A sucker for kitchen gadgets!

There’s nothing like a new gadget to perk up my cooking, if only for a short while. Any excuse to use it – any excuse at all – and I’m there. I love to peruse cooking stores and websites for new gadgets. I’m a sucker for new tools, and a complete idiot for those tools in funky colors.

Last year when I picked up a mango splitter, I proceeded to buy many overpriced mangoes for weeks just so I could use it. I figured out just the level of ripeness of the fruit that resulted in the best split. My kids thought this was just the best thing ever as they love mangoes and I would buy them only rarely. We had many smiles around the dinner table, and many mango fibers to floss out of our teeth.

I was equally excited when I received a microplane grater as a gift. I sought out all my recipes that contained grated citrus peel or fresh grated nutmeg. Fresh tangerine tart out of season? Eggnog in July? Why not! Then I started using it to grate Parmesan onto pasta. Those thin ribbons of cheese melted so easily, and prettily. I was in heaven.

Any excuse for a new gadget…

Even my new garlic press has me excited. Our 15+ year old garlic press gave up the ghost recently, so I got to pick out a shiny new steel one with these lovely rubber grips. There are so many things I could press with that. What to try, what to try…

There’s that new avocado slicer around that looks very interesting. Although I don’t often slice avocados (I usually smush them into guacamole) and don’t find it onerous when I do, it’s awfully pretty.

The pineapple slicer looks like lots of fun, too. Except that we have a fresh pineapple once or twice a year. Mere details!

My oldest son has inherited my love of cooking gadgets. He has short fingernails and asked for a citrus peeler for Christmas. Seriously, he did.

As you can imagine, my drawers are overfull with seldom used items. But when I do want that gadget, no other will do. Whether it’s the apple corer, melon baller, bowl scraper, or one of a dozen others, I love them all.

Tangerine Tart

Think of tangerine as the starting off point for this tart. Pink grapefruit, lemon, or lime also work.

Crust

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp grated tangerine peel
14 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into chunks

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

In a food processor, combine the flour, sugar and tangerine peel. Whir together about 10 seconds. Sprinkle the butter over the top of the flour mixture, then pulse the food processor until the dough just holds together. Press the crust into a 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. It will be a bit crumbly.

Bake 25-53 minutes until crust is light brown.

Filling:

2 large eggs
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup fresh tangerine juice
2-3 tsp grated tangerine peel
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup half-and-half

Keep that oven at 325 degrees.

With a mixer on high speed, mix all ingredients until well-blended, a minute or so. Pour into the baked crust, and bake 30-40 minutes, until the filling no longer giggles. Cool about 1 hour.

Topping:

3/4 cup whipping cream
2 tbsp powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1-2 tsp grated tangerine peel

Beat cream, sugar, vanilla and tangerine peel together until just shy of soft peaks. Mound spoonfuls on the tart as you serve it.

Jen’s Guacamole

I’m not a big pepper fan, so this version has none. The focus is the lovely creaminess of the avocados.

3 perfectly ripe avocados
1 plum tomato, seeded and chopped fine
2 tbsp finely chopped red onion
juice of half a lime
generous pinch of kosher salt

Peel and mash the avocados well. Add the tomato, onion, lime juice and salt and mix/mash well.

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