Dinner.
Ever.
Okay, best dinner in awhile. Except we had the lime pork tenderloin again the other day and that was still pretty good.
Here's what's up. It just snowed today in Albuquerque, gave us a nice dusting in the city and the nearby Sandia mountains look nice and covered. It's been cold, it's been windy, we got big, fat flakes for a little while and Adeline wanted to go run around the neighborhood with me in the flakes. It was fun! After some 50 and 60 degree F temps, it was starting to feel like winter again with the 30 to 40 F (it's still February, after all!) and we went with it.
Somebody pinned a yummy looking asparagus dish on Pinterest. It looked good but I didn't pin it. Going back, Pinterest has a pretty bad search engine so it was hard to find what I was looking for, and I don't remember who pinned it. I found some other even better looking asparagus dishes. Then I just had to get asparagus, puffed pastry, smoky Gouda (was supposed to be Gruyere, oops!), and prosciutto (for another day).
::Swiss Alps Ski Chalet Dinner breakdown::
Salad
-Fresh Express Sweet $ Crunchy (on sale at Albertsons) with green and red butter lettuce
-Topped with diced bits of Golden Delicious apples and a little bit of grated smoked Gouda
-Lightly drizzled with Braswell's (cheap at Ross, if they still have it) Vidalia Onion and Peppercorn
Main Entrees
-Pan-fried chicken breast with salt, pepper, a little Balsamic, and some Herbs de Provence on top, just a hint
-The Tart de Resistance - The Asparagus Tart with Gruyere, er, well, smoky Gouda, because I messed up. It was still super-good! Made me think of a cheese fondue with asparagus!
Side Dish
-Golden Delicious apple slices on a plate (keep the cheesy fondue chalet theme going!)
-Pasta Roni Shells & White Cheddar in case your toddler is fussy and won't eat the tart, and also if your chicken is a little dry because you slightly overcooked it
Heavenly! I took pictures of the tart, but the girl who originally posted the recipe has better picture. I had one minute to snap mine before the hungry masses wrestled the camera away from me so we could fill our hungry bellies. I try to have dinner ready at 6 p.m., but tonight it was more like 6:30 p.m. And the tart technically only takes a little over a half-hour to make and bake!
I went all out, but it was fun. It was another successful cooking adventure! Heeya! Onto the next one.
-Danelle
I'm going to repost the recipe in case her webpage goes down or something.
Asparagus Tart with Gruyere
Shaina Olmanson is the home cook and photographer behind Food for My Family and Olmanson Photography, and a daily contributor to Babble.com’s Family Kitchen Blog.
Inspired by Martha.
Yield: 4-6 servings
Ingredients:
1 sheet puff pastry dough, thawed
1 pound thin asparagus spears
1/3 cup sour cream
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
3/4 cup Gruyère, shredded (I got and used smoky Gouda, but I do know there is a difference. It's hard chasing a toddler around a grocery store. Try it sometime! It's like the shopping Olympics! The 100 meter dash!)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Unfold puff pastry dough and Roll into a 14x10" rectangle on a lightly floured surface. Move the puff pastry to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Score the dough 1" from the edge all around the rectangle with a knife. Dock the inside rectangle by poking it lightly with a fork in approximately 1/2" spaces. Bake for 15 minutes.
While the pastry is baking, prepare your asparagus spears by rinsing and removing the woody ends. Set aside. In a small bowl, mix together sour cream, egg yolks and Dijon mustard. Stir in 1/4 cup of the Gruyère.
Remove the puff pastry from the oven and spread the sour cream mixture evenly over the inside rectangle. Top with the remaining Gruyère cheese and layer with the asparagus spears. Return to the oven and bake for 15 additional minutes until cheese begins to brown lightly and asparagus is cooked.
Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly. Slice using a pizza cutter and serve.
