I brought Laurie and Iris some cupcakes from [Cupcake Royale](http://www.cupcakeroyale.com/).
> **Iris:** Mama, I’m ready for my cupcake!
> **Laurie:** We can share one cupcake because they’re big.
> **Iris:** Sure! I can have my frosting and you can have the bottom.
> (pause)
> **Iris:** Isn’t that a good idea, Mama?
For dinner last night I made Rigatoni Brunelleschi, a grandiosely-named but delicious pasta from The Campagna Table. It’s very simple. You take some beef and braise it in a lot of red wine with some onion and rosemary until it completely falls apart (I helped it along with a potato masher). Then serve it with pasta. Laurie suggested that it would probably go better with polenta than rigatoni. I mentioned this to Iris over dinner.
> **Me:** We could have this sauce with polenta while Mama’s in California.
> **Iris:** I don’t like beef and polenta. How about chips and polenta?
> **Me:** Those don’t really go together.
> **Iris:** Polenta is yellow. Chips are yellow. So they *do* go together. Red and green things don’t go together. Like a lime…and the skin of an apple.
Earlier Iris and I borrowed a microphone from my dad because we’re discussing the idea of a podcast. Out of nowhere, Iris said:
> **Iris:** *You’re* a podcast. I’m going to put you on my blog.
> **Me:** What’s your blog called?
> **Iris:** Iris Out Loud.
Iris turned off all the lights in her room and she and Laurie played Spooky Construction Site. Then she asked me to come play.
> **Me:** I want to eat at Spooky [Lark](http://www.larkseattle.com/).
> **Iris:** Oh, good one.
> **Me:** What’s on the menu?
> **Iris:** We have spooky chicken, spooky pork, spooky sausage, and spooky lasagna. And spooky cheese to put in the lasagna.
I have two recipes that I hope will brighten your day as they did mine.
Iris and I made a chocolate tart this afternoon. We had to do it. The other day we tried a new lemon tart recipe from Dorie Greenspan’s book Baking: From My Home to Yours, and the lemon cream filling (which she learned from Pierre Hermé) was superb, but the crust was thick and tough. A bad tart crust just makes me mope. Why it should upset me more than a bad burger I can’t say, but I’m not alone. It upsets Jeffrey Steingarten, whose favorite tarts are found at Maury Rubin’s City Bakery (locations in LA and New York):
> If a baker, at home or in commerce, cannot make better pastry than Maury’s he or she should simply follow Maury’s recipe or throw in the towel and find other work.
To make Maury’s pastry, buy The Book of Tarts. But the recipe I use is, in my experience, indistinguishable from Maury’s and slightly easier, because it doesn’t require cream. It’s from Tamasin Day-Lewis’s lovely book The Art of the Tart. It takes minutes to make, only has to chill an hour, rolls out easily, and the texture is perfect–a fork passes easily through the raised edge. The only problem with this recipe is that it makes a weird amount–more than enough for one 9- or 10-inch tart, but not enough for two. But seriously, I am *never* going to make a different sweet tart crust recipe again.
**SWEET TART CRUST**
Adapted from _The Art of the Tart_
180g butter
75g powdered sugar
2 egg yolks
225g all-purpose flour
Put the butter, sugar, and egg yolks into the bowl of a food processor. Process until fully combined. Add the flour and process until it begins to come together into a ball, about 30 seconds. With your hands, press the dough into a disc, wrap it in plastic, and refrigerate at least 1 hour. Roll it out very thin (1/8-inch) and line a large tart pan. To blind bake, dock the dough well and bake at 350°F for 25 to 30 minutes.
For the chocolate part, just buy the book already.
Now, the next recipe, which is not in metric. Iris and I were planning to surprise Laurie with the tart. In fact, we did. As soon as Iris heard the door open, she yelled, “MAMA, WE HAVE A SURPRISE FOR YOU.” Unfortunately, the tart hadn’t cooled sufficiently to eat yet, so I threw it in the fridge for after dinner.
Our plan for dinner was buckwheat pancakes, but we couldn’t have pancakes with syrup and then a tart. “Do we have any frozen brussels sprouts?” Laurie asked. We did. This is what I made; I’ve done something like it before, but never quite so well.
**PENNE WITH BRUSSELS SPROUTS AND BACON**
Serves 2 to 3
10 ounces penne rigate
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 slices thick-cut bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1-1/2 cups frozen brussels sprouts, thawed and halved
salt and pepper
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup (lightly packed) grated Parmigiano
1. In a large skillet, cook the bacon in the olive oil until crisp. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate, reserving the fat in the pan. Raise heat to medium-high and add the brussels sprouts. Cook until lightly browned, sprinkling with salt and pepper. Add the chicken broth, reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer ten minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Meanwhile, cook the penne. Drain and add to the brussels sprouts along with the bacon and Parmigiano. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste and serve immediately.
“There’s too much Parmigiano on this noodle,” Iris complained, but you won’t. She didn’t complain about the tart.
**Iris:** (putting her hands under the suds) I can’t see my hands!
**Me:** Maybe they fell off.
**Iris:** No, they just went to Vancouver to get some more Timbits.