summertime, and the eating is easy

Alright, I said I would move on to marshmallowy goodness next but I just had to post this recipe quickly.

Mission: create a dinner that feels like summer. This is what Torren asked me to concoct as a theme for his birthday dinner. I have been processing this for about a month now (it was too busy to make the dinner on the actual day so the poor dude has been waiting for a little while) and I am pretty happy with what I came up with. Of course, there are lots of tastes of summer and many that I had been considering are going to be on display for Tessellation's graduation party next weekend so I decided to move on from the watermelon mint salad, mozzarella spinach pasta salad and grilled hunk of meat that I had been thinking of. Instead, I opted for an spinach salad with carrot orange and sesame that is featured in next month's Cook's Illustrated, a potato salad with dill from Kraft and a tomato tart from Relish. I am pairing all of this with beer, Torren's latest hobby and passion. Well, it's actually been ongoing considering the investments we have made in various brewing paraphernalia a the special fridge for his personal keg. It could be worse, we could still be trying to breed corn snakes...

Back to the beer. I was lured in to some great summer flavors at Julio's, considered the best beer selection in MA and maybe even New England with over a thousand options. Summer beers are often citrus and fruit-flavored which is probably why I love them so. Contrastingly, I can always have a deep stout or caramel porter, too. So I honed in on the Dogfish Head Festina Peche (peaches and nectarines being a weak spot for me), the Dogfish Head Black & Blue, made with blackberries and blueberries and lastly, a MA microbrew and personal fave of mine Pretty Things Baby Tree. Now you know why I like it. A brewery called Pretty Things?! A beer called BABY TREE?!! The label features hand-drawn little lambs frolicking under a tree. All of their labels are rendered with whimsy, I'm such a sucker for things like that. Anyway, the beer is made with dried plums (better known as PRUNES but that probably doesn't sound as appealing. Whatever, it tastes glorious).

Of course, what would a dinner be without dessert? Torren loves these Key Lime Tartlets I had included in this year's Christmas cookie tray so I decided to make them again but with an Oreo crust rather than the traditional graham cracker. It was his dinner, after all. The one thing I must stress with these is that you have to thoroughly grease your mini cupcake/tart pan inside and on the edges. Or, use mini muffin papers. I did not do either and thus the edges are a little ragged. Impatience is a bit of a problem of mine.

I had to show a picture of my snazzy pea pod tray from the parentals.  This thing is fantastical; it can freeze and bake and just look pretty on my kitchen shelf.

Key Lime Tartlets

Yield: 24

INGREDIENTS
crust
2 C Oreo crumbs (1 bag of mini Oreos, crushed) or 2 C graham cracker crumbs (18 graham cracker sheets -> 2 packages, crushed)
1/2 C unsalted butter, melted knock some of the calories off by using light butter
1/4 C + 1 T all-purpose flour

key lime filling
1 can sweetened condensed milk I use fat free
2/3 C fresh lime juice 5 limes worth if using the real thing
1/4-1/2 t grated lime zest
1 t pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Heavily grease or line mini tart pan/ mini cupcake pan.
crust
1. In a medium bowl, mix melted butter, Oreo crumbs and flour thoroughly until a dough is formed, pulling away from the sides.
2. Separate dough into 24 balls and distribute into tarlet pan. Using a tart tamper (random tool my Grandma Patty gave me, it works well for these situations!), spoon or your fingers, press dough up sides of each tart space.
3. Bake crust for 8-10 min.

filling
1. After the crusts have baked, increase the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. In a medium bowl, whisk together sweetened condensed milk, lime juice, lime zest, vanilla and egg.
2. Pour filling into the crusts. There may be a little left over depending on how full you want your tarlets to be.
3. Bake for 15 minutes or until just set. Let cool for at least 45 minutes before serving and removing from pan. Garnish with white chocolate or coconut if you desire. Refrigerate or freeze.

Nutrition: 125 cal, 4.5g fat, 120mg sod, 20g carb, 15g sugar, .5g fiber, 2.5g protein