French Fridays with Dorie: Gerard's Mustard Tart

  

Welcome to my first installation of French Fridays with Dorie. This is an on-line cooking group that enables bloggers (or anyone with a camera and a kitchen) to cook the same recipes from the same book and compare notes and photos of the results. The book in question is Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan. It was just released last month and this is the first recipe I've made. I'm in love..

  

I'm also a brand-new convert to all-butter pastry. It's a revelation for me. I grew up making shortening pastry, which isn't bad at all and I'll probably still make that pastry from time to time. But this--this dough is like nothing I've ever experienced. The flavor of butter is somehow intensified by the addition of sugar, of which, to be honest, I was skeptical. Don't be afraid of the sugar. It's only there to make the butter taste sweeter and more buttery. Again, it's a revelation. A sweet pastry for a savory tart? I'm a believer.

 

This pastry is so easy to work with. I was a little nervous after hearing about how temperamental butter pastry can be. But this was a joy to handle. I made it a few days before making the tart, pulled it out of the refrigerator and after a few minutes I had a supple, tender dough to line my pan with. I used my ceramic pie weights my husband gave me for Christmas to bake off the crust and instead of chilling for an hour I froze it for 30 minutes. What can I say? Sometimes I'm impatient.

 

I sliced up the vegetables in advance as well to save some time. I made this last night after work and I was hoping to have a nice dinner for the two of us and I would do the exact same thing again. This is a simple recipe and the steps are concisely and expertly described. Really, if you can roll out cookie dough and beat eggs together, you can make this dish.

 

The only thing I did differently is to arrange the carrots and leeks anyway I could that would keep them above the surface of my custard. I didn't have any creme fraiche available, so I used cream. I think the former would have made a denser base for the vegetables to rest on.....mine sank to the bottom promptly. But I'm ecstatic about how this turned out, because in our house, we love mustard. This was delicious and the smell of rosemary and mustard is now my new favorite combination. Thank you, Dorie, for a delicious recipe that brings the essence of France into my home.

  

If you would like to get the recipe, you'll have to get the cookbook. If this recipe is any indication of what's to follow, it will be more than worth it. This collection of recipes, from starters and salads to main courses and desserts is definitely one of the only cookbooks you will need. The photographs are inspiring, the stories are entertaining and the food is magical. There will be lots of other comments on the web-site, French Fridays with Dorie, if you would like to see how this tart turned out for other bloggers. Click here to visit and see what's cooking.