Meyer Lemon Curd Tart for New Year's Eve + book #giveaway

HAPPY NEW YEAR'S EVE!!

From Daryl aka Avery:

It's a celebratory day, so guess what? I'm doing a book giveaway. Check out the details at the end of the blog.

What's in your garden? Or your grocery store? My Meyer's lemon tree is abloom and I'm so excited. I love lemony things. They make me think fresh, new. Perfect for a new year. And a lemony dessert is so light after a deliciously rich meal.

The last time I ever made a "tart" was when I lived in Germany for a few months during college. I remember them being "hard" to make. I was a pretty good cook back then, but my Mutti (German nickname for mother) was so deft, I couldn't keep up with the steps. I didn't think much about tarts after that. I was a good pie maker. Who needed tarts? But they are so pretty! And do you know? Easy! Easier than pie! Kid you not. Why? Because a tart shell is actually pressed into the tart pan. No rolling pin. No shell breaking every which way. This is good news for a gluten-free person, too, because sometimes gluten-free pastry can really break fast!

So to all of you who want an easy recipe for New Year's (or beyond), here's my take on a lemon curd tart. I had a bit of the curd left over. It tasted great just as a pudding dessert!

Enjoy! May your new year be filled with new experiences, new hopes, new dreams. May you think big, give wholeheartedly, and laugh a ton!

MEYER LEMON CURD TART

(Regular and gluten-free version)

Ingredients: For the crust: 1 stick cold butter, cut into pea size pieces 1/4 cup sugar 1 1/4 cup regular or gluten-free flour, plus extra for rolling dough (depending on your needs!) 1 egg yolk Pinch of salt 2 to 4 tablespoons cold water ( I used 4) For the curd: 3/4 cup Meyer lemon juice 3 Meyer lemons, zested 1 1/3 cups sugar 5 eggs Pinch of salt 1 1/2 sticks butter, cut into pats If desired, for the garnish: 1 pint blueberries 2 tablespoons sugar 2 tablespoons Meyer lemon juice Special equipment needed: 1 pound dried beans or rice Parchment paper 10-inch tart pan

Directions: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. For the dough: Put the butter, sugar, flour, egg yolk and salt in a food processor and pulse for 30 to 60 seconds or until the mixture has a grainy consistency. Add half of the water and pulse the food processor 2 to 3 times. The dough should start to come together. If desired, add the remaining water. (I did!) Check the consistency by clenching a small handful in your fist. If the dough stays together it is the proper consistency. If not, pulse the dough with a little more water. When the dough has reached the right consistency, set it on parchment paper that has been dusted with flour (or gluten-free flour, depending on your needs!) Dust with more flour (GF flour). Top with another piece of parchment paper. Flatten slightly using the heel of your hand. Put the entire thing into a plastic bag and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. When ready:  Set the dough, including parchment paper, on a clean work surface. Roll the dough out to 1/8 to 1/4-inch in thickness between the paper.  Peel off the parchment paper and roll the dough gently into a tube. Then lay the dough in the tart pan, unrolling as you go. Push the dough into the sides of the tart pan. Roll dough over the top edge of the tart pan, then cut the extra dough from the pan. (You need this extra bit because the dough will shrink when it bakes.) Cover the dough with parchment paper and gently poke holes in the paper. Fill the tart shell with the dried beans or rice and place in the preheated oven. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, remove the parchment and beans/rice and bake for 3 to 5 minutes more. Remove the tart shell from the oven and cool. The dough should be golden and crisp. For the curd: Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. In a bowl, combine the lemon juice, zest, sugar, eggs and salt. Whisk until combined. Place the mixture in a saucepan and bring to a medium heat. Cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture has thickened. This takes about 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from heat.  Whisk in the butter, 2 pats at a time until it's incorporated and the mixture is a silky consistency. Pour the lemon curd into the prepared tart shell and bake in the preheated oven until the lemon curd has set, about 15 minutes. Let cool completely before cutting. If desired, garnish with blueberries tossed with sugar and lemon juice. Book giveaway: To celebrate the launch of AS GOUDA AS DEAD, which comes out in a month...yes, a month...I'm offering a giveaway every Wednesday from now until the launch date. Today: just tell me whether you've read any of the books by authors on our blog.  To do so, hit "comments" to leave a comment, and leave your email (however cryptically) so I can contact you if you win! Good luck.

