Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Mexican inspired chicken soup and a tart for dessert!

Doesn't that look amazing? All crispy and crunchy with fresh blackberries scattered around!

Well the school year is almost over and I have absolutely no idea where the time has gone. As of Friday my days are no longer my own. For the rest of this week they are on a half day schedule so I am suppose to pick them up at noon (wonder what happens if I don't???). I guess this is their subtle way of easing us into the summer. Only half days this week and nothing at all next week and for the next 10 weeks. I guess it's better than going cold turkey!!! I have my oldest daughter in for a couple of weeks of day camp but the youngest one will be with me ALL SUMMER long...10 whole weeks...2 and 1/2 months...OMG!!!

Anyway yesterday morning I was looking in my fridge trying to decide what was for dinner and about the only thing that wasn't a condiment was a chicken carcass from roast chicken the week before. I pulled the remaining meat of the bones and threw it in a pot of water. I added some onion, garlic, and fresh cilantro and let it simmer away all day. When T. got home and I was at skating and karate he strained the bones from the soup added the chopped up chicken and cooked some rice. I had made pico de gallo earlier so a nice simple dinner was born!

I had also made a Lemon Blackberry Tart that I had seen on Nikki's blog at Canarygirl.com. She always has so many great recipes but this was one I had been really wanting to try. We always have berries and lemons here and it was incredibly simple to throw together! The tart crust is one I will use over and over again for the ease of preparation and the final result!


Lemon and Blackberry Tart

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour
1/3 cup powdered sugar
6 ounces (150 grams) butter
3 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
a pinch of salt
juice of 2 lemons (around 1/2 cup?)
1 carton frozen blackberries, drained (I should have drained mine a little better) I used fresh

Preparation:

First and foremost, set your blackberries in a sieve over a bowl to drain.
Now, start the crust.
Preheat your oven to 300ºF/150ºC.
Add flour, powdered sugar and butter to your food processor and pulse until it comes together in a dough.
Press the dough into a tart pan, using your hands and fingers to spread the dough evenly.
Parbake the dough about 20 minutes.
Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly.
Raise oven temperature to 350ºF/175ºC.
While cooling, combine the filling ingredients.
Beat eggs first, then add remaining ingredients, except blackberries, whisking well to combine.
Pour filling into tart shell, and then arrange blackberries in filling.
Bake about 25 minutes, or until set.
Garnish with powdered sugar if desired.

This tart was thrown together in about an hour and everyone loved it. This is one I will definitely try again...different berry combinations would be great too!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

15 comments:

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

I did see the tart over at Nikki's..I do have it bookmarked...but sometimes I need an extra push in the right direction. The soup doesn't sound too shabby either:D

Thistlemoon said...

You are such a tart, Judy! :)
So if the kiddos are home all summer are you gonna have time to talk to me about herbage? I really wanna call you this week.

Peter M said...

LOL, you asked for it- you got it...post a tart recipe and get labeled one!

The photo looks awesome.

glamah16 said...

Super Mom pulled together a nice one. And there is nothing wrong with being a little tarty.

Judy@nofearentertaining said...

Hi Val-The tart was delicious and the soup was good. It was nice and light tasting. Perfect for summer!

Hi Jenn-Damn my true colors are shining through!!! Call me anytime!

Thanks Peter- Tastespotting thought so too!

Hi Glamah-I refuse to grocery shop this week just on principal!!! Actually I am too busy so I hope I can keep this up!

NineteenaChiffOnade said...

You have no idea how good those look to a person who has been in jail for a while. I am going to get my mother Louise ("chiffonade") to make some for me.

Whe should be able to do it since she went to cooking school.

My Sweet & Saucy said...

This looks so tasty! Great job!

Anonymous said...

Yes, I can do that.

Joanna Schmidt said...

ok, Wonderwoman. .. .. You have 3 dogs, 2 kids and you cook these beautiful concoctions every night? I do not know how you do it. Kudos to you! :)

Núria said...

Don't complain Judy... my daughter will be home for 12 weeks!!!!!! Spain takes it even easier ;-)

Can I have a bit of that tart? It looks so maravillosa :D

Judy@nofearentertaining said...

Thanks sweet and saucy

Chiff0nade and nineteenachiffonade - I guess I hope you get it one way or another!

Thanks Joanna-I have a husband who pulls his weight which helps a lot!

Oh Nuria-I am so sorry for you...12 weeks is a very long time!
Ill save you a piece of the next one!

Anonymous said...

This looks great - I never thought much about combining lemon and blackberry but I'd bet it's fantastic.

Anonymous said...

That is one yummy-looking tart! Lemon and blackberry are so nice together. And quite resourceful on the soup. The times I've done that, the bone-picking has taken forever, so blue ribbon to you for your persistence.

Brittany said...

now i am not much of a baker, but that looks so good, and I love lemon pastries, so I must gather up the ability to produce this!

Heather said...

Yay, free help in the garden, amirite? :D

That tart looks beautiful. I'd like a thick slice with a scoop of ice cream, right now, for breakfast.