Thursday, December 31, 2015

Tarte Soleil - Perfect New Year's appetizer!



French food is difficult to make.  Who has the time?

Psst...over here.  I made this beautiful Tarte Soleil in no time flat using store bought ingredients!  It was easy!  I saw the recipe on smittenkitchen.com and was inspired.  The dough is store bought puff pastry and the filling options are waiting for you at your grocery/gourmet store olive bar!  Use your creativity: the options are limitless.  It could be sweet or savory - you choose!

SK recipe used a combination of sun-dried tomato tapenade and olive tapenade along with fresh herbs.  For mine, I bought Kalamata olive tapenade, roasted garlic, added some fresh thyme and oregano, and dotted it with goat cheese.  DELICIOUS! I am going to look like magic when I show up at my friends' NYE party with this in hand.  :)





Simply, thaw a package of puff pastry in the fridge overnight.  Lightly flour a Tovolo Pastry Mat and roll out one sheet to a 10" or 12" round.  I made mine a 10" round.  You don't want to use a knife on the silicone mat because you could cut it so I used the Nylon end of a Tovolo Scoop & Spread.  (Add yet another use for that kitchen miracle!) Take the round and place it on a piece of parchment paper just a little bigger than the round itself.  Roll the second sheet to the same size.

To assemble, spread the filling (you could do bruschetta, tapenade, cinnamon sugar, frangipane, nutella, jam, whatever you like) to just shy of the edge.  Using your finger, lightly dab the edge of the bottom dough with water and then carefully place the second round on top, gently sealing the two together at the water seam.  Then place a glass in the middle of the two doughs.  No need to push, it is just holding the middle together. Take the Nylon end of your Scoop & Spread and cut the dough from the glass to the edge at 3:00, 6:00, 9:00, and 12:00 o'clock.  Then cut each of those triangles in half and then half again to get 16 pieces.  Okay, now here's the tricky part.  Hold your finger at the top of the triangle near the edge of the glass so that you don't break the connection of the top of the triangle to the middle of the dough.  Take the outer edge and gently twist the dough.  I gave each triangle about 2 1/2 twists.  Remove the glass and add seeds or nuts for decoration. Then brush the whole thing with an egg wash made of one yolk and 1 teaspoon of water.  Bake it in a 350 degree oven for about 35 minutes and Voila!  This is perfect for an appetizer or even a brunch.




the original smitten kitchen recipe is:
http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2015/12/feta-tapenade-tarte-soleil/

I wish you all a very happy New Year and looking forward to more recipes, adventures in the kitchen, and lots of great food in 2016!
Julie

No comments:

Post a Comment