Savor the mystery!

******************

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STIRRING THE PLOT is available for order: order here.

AS GOUDA AS DEAD, February 2015, available for
preorder here.

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so you can learn about upcoming events, releases, and contests! 

10 Lucky Foods for a Happy New Year and A Pomegranate Champagne Cocktail from Cleo Coyle

Behold the Pomegranate
Champagne Cocktail

Why pomegranate? Because pomegranate is one of the foods believed to bring good luck in the New Year. That's why my recipe for you today is a beautiful Pomegranate Champagne Cocktail, along with tips on how to open, de-seed, and enjoy this highly healthy fruit. But first...

Did you know that many cultures believe you can eat your way to a better tomorrow? Here is a fun list of 10 "Lucky Foods" to start 2015 right.

1) Grapes are eaten at midnight in many Spanish-speaking countries, one for each stroke of the clock. Sweet grapes represent good months, sour less fortunate ones. 

2) Lentils are served in Italy because their abundant seeds symbolize wealth, and when cooked they plump with water to represent swelling fortunes.




3) Collards, kale, and other greens are lucky because they resemble paper money. The more you eat, the more prosperous (and healthier) you’ll become.

Click here
for my recipe.

4) Pork is eaten in Europe and America because its fat implies richness, but in Cuba, Spain, Portugal, and Austria hogs are also a symbol of progress because they never move backward. Cookies, candies, and cakes shaped like pigs are considered lucky too.



5) Long noodles symbolize longevity in many Asian countries, and the longer the noodle the better. It’s customary to eat them on New Year’s Day, and the noodles must never be broken or shortened when cooked.

Click here for
Lucy Burdette's recipe.

6) Black-eyed peas are served in the American South in a dish called Hoppin' John. There are some who believe in eating one pea for every day in the new year. 

7) Cornbread is another Southern tradition. It’s color mimics gold, and sometimes coins are cooked into the bread, bringing additional luck to the person who finds it (without chipping a tooth).

8) Fish is a New Year’s dish in Asia, and is served with the head and tail intact to ensure a lucky year from start to finish. Similarly, in Europe and Scandinavia eating herring ensures abundance because their silvery color resembles coins.

9) Cakes, breads, and fruits in the shape of a ring or circle are good luck, and cookies shaped like coins bring prosperity to those who eat them.

10) Pomegranates are good luck because their color mimics the human heart, their medicinal properties (think antioxidants) promote good health, and their many round arils are believed to bring prosperity.

In ancient and present day Greece, a pomegranate is hung above the door throughout the holiday season. When the clock strikes twelve on New Year’s Eve, that pomegranate is smashed against the door. As it bursts open, the fruit's ruby-red arils are revealed. The more arils, the luckier the New Year will be.

To celebrate this old and rather messy tradition, I have a modern pomegranate cocktail that may or may not be lucky, but it will certainly help you ring in the new year with beautiful color and bubbly good cheer.

Cleo Coyle has a partner in 

crime-writing—her husband.

Learn about their books

by clicking here or here.

Cleo's Pomegranate
Prosecco Cocktail

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon pomegranate arils (to ride
   the pretty bubbles)
1 ounce (one part) pomegranate juice
3 ounces (three parts) chilled Prosecco


Directions: Place the pomegranate arils at the bottom of each glass. Add the pomegranate juice, and then the cold, sparkling Prosecco. There are many bottled pomegranate juices available, or you can squeeze your juice fresh. Scroll down for more info on this process...

Virgin variation: For a non-alcoholic option, replace the champagne with sparkling water, sparkling apple cider, or bubbly ginger ale.

For tips on cutting and de-seeding a fresh pomegranate, watch a short video by clicking here.

