Shepherds Pie

With mother's day around the corner, I am extra inspired to make dishes that remind me of my mother's cooking.  This is the epitome - shepherds pie made lighter, healthier, and more delicious than you've ever had before.  Most people think of shepherds pie as beef stew topped with mashed potatoes, or something along those lines.  Well it's about to get much more interesting.

This recipe is an adaptation of my mother's.  She always makes it with turkey instead of beef, and adds loads of flavor from a couple of secret ingredients (which, of course, will not be secret for long).  The base is almost like a bolognese with an extra hit of seasoning that you don't quite expect.  The topping is glorious mashed potatoes with the skins left on, and the finishing touch is just a delicate sprinkling of cheese to add that something special.

The primary secret ingredient in this shepherds pie is somewhat controversial.  It's Marmite.  If you're not familiar with Marmite, it is a much-loved and yet much-hated ingredient for the children of British families.  I happen to fall in the love camp, but if you fall into the less-enlightened (in my opinion) hate camp, or you simply don't want to try it, you can use a bit of Worcestershire sauce, or just increase the tomato paste.  Marmite is a vegetarian yeast-based spread, but it lends a beefiness to this shepherds pie that would definitely be missed if you skip it.  You can also use Vegemite, which is the Australian equivalent. 

Shepherds pie, in my family anyway, is the ultimate comfort food.  And it only seems to get better the next day, so definitely make enough to have leftovers.

Shepherds Pie

serves 4-6

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb. baby Yukon gold potatoes, scrubbed and halved

salt

2/3 cup skim milk

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1/2 medium onion, diced

1 celery stalk, diced

1 carrot, peeled and diced

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

pinch of red pepper flakes

1 lb. ground white meat turkey

2 teaspoons tomato paste

2 teaspoons Marmite or Vegemite

1 14.5-oz can diced tomatoes, mostly drained

2 tablespoons grated mozzarella or white cheddar

DIRECTIONS:

1.  Place the potatoes in a pot and fill with cold water to about one inch above the potatoes.  Salt it.  Bring to a boil and cook, uncovered, for 10-15 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender and easily pierced with a fork.  Drain, return to the pot, and add the milk and butter.  Mash the potatoes until smooth.  Salt to taste.

2.  While the potatoes are cooking, heat the oil in a Dutch oven or large pot over medium-high.  Add the onion, celery, carrot, and garlic, and cook, stirring often, until vegetables are starting to soften, about 5 minutes.  Season with salt and red pepper flakes. 

3.  Add the turkey to the pot and break it up with a wooden spoon as it cooks.  Cook, stirring often, until the turkey is no longer pink, about 3 minutes.  Add the tomato paste and Marmite and stir to distribute fairly evenly.  Add the diced tomatoes and a little bit of their juices and stir everything together.  Let cook about 5 more minutes to evaporate some of the moisture.

4.  Preheat the oven to 375.  Transfer the turkey mixture to a 8 x 8 baking dish and top with the mashed potatoes.  Smooth them out to create an even layer.  Sprinkle with the cheese and bake in the preheated oven for 15  minutes, or until the potatoes are starting to get crusty and golden on top.  Serve hot.

Enjoy!

Raspberry Scones

Berry season is well underway.  When I saw that this month's issue of Everyday Food had a whole feature on raspberries, I had to get in on the action. 

These scones are easy.  These scones are flaky and buttery.  These scones are studded with fresh raspberries.  I think that should get you up out of your seat and high-tailing it to the nearest market for fresh berries. 

As with any scone, these make an excellent breakfast pastry, or a nice accompaniment to an afternoon cup of tea.  Or you could just have them for dessert.  Or lunch.  Or a midnight snack.  No one has to know.

And a note:  any time you see buttermilk in a recipe and don't feel like buying it, you can substitute the same amount of milk, and add a squirt of lemon juice or a teaspoon of vinegar, let it sit for about five minutes, and then use it.

