It has been about a month since my last blog post... I promise that I've done lots of cooking and eating in the past month. I just haven't found the time to blog about it. It seems that life is finally starting to get into a rhythm since my move up to Whistler. Soooo.... I've been trying to push my culinary comfort zone and make things I've never made before. The last post was a white wine linguine with mussels which was a lot of first for me. I have never made a white wine sauce nor have I cooked mussels. And let me tell you that I am so happy I challenged myself- the pasta dish was one of the best things I've ever made! So
in this adventure I experimented with puff pastry dough (also
referred to as philo dough). It is the flaky multi-layered dough that is
often used in spanikopita and flaky desserts like apple turnovers.
My brother accidentally defrosted a package of the dough (it typically comes frozen in most grocery stores) and thus, it needed to be used pronto! So I got my foodgawker on and found many people used philo dough to substitute convention wheat crust. Naturally my mind went to savory tarts and pizza and I dreamed up a tart with all my favorite things: mushrooms, carmelized onions, spinach, zucchini, pesto, cherry tomatoes, chicken AND cheese: feta, parmesan and goat cheese. The great thing is that the tart can be as simple or as complex as you'd like it. I'll give you some ideas as we go :)
Ingredients:
1 package of philo dough
olive oil
1 container pesto
an assortment of veggies*: mushrooms, carmelized onions, spinach, zucchini, tomatoes
1 chicken breast*
AND cheese*: feta, parmesan and goat cheese
*other possible ingredients: prosciutto, bacon, olives, artichoke hearts, asparagus, bell peppers, mozzarella, cheddar
Directions:
Thaw the package of pastry (philo) dough according to the package's directions. (Some require thawing over night). Select which ingredients you would like on your tart. It can be as simple as spinach, mushroom and goat cheese OR as complex as mine: mushrooms, carmelized onions, spinach, zucchini, pesto, cherry tomatoes, chicken AND cheese: feta, parmesan and goat cheese. The tart comes out best if you pre-cook the majority of the ingredients. For example, if you are using onions, mushrooms, spinach or zucchini, you should saute them in olive oil before putting them into the tart. You should also cook and raw meat like chicken or bacon.
Once you've sauted and pre-cooked all your ingredients. It is time for the fun part! Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and cover a baking sheet with parchment paper. Mix the veggies you've chosen with olive oil and pesto- to your desired taste. Set the mixture aside. Roll out puff pastry dough onto lightly floured surface. Brush puff pastry dough with olive oil (or melted butter). You can do this with a pastry/bbq brush or I used my hands. It is best if you separate the dough and brush multiple layers. Place brushed layers flatly in a baking pan- I used a 9 x 13. Layer the dough in such a way that it creates a crust around the pan.
After placing the last piece of dough, brush it with oil as well. Gently spread your vegetable pesto mixture over the tart. Next crumble in the cheese you chose (feta, goat cheese and Parmesan are what I used) as well as what meat you'd like ( I went with chicken). After doing so, put the tart in the oven! Cook for 20-30 minutes til the crust is browned and cheese melted.
Let it cool a little bit then... enjoy!!
Other puff pastry ideas including how to make sweet tarts can be found at: http://foodgawker.com/?s=puff+pastry
