Friday, May 01, 2009

Feuilletée A La Rhubarbe

What do you do with leftover pâte feuilletée (flaky pastry)? I made a couple batches of this buttery dough in January when I was making home made galettes. I folded up the leftover scraps of dough and put them into the freezer.

Assembling the tarts.

I was, as I often am, inspired by a chef on Cuisine TV to use the dough with our current crop of rhubarb. I didn't make what he made, but his recipe gave me the idea. I thawed out some of the dough and went outside and harvested some rhubarb.

Fresh from the oven!

My plan was to make tartelettes, or small individual tarts. I trimmed and cut the rhubarb and macerated it for a couple hours in sugar. Then I rolled out the dough and cut it into circles, using a water glass for a guide. I used a second, smaller glass to measure a ring inside the larger circle, then scored around this ring with the point of a sharp knife.

Tart and tasty rhubarb tartelette.

Inside the scored ring went the macerated rhubarb pieces, which I then painted with a strawberry glaze. The scored ring allows the outer part of the tart to rise up independently of the part with the fruit on it.

They came out beautifully and were extremely tasty little desserts. If I were serving these to guests, I'd add either a puddle of crème anglaise on the plate or a quenelle (football shaped scoop) of vanilla ice cream on the side.

15 comments:

  1. That looks so easy! I have never even tasted rhubarb, let alone cooked with it. I don't even remember seeing it in the grocery but maybe I'll stumble upon it at the Friday marché. How would you describe it to someone that's never tasted it?

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  2. Boy, oh boy, do they look good!

    What is the grassclothy looking thing covering the bottom of the pan?

    Thanks!

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  3. These tartelettes look very appetizing.

    They also look like "bouchées à la reine" without the top.

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  4. Sweet "vols au vent"? How much sugar do you use to macerate the rhubarb? That looks delicious!

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  5. My husband was forced to eat rhubarb as a kid and he refuses to go near it now. Do the French eat rhubarb?

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  6. I would be pleased to get these for dessert in any restaurant. They look wonderful. We love rhubarb. When I was a kid the thing to do was to pick a rhubarb stick and eat it raw, just dipping it into a bit of sugar in the hand.

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  7. Hey, Walt, that's not fair! Now which do I make tomorrow - the tarte or the tartelettes!!? Or both? Angela

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  8. My mom would actually boil hers on the stove with sugar and cinnamon and something else and then chill it in the refrigerator. And then eat it a bowl of it for breakfast. I wasn't so fond of it that way.

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  9. Rhubarb makes tremendously good preserves.

    Hope Ken can resolve the problem his blog is currently having.

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  10. vivi, rhubarb is very tart, so it needs sugar, and goes very well with strawberries.

    bill, that's called silpat. It's a non-stick mat for cookie sheets that eliminates the need to butter or grease the pan. I highly recommend it.

    chm, now there's an idea!

    nadege, just enough to coat it all. And then a little bit more. ;)

    paulita, yes, they do!

    jean, that sounds like fun!

    angela, whichever one you make, make the other the next day!

    lewis, I'd put it on a freshly baked biscuit. That sounds better!

    chm, Ken's blog is working fine for me... anyone else have a problem opening it?

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  11. No problems here with opening Ken's blog, although the internet is very slow this morning. But this is not unusual on a Saturday morning.
    However, could it be the lay-out of the new (lovely) header that is slowing things down. The gap in the title to make is fit snugly around the church tower may cause the delay ... Just a thought though; I'm not a expert on these matters.

    BTW Walt, I - someone who has never made pastry in her life - have started making some of your recipes (almond and pear tart e.g.) and they come out just fine. I've even been complimented by a cousin who is a great pastry chef herself. So keep on posting recipes .. . so that I can show off with them :)) Martine

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  12. After I put that comment on your blog, I went to Ken's and it worked fine. I have no idea what is that Widget Parsing Error!

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  13. Walt, Thanks for inspiring my pudding chef (Jean) with another great rhubarb receipe. We'd never have thought of a strawberry glaze. Whatever gave you that idea?

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  14. martine, and the more you make, the better you get at it!

    nickl, you bet. Strawberry and rhubarb are a classic paring back in the states.

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  15. Hi Walt,

    You never cease to amaze me with your tasty treats!! I don't like rhubarb but I'd SURE eat both of your rhubarb treats!!! Alex LOVES rhubarb!!!!

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