Child Labor - Asparagus Gruyere Tart

The same day we went to TORC's for lunch, I recruited the one and only TC to make her first "gourmet" dish...

The previous night, she made chicken adobo for the first time and the next morning, this super easy tart involving only six ingredients...

How easy was it?

Well, TC is twelve and if she can do it, so can you! : )

This was the first time I bought this type of puff pastry, making me wonder if this is a new item at Trader Joe's. There are two square sheets here. I'm used to the mega huge rolled up sheets from the Indo-European brand. This box was$3.99, same price as the Indo-European.

Other than the puff pastry, you will also need some gruyere cheese (I used the Swiss & Gruyere blend from Trader Joe's/$4.99), asparagus spear, sea salt, black pepper, and (not shown), olive oil.

TC did a great job rolling out the puff pastry dough and arranging the spears...

Here is the finished product:

And one more look at this baby...

Here's the recipe:

Asparagus Gruyere Tart
(A Martha Stewart recipe, don't judge!)

Ingredients:

• 1 frozen puff pastry sheet 
• 2 cups of shredded Gruyere cheese
• 1 1/2 lbs of asparagus
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400 F
• On a floured surface, roll out the thawed puff pastry sheet into a 16x10 rectangle
• We didn't bother with the "EXACT" measurement. The dough was so thin that it was hard to transfer it to the baking sheet. With the Indo-European brand, it was pretty wide and long already so I didn't feel the need to roll it out to those exact measurements. 
• Place pastry on a baking sheet (to save time, I would just place the puff pastry dough on top of the baking sheet itself)
• With a sharp knife, lightly score pastry dough 1" from the edges to mark a rectangle (we didn't do this either)
• Using a fork, pierce dough inside the markings and 1 1/2 intervals (I just used a knife to make small slashes and it worked just fine)
• Bake until golden, about 15 minutes.

• Remove pastry shell from oven and sprinkle with Gruyere.
• Trim the bottoms of the asparagus to fit crosswise inside the rectangle. 
• Arrange in a single layer over the cheese, alternating ends and tips.
• Brush with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
• Bake until the spears are tender, about 25 minutes 17 - 20 minutes. (25 minutes is too long and your pastry will end up burnt)

This was a fun and new recipe to try and everyone enjoyed it at the luncheon!  They were wowed by the appearance of the tart and the fact that TC made it. Puff pastry makes anything taste better!

One thing about cutting this tart...Bert cut it in half lengthwise, then cut it into rectangles. My first piece, was, of course, the CORNER!  A gripe about the tart, if you pick it up like a piece of pizza and bite into it like an animal, the spears end up coming off with the bites. To prevent this and to look more "genteel", you may also eat it with a knife and fork. Whatever floats your boat folks!