Fruit Tart

This recipe is for a nine inch pie shell. To keep things simple, you can buy a packaged shortbread pie shell at your local grocery store or supermarket. I've only ever seen these pie crusts in nine inch form, but there "may" be other sizes. Of course too, you can make your own pie crust to whatever size you prefer, and then adjust the other ingredients accordingly.    

Ingredients:

1 nine inch shortbread pie shell
vanilla pastry cream*
kiwi fruit, peeled and sliced
blueberries
strawberries, sliced (not the small bottom pieces)
2 to 3 tablespoons thick apricot (or peach or mango) preserves

Put the vanilla pastry cream into the pie shell and smooth it out. Spread a thin layer of the preserves over the top of the pastry cream (middle photo below). You can arrange the fruit in whatever pattern you'd like. 

* To make vanilla pastry cream, here is the link to that recipe:
https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2019/09/vanilla-pastry-cream.html

WORD HISTORY:
Service-This is the noun (much later also a verb), and it is related to "serf," a Latin-derived word borrowed by English from French. "Service" goes back to Indo European "serwuo/serwo," meaning, "guardian, protector;" thus also, "shepherd." This gave its Italic offspring "serwo," meaning, "shepherd," and this gave Latin "servus," the meaning of which, "slave," seems to have evolved "perhaps" from a shepherd's devotion to his flock to the point of servitude? "Servus" gave Latin "servitium," which meant, "the state of being in servitude or being a slave;" thus also, "slavery." This passed to Latin-based Old French as "servise," meaning, "servitude," but also, "a religious ceremony of devotion (servitude) to God." This was borrowed by English, likely with reinforcement by the Latin term, circa 1100. Many meanings developed as time passed, like: "the performance of assistance to someone, including the serving of food," "duty as a knight (usually in servitude to a noble/feudal lord)," which then broadened into any "military duty," "dishes and eating utensils" (now more often for tea or coffee), and others. The verb form developed from the noun, but not until circa 1900.     

Tomato Tart

I think you'll love this wonderful tomato tart. You can serve it warm or cold. You can certainly make your own pie dough, but store bought pie dough is fine. When I went to buy the pie dough, they were out of the pie dough you find in the refrigerated case, but they had frozen 9 inch deep dish pie shells in aluminum pans, so that's what I used for this article. I've made this before with the refrigerated pie dough in my own pie dishes. Naturally, you may have to adjust the amount of the ingredients somewhat, depending upon the size pie dish/pan you use. While this is my own recipe, I must credit certain aspects of it to Clarissa Dickson Wright, an English food author and cook, who partnered with Jennifer Paterson for the BBC produced television cooking series, "Two Fat Ladies," from the late 1990s.* 

Ingredients (approximate amounts for one 9 inch deep dish tart):

pie dough/pre-made pie shell, or your own pie dough, if you're feeling ambitious
3 large tomatoes seeded, with any tough core removed, and then cut into 1/3 to 1/2 inch slices
1 cup onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped or minced
4 tablespoons tomato sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/3 cup basil, finely chopped
1/3 cup sharp Cheddar cheese, finely chopped
1 cup heavy cream 
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup mix of pitted black and green olives
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2/3 teaspoon salt

Heat the oven to 400 F. Bake the pie shell until it begins to brown (or follow the instructions on the pie crust package), then remove it from the oven, but keep the oven hot. Meanwhile, in a skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion, saute for 1 to 2 minutes, then add the garlic and cook until both the onion and garlic soften. Add the tomato sauce and stir to mix; cook until the sauce is thickened. Add the mixture to the bottom of the browned pie crust to form a base. Top the base with the tomato slices (you needn't use either end of the tomatoes). In a measuring cup, pour in 1 cup heavy cream, then add the beaten eggs, mix very well, then mix in the basil. Pour the mixture over the tomato slices in the pie shell. Add the chopped Cheddar and the olives to the top; season with salt and pepper. Bake the tart until the edges are golden brown and the custard is set (see Word History, below). Generally, the time can vary from anywhere from about 45 minutes to an hour. If you plan to serve it warm, let the tart cool a bit before slicing. If you plan to serve it cold, let it cool considerably before putting it into the refrigerator.
   

* For more about the television series, here is the link: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2016/11/two-fat-ladies-were-delight.html

Always one to give truth to the saying, "No one's perfect," when I took the tart out of the oven, I broke a small piece of the crust off. Hey, no one's perfect.

