#18 - ASPARAGUS AND GRUYERE TARTS

I am SOOOO behind on my recipe posts! It's not that I haven't been cooking, it's that I haven't been posting! I'm going to try to pound out the posts this week to get caught up... no promises!

This recipe is SUPER easy but the finished product looks and tastes FANCY SCHMANCY!  I'm pretty sure that even someone who is not a fan of asparagus might like this one... and if they don't, more for the rest of us! My asparagus was super long, even after cutting it down, so the tarts were probably a little big but I didn't hear anyone complain! You can serve them drizzled with a yummy balsamic reduction (I made that the day before... easy peasy!).  These would be great for appetizers, for brunch, lunch, or as side dish.... or anytime, just because!

ASPARAGUS AND GRUYERE TARTS
(I got 6-8 tarts out of this recipe or you could make one big one!)
Recipe adapted from Joy The Baker

INGREDIENTS:

2 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed but still cold.

1 egg, beaten

2 cups finely grated gruyere cheese

1-1 1/2 pounds slender asparagus

kosher salt and coarse ground black pepper

olive oil

balsamic reduction (recipe below)

 

DIRECTIONS:

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

 

Unfold thawed puff pastry onto a lightly floured work surface.  Unfold the pastry and slice into thirds at the creases.  Cut each strip in half, creating six equally sized rectangles - I used my asparagus as a gage of how long/wide my strips needed to be.

 

Gently press each rectangle with your fingers, flattening slightly.  With a small pairing knife, score a 1/4 inch boarder along the inside of each rectangle.  Arrange 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheet.

 

Brush each square lightly with beaten egg. Sprinkle with salt and coarse ground black pepper.  Top with a generous sprinkling of grated cheese.  Press five to six asparagus spears into the cheese. Brush the asparagus with olive oil and sprinkle with more coarsely ground black pepper.

 

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until puff pastry is golden brown and asparagus is cooked through. Remove from the oven, allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving.  Serve with balsamic reduction.   Tarts can be stored, well wrapped in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

 

BALSAMIC REDUCTION

Recipe from PopSugar

 

All you need is a bottle of balsamic vinegar!

Pour a cup of balsamic vinegar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring the heat to a boil without reducing the heat on the stove.

 

At this point, turn down the heat so that boil reduces to a simmer. Stir occasionally and allow to simmer until the vinegar has reduced by at least half (for a thinner reduction) or more (for a more syrupy consistency). However impatient you may be, don't try to increase the heat, unless you want to be left with a stiff, hardened mess!

 

Allow to cool and transfer to an airtight container; store in the refrigerator until ready to use.

 

 

(Recipe #18 of 52)

#10 - Chicken Pot Pie

“I might be going out on a limb here, but this might be the best chicken pot pie I've ever had!”

That was the review my pot pie got from the Hubs!  The son that doesn't like pot pie loved it too.  They even warned that they were willing to fight over the extra pie sitting in the kitchen!

This was another one of those “experimental” recipes.  I looked up a few different recipes, pulled out things I liked from them and then did my thing.  The problem with that was that I didn't really write down everything as I went.  When it got such great reviews, I knew that I had better figure it out so I could make it again later!  So, here it is (as much as I could remember!):

Chicken Pot Pie
Makes 4 single-serve pies.

4 chicken breast halves

Salt and pepper

4 tablespoons cooking oil, divided

4 cups chicken stock

4-5 small red potatoes, diced

2 tablespoons minced garlic

1/2 small red onion, minced

1 cup chopped carrots

1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped

2 sprigs fresh sage

1/3 cup white wine (optional)

Frozen corn (about a cup)

Canned green beans (most of the can)

1/3 cup butter

2/3 cup all-purpose flour

2 cups whole milk

1 cup heavy cream

Pinch fresh grated nutmeg

2 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed

Egg wash (lightly whisk together 1 whole egg and 1 teaspoon water)

Special equipment: 4 (2-cup) individual baking dishes

·        Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

·        In a medium saucepan, cook potatoes in chicken stock until just tender.  Remove from stock and set aside. (You could just cook them in water, but I think it added great flavor to do it this way.)

·        Season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat 2 tbsp. oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and sauté until cooked through. Remove from heat and cut into chunks. (You could always use 2 cups of precooked chicken to save time.)

·        In the same skillet heat the other 2 tbsp. oil and sauté garlic, sage and onion 2-3 minutes. Add white wine, and simmer a minute or two and then add carrots.  Cook until carrots are tender. Remove sage sprigs and add thyme.

·        Add potatoes, corn, green beans and chicken to the carrot mixture.  Salt and pepper to taste.

·        In a large saucepan, melt butter and then slowly add flour, stirring until consistency of peanut butter, but don’t let it brown. Alternating, slowly add cream and milk. Keep stirring.

·        This is where I added some chicken stock.  Start with about ½ and stir well.  You don’t want the filling too thin, so don’t overdo it.  Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens, about 4 minutes.

·        When the stock mixture has thickened, add nutmeg, salt & pepper and veg & chicken mixture. Stir well and remove from heat.

·        Cut puff pastry into 4 squares big enough to cover the tops of your baking dishes.

·        Fill 4 individual oven-proof bowls with chicken mixture and top each with puff pastry. Cut a few slits in the top of each pie to vent and brush with egg wash.

·        Place pies on a baking sheet and bake for 25-30 minutes or until pastry is golden brown.

·        Cool a few minutes before serving… if you can wait that long!

A couple of notes…

When making the base (butter, flour, milk, cream, chicken stock), I just kinda eyeballed it.  SLOWLY add the liquids in, stirring well in between.  Next time I’ll pay more attention to the amounts I put in!

There will be extra filling left over. YUM!  Eat it tomorrow for lunch!

There was no blood shed for the extra pie.  The Hubs ate it a couple of days later (reheated at 350 degrees for 30 minutes) and it was still super delish!

(Recipe #10 of 52)