Our recipe maven Cat Morris found white currants at the Montclair Farmer's Market recently, at the booth of organic Starbrite Farm. She tells us they're tart and quite juicy and fairly rare. Then she whipped up another recipe for Barista readers: a nice summer no-bake tart.
Mixed Berry Cheesecake Tart**
Crust:
1 ½ cup almonds – toasted lightly
3 Tbs. Sugar
4 Tbs. Melted butter
Process the almonds and sugar in a food processor till the almonds are finely ground
Turn machine on and pour the melted butter through the feed tube till the dough starts to come together.
Press into one large tart shell or 4 small shells and refrigerate till firm
Filling:
2 packages of Neufchatel Cheese or Cream Cheese
4 Tbs. Sugar
2 tsp. Almond extract
¼ cup heavy cream
Mix the cheese, sugar and almond extract together till creamy
Beat in the heavy cream to lighten the filling
Chill
Assemble the tart(s) by filling the tart shells with the cheesecake mixture and top with mixed berries and white currants
Garnish with a sprinkle of powdered sugar if you’d like
** Because there are no eggs used in the cheesecake mixture this tart dose not need to be baked and can be chilled instead. Bring it up to room temperature before you serve it to enjoy the best flavor.
She also caught a cooking demo by John Aizarani, the owner of Café Sultan in Upper Montclair.
All the produce for the salad can be purchased at the farmer’s market. The bulgur (cracked wheat)
can be purchased in the bulk foods section at Whole Foods Market on Bloomfield Ave., Montclair. The Allspice can be found at any middle eastern market or your local grocery.Stop by each week around 11 am to catch a new cooking demonstration by one of the fantastic restaurants here in Montclair.
Café Sultan's Tabbouleh Salad
(Serves 4)4 bunches parsley – curly or flat leaf
15 mint leaves
1 small Spanish onion
2 medium tomatoes
1 Tbs. Bulgur Wheat
½ tsp. Allspice
1 lemon
2 pinches of salt or to taste
Olive oil for drizzling
Clean parsley thoroughly by soaking in water two or three times till all dirt and grit is removed and remove any yellow leavesDry parsley well in a salad spinner or on paper towels. Once dry chop finely and set aside.
Clean & chop mint leaves finely and set aside
Dice onion and tomato to the same size and set aside
Assemble:
Put bulgur in bottom of a bowl and add the juice from ½ the lemon, a pinch of salt & ¼ tsp. of allspice
Mix in the tomato, onion and mint and then the parsley
Drizzle the olive oil over salad and toss to coat
Give it a taste and adjust seasoning. Add salt, allspice, and oil or lemon juice depending on how you like it.
Stop by Café Sultan to compare your tabbouleh to theirs.
great job Cat! you are my favorite maven!