Time Travel Tarts

I am going way back to December for this recipe, so imagine snow on the ground, Christmas jingles everywhere you turn and a family Christmas being hosted at your house. The inspiration for this recipe was for a 21" inch tart that had large chunks of vegetable and prosciuto throughout. I was well  prepared to make this tart when Katie suggested that bite sized tarts might be a better option for our appetizer themed party. As always Katie's idea was a hit, the mini tarts being perfectly sized one bite appetizers.

Vegetable & Basil Mini Tarts w/ Prosciutto

 

Ingredients:

3 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

½ eggplant, finely chopped

1 zucchini, finely chopped

2 sheets puff pastry

8-10 cherry or grape tomatoes, sliced

4-5 slices prosciuto, finely sliced

10-12 leaves fresh basil

Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

 

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in deep side pan over medium low heat, stirring occasionally for 10 to 15 minutes, until soft but not coloured.

In a separate pan, heat 2 tbsp olive oil add zucchini + eggplant and cook 5 minutes until tender.

Roll out dough and using a circular cookie cutter, make small disks. Places disks in greased muffin tin.

Mix together onions, eggplant, zucchini. Slice cherry tomatoes. Put 1 heaped tsp of vegetable mixture into pastry lined muffin tins. Add 1 slice cherry tomato to each tart and a pinch of sliced prosciuto. Drizzle with olive oil. Bake for 30 minutes.

Remove tarts from oven and sprinkle over basil.

Serve and enjoy!

Pie for Dinner

For a post about alcohol alternatives, I do realize the beer in the background is hypocritical.

 

I have been trying to cut out alcohol from recipes as of late. This has lead to some interesting discoveries, like reduced pomegranate juice as a sauce for steak. The inspiration for this recipe is for a steak and guiness pie, but was alter to accommodate the alcohol and the fact we did not have any steak in the freezer, just a pork tenderloin. I do realize a different cut of pork would have been better suited for the long cooking time and that is what I recommend for the recipe below. I suggest pork shoulder or a pork roast cut up.

 

Pork Pot Pie

 

Ingredients:

 

1 ½ lb pork, diced

2 tbsp Flour

Olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 carrot, peeled & chopped

4 sticks celery, chopped

½ sweet potato, diced

1 tsp dried thyme

½ tsp dried rosemary

1 bay leaf

2 ½ cups chicken stock

28 oz can tomatoes

1 sheet of puff pastry

1 egg, beaten

 

Method:

Season pork, and toss with flour. Heat olive oil over medium heat, brown meat in batches, set aside. Add onion, frying for 1 minute, add carrot, celery, sweet potato and spices. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes. Add stock and tomatoes, bring to boil, stir and simmer for 2 hours. Season to taste.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Transfer stew to ceramic pot or mini ramekins. Roll out pastry, cut into circles to fit dish. Brush rim of pot with beaten egg, then place pastry over top, crimping at edges. Score top, or try for a design if feeling artsy. Bake in oven for 45 minutes.

Great with a side salad.