How to juice - After de-seeding the pomegranate and removing any parts of visible white pith, buzz the seeds in a blender or food processor. This will release the pulp and juice from the arils around the seeds. Now you must strain the liquid well to remove the crunchy hulls. Although it's an extra bit of trouble to obtain fresh juice this way, the taste is outstanding compared to bottled, which is why, for an amazing Pomegranate Champagne Cocktail, fresh is best.

May you drink (and eat) 

with joy and have a...

Happy New Year!

~ Cleo Coyle

New York Times bestselling author of

The Coffeehouse Mysteries

Friend me on facebook here. * Follow me on twitter here. 

Learn about my books here. 

* * *

Once Upon a Grind:
A Coffeehouse Mystery

* A Best Book of the Year
Reviewer's Pick - King's River Life


* Top Pick! ~ RT Book Reviews

* Fresh Pick ~ Fresh Fiction

* A Mystery Guild Selection

Delicious recipes are also featured in my 14th 

culinary mystery, Once Upon a Grind, including...

* Black Forest Brownies 

* Cappuccino Blondies 

* Shrimp Kiev 
* Dr Pepper Glazed Chicken

* Silver Dollar Chocolate Chip Cookies
* "Fryer Tuck's" Ale-Battered Onion Rings

* Poor Man's Caviar 
* Caramel-Dipped Meltaways

...and many more recipes, including
a guide to reading coffee grinds...

See the book's

Recipe Guide (free PDF)

by clicking here. 

* * * 

Marc and I also write
The Haunted Bookshop
Mysteries 

Get a free title checklist,
with mini plot summaries, by clicking here.
Or learn more here. 

For More Recipe Ideas, visit the special
Mystery Lovers' Kitchen seasonal page
"Recipes for a Happy New Year"

* * * 

Sign up for Cleo's Coffeehouse Newsletter here.
(Recipes, contests, videos, fun info)


* * * 

Mushroom Mania

I really should start hiding magazines with recipes in them. Once again my mom is responsible for picking out this recipe. She mentioned it, and I knew right away why she wanted to try it - we're both a little weary of our standby shitake mushroom recipe. How could she resist something that Cook's Illustrated called Best Roasted Mushrooms?

Roasted? I never even considered roasting mushrooms. With the exception of broccoli, every vegetable I have tried roasting has turned out great.

Shitake mushrooms are a staple on our shopping list. They're supposed to be incredibly good for us. Plus, mushrooms are one of the best ingredients for meatless dishes because they have so much flavor and texture. So when pine nuts and Parmesan showed up on my mom's shopping list, I knew what she had in mind. Except I hadn't read the recipe. It requires a whopping pound of shitake mushrooms and one and a half pounds of cremini mushrooms! That's a lot of mushrooms!

Consequently, my first jab at this recipe was somewhat limited because I didn't have the proper amount of mushrooms. They turned out well enough though, for me to want to try again, this time with the proper amount of mushrooms.

There's nothing difficult about this recipe but you do have to budget time for it. I was surprised to find I had to brine the mushrooms! Yup. And to be certain those pesky mushrooms don't float, you weight them with a plate or lid to force them to stay down in the water. Most curious. Be sure to choose a bowl or pot for which you have a plate or a lid that fits down inside the pot. It doesn't have to fit perfectly. A little space around the edge is okay but if the gap is large, the mushrooms will escape. If you use a plate, a gap might be welcome so you can get a grip on it to pull it out.

The brining only takes 10 minutes but unlike a lot of mushroom recipes, this one takes about an hour of brining and cooking time, so plan accordingly.

The one sticking point (pun intended) that I haven't yet resolved is the tendency of the mushrooms, especially the shitakes, to stick to the pan. The first time I tried this, they stuck to the bottom of the pan. So I thought I would be clever and line it with aluminum foil the next time. That was worse because the foil tore when I tried to loosen the mushrooms from their grip. Next time, I think I'll try greasing the pan before I dump the mushrooms onto it. Maybe that will help.

It's meant to be a side dish and would work really well for that. In spite of the pounds of mushrooms, it only serves four. We ate them as a topping for egg noodles, in which case, it serves about three. A warning, though. There really isn't a sauce, so I just mixed a little extra melted butter and lemon and served that on the side for anyone who wanted some sauce.

