give 'em what they want

i love assemble your own dinner,

dinners.

i used to worry that it was rude:

i invite people over and then

make them work if they actually want

to eat. 

but time has given me 

wisdom and now i realize it's one

of the smartest ways to feed a group

(or one other person who just

happens to live with you).

this way, you've supplied options.

it's up to them to decide

if they realize want the olives

on their personal pizza, or if they'd 

prefer ham. it lets them

monitor the spice level, 

stir extra cheese into their chili 

and avoid

the coconut 

they started worrying about

when they heard you were 

serving tropical sundaes for 

dessert.

my mom used to do this all the time:

for a dinner party, she'd make large

batches of multiple kinds of soups,

then keep the pots on the stove 

as guests 

ladled their pick into a bowl

and then

sprinkled on scallions,

shredded cheese,

sour cream 

or 

crunchy croutons.

in the summer, my mom

made quesadillas,

which we would design

ourselves after she

grilled a ton of veggies,

set out bowls of 

feta

and

cheddar cheese,

tomatoes

and more.

once assembled,

she'd add a top tortilla

and bake them 

until golden and crispy.

i love the quesadilla party

so much that i've replicated

it on several occasions.

i've also turned to fish tacos

(and coincidentally, my mom has, too),

in recent years.

i first fell in love with at-home

fish tacos when i was hosting

our (sadly, now defunct) book club

and as the date got closer, the number of

people attending got smaller

and smaller. 

two days before, it was just me,

and two friends: lauren and lauren.

we decided to hold off on the discussion

until the next meeting with everyone and 

instead, just have dinner.

we had grown up together,

gone to camp together and had

somewhat recently reunited.

both of them were married,

i was living with larry and it 

seemed like a great opportunity

to just get together.

between the three of us - 

i don't eat meat, lauren doesn't eat 

cheese, the other lauren, shrimp

or rice - i felt challenged. i also

needed something somewhat stress-free

because they were coming over

after work. 

knowing that we all love

mexican food,

i finally landed on fish tacos and 

an adaptation of this recipe.

the night before, 

i pickled the red onions,

broiled, then blended together the 

tomatillo salsa

and

stirred lime juice into sour cream

for a crema.

when i got home from work 

the next evening,

i pulled everything out of

the fridge,

marinated the cod,

set out chips and 

a white bean dip that i had made

and waited. 

later, while lauren and lauren

sat at our tiny kitchen table

sipping wine,

i heated up tortillas,

mashed together guacamole,

grilled the fish,

and told them that i had decided to 

go to culinary school. 

i was so not stressed, and really,

what's the point of having

people over if you're 

miserable when your guests are

there?

since then, i've made fish tacos

many times, for many reasons,

including just simply wanting

a delicious dinner.

i've changed it up,

sometimes adding a white crumbly

cheese if i have it in the fridge,

using corn or flour tortillas,

playing with spices, 

using a fresh tomato salsa

or, like i did this time,

using shrimp instead of fish.

but the one thing that i never

leave out are the pickled onions.

because we now love them so much,

i'm embarrassed to say that i never

had a pickled slice before the first

fish taco dinner.

they're very fast and completely addicting.

at this point, i've

made them more times than i can count.

i usually set the 

rice wine vingar,

lime juice,

and 

salt to simmer,

before slicing the bulb.

when hot and extra bubbly,

i pour the brine over the onions,

now set in a bowl,

stir a few times and walk away.

while two hours of marinating is

optimal, i've gotten away with

45 minutes. at this point,

the onions still have crunch,

but they've turned from red

to pink

and

the sharp onion flavor

has settled considerably.

i love to make extra to serve

over eggs,

to toss into a salad,

place on sandwich or to

nibble on when there aren't

any pickles in the fridge.

usually, i prepare the onions first,

then slide the bowl

to the back of the counter

and work on everything else.

this time, when i made the shrimp,

i was planning to saute,

but at the last minute,

i placed them into a baking dish

that i had sprinkled with

ancho chili powder,

smoked paprika,

lime juice

and 

kosher salt. 

once the shrimp

were in place, i repeated the

sprinkling, drizzled

in a little oil and

roasted until pink, slightly

smoky and tender,

giving me time to mash

the guacamole.

by the time the shrimp came out

of the oven,

the tortillas were warm

and everything was on the table.

i watched as i started with the tomatillo

salsa, then the shrimp, onions,

guacamole and a drizzle of crema.

larry, chose

first guacamole, 

then onions, shrimp, crema, salsa.

it's up you. that's my favorite part.

either way, you're entertaining a ton

of flavors, textures and hot/cold action.

the shrimp, slightly spicy, tender

and piping hot,

play so well off the cool and tangy red onions.

the guacamole adds creaminess,

the salsa, heat, 

and the crema ties it all

together.

yes, there are a lot of bowls,

but really, that's the most

trouble this meal will

give you.

it's so good

and very fresh

and, a winner for 

most crowds.

