Tomato tart, dinner in Kansas City, and some news!

I had dinner with my friends Carrie and Denise the other day.  Actually, I made dinner for them, for the first time in our over 10-year friendship.  It’s weird to have known them for so long and only gotten around to a dinner party now, but better late than never and we had a fantastic time.  It started with martinis made with Hendrick’s, vermouth, and a cucumber.  I only had one but they were intense and delicious, and so cold they were slightly slushy.  Then we had some appetizers.  I made a chevre and tomato tart on puff pastry and a little Moroccan pastry called bisteeya.  Bisteeya is traditionally a large pie made with chicken, butter,cinnamon, saffron, almonds and warka (a thin dough like phyllo), covered with more butter, then baked and then covered with powdered sugar.  I made mine bite-sized, with a little less butter. 

Here’s the recipe for the Tomato Tart: (in this picture I used red onion instead of shallot, because that’s what I had)

Now with chili flakes!

Provencal Chevre Tart

1 package puff pastry, thawed

8 ounces goat cheese, crumbled

2 pints grape tomatoes or small cherry tomatoes, sliced thin

2 large shallots, peeled and sliced thin

1 Tb chopped fresh thyme

1 Tb chopped fresh basil

1 Tb chopped fresh parsley

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

4 Tb heavy cream

Heat oven to 425.  Open up the package of puff pastry and separate the two pieces.  Place each one on a sheet pan and pinch up the edges to make a little ridge.  Divide all ingredients in half (you can do this in your head).  Layer the ingredients- goat cheese, tomatoes, shallot, herbs, salt and pepper.  Drizzle 2 Tb heavy cream over each tart and place in the oven.  Bake until pastry is puffed and brown and tomatoes have begun to soften, about 20 minutes.  Remove from oven and serve hot or warm.

After the martinis we moved into the dining room and ate dinner.  I had decided that Moroccan was the theme of the day and made a lamb tagine with vegetables, chickpeas, dried cranberries, and sweet potato.  Along with that I made a roasted eggplant salad, a carrot salad with brown mustard seed and cumin, and herbed couscous.  We drank Menage a Trois merlot (I think) and had poppyseed shortbread for dessert.  We spent most of the evening sharing information and laughing our heads off.  I love having dinner with just girlfriends.  The dynamic is so much different when you add men and/or kids to the mix. 

Now for the KC part.

I went to Kansas City to watch my incredible parents kill at the Heart of America Ballroom Dance competition.  They won.  They won it all, first place in all categories, again.  Mom had a red dress with sparklified hibiscus flowers all down the front and back and she and dad just looked incredible.  As soon as I have them I’ll show you photos.

I went with Warren and Ann to a place called R bar in the Bottoms and it was fantastic.  Sort of a little narrow old-westey dark bar with a bad Django-gypsy band playing.  The cocktail menu was exciting.  I had one with ginger, jasmine, and some sort of crazy bourbon.  Warren had one with ginger, some herb, and three kinds of whiskey.  They tasted like perfume smells and had a sort of dizzying effect that made the band seem better than it was, and guests prettier.

Good lighting in there.

We ate amazing things.  The chef there had an alchemist’s sort of approach.  Nothing was cute or ironic, but all of the combinations were interesting, unusual, and well done.  Warren had fried green tomatoes with fresh mozzerella and pepperoni.  Ann had a delicious mesclun salad with ricotta salata and walnuts.  I had heirloom tomatoes on grilled Texas toast with parmesan-truffle mousse and basil vinaigrette.

Moments before annihilation.

 It was a postmodern pepperoni pizza and bruschetta, in case you missed the joke.  The salad was just a good salad.   For entrees, I had smoked pork cheeks with a potato cake and grilled okra with a light cumin-flavored broth.  The pork cheeks were tender and gelatinous and not to smoky and the grilled okra was great, crispy and sticky and slick.  The potato cake could have been used as a doorstop, nobody liked it at all.  Warren had incredible fried marinated chicken thighs on a cornmeal waffle with lima bean succotash.  The waffle was not that great.  They were having trouble with starches that night.  The chicken was so good that it could have started a fight had there not been three pieces of it.  Ann had giant mutant prawns in a Thai-esque coconut curry on a sticky rice cake.  The rice cake was pretty good (it had been deep-fried) and the sauce was creamy and spicy AND the prawns were delicious and perfectly cooked, but altogether if I want Thai food I’ll go to a Thai restaurant.

Then we had a chocolate mousse custard with black cherries, whipped cream, and Mr. Pibb sauce.  Sort of a weird take on an old fashioned drugstore soda jerk concoction.  It was good, but sort of weird.  A stretch.  It was, however, the only chocolate thing on the dessert menu, so of course we had to eat it.

News:  New classes at Social with Adriene Rathbun.  findyourwingsocial.com

September 2, 6 pm.  Indian cooking.  Chicken Tikka Masala, Saag Paneer, Parathas, and more.  $ 40.00

September 24, 6pm.  New Fall Soups, with special guest Bread Pudding.  $ 40.00

September 27, 6pm.  Repeat of New Fall Soups.

Call Adriene today to reserve a spot!  316-990-4493.