Roasted Mushrooms with Parmesan and Pine Nuts

by Adam Reid for Cook's Illustrated

salt and pepper
1 1/2 pounds cremini mushroom caps (whole if small, halved if medium, quartered if large)
1 pound shitake mushroom caps (halved if larger than 3 inches)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted (I didn't bother to toast them)
2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Move the oven rack to the lowest position and preheat oven to 450.

In a pot with a lid or plate that fits inside, mix 2 quarts of room temperature water with 5 teaspoons salt. Dissolve salt. Add the mushrooms and cover with lid or plate to submerge. Let stand for ten minutes. Drain and pat dry with paper towels to remove as much of the moisture as possible.

Spread the mushrooms on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and toss to coat. Roast 35 to 45 minutes or until the liquid from the mushrooms has evaporated.

Using a thin metal spatula (I used my cookie spatula), stir gently. Roast another 5 to 10 minutes. Meanwhile, mix the melted butter with the lemon juice in a large bowl. Add the hot mushrooms and toss to coat them. Add the Parmesan, pine nuts and parsley, toss to combine, and add salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

Loads of mushrooms!

Use a lid or dish to weight the mushrooms when brining.

Dry with paper towels.

After 35 minutes of roasting.

Can you believe how they shrink?

We ate them with egg noodles.

 

Recipes for a Happy New Year

Are you looking for a new recipe or two for your New Year's celebrations? We've got you covered! Check out our new, seasonal recipe page by...

CLICKING HERE

<<<<  Or on the handy link in
our upper left column.

You'll find recipe ideas for party drinks, cocktails, and appetizers. You'll also find New Year's Day menu ideas with unique and tasty entrees; super sides; plus cookies, cakes, and more.

Enjoy our virtual feast as we all count down the last days, hours, and minutes of 2014...

The Cooks of 

Mystery Lovers' Kitchen

Krista, Cleo, Avery, Lucy,
Sheila, Peg, and Victoria

Please Welcome Our Guest Kay Finch!

Kay Finch is the author of the new Bad Luck Cat Mystery series, with the first of the series, BLACK CAT CROSSING, coming from Berkley in September 2015. Her most recent published mystery, Relative Chaos, features a professional organizer who finds a dead body in a hoarder's garage. Kay grew up on a Pennsylvania farm, but she got to Texas as fast as she could and discovered her favorite vacation spot, the Texas Hill Country, setting of her new series.

***

Thanks for inviting me to Mystery Lover’s Kitchen. My family is especially delighted because I actually quit writing for a while to bake something.  I’ve had fun this year writing Black Cat Crossing, book one of my new series, and defending Hitchcock, the alleged Bad Luck Cat, from characters who believe black cats bring bad luck. As my granddaughter wisely points out, that’s just plain silly.  I’ve learned, though, that some people are dead serious about their superstition. I prefer those that claim black cats are good luck. Hitchcock is definitely good luck for me, and I can’t wait to see Black Cat Crossing in print come September.  

PECAN TARTS (from the Finch Family Cookbook)

Crust -

1 stick butter

3 oz package cream cheese

1-1/4 cup flour

Soften butter and cream cheese. Mix together, then add flour.

 Chill for 2 hours. Roll into small balls, then press into tart pans.

Filling -

1 egg

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons butter, softened

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup chopped pecans

Beat together eggs, brown sugar, butter and vanilla. Stir in pecans. Spoon 1 teaspoon in each crust. Bake at 350 F. for 25 minutes. Makes 24.

Enjoy your tarts. Don’t tell anyone, especially not my thrifty Pennsylvania Dutch relatives, that I bought pecans for this instead of shelling the bushels of pecans we picked up from our own backyard trees.

Black Cat Crossing will be available for pre-order from Amazon soon, and I’ll be shouting that from the rooftops when the time comes. Meanwhile, my Corie McKenna mysteries, Final Decree and Final Cut, and Relative Chaos are available now in print and Kindle versions.

Happy New Year everyone!

 Available now!