Do you ever have days where everything that can possibly go wrong does go wrong? I was having one of those days. In my kitchen.
To start, the cippolini onions I purchased a few days before were either soft and squishy or had a nice layer of mold on them. (I began with 12 onions and, after weeding through them, was left with 2 1/2.)
Furthermore, the puff pastry dough I placed in the fridge to defrost was still completely frozen when I opened it.
And while I can’t remember what the third thing was, it really upset me.
I almost gave up on making lunch. Hubby jokingly suggested I have a glass of wine (that’s never a joke!) and calm down. With wine in hand, I just threw a bunch of stuff together. You could say the inspiration for this was an hors d’oeuvre that was served at our wedding: raspberry and brie wrapped in phyllo dough. I’ve substituted apricot for raspberry, St. Andre cheese for brie, puff pastry for phyllo, and added some fresh thyme. Other than that, they’re basically one and the same.
Directions
Roll out a sheet of defrosted puff pastry.
Poke little holes all over the dough with the tines of a fork. Slice in half, then add a generous portion of apricot preserves (or whichever flavor you’ve got on hand).
Next, lovingly separate your 2 1/2 cippolini onions that you attempted to roast for 10 or 15 minutes. Divide them between the two pieces of puff pastry.
Top with a few chunks of St. Andre cheese.
Fold over the edges to form a tart. Just like a pie crust, you can fold this over in any way.
Place on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil, then sprinkle on fresh thyme leaves. (I used 1-2 sprigs per tarte.) Bake for 15 minutes, or until puff pastry has turned golden brown and the cheese has melted.
And then this happened.
Yum.
I know what you’re thinking: they look a little burnt. They aren’t. The apricot preserves contain a lot of sugar which, when in contact with direct heat, burns easily. Fortunately, it tastes absolutely fine — dare I even say delicious?
Flaky, buttery. Simply amazing.
This is perhaps the perfect lunch. And it all happened by accident!
Brie and Apricot Tart
Yields: 2 tarts
Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 sheet puff pastry, defrosted
- 1/4 – 1/2 cup apricot preserves
- 6-8 cippolini onions, roasted (even though I used less…)
- St. Andre cheese
- 4 springs fresh thyme leaves
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 F. Roll out puff pastry into a thin sheet, then poke holes all over the dough with the tines of a fork.
- Slice in half, then spread equal amounts of apricot preserves in the center of each piece. Leave a 1″ border empty so you’ll have something to fold over.
- Divide roasted cippolinis between the two tarts. Add a generous portion of St. Andre cheese to each (however much you’d like). Place on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Top with fresh thyme leaves, then fold over the outer border of puff pastry to form a tart.
- Bake for 15 minutes, or until the puff pastry has turned a golden brown and the cheese has melted.
I think it is the absolute best when disasters in the kitchen strike and you fix them up!! That happened to me with chili last week. I swear I’m more proud of my chili disaster turned fantastic dinner, than any first-time success I’ve had in the kitchen. Also, that looks amaze-balls! :) Yum!