Weekend herb blogging #82

The host of this weeks 82nd "weekend herb blogging", that famous event invented from Kalyn, will be Pat from Up a Creek without a PatL. For this event I made three different vegetable tarts each with puff pastry. One tart is with leek. And I combined leek with the herb thyme. The other tart is with tiny Roma tomatoes in 3 different colours, red, yellow, and orange. And I combined it with dried Oregano and fresh basil. Those three herbs are ordinary and I use them very often. The third tart with carrots is a bit unusual. I combined it with sweet touch of lavender and fennel. It was very delicious and even my three children loved it. I don't dare to make the puff pastry myself in the Singaporean climate, not in "my" tiny non-airconditioned kitchen. I bought a frozen, ready-made one.

My WHB entry consists of:

Leek tart with thyme, olives, and goats cheese

Tomato tart with Mozzarella, oregano, and basil

Carrot tart with fennel, lavender, pepitas, and Pecorino cheese

After we tried the tarts I decided to shift the goats cheese from the leek tart to the carrots tart and the olives to that one with the tomatoes. And I added 5 thin slices Parma ham to the leek tart. I'm going to write you those versions with these changes. I used 3 tart molds with 16 cm in diameter each. 1 tart is enough for 1 person.


Ingredients for the leek tart:

100 gpuff pastry, defrosted
1/3egg, whisked (make the eggwash with one small egg and use it to brush 3 to 5 tarts)
150 gbaby leek, thoroughly washed
½ tspolive oil
½ tspbutter
½ tspwhite wine, alternatively white wine vinegar or lemon juice
1pinch Salz
1pinch freshly ground black peppercorns
2sprigs thyme
lemon zests
5thin slices Parma or Serrano ham


Preparation:

Roll the dough out to about 20 cm in diameter. Butter a 16 cm tart mold. Lay the dough sheet in it and form a nice rim. Brush with the eggwash. Refrigerate.
In a small frying pan heat the oil and the butter over medium-high heat and fry the leek in it for about 5 minutes. Season it with thyme, salt, pepper, wine, and a few lemon zests. Cover it with a lid and let cook for further 5 minutes.
Arrange the leek in the prepared pastry. Bake in the preheated oven at 180 °C for about 30 to 45 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown. Cut the ham in stripes and sprinkle them over the hot tart.



Ingredients for the tomato tart:

100 gpuff pastry, defrosted
1/3egg, whisked (make the eggwash with one small egg and use it to brush 3 to 5 tarts)
120 gmini Roma tomatoes (I used a mixture of red, orange and yellow ones)
100 gMozzarella, either as bocconcini or cut into cubes
5black olives, pitted and cut in halves
¼ tspdried oregano leaves
1pinch salt
1 Tbspfresh basil, chopped


Preparation:

Roll the dough out to about 20 cm in diameter. Butter a 16 cm tart mold. Lay the dough sheet in it and form a nice rim. Brush with the eggwash. Refrigerate.
Arrange the tomatoes, mozzarella, and olives on the prepared puff pastry. Season with oregano.
Bake in the preheated oven at 180 °C for about 30 to 45 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown. Sprinkle the salt and basil over the ready baked tart.



Ingredients for the carrot tart:

100 gpuff pastry, defrosted
1/3egg, whisked (make the eggwash with one small egg and use it to brush 3 to 5 tarts)
100 gbaby or young, small carrots, peeled
½ tspbutter
½ tspsugar
1/3 tsplavender
¼ tspfennel seeds, bruised
1 Tbsppepitas/pumkin seeds
½ TbspPecorino cheese, in thin slices
53mm thick slices goat cheese like St. Maure


Preparation:

Roll the dough out to about 20 cm in diameter. Butter a 16 cm tart mold. Lay the dough sheet in it and form a nice rim. Brush with the eggwash. Refrigerate.
In a small frying pan heat the butter over medium-high heat. Add the carrots, the sugar, lavender, and fennel. And fry the carrots in it for about 10 to 15 minutes until slightly browned.
Arrange the carrots on the prepared puff pastry. Sprinkle the pepitas over them.
Bake in the preheated oven at 180 °C for about 30 minutes. Lay the cheese slices on the tart and bake for further 5 to 15 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown.

Weekend Herb Blogging