Tag Archives: Tartines

Rhubarb and Ricotta Tartine

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It’s the most wonderful time of the year…rhubarb season! I know it’s a polarizing ingredient, but I can’t seem to get enough of it. I must confess, I’m a rhubarb hoarder. I buy way more than I can possibly consume, and I freeze it so that I will have rhubarb all winter long. 

How to freeze rhubarb: Wash the stalks and cut into 1-2 inch lengths. Line a baking sheet with parchment and arrange the cut rhubarb in a single layer. Place baking sheet in freezer until rhubarb is solidly frozen, a few hours. Transfer rhubarb to a freezer zip-loc bag.

How to use frozen rhubarb: Preheat oven to 350°F. Take equal parts of frozen rhubarb and frozen strawberries and place them on a parchment lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with 2-3 Tablespoons of sugar and roast for 20 minutes, until all soft and jammy. Mash with a fork of potato masher and transfer to a jar for storage. I like to mix it into my morning yogurt or use it as a filling for pastries, like strawberry-rhubarb hand pies. It keeps in the fridge for about 10 days. 

Difference between field-grown and hot-house rhubarb: The first rhubarb to hit the market in spring is hot-house rhubarb. Hot-house rhubarb is pink in colour while field- grown is red, streaked with green. The hot house rhubarb retains that gorgeous pink colour after cooking while the field-grown turns a dull brownish colour after cooking. The final difference is the texture. Hot-house is silkier, and less stringy than the field-grown.

Tartine is defined as an open faced sandwich, usually on toasted bread. It has come to mean “fancy toast”, as made popular by the charming Carrie Baird, one of my favourite cheftestants on Top Chef. And if you’ve been following me for a while, you know that fancy is how we roll around here.

Today’s tartine is homemade ricotta spread onto toasted crusty bread, topped with gently roasted rhubarb. If you have never made your own ricotta, I urge you to give it a whirl. Watching milk, salt and lemon, transform into ricotta cheese is pure culinary alchemy. If you are a food nerd like me, you will find the process quite thrilling. Of course store-bought ricotta can be used. I suggest whisking it with a few tablespoons of heavy cream to get a silkier texture.

Watch this video to see how this tartine comes together:

This tartine would be delicious to serve with cocktails or with a salad for a light lunch. If I were going to have it for breakfast, I’d leave out the pickled onions and arugula and add some fresh mint. It’s eminently customizable.

Click here to print recipe for Rhubarb and Ricotta Tartine.

Roasted Cherries and Whipped Ricotta Tartines

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Tartine is defined as an open faced sandwich, usually on toasted bread. It has come to mean “fancy toast”, as made popular by the charming Carrie Baird, one of my favourite cheftestants on Top Chef.

Tartines are an opportunity to use up all these little bits in the fridge and pantry, and call it dinner. This one came about because I had some cherries that were starting to go a bit soft. Cherries might not be the first fruit you think about roasting, but the heat of the oven causes the natural sugar in the cherries to caramelize resulting in a greater depth and intensity of cherry flavour!

I had a mix of Rainer and Bing cherries. Rainer cherry season is so short, I always get greedy and buy way more than we can possibly eat. This is a perfect solution for those leftover, slightly less than perfect cherries.

I seasoned the cherries with olive oil, a drizzle of honey and some thyme. They only take about 10 minutes in the oven. I was inspired by The Flavour Bible to pair cherries with thyme. It’s such an excellent resource book.

The whipped ricotta is an Ina Garten recipe. She starts with homemade ricotta, but gently tells us that store bought is fine. I had half a container of store bought, about to expire, languishing at the back of the middle shelf in my fridge, so I used that. The ricotta is mixed with a bit of feta, some cream cheese and a splash of lemon juice. It all gets buzzed in the food processor, for a creamy, tangy whipped dip.

I sliced up a baguette, on the diagonal, and toasted the slices, because we’re fancy here at salt and serenity. Leftover toasted sourdough slices would be very delicious.

Click here to print recipe for Roasted-Cherry-and-Whipped-Ricotta-TartineDownload

Autumn Butternut Squash and Ricotta Tartine

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A funny thing happens when your adult children come home for a visit. In July, my daughter moved into the cottage with me for most of the summer. I was thrilled about it, as we live in different cities, and I don’t get to see her as much as I’d like.

The kitchen starts filling up with things you don’t recall buying. My fridge boasted 3 varieties of kombucha, (cosmic cranberry, ginger berry and multi-green) 2 packages of probiotic capsules (for making non-dairy coconut yogurt), Croatian organic artisan chocolate (that tasted like wax, to my palate) and Skyr, which I’m still not sure how to pronounce properly.

The tea drawer (yes, we have an entire drawer devoted to tea), filled up with several varieties of ginger tea as well as some turmeric concoction. The pantry shelves featured 2 flavours of muesli, collagen powder and All-Dressed Chips.

One morning I opened my spice drawer and saw a rogue shaped jar of  something called New Bae Seasoning. I decant all my spices into the same shape jar, and file them alphabetically. Please don’t judge me, it’s how I keep my serenity.When I asked my daughter about it she excitedly told me that it’s a blend of different spices (Himalayan Pink Salt, Paprika, Celery, Black Pepper, Ancho Chili Powder, Cayenne, Cardamom, Allspice, Mace, Bay Leaves), and makes everything you put it on taste better. That night we sprinkled some on diced sweet potatoes and roasted them. I was hooked. We used it all summer on fish, chicken and all our roasted and grilled veggies. It was even delicious sprinkled on top of hummus. When she left at the end of the summer, she took her jar with her, but left me the probiotic capsules!

I ordered my own jar, online at purefeast.com .   A few other online retailers carry it as well, but they seem to be out of stock when I last checked.

Here’s how to make these delicious tartines (that’s french for open-faced sandwich, because we’re fancy around here!)

I used butternut squash and sliced it very thin. Use your favourite fall veggie. Roasted broccoli would also be delicious.
Make sure you start with some really good bread and toast or grill it, so that it’s crunchy.  I found a new bakery in my neighbourhood here in Ottawa that sells amazing artisan breads. If you’re in Ottawa, check our Mamie Clafouti’s on Richmond Rd.
If you have an extra 15 minutes, make your own ricotta. I will include the recipe in the link below. But if time is tight, use store-bought. It will still be really good. Choose an assertive green to top your tartine with. I found micro arugula, but regular arugula or some shredded radicchio would be good choices. You want something bitter to counter balance the spicy-sweet squash and mild ricotta. A drizzle of honey is an excellent way to finish.

Click here to print recipe for Autumn Ricotta and Squash Tartines.