Today's recipe was chosen by Anne of Anne Strawberry. Tomato and Goat Cheese Tarts. Seriously. How could this be bad?
Recipe can be found here.
A quick read-through of the ingredients had me cringing. I've never, ever used puff pastry. I've always wanted to, but never had the gumption to give it a try. Ina makes it look so easy. But then again, she makes everything look simple.
I assembled all my ingredients at the store yesterday. I picked up pre-shredded parmesan (I know!) and pre-crumbled goat cheese while also skipping the basil for cost savings. I thought of using sun-dried tomatoes as tomato season is still a few months away, but I went ahead and bought a grocery store-style cardboard tomato to stay true to the recipe.
The onions cooked down perfectly.
(I'm writing this while they are baking in the oven. The smell drove me to check on them - oohh my! Lovely little golden brown tarts. I can hardly stand the seven minute wait!)
The puff pastry took a little patience to work with. I attempted rolling it out to the 11" square Ina insisted on, but it was sticking and I didn't want to ruin it as it already had holes from the folds. I made the circles using a small bowl as my template. The rest of the assembly went without a hitch.
Results: YUM! The flavors are perfect. I only used one large onion and felt there were more than enough onions on each tart. The pastry was flaky and the goat cheese slightly melted into the onions. I want these flavors on an entire pizza pie! I do think substituting sun-dried tomatoes until my heirloom tomatoes are ready to be picked out of my garden would be an acceptable substitution and wouldn't affect the flavor at all, perhaps even enhance it. I found the sliced tomato to be a little too wet for the crispy pastry. Maybe I'll roast the summer tomatoes before placing them on top. Now, what to do with all that leftover puff pastry?
Final Grade: A
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2 comments:
Those look great! You did such a good job for a first time Puff Pastriest!
~Cat
PS: Totally make her easy sticky buns with that left over dough. Just do it. You won't regret it.
what NOT to do with leftover puff pastry?
this was my first time working with it, too. i didn't try to roll it out, since i knew i was just going to make one little mini-tart. you were braver.
personally, i'm saving mine to make blue cheese & walnut rolls and blueberry tarts for the annual penn state blue & white tailgate.
if i weren't under such a constraint to bring something to that, i'd totally just drizzle on some honey and brown sugar, throw on some apples, and eat the whole thing.
=)
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