I’ve been very busy.  I worked 12-16 hour days all last week.  So, I have not had a whole lot of time to cook.  The craziness is over now.  I have this weekend off, and next week I go back to a normal work week.  Today, I slept in and figured out what I was doing with the food that I received from my farmshare on Wednesday.  Luckily it was all so fresh on when it arrived  that none of it has minded waiting a few days to be eaten.

When I have time, I truly enjoy trying out new recipes.  I will happily make special shopping trips to find odd ingredients that I don’t have on hand in order to try out a new dish.  I will try recipes over and over and tweak them until they are just so.  That is really my idea of a good time.  Usually.  Today though, I was all about making simple  things out of what I have on hand, because I am very tired.

FARMSHARE WEEK 8

• Broccoli, Cauliflower, Onions and Potatoes-  Made into this delicious soup and frozen to eat when it gets colder.
• Basil- made into basil pesto for homemade quinoa ricotta gnocchi from this excellent cookbook.  I make big batches of this gnocchi every once in a while and freeze them.  It comes in very handy when I’m swamped with work.
• Lettuce –  made into salad with radishes, boiled eggs, toasted sunflower seeds and Cashew Dill Lemon Dressing.
• Cucumber- Made into Cold Cucumber Soup with Yogurt, Dill and Sesame.
• Blueberries- eaten on top of Coconut Chia Seed Pudding for Breakfast.
• Plums- Made into a Fresh Fruit and Mascarpone Tart!

Here is a “recipe” for an adaptable fresh fruit and mascarpone tart.  Recipe is in quotes because almost every bit of this recipe is up for adaptation based on what you have in your fridge and pantry.  I used this gluten-free tart crust, but it really does not matter what kind of crust you use.   I used plums from my farmshare, but pitted cherries, apricots, peaches, nectarines, strawberries, blueberries or raspberries would have also been great.  I paired yogurt with the mascarpone for the filling, but sour cream, creme fraiche, whipped cream or ricotta would have all worked just as well.  I had lemon zest, but orange zest would have been just as good or it could be omitted altogether.  Throw in vanilla bean or vanilla extract or skip it if you don’t have either of those things.  Any kind of seedless jam will work to glaze the fruit.  You get the idea.  This is supposed to be a stress free, fool-proof dessert.

ADAPTABLE FRESH FRUIT AND MASCARPONE TART

Make one of these tart crusts (or use your own recipe)and allow it to cool totally before filling the tart.

• Gluten-Free Rice Flour Tart Crust
• Gluten-Free Hazelnut Buckwheat Crust
• GLuten-free Buckwheat Almond Crust
• GLuten-free Coconut Crust
• Gluten-Free Rice Flour Pie Crust
• Gluten-Free Salted Almond Crust
• Old fashioned Pie Crust (not Gluten-free)
• Vegetable oil crust (not gluten-free)
• Rich and Tender Crust (not gluten-free)

Tart Filling

• 3/4 cup mascarpone
• 1/3 cup plain whole milk yogurt, creme fraiche, sour cream, whipped cream or ricotta
• the seeds scraped from 1/2 of a vanilla bean (drop the scraped bean pod into your sugar bowl to make vanilla sugar!) or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• the zest of 1/2 lemon or 1/4 orange
• 3 Tablespoons confectioners sugar (more or less to taste)
• 2 cups pitted, sliced fresh stone fruit or berries (sliced if large)
• 1/4 cup apricot jam (or some other seedless jelly or jam)
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice

1. Combine the mascarpone with yogurt (or whatever), vanilla, citrus zest and confectioners sugar.  Put it in the fridge to keep it very cold.
2. Whisk the jam and lemon juice together and toss it with whatever sliced fruit or berries you are using.  Put it in the fridge to keep cold.
3. When the crust is cool, fill it with the mascarpone mixture and top with the fruit.  Chill until you are ready to serve.

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