andy Warhol. Spontaneously -- which means I wasn't really thinking -- I said, "I think I could make that into a quilt for you."  She wanted a lap quilt more than wall art. It took about 40 hours, including planning time. OK, OK, I'm slow -- but I do love the piece, and it was fun checking with Stephanie as I went along, to see what colors she preferred, and to get her general approval. I'm not sure what Warhol would say, though.

detail

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Tape and glue: image transfer with artist Julie Guyot

Applying packing tape to an image

Here's what I learned at Tuesday's Visual Journaling class with artist Julie Guyot at the Thomasville Center for the Arts in Georgia.
There are many ways to transfer an image -- make it go from a picture on paper to some other medium, such as paper ... or wood ... or fabric... Here are two methods Julie demonstrated. When I got home I tried them, and you can see my results at the bottom.

Tape transfer method

Julie recommends 3M brand packing tape. Lower-quality tape makes the image transfer  less detailed, less complete. Julie says clear contact paper also works. 

Here are her steps: Saturate the picture in water and then gently scrape the paper off. You should end up with a picture on your tape.

Glue it to your base.

Simple! I think I get it:
1. Put tape on top of your picture.
2. Soak it in water so the picture paper kind of disintegrates.
3. Rub the paper off the tape: voilá! The ink sticks to the tape.

Right now I am having lunch and when I finish I'm going to try this. Of course, I have to stifle the obvious: Why am I doing this, anyway?

To make layers. If it works (really, I'm wondering ... ) If it works, I can put this picture on top of another image, and parts of that picture will show through the empty parts.

Soaking tape-covered picture in water

Acrylic medium method

 Use gel medium. Julie used Golden brand heavy gel. Brush it on all one way.

Brushing medium onto the image

Dry until all the tacky feeling is gone (as little as 15 minutes, but preferably overnight). 

Brush another layer of sticky stuff, going in the other direction..

Dry.

Soak. Rub it gently so the paper comes off. Again, the ink is supposed to stick to the top. You have in effect made your own packing tape with a picture on it. There are various types of medium. You can choose shiny or matte surface. 

Rubbing the paper off

In her fourth class Julie also discussed adding text to your art. Basically, write with whatever you want, whatever you can; in choosing text, consider its scale, size, style.  Options include pen and ink, paint, printing. You can use maps, letters, recipes, songs, music, poetry ... 

OK, now here's my first attempt. What didn't work for me may very well be a triumph for you.

3M tape ended up blank. That's the nearly-clear tape, and below it a mess of paper I rubbed off.
I was impatient.

 Great oak tree soaking
I brushed on two layers Mod Podge, because I read in the website below that it works like the Golden medium But it didn't
This tree turned into paper scraps

I kind of like these trees
I used Golden medium

See that texture at top right?
It's the paper I was rolling off the hardened medium

Here are two that "worked"
The little one is a sunset

Here's a website I consulted on how to make photo transfer with gel medium: 

http://stacyalexander.blogspot.com/2008/02/how-to-make-photo-transfer-for-collage.html

  

Thomasville Art

I missed the first couple of classes because I was in the snowy north, so last night was my first session of Visual Journaling, with artist Julie Guyot at the Thomasville Center for the Arts in Georgia. Sounds far away, but it's just 40 minutes north of here, past plantations and pecan groves, intersected by red dirt roads. Yes, the dirt really is red in South Georgia.

My friend Cindy raved about this class; she said I'd love it even though I don't want to make a journal  and really prefer to work alone, thank you. (I sound like a snob determined to learn as little as possible.) I do love books, and have stacks of filled journals and notebooks already. When I teach writing -- whether little children or adults -- we always make our own books and I love the whole process.

But now I crave printing, painting, collage, and (most of all) quilts. My notebooks are for art inspiration, plans and progress. So I don't care if I make a journal. What I want from this class is to have some fun with other artists, snoop into the Thomasville art scene, and learn a couple of new techniques.

Last night was a good start. The art center is in an old building with rough brick interior walls and high ceilings. They are generous with supplies, and Julie orchestrated a balanced, relaxed mix of procedure and practice. Here's what I learned:

1. Make a 1" spine for your journal cover.

Julie used her quilter's ruler to measure 1", then scored the cover, and bent it back and forth.

2. Because pages have two sides, mark an X on the front so you don't get confused.

3. Punch two holes through the covers. This is where you will bind the book.

4. When gluing paper onto pages of your book, work on a big piece of cheap paper to catch the mess. Julie also had plastic spread on our work tables.

5. In placing papers, consider color, contrast, value, and size -- those elements are everywhere, and of course design principles determine how wonderful your piece will be. Last night, though, I was kind of slap-dash. Wish I could say it was a Picasso-like trance, but it wasn't.

6. Start gluing in the middle and brush outward. Then press or use a brayer.

7. Paper has a kind of grain. Tear paper one way to have white interior show and the other so it doesn't.

8. Ways to incorporate text: Paint it. Cut it out and glue it down. Stencil. Print.

9. JG tip: Julie said she heard this over and over in art school: 

"The eye needs a place to rest."

OK, she also hears design friends repeat my least favorite phrase, "pop of color".  She says those in the know say simply POC.

Green circles provide POC

10. Try using water-soluble oil pastels. Crayon-like, they offer more control than watercolor but still mix with water for that thinning-out effect. Julie uses them to outline elements, then dilutes them so they wander a bit.

Caran d'Ache Classic Neocolor II Water-Soluble Pastels, 15 Colors 

Julie is using water on a brush to enhance outline made with water-soluble oil pastels.
They came in that red and blue box in the front.