FFWD - Gerard's Mustard Tart

The great thing about FFWD is that having someone else choose your recipes means you end up making something you wouldn't have chosen otherwise (much like my book club). I likely would NOT have picked this one, though my friend Teri (Butter n Thyme), who is in my book club and got me started with all of this, DID pick this recipe as the first to make when she got the book. Since I had already sampled the main recipe in the book, I decided to make the original tomato version.

I always have difficulty with butter pastries, and getting them to be pliable enough to roll out, but no so much that it's too soft. I used a new pastry flour, since I'd just purchased it, hoping that it would make things better. I had to keep putting my pastry dough in the freezer (probably doesn't help that it's AZ - still over 100 outside!) as I worked through the steps.

pastry ingredients ready to go!

butter incorporated  - they said not to worry about the size being all the same, so I didn't

the dough comes together with the addition of the egg and water

nice ball of dough, ready to get wrapped up

ready to chill!

hopefully it will roll out

This whole part of the process, the literally hours, was a little long for me. Easy & quick to pull together, but the entire process seemed to take forever. 

finally, ready to pre-bake



done! well, the first part...

ingredients for the filling

all of the filling ingredients  since I was making the tomato version, the rosemary went into the mix

ready for the oven

just out of the oven, smells great, and looks pretty!



a nice puff, and the crust looks good!



I was really sceptical about this, in fact, I took it over to my brother's house to share it (let's be honest, in case I didn't like it, I wouldn't have to eat it all). We all thought "mustard" tart? But we gamely tried it, serving up pieces that cut beautifully! The first impression was of the crust, which was perfectly golden and sturdy. When we tasted it, it was a wonderful explosion of flavors - the contrast between the tangy mustard, the juicy sweet tomato, and the crisp flaky crust was amazing. I almost had to threaten them to leave me a tiny piece to reserve for my lunch!

This was a terrific recipe, and a terrific adventure in creating something new, that I would likely not have tried. We LOVED it, and I'm sure I'll be making it again!