WORD HISTORY:
Custard-This word is related to "crust," a word borrowed by English from Latin. It goes back to Indo European "krus/kreus," which had the notion, "to form a crust, to begin to solidify, harden or freeze." This gave Latin "crusta" which meant, "crust, tree bark, scab, shell." This gave Old French "crouste" (crust), which produced Provençal "cro(u)stado," which meant, "a pie, a tart (food prepared with a crust as a covering)," which was taken by French as "croustade," and it was borrowed by English in the second half of the 1300s, initially as "crustade," but within a century the word had become "custard," but exactly why the spelling changed is unclear, although the change in positions of a vowel and "r," called metathesis, has happened, as in "bird," which once was "brid." Not only did the spelling change, but the meaning also changed, circa 1600; perhaps (?) from the use of boiled or baked tart fillings of milk or cream and eggs, and usually flavored and/or sweetened, the meaning it still has today.      

German Onion Tart: Zwiebelkuchen

"Zwiebelkuchen" literally means, "onion cake," but in reality it is more of an "onion tart," or an "onion pie." The standard German word for the dish is the compound word "Zwiebelkuchen," and the dish is known as part of several regional cuisines in German speaking areas; and therefore, it is known by a number of dialect names: "Zwiwwelkuche" in Pfälzisch,* "Zwiwwlwähe" and "Zwiebelwäje" in the Alemannic German dialects of Switzerland,** but "Zwiwwelkuech" in the Alemannic German  dialect of Alsace, "Zwiwlwähe" in Swabian Alemannic dialect (very generally the Stuttgart area), and in the Frankish dialect of the Nuremberg area it is known as "Zwiebelplootz," and there are likely more regional names. Just as there are a number of names for this dish, so are there some variations in recipes, with some people using yeast risen dough, like bread or pizza dough, and others using a "short crust" pie dough (in German: Mürbeteig), and still others using store bought puff pastry. I have used both pie dough and bread dough when I've made this, and for this article I used pie dough. I've seen it mentioned by some that originally bread dough was used. Some bake the dish on square baking sheets, while others use round cake or pie pans. Some people add some shredded Swiss cheese ("Emmentaler") or Gruyère to the top.

"Zwiebelkuchen," a type of quiche (see Word History, below), has long been associated with the fall (autumn) time of the year, when "new wine" (German: "neuer Wein"); that is, not totally fermented wine, is sold in many wine bars and restaurants in wine producing areas. As with so many food products and recipes in German areas, there are a number of regional names for "new wine;" hey, you didn't think the Germans would make this easy, did you? One of the common names is "Federweißer," literally, "feather white," but why this term is used is not really understood; although perhaps because of young birds having white or off white feathers? The wine is murky; thus, not really the clear light color of white wine after it matures. Believe me though, there are several other terms used for new wine. Now you don't have to just make this tart in the fall of the year, although you may be penalized by Germans for breaking with tradition by being forced to repeatedly attempt to pronounce  the word "Streichholzschächtelchen" until you get it right. ***

To save yourself time and work, use store bought pie crust, frozen puff pastry or pizza dough. In times now "generally" past, lard was often used in the preparation of "Zwiebelkuchen," in both the dough and in the filling, but many now replace the lard with butter or oil. The recipe here is just a sort of guideline, as the quantity of ingredients will depend upon the dish you use to make "Zwiebelkuchen." I used a 10 inch pie dish (Pyrex/glass). 

Ingredients:

pie dough or puff pastry
2 tablespoons butter (divided use, or you can substitute olive oil) 
2 baseball size onions, chopped
1/2 pound thick sliced bacon, chopped or diced)
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup heavy cream (or you can substitute reduced fat sour cream)
1/2 cup evaporated milk (canned milk)
1/4 cup dry white wine
3 eggs
2/3 teaspoon black pepper
(optional) 1/2 teaspoon salt 
(optional for garnish) chopped green onions (scallions)

Heat oven to 400 F. Use 1 tablespoon butter (or olive oil) to grease the pan or baking sheet you will use. Then line the pan with dough. In a skillet over medium heat, melt the butter (or you can use 1 tablespoon oil) and add the bacon. Cook the bacon until much of the fat is rendered, but remember, the bacon will be baked, so you don't want to cook it too much in the skillet. Remove the bacon to some paper towels, then pour off all but about 2 tablespoons of the melted bacon fat from the skillet. Add the onions and cook over low heat until the mass of onions starts to cook down, then add the wine, caraway seed and nutmeg, and stir to mix well. Cook until the onions are softened and remove from the heat. Then if using pie dough, let the onions cool down just a little. Put the onions into the dough lined dish and spread them out evenly. Sprinkle the bacon pieces over the onions. Put the dish into the oven and let it bake until the edge of the dough "begins" to set. While that is going on, mix together the cream, milk, eggs, black pepper and salt too, if using (mix well). Remove the dish from the oven and pour the cream mixture over the onions and bacon. Try to get it over all parts of the dish. Put dish back into the oven and bake until the top is well set and a little browned (the one I made for this article took about 25 minutes). Remove from the oven and let cool for just a little time before slicing. Serve it warm, or it can also be served chilled. I like it with some fresh chopped scallions on top and many Germans serve it that way, too. 