Raspberry Scones

adapted from Everyday Food

makes 16

INGREDIENTS:

2 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour, plus more for work surface

1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

3/4 cup buttermilk

1 large egg yolk

6 oz. fresh raspberries, washed and gently dried

DIRECTIONS:

1.  Preheat oven to 400.  Line a baking sheet with parchment.

2.  In a food processor, pulse the flour, 1/4 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt to combine.  Add butter and pulse until pea-size pieces form.  

3.  In a small bowl, whisk together buttermilk and egg yolk.  Slowly stream in through the feed tube of the food processor and pulse until the dough just comes together.  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface.

4.  Form the dough into a cohesive piece and flatten into a 1 inch thick square.  Sprinkle the raspberries over the top.  Knead gently, just a few times, to get the raspberries into the dough.  Warning: it will be squishy and messy, and that is okay.

5.  Cut the dough into relatively even pieces - you should easily get 16 fairly small scones.  Place on the prepared baking sheet 2 inches apart and bake for 15-18 minutes, rotating the baking sheet halfway through, until golden brown.  Let cool a few minutes.

Enjoy!

Whole Wheat Irish Soda Bread

It's St. Patrick's day tomorrow, and virtually every food blogger out there has posted a recipe for Irish soda bread this week.  I decided to join the herd and make my own.  The twist is that I've never eaten Irish soda bread before in my life.

I come from an English family.  My ancestors have a bit of Welsh on my dad's side, and a lot of eastern European on my mother's side.  But to the best of my knowledge, there is nary a drop of Irish blood in my family tree.  I have married into an Irish (many generations back) family, and thought I ought to live up to my new-ish name and get into the spirit of St. Patrick's day.  Beyond the traditional way of doing so, which is to drink oneself into a stupor. 

So today I tried my hand at baking soda bread.  It is named for its scientific component - the aspect that makes it rise, which is baking soda.  I don't bake a lot of yeast breads because of a completely irrational fear of working with yeast (which I do overcome from time to time), so this bread was right up my alley.  And this recipe for it was perfect - about as easy as it gets.  It did split a bit in the oven, but I rather like the pac-man shape it took on as a result.  It's crusty on the outside, fairly tender yet dense on the inside.  To top it all off, it's delicious!  It's just begging for a smear of butter and apricot jam, or a slice of sharp cheese.

This is easiest in a food processor, but you can mix by hand if you need to.

Whole Wheat Irish Soda Bread

adapted from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian

makes 1 round loaf

INGREDIENTS:

4 cups white whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons salt

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/2 cup plain nonfat or lowfat yogurt (more if necessary)

DIRECTIONS:

1.  Preheat oven to 375.  Line a baking sheet with a silpat liner, otherwise grease lightly with a neutral oil or baking spray.

2.  Combine flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder in a food processor (fitted with the dough blade, if you have one, but the regular blade is okay).  Process to combine.  Add the yogurt and process for about 30 seconds, until the dough starts to clump together.  If it is not moist enough, add more yogurt.  You want the dough to be mostly cohesive and soft, but not too sticky.  

3.  Turn out the dough onto the prepared baking sheet and use your hands to form a round loaf.  Slash the top with a knife  (if you don't do this deeply enough, you'll get a split like I did, but that's okay!).  Bake for 40 minutes, or until the loaf is golden brown and sounds hollow when you thump the bottom.  Let cool before cutting into slices or wedges.

Enjoy, and happy St. Patrick's day!

Orange and Black Currant Scones

My mother and I started a tradition on the first anniversary of my grandmother's passing.  We decided that everyone in our family, wherever we may be, should have a cup of tea on behalf of Nanny (that's what we call her) every year on January 5.   She loved her nice cups of tea, often to the tune of about four cups a day.  Some of us take the tradition a little farther and go for afternoon tea, which she also loved - my husband and I have been known to race to a local English tea room after we got off work on a January 5, when they were due to close in about 10 minutes.

This year I decided to make scones to have with some tea at home.  I took a recipe for scones and made it even more English, if that's possible, by adding black currants.  Black currants are a severely underrated fruit in the United States.  I don't know why little kids in the U.S. aren't plied with them from an early age.  In England they flavor all sorts of candies, jams, drinks, desserts, and other baked goods.  Black currant has been one of my favorite flavors for as long as I can remember.  And as an added bonus, they are loaded with Vitamin C and antioxidants.

