Crème Fraîche--How to Make it

I decided to post from time to time a simple recipe that can be useful and, despite its simplicity, is not so obvious. Today, it is about crème fraîche. You can buy it easily in France or other European countries. But in the U.S. until recently, and at least in my area, it was not always available. And I still like to make my own crème fraîche. The list of recipes calling for it is almost endless. Crème fraîche is thick and creamy but is neither sweet nor sour. Crème fraîche is used in various cakes and tarts, like Tarte Tatin, other desserts, like the delicious Vacherin, some soups, sauces, various gratin dishes, and many other dishes. If you think about making your own crème fraîche to use it in any recipe two days from now, this is how you make it.

Crème Fraîche

Ingredients:
1 cup heavy whipping cream (or 30 percent sweet cream),
2 tbsp buttermilk.

Preparation:
1. Mix both ingredients in a bowl and leave in room temperature for 24 hours.
2. Stir the cream and leave for another day.

Your crème fraîche should be ready in 2-3 days, depending on how warm your house is. It can be stored in a refrigerator for about a week to ten days.

Easy Beet Salad--with an Oriental Twist

I consider cabbage and beets the pillars of Polish cuisine. No wonder then that whenever I hear about them being used in different cuisines or served differently than we do in Poland, I get territorial. I am extremely open to try new dishes and particularly vegetables, and I always look forward to trying and assimilating new recipes. But, whenever I read a recipe calling for beets or cabbage, my undeniably Polish nature comes out and I approach these recipes with a great dose of scepticism. What new could possibly anyone say about these vegetable to people who have been eating them for ages in any possible incarnation, often several times a week, and which are fundamental ingredients of all our holidays?

A new color--there are yellow beets available in many food stores, new shape--even in Poland we sell new beets that are long like cucumbers, or an old style salad recipe just refreshed by adding beets? But this recipe, one of those that I found in Met Home, appealed to me from the first moment I saw it. I believe that whoever created it, really understood what beets need to taste good. Beets are rather mild by nature and usually need a lot of sourness and some other spices to bring out their delicate taste. This recipe used some Middle eastern ingredients and, believe me, this beet salad with an Oriental twist tasted extremely good and interesting.

Oriental Beet Salad

Ingredients:
3 medium beets cooked or roasted and peeled off (if you cannot buy them like that, cook whole raw beets in water for about one hour, or bake in an oven wrapped in aluminium foil for 45-60 minutes, then let them cool down and peel them),
2 small shallots sliced into very thin half rings,
2 tbsp sherry vinegar,
2 tbsp pomegranate molasses (available in most Middle Eastern grocery stores),
2 tbsp rose water (also available in oriental food stores),
3 tbsp extra-virgin oil.

Preparation:
1. Cut beets into smaller pieces. Add cut shallots.
2. Mix vinegar,molasses,rose water and oil to make a smooth dressing.
Add salt and pepper to taste.

3. Pour the dressing over the beets, cover and let them marinate for minimum 2 hours, or overnight.

Serve alone as salad itself, as accompaniment to meats, or add to other, for example green salads.

Lemon Tart or Lemon Bars--Whatever You Prefer

I thought that this recipe for a simple yet delicious dessert would be a great transition from summer to fall. A sour and refreshing top, for still hot days, yet with a baked bottom, like many fall deserts. But in the past few days weather has been here rather very autumny, more like in October, with rains that seem never to take breaks. Since I bought extra lemons for that recipe I decided to make it anyway. And even more so because my niece from Poland was visiting me and we enjoyed our afternoon coffees with a piece (read "three") of home-made cake.

This crust is the one that I make most often. I also use it in my tarts, which have cream and egg fillings, but originally it comes exactly from this recipe. I love it not only because it is very delicate and sandy, but most of all because it does not require any special techniques to make it, but three ingredients, two hands, one oven, and a cake is ready in no time. And the classic lemon topping seems to be everyone's favorite.

Sometimes I make it in a square form and cut it into rectangles--then someone called "oh, lemon bars". But, more often, I make, as I call it, a French (elegant) version in a round tart form and then it becomes rather a lemon tart. I sprinkle it with icing sugar and always decorate with seasonal berries.

Lemon Tart or Lemon Bars
(For a square or round 9 inch baking tin)

Ingredients for the crust:
2 cups all purpose flour,
2 sticks, cold, unsalted butter,
1/2 cup icing sugar.

Ingredients for the filling:
1 can sweetened condensed milk,
4 eggs,
3/4 cup lemon juice,
1 tbsp lemon zest,
1 tsp baking powder,
1 tbsp flour.

Preparation:
1. Put flour, butter, and sugar in a large bowl. Working with hands break the butter into small pieces and rub in the dry ingredients to make large crumbles.
2. Place the crust in a plastic bag and let it chill for a minimum of 30 minutes. This step can be made ahead and the crust can stay in a refrigerator for couple of weeks.
3. Preheat oven to 350F.
4. Spread the crust crumbles on the baking form and its walls.

5. Bake for about 15-20 minutes, until the crust is slightly gold.
6. Using an electric mixer (I do that in a stand Kitchen Aid mixer) mix milk and eggs. Add lemon juice, flour, baking powder, and lemon zest. Spread the filling over the crust and bake for another 20-25 minutes, until the top is set but not too hard.

Cool down and cut into diamonds or rectangles,

or into triangles.

Serve decorated with fresh berries and whipped cream, if you like.