FFwD - Gerard's Mustard Tart

Don't you love it when you are pleasantly surprised by something you've eaten? When presented with something that you aren't keen on, the dread builds up, and you are tempted to give it a miss. But then you try it in the spirit of open-mindedness, and kaboom! You love it.


So it was with this week's French Fridays with Dorie pick, Gerard's Mustard Tart. This was another of Dorie's picks. When confronted with this recipe, my first thoughts were, "Awww, gee, what on earth am I gonna do with that?" I wasn't looking forward to cutting carrot and leek matchsticks, and spending a significant amount of time doing battle with my nemesis, tart dough, for a product I was sure I didn't want.


But you know what? I really enjoyed this tart. It consists of a savoury tartshell filled with eggs and cream and mustard and rosemary, and topped with carrot and leek matchsticks. And although I doubted it, this tart is devine - I enjoyed the bite of the mustard against the subtle sweetness of the steamed vegetable matchsticks. Because the filling is not deep, it doesn't form an overwhelming eggy mass like quiche can, and both the tart shell and the filling are light and subtle. Suddenly, all that time cutting up vegetable matchsticks seemed worth it.


The tart dough and I did not see completely eye to eye - when I tried to transfer the rolled out dough from the baking paper I'd rolled it on into the tart pan, it stuck to the paper and tore in a number of places. I really wasn't in the mood to re-roll it, so I patched up the dough, then hoped for the best. And lo - I ended up with a beautiful tart shell that I am proud of:





This dough is buttery and crumbly and delicious - this is now my "go to" savoury dough (I didn't have one before!).

Here's a close-up of the finished tart:




I am proud of this tart - it actually resembles the one in the book (Around My French Table), and tastes great. The only departures that I made from the recipe were to use all Dijon mustard (as I was not investing in two jars of mustard when I rarely eat it), using black pepper instead of white (which explains why my tart is speckly), and using a sprinkling of dried rosemary in the filling rather than steaming the vegetables with a sprig of rosemary then baking the tart with another sprig on top. The latter was because my local supermarket thought they could get away with daylight robbery by charging $4 for a tube of fresh rosemary - if I'd had the time to go to the markets, I knew I could buy it for a dollar.


I ate this tart at room temperature the next day, and loved it. It disappeared quickly at work too, so there's the proof - eating this the next day is fine.


To see how everyone else went, visit the FFwD website.