In these scones I used dried black currant berries.  These are not to be confused with plain old Zante currants, which are small hard little black things, more like mini raisins.  These are juicy little berries with a rich sweet-tart flavor.  If you have a hard time finding them, you could substitute raisins, dried or fresh blueberries, dried cranberries, or whatever you like.  If you can find them, though, I highly recommend the black currants.  They set these scones over the edge, and even the orange zest alone gets these scones pretty close to that edge.  I'm pretty sure Nanny would have loved them.

Orange and Black Currant Scones

adapted from Gourmet Today

makes 8

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (all-purpose is okay)

2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 stick (8 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons

1 cup dried black currant berries

1/2 cup skim milk

1/4 cup heavy cream

1 large egg, separated

1 tablespoon finely grated orange zest

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

1.  Put a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat oven to 375.

2.  In food processor, pulse together flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse pebbly sand.  Transfer to a large bowl and stir in currants.

3.  Stir together milk, cream, yolk, zest, and vanilla in a small bowl.  Add to flour mixture, stirring just until a cohesive dough starts to form.  Do not overmix.

4.  Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead until it just comes together.  It will be sticky, so prepare to get your hands dirty.  Transfer to an ungreased baking sheet and pat gently into a 7 inch round.

5.  Lightly beat egg white and brush onto the top of the scones.  Sprinkle with remaining teaspoon of sugar.  Cut into eighths, but do not separate.  Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until golden brown all over.  Let cool 15 minutes before separating.  Serve warm.

Enjoy.  Love, Sparkle

Cherry Trifle

We all have fond memories that we associate with the holidays.  And I would venture a guess that I'm not the only one whose fond memories are packed with food.  (Anyone? Anyone?)   One of those desserts that I associate with home, family, and holidays, namely Christmas, is trifle. 

My mother has her own way of making trifle that is a little bit different from the traditional recipes I've seen, but it means that to me, this is traditional.  If I go with the lady fingers and the custard then suddenly it's not really trifle for me anymore.  British food scholars, if such a thing exists, will disagree with me.  But when they try this easy and delicious version that my mother concocted, I think they might change their ways. 

There are three major elements to this trifle that will determine how easy or hard this recipe will be - the cake, the cream, and the pudding.  If you choose to buy all three, this is one of the easiest desserts you will ever make.  In my case, I chose to make just one - the whipped cream (by whipping together 1 cup heavy cream, 2 teaspoons sugar, and half a teaspoon of vanilla until thick) - because I couldn't face the hydrogenated oils and whatnot that are in pre-made whipped cream.  If you want to make the pound cake from scratch, there are a lot of easy recipes out there.  Same for the pudding.  But I'll be honest with you - if you use an Entenmann's pound cake and Jell-O pudding mix, no one will judge you.

So this is how the Williams family makes trifle (with varying fruit selections - I chose to go with all cherries).  See what you think.

Cherry Trifle

serves 6-8

INGREDIENTS:

3 cups frozen cherries (not thawed)

1 loaf of pound cake, cut into 1/2 inch slices

1 cup cherry preserves (the good stuff)

1 ounce dry sherry

1 1/2 cups whipped cream (more or less is fine)

1 1/2 cups vanilla pudding, not quite set yet

DIRECTIONS:

1.  In a large glass bowl (preferably a trifle bowl as picture above, but any glass bowl will do), assemble the trifle in layers.  First, put in about a third of the cherries in the bottom.  Top with a single layer of pound cake slices, each slice spread with jam.  Drizzle half the sherry over the pound cake.

2.  Repeat with another third of the cherries, another layer of cake spread with jam, and drizzle with the sherry.  (You may have some pound cake left over - don't force it in there, you just want two single layers - though a bit of overlap is okay.)  Top with the last of the cherries.