* "Pfälzisch" (=Palatinate dialect, spoken in the Palatinate and in the Rhineland-Palatinate) is a dialect of German derived from Frankish, as are the nearby German dialects Hessisch (Hessian), Lothringisch (Lorraine German) and "Lëtzebuergesch" (Luxembourgish). Other German dialects are also derived from forms of Frankish, as is Dutch, the language of the Netherlands, and the Dutch dialect of Flemish, spoken by about 60% of the population of Belgium.

** The Alemannic German dialects are spoken in southwestern Germany, Switzerland, Alsace, Liechtenstein and far western Austria.   

*** While all languages have compound words, German is famous (infamous?) for compounding compounds into gigantic words that send fear into the hearts of those seeing or hearing them. They really are not as fearsome as they appear, as you just need to break them down. "Streichholzschächtelchen" means, "little matchbox," from the verb "streichen" (close relative of the  English verb "(to) strike," and with the same meaning in German), the noun "Holz" (close relative of generally now antiquated English "holt," meaning "forest, woods, timberland," which in German simply came to mean "wood," the material from trees), the noun "Schachtel," a word borrowed by German from Italian with alterations in Austro-Bavarian German dialect, and meaning "box," and the suffix "-chen," a diminutive, which means it makes a word's meaning seem "smaller" or "endearing" (a close relative of English forms -kin, -ken, -chen). So if Germans try to penalize you by making you try to pronounce "Streichholzschächtelchen," you needn't panic, it's like, "strike-hills-shuttle-chin"... ah, "stripe-held-snipple-chen" ... ah, "stray-help-shacktel-chun," ah... oh the hell with it! You're in trouble!

WORD HISTORY:
Quiche-This word is related to "cake." It goes back to Indo European "ghag/ghog," which simply had the notion of "a spherical object, a clump." Its Old Germanic offspring was "kokon," which by then meant "clump, or small round loaf of bread." It was not until the 1400s and 1500s that "cake" was more commonly used for the sweetened form of bread we think of today. The Germanic form gave Old High German "kuohho," which seems to have meant, "round bread loaf, clump of cooked mush." This then became "kuoche," before the modern German form "Kuchen" (meaning "cake") which was "Küeche/Küche" in "Lothringisch" dialect (Lorraine Frankish German dialect). This was borrowed by French in about 1800 (?) as "quiche," and English borrowed the word in the mid 1900s.^

^ For "cake," the English relative of "quiche" and of German "Kuchen," this is the link to the article with that "Word History": http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2012/09/its-none-of-your-pancake-business.html 

Acorn or Butternut Squash & Sage Tart

This was my own idea, so if anything goes wrong, blame someone else. That may not sound right, but I'll get Sarah Huckabee Sanders to explain it to you later. I used an acorn squash about the size of a softball. Actually... I checked and found that the diameter of a softball is typically 3.8 inches or 9.65 centimeters. Just before I put the squash mix into the pie shell, I had a brilliant, very brilliant, idea. I'll have Sarah Huckabee Sanders explain how brilliant I am later and she'll tell you with a totally straight face. That girl can lie without batting an eye. Anyway, I added some mushrooms to the ingredients. You can use whatever you have, but use only one portabello (also spelled, "portobello") mushroom, as they are so big. I happened to have a few shiitake mushrooms, so I used those.    


Ingredients:

1 acorn or butternut squash
1  9 inch pie shell
about 10 fresh sage leaves, torn into 3 pieces
1/2 teaspoon dried sage
3 mushroom caps, chopped 
pinch cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 egg, beaten

First, heat the oven to 325 F. Cut the squash in half and remove the seeds. Place the squash cut side down in a shallow ovenproof pan or on a baking sheet (foil or parchment paper lined makes for easier clean up). Bake for about 1 hour, or until a knife or fork can be easily inserted into each half. Scoop out the flesh of the squash into a bowl and let it cool a bit. Put the pie shell into your preheated 375 F oven for about 6 or 8 minutes, just to firm it up. Mash the squash flesh and then add the sage leaves, the dried sage, the chopped mushrooms, the cayenne, the salt, the pepper, the flour, the cream and the beaten egg. Mix very well with a large spoon. The mixture should be very thick. Fill the pie shell with the squash mixture and bake it for approximately 45 minutes, but check it at the 30 minute mark. The tart can be served warm or cold.

WORD HISTORY: 
Squash-English has more than one word of this spelling, but this is the noun for the general name of the vegetable, of which there are a number of varieties. This is a shortening of a compound word, "askutasquash," from Narragansett, a language of the Algonquian languages of North America.^ The word meant, "thing eaten raw," with the "askut" part meaning, "green;" thus also, "raw," and  "asquash" meaning, "eaten."   

^ Some of the best known other members of this language family are Shawnee, Cheyenne, Cree and Arapaho, but there are many others.