Farmers' Market

Twice a month, there's a huge farmers' market downtown. This Saturday was the first one of the summer, and my friend Katy and I had been planning to attend for months. Saturday morning, we were concerned to see a rainy sky, but luckily, the market was still on. We had a great time checking out the assortment of flowers, produce, and general crafts. I snagged some gorgeous lettuce, asparagus, and scallions, as well as a mass of oyster mushrooms. Even though it was rainy and our shoes and socks squelched with water, we had a wonderful time.


I decided to make little tarts with the asparagus, scallions, and mushrooms. I basically followed the same recipe as the Asparagus Gruyere Tart, except I used crumbled chevre (goat cheese) instead of gruyere and made 6 mini tarts instead of 1 large one. I also sauteed the asparagus and onions in butter first to soften them up a bit, as well as to mellow the flavors.


Farmers' Market Tarts

• 1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
• 1/2 bunch of asparagus, chopped into 1 - 2 inch pieces
• 3 large scallions, sliced in 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 tbsp butter
  
• handful of oyster mushrooms, coarsely chopped
• grape tomatoes (approximately 2 per tart)
• 1/2 cup crumbled chevre
• olive oil

Preheat oven 350F. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough until it is approximately 16 by 12 inches. Use the mini-tart pan to cut the pastry into shape. To create an outer edge, gently press a drinking glass into the center of the pastry, making only an indentation (not cutting through the pastry). With a fork, poke many, many holes in the inner circle. This will (hopefully) cause the edge of the pastry to inflate while keeping the center deflated. Place the prepared dough into the mini tart pans and bake for approximately 15 minutes, or until lightly golden and fluffy.

While the dough is baking, melt butter in a skillet. Over medium heat, saute the asparagus and onions until they start to soften (approximately 7 minutes).

Using a sharp knife, score an X into one end of each tomato, cutting about halfway through.

After the pastry is lightly golden, remove from the oven. Brush lightly with olive oil. Place a few asparagus spears and scallion pieces on each tart. Add 2 tomatoes per tart. Sprinkle with chevre, then place a piece or two of mushroom on top.

Bake an additional 10 minutes, or until the pastry is a deep golden hue.