3.  Spread a layer of whipped cream (homemade is best - see headnotes) over the top layer of cherries.  When vanilla pudding is starting to set, but not completely set yet, carefully pour it over the whipped cream to create a top layer. 

4.  Note:  if you made the pudding on the stove top try to let it cool most of the way before doing this, or the whipped cream will get melty and peek up through the pudding.  This is what happened to me - oops.  But it still tasted fantastic.

5.  Refrigerate until ready to serve, at least an hour.   Serve cold.

Enjoy a Williams family tradition!

"Bangers" and Mash

I don't think it needs to be said.  You all know it.  British food gets a bad rap.  I've tried to defend it many a time, but there's no use.  People who trash British food have clearly never had a home cooked, a.k.a. Mum-made British meal.  (Or at least their mum wasn't as good a cook as mine).  Sure, there are a lot of British foods I have no interest in eating, but there are a lot of so-called "American" foods that I have no interest in eating, too.  (Chicken fried steak?  Yuck.)

Anyway, whatever your views on the culinary history of Britain, there is one traditional dish that most non-vegetarian people agree is pretty inoffensive.  Bangers are bready, meaty sausages, extremely heavy and extremely tasty.   I decided to use chicken bratwurst instead.  Feel free to use whatever sausage you like, but the idea is to get one of those already-cooked chicken or turkey sausages with interesting spices and flavors in it.  And who doesn't like mashed potatoes?

Grilled onions provide a deep, luxurious flavor to the sausage.  Simply sauteed spinach picks up the overflow of flavors from the sausage and the onions.  And delicately creamy mashed potatoes provide a pillowy backdrop for the other items on the plate.  Everything here is much healthier than it looks.  And flavor is not sacrificed one little bit.

There is a certain satisfaction in cooking an impromptu meal that takes you back to your childhood.  Even if you didn't grow up with this food, I'll let you borrow a snapshot from my upbringing and see if it doesn't provide the ultimate comfort.

"Bangers" and Mash

serves 3

INGREDIENTS:

for the mash

1 lb.  fingerling or similar potatoes, halved or quartered

salt

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup skim milk (more or less)

freshly ground pepper to taste

for the bangers 

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1/2 medium onion, thinly sliced

4 chicken bratwurst or similar sausages

1 bunch of spinach, thoroughly washed and spun dry

DIRECTIONS:

1.  Place potatoes in a medium pot and fill with water, about an inch above the tops of the potatoes.  Bring to a boil and salt the water.  Keep uncovered and cook at a rolling boil for about 10 minutes, or until potatoes are easily pierced with a fork.  Drain and return to the pot. 

2.  Add olive oil and most of the milk, and mash in the pot.  Season with salt and pepper.  If it's too dry, add milk until it's your desired consistency.

3.  While the potatoes are cooking, heat the 1 tablespoon EVOO in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  When hot, add the onion and cook until just starting to brown.  Reduce heat to medium and add sausages.  Let cook for a minute or two, then flip the sausages with tongs to brown the other side. 

4.  When sausages and onions are nicely browned, add the spinach to the skillet and immediately cover with a lid.  Reduce heat to medium-low.  Let cook for about 3 to 4 minutes, until spinach is wilted.

5.  Serve the bangers, mash, and spinach together on a plate.  As an added bonus, serve with HP sauce if you have access to it.  You'll thank me.

Enjoy!

 

Savory Vegetarian Bread and Butter Pudding

I am a huge fan of bread and butter pudding. Huge. There are so many variations, both savory and sweet. This one is more like a breakfast casserole. I made it for our mother's day brunch on Saturday, and it went over very well. Best of all, it was so easy!

The idea is to use stale bread, though I'll admit I actually bought a loaf of bread with this recipe in mind. I made sure to buy it a few days in advance so I'd feel less guilty about "wasting" fresh bread on a bread and butter pudding - but once you taste this, any concern about waste will be right out the window. It's tangy and gorgeous. Make it for your next brunch!

You can put in just about any vegetable, or even add meat and make it non-vegetarian (crumbled bacon, anyone?). No matter what you put in, it will be delicious. Promise.

