Category Archives: tart

Savory Tomato and Zucchini Hummus Tart

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Another week, another pie. This week I decided to switch things up for my savory pie and delve into the vegan world for my inspiration. I had tried my hand at being a vegan about a year ago and because of a jam-packed schedule and limited resources, had given up on the venture after approx. 3 months–not to mention, vegan cheese didn’t really cut it for me. Ideally, I loved the idea of veganism–if you stick to local and seasonal ingredients, it’s a super eco-friendly and healthy lifestyle. So, I decided why not pie? Well, friends, I have to admit, this pie wasn’t my proudest venture. It was bursting with flavor from the strong garlic and sun-dried tomatoes, but I think the flavors were overwhelming and stood out too much, rather than creating the deep layers of satisfying flavor I was hoping for. Additionally, I think cold nature of the dish and the lack of flakiness rubbed me the wrong way in comparison to all of the other pies I was consuming on banquet day. Still, though, it was pretty cool to make an entire pie with veggies, nuts, and seeds, and if you’re into that kind of thing, by all means here’s how to do it!

The first thing I did coat the tomatoes with some salt and olive oil and throw them in the oven. The recipe said to dehydrate them at the lowest temperature for 4-5 hours…Well, that amount of time seemed like forever, so I just cranked up the heat to a whopping 375 and decided that would knock off a couple hours…little did I know…

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Yes. This is what happens when you forget about the tomatoes…Luckily, I ended up having just enough to make a pretty topping!

Making the tart “crust” was super simple. All there really was to it was processing and pressing. No big shakes. The filling was ridiculously easy, as well. Process and spread. I found that the sesame seeds didn’t particularly turn into sesame “butter”, but that didn’t seem to make a difference! The final picture of this tart on banquet day is picture below…I had about half of it left at the end, sadly, but I don’t blame anyone…I’d say it would be much better suited to a hot summer day.

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Strawberry White Chocolate Mousse Tart

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I made my first ever tart this week!

The first thing I did was make the crust. It was a variation of the basic flaky pastry that we’ve been using so far. I also tried my hand at the vodka trick; the liquid in the crust was made my substituting half of the water for vodka. It’s a good thing I did this, because I think I might’ve added a little too much liquid to the pastry.

It was surprisingly easy to roll out the pastry. I then pressed it into the tart pan and folded over the edges in order to make a doubly-thick crust around the sides, as seen here:

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The crust was frozen for half and hour and then pre-baked for 45 minutes. Boom:

 

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The next part of the process was to make the white chocolate mousse. I used a double boiler method to prevent scorching while melting the white chocolate. After melting, the white chocolate mixture was set aside to cool.

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In the meantime, I beat the egg whites and the whipping cream mixture.IMG_1310

 

These were each folded into the melted white chocolate. This mousse was then poured into the tart shell and left in the fridge to chill.

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This is where the decoration part of the tart began. I cut the 16 oz of strawberries into thin slices and carefully arranged them into concentric circles on top of the mousse.

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I thought that the tart needed a little contrast in color, so I thought it would be a good idea to put some dark chocolate on there. I’ve always wanted to try making decorations out of chocolate drizzle, so I melted some semi-sweet chocolate pieces with shortening over a double boiler and made a makeshift piping bag.IMG_1315

I played around with some shapes and left them to cool/harden.IMG_1316

 

And then arranged them on top of the tart. I finished it off with the tart strawberry-jam-and-lemon-juice glaze, which gave the tart a shiny look.

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I’m happy with how it turned out!I was a little nervous about it, but everything went pretty smoothly and I think the final product looks nice. I hope it tastes good. I tasted the chocolate mousse and it was super sweet, so I’m hoping that the strawberries and the glaze add a little tartness to counteract the overwhelming sweetness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fig Goat Cheese Tart

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I have been super into figs recently, and I love cheese, so I decided this would be a perfect pie for me to try.  I decided for a little umph I’d put some nuts into the crust since the topping called for nuts..  Unfortunately, I combined the recipe for the nutty pie crust and the one for the vodka trick, which called for significantly more shortening.  By the time I added the liquid, it was much too wet to be able to roll out, so I decided to make a push-in  tart instead. I’m not totally sure what went wrong with the pastry, but I hope it still tastes good.

I followed the recipe pretty much exactly except with the dried figs, I reconstituted them by pouring boiling water over them and letting them in a bowl for fifteen minutes.  We also didn’t have enough almond slices for the topping, so I ended up putting some pecans in there as well.  I think the topping is sort of interesting because it’s not quite a crumb but it’s made with all crumb-like ingredients with the exception of the slices for little pieces. I also find this pie interesting because it obviously has a lot of sweet components (such as the topping) but also has the basil, so it’s clearly not supposed to be completely dessert-y.  I’ll be interested in seeing how all the flavors come together.

Doing the tart made me slightly confused on the decorative piece. How was I going to do decorations with a tart? I decided to try to lay out the figs in a way that would be decorative.

