- 1 tablespoon neutral oil, like grapeseed or corn, plus more for greasing the pan [Decided that the particular cuisine of the variation I selected could certainly stand up to a bit of Extra Virgin Olive Oil. And it's just less messy to grease a pan with a wrapped stick of butter.]
- 1/2 cup quinoa
- salt
- 2 cups cooked or drained canned white beans [Cannellini struck me as a good choice. Even the name of the beans are Italian.]
- 1/2 small onion, chopped
- 1 small red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and chopped [Mom gave me an orange one so who needs buying a slightly different pepper. It really doesn't matter THAT much unless you're attempting to substitute a significantly more bitter green bell pepper for the sweeter varieties. Or of course, vice versa.]
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary or thyme, or about 1/2 teaspoon dried [I was just about to vent about the fact that I forgot I somehow don't own dried rosemary and went "DOH" when I read the thyme part. I wound up using some Herbes de Provence. Decidedly not Italian, but at least it contains both of those herbs.]
- 3/4 cup cream, vegetable stock, bean-cooking liquid, or water [Used some chicken stock I had open in the fridge. I'm not a vegetarian; so, sue me.]
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 cup corn kernels (frozen are fine; don't bother to thaw)
- 3 egg yolks
Oh, quinoa, clearly it doesn't take much more than me trying to open the glass jar my roommate Staci Z keeps you in to propel you ALL OVER my work space.
Mise en place at this stage in the game.
The quinoa blackened long before I noted any golden-browning going on.
After reading Bittman's intro to the recipe again, I guess it would've been faster to drag out my food processor for the first time since moving at the end of January. Probably would've been easier to gauge consistency as well, but blenders are easier to clean.
Oh, while separating the yolks out for the dish, I unthinkingly cracked a whole egg into the blender. Managed to scoop most of the white out with my hands eventually. Thankfully this isn't a dish that is broken by traces of egg white (I think a recent MMB recipe I read stressed the importance of this but I forget which one by now).
First attempt at a tart. Cooked quinoa pressed into some odd tart pan I found in the cupboards. Isn't it supposed to be fluted from top to bottom?
Not much to be said about my presentation at this juncture.
My first bain-marie. Taking my definition from Epicurious.com this time because the Wiki just confused me:
The French call this cooking technique bain marie . It consists of placing a container (pan, bowl, soufflé dish, etc.) of food in a large, shallow pan of warm water, which surrounds the food with gentle heat. The food may be cooked in this manner either in an oven or on top of a range. This technique is designed to cook delicate dishes such as custards, sauces and savory mousses without breaking or curdling them. It can also be used to keep cooked foods warm.
Looks more like a blob than a tart on the plate. Tastes pretty good. Maybe it'll firm up in the fridge a bit more.
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