and look at it this way:

yes, you have to clean the bowls,

but you're otherwise done:

now it's their turn to work. 

shrimp tacos with pickled red onions

adapted from bon appetit

in the same way that guests can assemble these anyway they want, feel free to use whatever you want inside your tortilla - consider this a guideline (which is why i feel ok about not giving exact measurements, below). you can use your favorite fish and grill or saute it. leave the seasonings off the shrimp and simply saute them. forget the guacamole, use sour cream instead or add thinly sliced chopped red cabbage. and if you're in a hurry, buy the condiments, heat up your protein of choice and eat. just don't leave off the onions (unless you really, really hate onions - but, even then, you might be surprised).

tomatilla salsa blended with a bit of chicken broth or water to thin it out slightly

guacamole

store-bought crema, sour cream or sour cream thinned out with a bit of lime juice

1 bottle (12 ounces) rice wine vinegar

1 large juicy lime, juiced

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1 large red onion, halved and sliced

in small saucepot, bring rice wine vinegar, lime juice and kosher salt to a boil, stirring until the salt dissolves; let boil 1 minute. meanwhile, place onions in a heatproof bowl. pour boiling vinegar mixture over onions and stir a few times until onions just begin to wilt and are mostly submerged. let sit at least 45 minutes (preferably 1-2 hours). can be made up to one week ahead. cover; refrigerate.

1 juicy lime, halved

20 large shrimp, peeled and deveined (i used 21-25 count)

ancho chili powder

smoked paprika

kosher salt

olive oil

heat oven to 400˚f. squeeze the juice from half a lime into the bottom of 8 x 8 baking dish. sprinkle with chili powder, smoked paprika and a little kosher salt. lay the shrimp in the baking dish, separating slightly. squeeze with remaining lime juice and sprinkle again with the chili powder, smoked paprika and kosher salt. drizzle with a little bit of olive oil. bake 10-12 minutes or until pink, opaque and cooked through. 

corn or flour tortillas

to heat tortiallas you have some options. 

for flour tortillas, i'm very content to wet a paper, wring it out, roll a couple tortillas up inside it and then heat for 30 seconds in the microwave. you can also wrap them (flat) in foil and bake in a 350˚f oven 5-10 minutes or until warm and pliable. 

for corn tortillas, you can warm them in the microwave by using two wet paper towels and placing the tortillas in between. you can also heat them the oven or coat a pan with cooking spray and cook about 30 seconds on each side over medium-high heat.

to serve:

place pickled onions, tomatillo salsa, guacamole, crema or sour cream, lime slices and anything else that you're craving in separate small bowls. place hot shrimp and warm tortillas on the table and let everyone make their own.

my true definition

when i think barbecues,

i think bar cookies,

brownies,

ice cream

and maybe 

s'mores.

i don't think:

tarts.

and yet, after venturing

on one of my notorious

what-should-i-make

missions for memorial day,

that's exactly what i picked.

not only was it a tart,

but one filled to the brim

with raspberries,

which on a scale of 

pineapples and blueberries

(amazing)

to fennel and celery

(ew, for me),

i would rank as 

mangoes (eh). 

but i'm a big fan of pleasing

the masses and as i've learned,

most people rank

raspberries

much higher on their list

than i would.

and tarts...i love the idea

of a good tart.

in theory.

--

have you ever been to

restaurant week in nyc?

picture really expensive,

you'd have to sell your best

shoes plus maybe your first

born kid to go on a normal night,

but a place,

where for two weeks, they drop

their dinner menu down to $35 a person,

for a three course meal.

it's still not cheap (figure no less than $12 a person

for one delicious lychee martini or a very crisp

sauvignon blanc), but it's a great

way to sample a restaurant that you

otherwise most likely would not

consider. we've had amazing meals

at mesa grill and calle ocho

and really good dinners at

thalassa, mercer kitchen and others

this way. and we've had some

restaurant week cop outs.

but, there was one restaurant -

which to be fair,

i only visited this one time,

and maybe it was an off night,

so i won't call them out -

that when the bill came,

i was horrified by the $125 printed

across the bottom of the paper.

i was partially to blame.

the first courses were both meat,

so i went with the salad, which was

delicious. 

it was the main meal and the dessert

in which i made a grave error,

twice swayed by the word tart 

in the description. 