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But by the time the cheese batter was poured on top and the crumb added, it was hard to see the attempt at some special lay-out…

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We’ll see how it tastes tomorrow!

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http://alwayswithbutter.blogspot.com/2011/11/fig-goat-cheese-pie-with-basil.html

Savory Stuff

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Nikki here!

So I decided to make two pies for Savory Week: Steak/Beef Stew Pie and Chile Relleno Pie.

Steak Pie/Beef Stew Pie:

This recipe was originally only steak and onion with a puff pastry top, but I wanted to expand upon it with more vegetables (carrots, turnips, garlic) and an actual pie crust. It also originally called for mushroom gravy, which I replaced with actual mushrooms and beef broth, as well as a few spices such as rosemary and a bay leaf or two. Since the broth made the filling a bit watery, I knew I would need to prebake the pie crust; it was kinda fun to use the bean method (but not really…its not that exciting…); at any rate, I suppose this pie would either require a) more stewing time pre-bake; or b) time in the refrigerator to congeal and be served cold.

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I think my experiment went fairly well; it was very tasty and savoury, and the lard crust was well suited to its beefy contents. The meat was a bit tough, so I’m not sure whether it needed to stew more or less (any meat experts out there?)

I topped it off with a goofy attempt at the Harry Potter Deathly Hallows symbol, which I then watched over the weekend and realized that the circle actually goes inside the triangle (whatevs). It all went to the same place anyway 😉

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Pie number two: Chile Relleno

I found this recipe online and stuck with it the whole time. It was actually really freakin good; I believed it would be awesome, but a few of my friends were a bit skeptical (also, for all those Williams College people don’t know what Chile Relleno is, it’s a mexican dish made from stuffed, roasted Poblano Peppers, which are not spicy;cheese, and an egg batter. The pie also included precooked chicken and was topped by salsa. The lard crust was fine, and held together fairly well (probably my best crust yet as far as handling and timing goes).

 

Since it got raving reviews I would absolutely make this pie again, but with a few more peppers, as it is of my opinion that the more the merrier in regards to roasted peppers.

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Outside of class, I was inspired to try this Leek and Gruyere cheese pie, which, with a delicious all butter crust, was pretty amazing in all its simplicity. How unfortunate that gruyere is so expensive!

 

 

 

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Decorative Thoughts

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While researching pie decorations this weekend, I have found that pastry is often used to make decorative crusts and pie toppers and designs and the like. The alternative is NOT using pastry to make decoration. I have a few thoughts for both:

I found a Bon Appetit recipe for Strawberry and White Chocolate Mouse Tart, which looks amazing to me. I really want to eat it, so I think I’m going to make it.

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I think it would be cool to arrange the strawberries into concentric circles. The strawberries themselves are made to look especially appetizing because they are brushed with a melted-strawberry-jam-and-lemon-juice mixture. I would like to experiment with chocolate drizzle designs to make to little dark chocolate pieces to incorporate into the circular strawberry design. Something along the lines of these little hearts:

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Or maybe make a chocolate ribbon to place in the middle. Seemingly impossible, but I need to do more research to see whether or not this would be feasible.

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The other option would be to make a pie and manipulate pastry for decoration. Here are just a few of the really cool things I found while poking around in Pintrest.

This sunny, yummy looking spinach thing. Wow.

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This work of art!

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An interesting take on a lattice-top-esque prebaked thing that is apparently set atop a pie like a lid.

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And this use of color. I’d never really thought about dying pastry before…

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Yep, just a few thoughts of mine. I am leaning towards the tart at the moment. I’ve never made one before and would really like to try!

Thoughts on Presentation

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I’ve always liked the way tarts look. I think there is a lot of potential with regards to the placement of fruit within the tart to make really a really beautiful pie. I think it would be really interesting to think about presentation in a tart because it is so open, so the presentation all depends on the filling itself. I’ve been looking at a pear and goat cheese tart online, and I think it would be cool to slice the pears into thin wedges and play with the layering and spiraling of the pears on top of one another to create a unique and intriguing presentation.

In other news… my entry is having a reunion snacks type thing tonight, so I decided to make a pie. I did a jumble berry custard pie, which I haven’t eaten yet, but I’m hoping is going to be really good. I cut a simple sailboat design into the top, which I guess was my first foray into presentation of pie… I did learn that if you cut designs into a pastry top they can get distorted during cooking as the filling cooks and bubbles up through them. I’m hoping everyone enjoys it!

Red pepper and goat cheese tart

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That’s goat cheese mixed with a egg and layered at the bottom of the crust after it’ been placed in the tart pan. Then a layer of fresh basil leaves on top of the chèvre.

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Then many layers of red pepper rings (about 3 peppers’ worth) with some additional crumbled goat cheese interspersed for variety. Drizzle with honey, sprinkle with salt and black pepper, and bake.

20131226-red-pepper-tart-3Happy Boxing Day!