Finding Victory in Disaster

I'm beginning to think rhubarb hates me. Every single recipe I've tried with it this year has not turned out the way I'd anticipated.

First there was the rhubarb & custard ice cream which just tasted weird (I never did get around to fixing that recipe).

Then I had the rhubarb-strawberry mochi.

And today? Oh man. I learned a valuable lesson in baking: custard fillings do not belong in galette shapes.

Why? Because the egg custard will puff up, knocking down the sides of your beautiful pastry and run all over the baking sheets. And you'll end up with galettes that look like flat pancakes with the tiniest little bit of custard still stuck to them and rhubarb that hasn't broken down into anything.

Like this:

*Sob*

It's such an obvious mistake. I just want to hit my head on the wall for even thinking that I could pull this off. This was a recipe that clearly needed to be baked in a tart mold... the egg custard just expands so much!

When I pulled these out of the oven, I almost cried. Nothing. Just... nothing has been going right for me there lately! But, because I hate wasting things, I decided to finish baking them and to NOT toss them immediately into the garbage.

And, therein lies the victory. When I stood in the kitchen, surveying the results of the recipe, my husband and I decided to split a tart. As I bit into it, it felt as though a shining halo of light from God himself was glowing 'round the tart.

The pastry is the finest I have ever made. It was delicious - crisp and flaky. And the filling (that didn't leak onto the pan) was actually really, really good. My husband and I stared at each other for a moment.

"These," he pronounced slowly, making sure no crumb escaped him, "are really, really delicious."

So, there you have it. Perhaps I should call them Ugly Duckling Rhubarb Custard Tarts.

Now, I know that a good blogger wouldn't post a less than perfect picture, but I'm out of rhubarb and I'm not a believer in wasting food (and time) just so I can post a picture of tarts in the correct shape.

This attitude is precisely why I'll never be a professional chef. I'm okay with that.

So, if you try this, just make sure you use tart pans.

The pastry makes double what you need, so wrap up half the chilled dough and put it in the freezer for another day.

Rhubarb Custard Tarts

(adapted from the Harrow Fair Cookbook)

Makes 6 tarts

Ingredients

For Pastry

2¼ cups all purpose flour
1 tsp fine sea salt
1 cup chilled butter, cut into cubes
1 large egg
2 tsp white vinegar
ice cold water

For filling

½ cup granulated sugar
1½ tbsp all purpose flour
scant ¼ tsp freshly ground nutmeg
pinch sea salt
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1½ cups sliced rhubarb (½" pieces)

Directions

1. For pastry: Place flour and salt together in food processor. Add in butter and pulse just until crumbs are about the size of peas. Beat the egg and the vinegar together in a measuring up. Add enough of the ice water to equal ½ cup of liquid. Pour liquid over dough and pulse just until the dough comes together. Turn dough onto counter. Divide in half and place each on a sheet of plastic wrap. Shape into a flat disk and wrap up with plastic. Chill for at least an hour in the fridge before rolling out. (Place the other half of the dough in the freezer.)

2. Preheat the oven to 375º.

3. Combine together the sugar, flour, nutmeg and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add in the egg and mix well. Stir in the rhubarb and set aside.

4. Roll out the pastry to fit 6 fluted 3-4" tart moulds. Spoon filling on top of pastry.

5. Bake for 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325º and bake for an additional 30-40 minutes, or until custard is set and the crust is golden brown.

6. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

Any leftover tarts should be kept in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Caramelized Onion Galette with Sour Cream Pastry

There are a lot of things that I'm terrible at in the kitchen and pastry is resoundingly one of them. Pies are the bane of my existence.

In my defence, there are lots of things I'm good at too. Like dirtying too many pots.

Galette style pastry is far more up my alley. Its free form shape is forgiving to those with clumsy, rough hands such as myself. I've made many of these throughout the years, and always chalk the cracks and leaks up to the fact that it's supposed to be rustic.

That's what I tell people anyway. They seem to believe me.

Although, perhaps they won't now that I've confessed my secret.

... I probably should have thought this through.

I will admit, I love this galette. The sour cream makes the pastry fairly strong. The trade-off, of course, is less flakiness, but I'm just happy to have a dough I can work with. Plus, it's a tangy so it plays off the onions really well.

The directions look long, but this doesn't take a lot of effort to pull together, I promise.

Caramelized Onion Galette with Sour Cream Pastry

Ingredients

Dough

1 2/3 cup pastry flour (or all purpose if you don't mind a sturdier [read tougher] crust - it still tastes great)
½ tsp salt
3 tbsp chilled, cubed, unsalted butter
½ cup sour cream
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1-3 tbsp ice water

Filling

1 tbsp olive oil
1½ lbs peeled and sliced sweet onion
2 tsp dried thyme
½ tsp kosher salt
¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup crumbled feta cheese (I use Ewenity sheep's feta)
¼-½ cup shredded P'tit Basque sheep's cheese (or use a good melting cheese like gouda or fontina)
1 egg, lightly beaten.

Directions

For Dough

1. Combine flour and salt in food processor and pulse to combine. Pulse in butter until mixture is coarse. In a separate bowl, stir together sour cream and lemon juice. Add to food processor and pulse again, until mixture is just incorporated. Add ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time. Pulse until mixture is moist and crumbly, but don't go so far as to let it form a ball.

2. Dump mixture onto a piece of plastic wrap and pat gently into a 5" circle. Wrap tightly and refrigerate until ready for use, at least 20 minutes. (Now is the ideal time to start the filling.)

3. Slightly overlap two sheets of plastic wrap. Place dough circle on top and cover with two more sheets of overlapped plastic wrap. Roll the dough, still covered with plastic wrap, into a 12" circle. Place on baking sheet and put in the freezer for 5 minutes, or until plastic can easily be removed. Remove top sheet of wrap and place dough, wrap side up on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Remove remaining plastic wrap.

For Filling

1. Preheat oven to 425º.

2. In a large frying pan, heat oil over low heat. Add onions, thyme, salt and pepper and cook gently, stirring occasionally, over low heat for 20-30 minutes, or until caramelized. Remove from heat.

3. Sprinkle feta cheese over centre of pastry, leaving a 2 inch border around the outside. Top with onion mixture. Sprinkle P'tit Basque over top. Fold edges of pastry up to partially enclose the filling, pleating as you go. Brush pastry with egg. Bake in oven for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown.

I highly recommend serving this with a tart salad, something with arugula and either a lemon vinaigrette or something with sherry vinegar.

I mixed 1 tbsp hazelnut oil, 1 tbsp canola oil, 1 tbsp sherry vinegar, 1 tsp Dijon mustard with a pinch each of sugar and kosher salt for an easy vinaigrette. With mixed bitter greens, toasted hazelnuts and more sheep's feta, the salad was the perfect accompaniment to the sweet galette.