Breaking in a new food processor

July 30, 2023 12:27 PM

I just bought a new food processor ... I have lived my entire adult life without one, but I finally caved, mainly because of its ability to speed up making pastry doughs. What is a good, relatively easy summer pastry recipe that uses a food processor?

I really like sweet, tart things. I'm the type of person who will choose the lemon bar over the brownie. I love all fruits. When I buy a pastry at a bakery it's usually something with fruit. I'm a decent cook but I don't bake much, and I also have a new oven I haven't baked in at all, so something not too finicky would be best (no souffle, for example).

posted by Kutsuwamushi to Food & Drink (13 answers total)

Sounds like you need to make some pies.
posted by fancyoats at 12:50 PM on July 30, 2023

Summer treat + Sweet + Tart = Blackberry pie!

Use your processor to make a pate brisée (butter crust). Press it into a pre-frozen, buttered pie tin. Take some blackberries, mix them with a bit of tapioca and sugar (tapioca or other flour to absorb the juice). Cook at 375 (start at 425 for 10 mins to dry the dough, then turn it down).

Let it cool.

Enjoy with creme fraiche or greek yogurt to balance the tartness of the berries.
posted by Bigbootay. Tay! Tay! Blam! Aargh... at 1:01 PM on July 30, 2023

Dorie Greenspan's "Good for Almost Everything Pie Dough" requires a food processor. This recipe includes that pie dough recipe. It requires a large capacity food processor, but you can make the dough in two batches if you have a smaller one.

I've made this pie dough before, and it's delightful. I don't recall it being too finicky.
posted by skunk pig at 1:02 PM on July 30, 2023 [2 favorites]

Peach and/or berry galette. Galette's are great with savory items too (squash, mushrooms, onions, etc.)

Also, not a dessert, but homemade hummus is a great meal when it's too hot to cook, and is super easy with a food processor.
posted by coffeecat at 1:30 PM on July 30, 2023 [4 favorites]

Food processors also make short work of processing ingredients. Carrots are in season, you can make carrot cake. Also zucchini bread. In the fall, cranberry orange muffins.
posted by shock muppet at 3:42 PM on July 30, 2023 [1 favorite]

Energy blend, as they are called. Yogurt, fruit, ice, frozen orange juice concentrate, honey, often seen here as first breakfast.
posted by the Real Dan at 4:34 PM on July 30, 2023

Best answer: Here is Jacque Pepin’s recipe for pate brisée crust for galettes. It’s super easy and pretty foolproof with a food processor. I’ve made many apple and plum and peach ones. Savory ones with herbed ricotta cheese and summer squash (roasted peppers, whatever) are also good.

Make it even easier and get a completely flat baking sheet and some parchment paper.
posted by sevenless at 7:12 PM on July 30, 2023 [1 favorite]

Ok ok -- I know you said 'I like fruits' and 'I want summer pastry' but I am going to steer you in a different direction entirely.
That thing will make an amazing carrot salad that will take you 2 minutes, with cleanup.
Use the disc that cuts everything into ribbons.

This is a great recipe to start with:
https://www.bethfishreads.com/2022/03/weekend-cooking-salad-freak-by-jess.html

Hey, you said you wanted to break in a new food processor and this is what I'd make if I had a food processor I was putting through its paces.
posted by msamye at 8:11 PM on July 30, 2023

Pie dough in the food processor is insanely easy, and has led to more frequent pies in my household.

I second the Jacques Pepin Pate Brisée recipe linked by sevenless, noting that while you can use it for the galette in the posted recipe, you can also use the same dough for any pie you wish to make (you will need to double the recipe if you want both a top and bottom crust). Also noting that it is nearly identical to Julia Child's Pate Brisée recipe, although hers substitutes 3 tblsp lard for the additional 1/2 stick of butter, doubles the salt, and adds a tblsp of sugar. After forming the dough into a ball, you can wrap and store in the fridge for a couple of days or freeze, so that you can have ready-made dough on hand. I find it's easy to mix up several batches at a time, one for now and a couple for later.

But I mostly came here to say that one of my favorite food processor recipes is the falafel recipe from the Joy of Cooking (of all places!). Soak your chick peas overnight, and then run them through the processor with parsley and spices for the most crispy and elegant falafel. You'll never eat storebought falafel again.

Pick over, rinse, and soak, 1¼ cups dried chickpeas
Drain thoroughly. Place in a food processor and finely chop.

Add:
½ cup chopped onions
¼ cup packed fresh parsley leaves
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1½ teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon coriander seeds, crushed, or ½ teaspoon ground coriander
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon ground red pepper

Process until the mixture is coarsely puréed.

Remove to a bowl and stir in:
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

With wet hands, form the chickpea mixture into 4 patties, each about 3 inches in diameter. Let stand for 15 minutes.

Pour into a deep skillet:
½ inch vegetable oil
Fry the chickpea patties until golden on both sides, about 4 minutes each side. Drain on paper towels.

Tahini Sauce
Stir together:
¼ cup tahini
¼ cup cold water
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Pinch of salt
posted by amusebuche at 10:54 PM on July 30, 2023 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Smitten Kitchen's whole lemon tart is delicious, summery, sweet, tart (no pun intended) and fruity, and it needs a food processor for both the tart shell and the filling.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 3:24 AM on July 31, 2023

Best answer: These rhubarb bars from smitten kitchen are divine. I always get a ton of compliments when I make them and you use the processor for both the crust and filling.
posted by damayanti at 6:44 AM on July 31, 2023 [1 favorite]

I'd suggest trying to make a basic pie dough first in the new processor, if you haven't done so already. Reason I'm suggesting this is I replaced mine because the old one was so crap at pie dough - basically it sent flour and other dry ingredients flying all over the kitchen, leaking out from under the lid, under the bowl, etc. It was a now discontinued KitchenAid model that was positively reviewed in its day. I have to say it was good at things that were not pie dough or soup.
posted by needled at 8:18 AM on July 31, 2023

Since people are already posting not-pie stuff, I have come here to post the best whole grain sandwich bread recipe ever.
My food processor is small, so I don't make it as often as I would like.
I also use mine for slicing and shredding. You can make celeriac remoulade on a weeknight. Or potatoes au gratin.
If you have an ice-cream machine, you can blend random stuff together and see how it works out when churned. I found a tin of pears when I deep-cleaned my pantry, and I'm planning to blend them with heavy cream, egg yolks and vanilla and see how that works out.
posted by mumimor at 7:52 AM on August 3, 2023