INA'S GOAT CHEESE TART, AND THIS IS HOW WE DO IT!.....

Well HELLO Super Bowl Sunday....my name is Kitten (more on that in a bit), and I don't care even one little LICK about this stupid game today, since my beloved San Francisco 49rs AND the New Orlean's Saints aren't playing ....how's that for a sore loser !

But I do love, love, love the Half-time entertainment (Madonna!) and the fun commercials, so I'll be a good sport and join my man on the couch and pretend to be interested in the game. Why, I even threw together a crock pot full of chili (a very turkey healthy chili...you might remember this recipe from HERE), and bought a bag of tortilla chips AND a six pack of beer for the event---let's PARTY!............

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So my husband is at it again....changing his nickname, that is. Did you even know that was possible, to change one's own nickname? I swear he thinks he's George Costanza.....Let's see...first, he was Big Daddy, next, he was Bad Ass (NOT my favorite!), and now, well, he's officially..........

WINK! That's it...Wink ! Willard.....with the "!", of course! Because he's always, always winking at me and our daughter. Kinda creepy. And speaking of ME...he's started calling me "Kitten", after the mama in our new "favorite" show, Bayou Billionaires..............,

 which is 2nd only to our alltime favorite, Our Redneck Wedding........

And who could ever miss Hillbilly Hand Fishin'.......(This one's for YOU, Patty J!)

It's been a loooong winter, folks.

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And now I'm going to take a complete 180 degree turn, and chat about French cooking! Still enjoying preparing The Barefoot Contessa's recipes from her new cookbook, Barefoot in Paris, and last week I made her Goat Cheese Tart for dinner one night, served with a crisp green salad.

This tart is a rich as Mitt Romney, and the amount of butter used in the crust would make Paula Deen swoon! The actual recipe for the crust would be a great one to keep on hand, as it is truly a no-fail, and can be used for any sort of a tart you might desire, sweet or savory.

Basically, this whole recipe is prepared in your food processor, which I love. To start, cut butter into a large dice, and place in the processor with the flour and salt.....

Pulse the butter and ICE water, until the dough becomes crumbly.....you don't want to over-process!........

Gather dough into a ball on a floured board, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Roll out dough until large enough to fit into a 9 inch tart pan with removable sides.

Here's where I cheated a little bit...Ina says to line the dough with a sheet of tin foil, then weigh it down with dried rice or beans...I didn't have any on hand (for shame!), but I did have split green peas, so that's what I used.....worked out fine......

(In the future, I plan on having a jar of dried beans on hand JUST for this purpose, because it worked really well...the tart was PERFECTLY flat)

Bake the crust for 30 minutes...meanwhile, heat up some more butter and saute some beautiful chopped shallots until tender.....

Put about 10 ounces of good goat cheese in the bowl of your food processor and process until crumbly. Add eggs, cream, basil, salt and pepper, and process until blended......

Scatter cooked shallots over bottom of tart shell, then pour all of that goat cheese goodness over the shallots to fill the shell. Bake for 30-40 minutes, and then you get THIS.....

Wanna bite?.........

If you love goat cheese as much as I do, and are in the mood for something very French and very rich and special, give this recipe a try! Fantastic for breakfast, brunch, lunch OR dinner!

Thanks again, Ina Garten....Here's the recipe....

BAREFOOT CONTESSA'S GOAT CHEESE TART
Serves 6

1 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour, plus more for dusting the board
Kosher salt
13 tblsp. cold unsalted butter, divided
3 to 4 tblsp. ice water
3/4 cup chopped shallots (3 to 4 shallots)
10 1/2 oz. garlic and herb soft goat cheese, such as Montrachet
1 cup heavy cream
3 extra large eggs
1 / 4 cup chopped basil (I used 2 tsp. dried)
1/8 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. For the crust, put the flour and 1/4 tsp. salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Cut 12 tblsp. of the butter into large dice, add to the bowl, and pulse until the butter is the size of peas. With the machine running, add the ice water all at once and process until the dough becomes crumbly. Don't overprocess. Dump the dough out on a floured board, gather it loosely into a ball, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Roll the dough on a well floured board and fit into a 9-inch tart pan with a removable side, rolling the pin over the top to cut off the excess dough. Butter one side of a square of aluminum foil and fit it, butter side down, into a tart pan. Fill the foil with rice or beans. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the beans and foil from the tart shell, prick the bottom all over with a fork, and bake for another 10 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the remaining tablespoon of butter in a small pan and saute the shallots over low heat for 5 minutes, or until tender. Place the goat cheese in the bowl of the food processor and process until crumbly. Add the cream, eggs, basil, 1/4 tsp. salt and the pepper and process until blended. Scatter the cooked shallots over the bottom of the tart shell. Pour the goat cheese mixture over the shallots to fill the shell (if the shell has shrunk, there may be leftover filling). Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until the tart is firm when shaken and the top is lightly browned. Allow to cool for 10 minutes and serve hot or at room temperature.

TODAY I'M SO THANKFUL FOR......

***Methotrexate--for me it's been a miracle drug, once I got through the nausea stage. Feeling better than I have in years--WAAAHOO!!!

***Plane tickets purchased and hotel reservations made...... DONE! We will be staying on an actual island in the middle of the Seine river in Paris this April, called Ilse St. Louis...rumor has it this is the island Johnny Depp lives on.....here's a pic...

Do you think Johnny and his family will be having us in for tea and scrumpets? I'd better make a few calls........

***That Little Miss Thing seems to be flying through her courses at Sciences Politique--just received an A on her first 30-minute presentation, all in french........Sometimes I can't believe I gave birth to that child!