And a note - the reason I put 8-14 as the range for servings is because it all depends on whether this is one of many brunch offerings, as it was for us, or if it is your entire meal. Plan accordingly!

Savory Vegetarian Bread and Butter Pudding
adapted from The Pioneer Woman Cooks
serves 8-14

INGREDIENTS:

9 large eggs
1 cup skim milk
1 cup plan low fat yogurt
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
salt and pepper
6+ slices of whole wheat bread, cut into quarters
2 fresh tomatoes, sliced
1 bunch of baby spinach
2 scallions, finely chopped

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, and yogurt. Stir in the cheese, dijon, and salt and pepper to taste. Whisk until smooth.

2. Coat a large baking pan (preferably pyrex or similar) with cooking spray. Put in a single layer of bread quarters, making sure there are no gaps and the entire base of your baking pan is covered. Overlapping is okay. Evenly distribute the tomato slices and then the spinach. Pour in the egg mixture, making sure all the surface area is covered. Sprinkle with scallions.

3. Bake for 40 minutes, or until the eggs are set and don't wiggle too much when you move the pan. Serve hot.

Enjoy, and happy mother's day!

Cheddar-Ale Soup

This soup is something to write home about. It's spicy, it's hearty, and it will make your kitchen feel a bit like a British pub, only without the stench of malt vinegar. It's the soup equivalent of Welsh Rarebit, for those of you who are familiar with pub food. Bottom line - it's delicious. And if you have British parents like I do, you're bound to feel a wave of nostalgia as you eat it, even if you can't quite imagine your mum making it.

Be warned that the ale can make the soup a bit bitter, so I wouldn't recommend putting any more than half a bottle. The sweetness of the sauteed veggies helps to offset the bitterness. You can always drink the other half of the bottle rather than let it go to waste!

Cheddar-Ale Soup
serves 3-4
adapted from The Williams-Sonoma Cookbook

INGREDIENTS:













1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1 leek, white and green parts only, thinly sliced
1 carrot, peeled and diced
1 celery stalk, diced
salt and freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
2 cups low sodium chicken or veggie broth
1/2 bottle (6 oz.) good quality ale, poured into a bowl
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar
2 tablespoons freshly grated parmesan
pinch of cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

DIRECTIONS:

1. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the veggies and saute until softened, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

2. Stir in flour and mustard until incorporated, cook for about 1 minute. Add the broth and beer and bring to a simmer over high heat. Reduce heat to medium and cook, whisking occasionally to break up lumps, until slightly thickened, about 4-5 minutes.

3. Add cheeses and whisk constantly for 3 minutes or so, until cheese is melted and well distributed. Do not let boil or the soup may develop a stringy texture. Stir in cayenne and Worcestershire. Taste and adjust seasoning. Serve topped with parsley.

Enjoy with some crusty bread for dunking. Yum!

Chicken Curry with Gentle Spices

Tonight I made curry from scratch for the very first time. Sure, I've made it with store bought sauces or pastes before. But tonight I made the curry paste myself, the sauce myself, and voila - curry. The recipe came from the Splendid Table, and it was aptly named. The spices are indeed gentle. Subtle; understated; coy, if you will.

To be honest, I think I prefer my curry with a bit more kick. But this dish reminded me of the Anglicized version of curry I grew up with. Curry is quite different in England than in the US. And I can't speak for what it's like in India or any other Asian country, as I've never traveled to that part of the world. But different is not necessarily a bad thing. This is a comforting version of curry. It won't make you sweat, it will just make you feel well-fed and well taken care of.

Chicken Curry with Gentle Spices
adapted from the Splendid Table's "How to Eat Supper"
serves 3

INGREDIENTS:

Curry paste:
1/2 large onion, cut in half
3 large garlic cloves
2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
generous pinch of freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 medium-large ripe tomato
1 jalapeno, stemmed and seeded
1/4 cup water

Chicken
vegetable oil
1 cup plain low-fat yogurt
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 tablespoons water
salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a food processor, puree one of the onion halves with the remaining curry paste ingredients. Set aside.

