Monday, January 21, 2013

227/984 - Individual tomato and mustard tarts

Degustation course number five.

I had to be careful to balance all of the lovely seafood in this meal with a couple of protein free dishes. This little vegetarian number caught my eye and I decided to make individual tarts rather than one big one to ensure they would look as pretty as possible on the plates. I would have loved to have made the puff pastry myself, but given the amount of preparation I already had to do, I decided to take the sensible option and go for the packet variety. 

I wish I had taken a picture of my first attempt at baking the tart bases. Somehow I managed to end up with ridiculously puffed up discs covered in burnt dijon. My second attempt fared much better, after I made sure the bases were properly pricked and I turned off the fan inside the oven. 

I deliberately searched my drawers for a round cutter than would be just the right amount larger than the tomato slices. Except the cutter I picked wasn't a cutter at all and so I had to engage Trev to put some muscle into pushing it through the pastry.

I was very worried that these little tarts would not be appreciated by my guests, particularly as they were following the wontons sent straight from heaven. Thankfully the tarts were loved by all, the shallots imparting a delicate sweetness to the dish  that I did not foresee. 

More than halfway through the meal and so far so good!

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