(in my defense, you order all three

courses in the beginning. and, 

i think they were worded in such

a way that it wasn't immediately

apparent to me

that i had ordered two tarts.)

the dinner was a vegetable tart

and when it came,

i was more than a little upset

by the second salad of the night,

sitting slightly askew atop

a piece of puff pastry.

this is not a tart,

i said immediately to larry.

but i ate it,

explaining that i'm sure 

somewhere - somewhere fancier than me -

it is acceptable that a tart

is merely something crisp

resting underneath other ingredients,

but to me, a tart has a full base

and sides and serves as a

support.

this is not a tart, i said

over and over.

but the plates were taken

away and it was in the past,

so i attempted to get over it

and enjoy the aforementioned

lychee martini

before dessert.

then the lemon tart came.

do i even need to tell you that 

there was lemon curd laying

aside a thin biscuit?

nowhere in the description

had they said a deconstructed

tart. the menu had read:

lemon curd tart.

i was fed up. and annoyed

that i had been

taken twice,

especially as larry enjoyed

beef carpaccio, 

braised short ribs

and 

steaming hot beignets

that he dipped into a

gorgeously 

silky vanilla bean

custard.

i wasn't sure who i was more

upset with:

me, for ordering two tarts in one sitting,

the chef, for clearly not thinking out the

vegetarian options,

the management for being so freaking

snobby in the first place (there were

other problems, as well),

or again, the management for adding

a 20% service charge before tip.

we walked out of the restaurant,

past all the people at the bar,

who were in fact, fancy,

into the rain, while my hair

frizzed as we ran to the car, the 

whole time yelling,

those were not tarts,

i'll show them what a tart is.

amused, larry took 

to yelling "tarts!" intermittently 

as we drove home on 

the west side highway.

--

that was three and a half years ago.

when i think about tarts,

i still have a questionable reaction.

but this dessert was brand new - 

in the most recent bon appetit -

and featured a mix-and-press dough,

that was filled with

a mixture made from brown butter, which

was created, i think, just to make

butter sound special. 

but, boy is brown butter one of the

most heavenly, nutty, fragrant 

things out there. so maybe

it was created for another purpose.

and this fruity confection 

is made to feed large crowd -

who just maybe had just had

barbecued chicken and potato salad.

and did i mention it has sides?

as someone who was always

somewhat afraid of 

making,

rolling out,

and transferring

pie dough

to a dish, i wish

i had started with this recipe.

no food processor or pastry cutter

needed.

you just melt butter, stir in 

flour

sugar

and salt

and use your fingertips to

press the dough into the 

pan.

bake it - 

again, no foil,

weights or dried beans

needed -

let it cool,

then arrange raspberries

inside.

brown butter requires

little more than

a saucepot with a pale

bottom, a little patience

and a will to hold your nerve

while the butter goes 

from solid,

to melted,

to foamy and bubbly

and finally to a golden

brown.

then, you pull it from

the flame just before

it darkens.

mixed with flour and sugar,

it's poured into the shell,

cozying itself around

the raspberries,

before it heads into

the oven. here, it

puffs and turns golden,

dotted by the now pink berries.

this is baking for the baking

novice, which all of us

trained, experienced or

fresh to the world of

baking can appreciate.

the best part is that the 

small amount of work that

goes into this dessert

is all worth it,

whether it's for a bbq where

people may be expecting

to toast sticky marshmallows or

to follow a gourmet dinner

around a table.

the flaky and deep-flavored

buttery crust surrounds

the rich filling, broken up

only by the softened

still-tart raspberries.

it is one piece, it cuts into beautiful slices 

and to me,

it is a tart. 

period.

brown butter raspberry tart

adapted from bon appetit magazine

just before making this tart i almost changed my mind and used apricots instead. i'm glad that i first made the dessert as it was intended, but next time, i think i will use apricots, which i would halve and place cut-side down in the baked shell. i think blueberries and diced strawberries would be delicious, too. in my oven, set for 375˚f as the recipe instructed, the tart threatened to burn twice: once when just baking the crust and a second time when the filling was setting, so i ended up turning it down to 350˚f after about 15 minutes. you know your oven best - bake accordingly.

7 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/3 cups sugar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup, plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

pinch of salt

1/2 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

pinch of salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 stick unsalted butter (1/2 cup)

2 containers (6 ounces each) fresh raspberries

arrange rack in center of oven. heat oven to 375˚f. melt butter; stir together melted butter, sugar, vanilla extract, flour and salt just until it comes together. transfer dough to a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. using fingertips, press dough evenly into bottom and up sides of tart. 

place pan on baking sheet. bake crust 15-18 minutes, or until golden brown. remove from oven; place on rack and let cool completely.

in medium bowl, whisk together sugar, egg, vanilla extract, flour and pinch of salt. cut up butter and place in small saucepot with a pale bottom set over medium-low heat. let butter cook 6 minutes, or until it reaches a golden brown, swirling saucepot occasionally. it will foam and bubble twice before turning - once it turns brown and smells nutty, take it off the heat immediately to prevent burning. 

(the original recipe now instructs you to transfer the browned butter to a glass measuring cup immediately - this is to prevent further browning. i didn't do this, but i also knew that i was inviting disaster if i didn't move quickly. i was fine, but you decide your own comfort level.)

gradually pour browned butter into the sugar mixture, whisking constantly and swiftly. 

arrange raspberries in tart shell. gently pour egg mixture into pie shell. bake (on baking sheet) 40 minutes, or until puffed and golden brown and toothpick inserted in center of tart comes out clean. let cool completely. wrap well and store at room temperature until ready to serve.