The Birth of a Recipe

From idea to dish, recipe development is always a challenge

I’m typing this post the night before I begin the first photo session for my next book. I've been busy working on two books for the last six months. The first is the English version of my second French book, "Un Weekend Chez Lesley,"and the second is my third French book, which will focus on wine with food pairings. I've been adapting classic recipes to my taste, updating recipes for a new edition, and dreaming up recipes from scratch. It's something I love doing, yet it remains a challenge.

There are days I'm just not inspired and days I don't want to set foot in the kitchen. But most of the time, I'm happy to be dreaming up new recipes. There are so many recipes available to the public now, which was hardly the case when I started as a food writer, so finding an original idea for a recipe isn’t always a walk in the park. Yes, it happens, but truth be told, most people are just churning out personalized interpretations of known recipes, and that's fine by me because it's interesting seeing how people can reinterpret a classic.

I recall in my first book wanting to feature a recipe for chocolate chip cookies, which seemed ridiculous considering that's a recipe that's been done to death. But I had an idea in mind for a cookie that I enjoyed as a kid, which was no longer available as the store that sold them closed. So, relying on the memory, my goal was to get as close to it as possible. After many, many tests, I think I nailed it and have yet to find a better cookie to my taste.

The same goes for all of the recipes I write. I start with an idea, and through trial and error, work on getting close to what I imagine. I often get there, but it also happens that my ideas result in a huge disappointment. Case in point: a Thai-inspired salmon dish I dreamed up that seemed so great in theory, yet turned out to be a total dud. I guess I could have reworked it over and again but I threw in the towel pretty quickly on that one.

For the wine book I'm working on, I imagined a recipe for a savory tart to pair with red wine. And because there were so many meat dishes in the book, I wanted it to be vegetarian. I've already written up the recipe, and tested it a few times with good results, so I thought I'd bring you along for the ride.

Inspiration: Antipasto platter left, tomato tart, right

The idea came from two sources. First, the tomato galette in my last French book, and then the wine I wanted to pair with it. The recipe I needed was for the Sangiovese chapter, and in a book heavy on meat dishes, I wanted something vegetable-forward. So a tart came to mind. Then I thought of that great Sangiovese-based wine, Chianti, and the first dishes that popped into my head were tomato-sauced pastas. Yes, I already had a couple of those. But then I remembered of one of the things I love most about Italian restaurants: antipasto plates. I especially recall a perfect one set out on an antique sideboard at the Montreal restaurant Il Cortile, a popular downtown trattoria with classic Italian food (great tiramisu!) and an incredible terrasse. Looking back, I think I admired that antipasto spread close to 40 years ago! And though I haven’t been back to Il Cortile in ages, I bet it’s exactly the same.

What I like best in an antipasto buffet are the grilled marinated vegetables, especially the peppers, eggplant, zucchini and artichokes. There are often sliced tomatoes, olives and marinated mozzarella as well. Yum! Why not make that into a tart, I thought.

So I did! But it took me a few tries to make something I like. In the first version, the vegetables were sliced too thick And I loaded on too much mozzarella. Delicious yes, but refined? No.

First try: too cheesy!

But the second version — with less mozzarella and thinner vegetables — I liked. What I really liked about this tart is that I made it with a puff pastry base. Yes it’s more complicated but the resulting tart was incredibly light and crisp. I served it at two dinner parties and it scored raves all around. Success!

Thinner vegetables make for a more elegant tart

In a few weeks when we take the picture for the book, I'll post an update of how we styled it for the book, which will be a challenge but I’m up for it!

I love this tart and I’m happy to share a small preview of what’s to come.

The #2 test when baked. Delicious!

Antipasto Tart

Serves 6