2. Thinly slice the remaining onion half. Film the bottom of a straight-sized saute pan with vegetable oil, and heat it over medium-high heat. Add the slices onion, and saute until it begins to color. Add the curry paste, reduce heat to medium, and saute for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon or spatula, until the oil separates from the curry paste.

3. Stir 1/3 cup of the yogurt into the curry sauce and simmer, stirring and scraping up the curry paste from the bottom of the pan, until yogurt thickens and reduces significantly, about 8 to 10 minutes.

4. Stir in the chicken, remaining yogurt and water. Bring to a slow simmer. Cook, uncovered, for 6-8 minutes, until chicken is cooked through.

5. Remove chicken pieces with a slotted spoon and set aside in a serving dish. Raise heat until sauce is boiling. Boil it down until it is so thickened that oil begins to separate again, about 4-5 minutes. Taste for seasoning, adding salt and pepper if needed. Serve the chicken topped with the curry sauce.

We had ours over a bed of brown rice. I think this is the perfect solution when you might be craving Indian or Thai food but you're not in the mood for a lot of spice. You can always spice it up more intensely with a second jalapeno, or an even hotter pepper. But then you'd have to change the name, and where's the fun in that?

Enjoy!

Rustic Jam Shortbread Tart

One hurdle I have yet to overcome in my quest to become a great cook is home made pastry. I love to bake, and I'm pretty good at it if you must know. But pie crust and tart shells are something I have yet to attempt. Maybe it's easy. Maybe if I try it I'll find that I'm a natural. But I have found the recipe that is a baby-step on the way to home made pastry. A tart crust that's actually a cookie? Now that sounds like something I can do. And Lynne Rossetto Kasper, the author of this recipe, promises that if you learn to make this shortbread crust, "any pie crust will fall at your feet." So I had to try this one.

This tart is just begging to be eaten with a cup of tea. It's the perfect middle ground between a cookie and a pie. It's very thin, it crumbles in your mouth, it tastes lemony and almondy and all-around heavenly. I made this for my mother-in-law, who is coming over tomorrow, but I can't promise there will be any left tomorrow....

One note - make sure you use good quality jam. No rubbishy stuff. No "jelly." The jam is the star of the show, so make it good. I used a blackberry preserves from Fresh & Easy that my parents gave us for our anniversary. It's perfect. The author recommends tart cherry or wild blueberry jam. I'm willing to try it with every type of jam under the sun, if it means I get to make this and eat it again.

Rustic Jam Shortbread Tart
from The Splendid Table's "How to Eat Supper"
makes one 9-inch tart

INGREDIENTS:

zest of 1/2 lemon
1/4 cup whole almonds
3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (I used white whole wheat)
1/4 cup sugar
generous pinch of salt
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 6 chunks
1 large egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
3/4 cup good quality jam

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 400. Butter a 9-inch round silver-colored cake or tart pan.

2. Turn on the food processor and then drop in the lemon zest and almonds, and grind them fine. Stop the machine, scrape down the sides, and add the flour, sugar, salt, butter, egg yolk, and almond extract. Pulse until all ingredients are blended and starting to come together in small clumps that look like clusters of peas.

3. Turn the pastry out into the pan. With your hands, pat it out to evenly cover the bottom. Nudge the edges to make a 1/2-inch rim around the sides of the pan. Don't worry if it doesn't look perfect.

4. Bake the crust in the center of the oven (I'd recommend putting the tart pan on a cookie sheet) for 13 to 16 minutes (I needed the full 16), or until edges are golden and the center is starting to color. The rim will sink down a little, which is fine.

5. Remove from the oven, and turn the heat up to 500. Carefully spread the jam (a pastry brush works well here) over the tart, and immediately return to the oven, even if it's not up to 500 yet. Bake for another 5 to 10 minutes, or until jam is bubbly.

6. Cool the tart on a rack, slice into wedges, and serve. Serve warm (but not hot).

Eat it and go ahead and try not to go for a second slice...I'm going to get mine now. And I'm one step closer to making real pastry crust...

Enjoy!