Long ago I gave up on any hopes I ever had of making my own dough for things like pies, breads, and pizzas. But using frozen dough I have become the pandemic king of the flatbread and the tart. I used to make them occasionally, usually for parties, but they appear ever more frequently here at the Casa Encantada. Here are two of my favorites, one savory and one sweet.
Martha Stewart’s Asparagus Gruyère Tart
Cannot recommend highly enough. Simple, fairly quick, and delicious. I wouldn’t make a full meal out of this but it makes for an excellent appetizer or party snack. The written recipe is scant on details but I came across a video of a guy (so not Martha) making this so I’ve added in what she leaves out and this is what I do.
Some flour, for your work surface.
1 sheet frozen puff pastry
2 cups Gruyère cheese, shredded. This is important. Don’t grate it like you would parmesan dust to put on pizzas; grate it like the mozzarella you put on pizzas.
1 1/2 lbs. asparagus, washed and dried thoroughly. Wrap them in a clean dish towel so as much moisture as possible is absorbed. When you put them in the dish towel give them a good squeeze or two. No need to steam or blanch them; they will wilt and become mushy.
Some salt and pepper, to taste
Some olive oil
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. On a floured surface, roll the puff pastry into a 16-by-10-inch rectangle. Trim uneven edges. You do this by placing a straight-edge, a metal ruler if you’re me and an art department veteran, very close to the edge and with a pizza cutter cut away so you get a nice, even edge. Place pastry on a baking sheet. With a sharp knife, lightly score pastry dough 1 inch in from the edges to mark a rectangle. You do this because this is your “work area” and it will cause the edges to puff up more than the interior. If the interior rectangle puffs up during baking, which it does for me, push it down (carefully) with a spatula or something like that. Using a fork, pierce dough inside the markings at 1/2-inch intervals. Bake until golden, about 15 minutes (more like 12 for me.)
Remove pastry sheet from oven and sprinkle with Gruyère. Trim the bottoms of the asparagus spears to fit crosswise inside the tart shell; arrange in a single layer over Gruyère, alternating ends and tips. This means, with a wide, flat spatula, gather up half the asparagus spears, lay them out in a row, then rotate the sheet 180 degrees, scoop up the other half of the spears, and lay them on top. With your fingers fidget with the spears so that they form one layer. Brush with oil, and season with salt and pepper. Bake until spears are tender, 20 to 25 minutes (about 18 for me.)
I say: For an appetizer, cut into quarters. The asparagus should hold its shape so you don’t get a mess. For a party snack, cut into 16. As an alternative, if you’re out of asparagus or asparagus-ed out, you can substitute slightly browned sliced onions. For that matter, you can replace the asparagus with sliced onions and thinly sliced tomatoes, which is a version of a very old French tart recipe
CM’s Apricot Tarts
This is one of the first recipes I ever made from cooks [dot] com (if I type in the url it formats in a very strange way and hyperlinks to God knows what) so thanks CM and sorry cooks [dot] com. I make this because I think apricots are my favorite fruit; I love them even more than peaches I think.
12 baked tart shells
1 package (11 oz.) dried apricots, cut up [The genius of this is you can make them year-round, not just during apricot season.]
1 cup water
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs, well beaten
2 cups dairy sour cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
Toasted slivered almonds
In saucepan combine apricots and water. Bring to boil; reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes or until apricots are tender. Stir in sugar. Cool.
Combine eggs, sour cream, vanilla and almond extract; fold into apricots. Spoon into tart shells. Sprinkle with almonds.
Place on a sprayed baking sheet and bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 15 minutes. Check once or twice to make sure none have toppled over. If one has, try to resuscitate it. If you just blow it off the filling will spill out and burn on the sheet. The Fire Marshall may be summoned by a nosy neighbor. Alternately, your tart shells may fit in a muffin tin but the sizes vary and when I’ve done this the shells are too large.
Chill until ready to serve.
I like a nice tart.
A well aged one from what I have previously read.
I am so down with that first one. Thank you.