Brown butter raspberry tart

While I'd argue that the best things about blogging are 1) being creative and 2) the free cookbooks you get for review, following closely at third is giving the world a glimpse of your perspective on food and life. And, in turn, getting a snapshot of other people's angle.

When I first started The Hungry Dog, it wasn't intended to be about food. However, it quickly became apparent that I had nothing else to talk about. At the time, I didn't read food blogs, but once I got sucked in, I began reading a lot of them. Too many, in fact, and I got overloaded. Now I just read a handful that I really like. Some I read because they have beautiful photography, or great recipes. Some are friends of mine. Most I read because I like the voice behind the blog. Perhaps because my background is as a writer and not a cook, this seems to be the most compelling reason to pluck one blog from the millions.

One of my favorites is Cook, a oui chef journal. I like the look of Connie's site, which is elegant and more artful than mine. As a trained chef, she often has useful professional advice (like how to go about choosing knives). And, I think she strikes a nice balance between writing about food in a general sense and giving a peek into her specific world.

When I saw that she made this gorgeous brown butter rhubarb tart last month, I put it immediately on my to-make list. But by the time I got around to it, I had raspberries on hand, so I decided to go with the original recipe, which is from Bon Appetit.

This is a lovely tart, extremely simple, and worth making while either berries or rhubarb are in season. It's truly not difficult: even the crust you just press into the pan. For those of you who are as crust-impaired as I am, this is a dream come true. And for something so easy, it looks more than a little bit impressive.