kitchen adventure: yotam ottolenghi’s caramelized garlic tart

Posted: November 29th, 2011 | Author: anita | Filed under: photo, recipe | Tags: , , , , , , , , | No Comments »

one of my favorite discoveries of 2011 was the good food podcast on kcrw, hosted by the warm and excitable evan kleiman. hearing her coo over the week’s bounty at the santa monica farmer’s market or simplethings‘ salted caramel pie cheered me through a summer spent under dismal office lights. the extension of the blog –the “piecast”– was particularly inspiring. I even made myself a birthday pie (though i tried to spin it as a “father’s day pie”).

i haven’t cooked or baked anything “new”  in recent months, but i chose this to be one of the recipes to get me back into the kitchen.

i chose wisely.

this is especially easy if you use store-bought puff pastry. i wasn’t sure if it was necessary to follow mr. ottolenghi’s advice and pre-bake the pastry (the brand i chose — trader joe’s– suggested it wasn’t). so i tried both ways. pre-baking gives you something more crisp and flaky, and it also gives a little lift to the sides, which is great for cradling the custard. i didn’t have a tart pan for this (i used a flat sheet pan), so without the prebake, the custard ran amok. it wasn’t a deadly sin, the whole tart just looked less neat. but  it’s worth noting the crust that is topped and popped right into the oven is chewier, has nice pull. my sister said its more like a bread. so the choice is yours.

the rest of the recipe is easy and true. there are a few steps to caramelize the garlic — i wondered later if roasting the garlic in its skins would be more efficient. but this caramelized garlic is mellower from the blanching. i would suggest making a bigger batch of garlic–double or even triple the recipe. it won’t hurt the tart to add a bit more of the stuff, and you can save the rest for another spread or dip.

this tart would wow a party of any size and almost any occasion.  (i would not make this for my date, unless we mutually agreed to chase it with a lot of wine. is “lots of wine” a cure for garlic breath? i think i made that up. but i do love how it sounds). the recipe seems easily adaptable –you can experiment with other favorite cheeses, add some thinly sliced potato. even anchovy, if that’s how you like to roll. but give it a try his way –even those who profess to not love goat cheese find it really delicious here.

hope you’ll like the results as much as we did:

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Yotam Ottolenghi’s Caramelized Garlic Tart (via the good food blog)

Serves 8

Ingredients

13 oz puff pastry

3 medium heads of garlic, cloves separated and peeled

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

1 cup water

¾ tbsp sugar

1 tsp chopped rosemary

1 tsp chopped thyme, plus a few whole sprigs to finishsalt

4½ oz soft, creamy goat cheese (such as chèvre)

4½ oz hard, mature goat cheese (such as goat gouda)

2 eggs

6½ tbsp heavy cream

6½ tbsp crème fraîche

black pepper

Have ready a shallow, loose-bottomed, 11-inch fluted tart pan. Roll out the puff pastry into a circle that will line the bottom and sides of the pan, plus a little extra. Line the pan with the pastry. Place a large circle of waxed paper on the bottom and fill up with pie weights or dried beans. Leave to rest in the fridge for about 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Place the tart shell in the oven and blind bake for 20 minutes. Remove the weights and paper, then bake for 5 to 10 minutes more, or until the pastry is golden. Set aside. Leave the oven on.

While the tart shell is baking, make the caramelized garlic. Put the cloves in a small saucepan and cover with plenty of water. Bring to a simmer and blanch for 3 minutes, then drain well. Dry the saucepan, return the cloves to it and add the olive oil. Fry the garlic cloves on high heat for 2 minutes. Add the balsamic vinegar and water and bring to the boil, then simmer gently for 10 minutes. Add the sugar, rosemary, chopped thyme and ¼ teaspoon salt. Continue simmering on a medium flame for 10 minutes, or until most of the liquid has evaporated and the garlic cloves are coated in a dark caramel syrup. Set aside.

To assemble the tart, break both types of goat cheese into pieces and scatter in the tart shell. Spoon the garlic cloves and syrup evenly over the cheese. In a jug whisk together the eggs, cream, crème fraîche, ½ teaspoon salt and some black pepper. Pour this custard over the tart filling to fill the gaps, making sure that you can still see the garlic and cheese over the surface.

Reduce the oven temperature to 325°F and place the tart inside. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, or until the tart filling has set and the top is golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave to cool a little. Then take out of pan, trim the pastry edge if needed, lay a few sprigs of thyme on top and serve warm (it reheats well!) with a crisp salad.

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photo © anita aguilar

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