The cooks on the slowtravel community forums have been working on a new cooking challenge - instead of each of us preparing the same recipe each week, we are preparing our own appetizer - or Small Bite - that uses a specific main ingredient. So far we have tackled shrimp, crab, sun-dried tomatoes, avocado, goat cheese, smoked salmon, pecans, pumpkin, olives, mushrooms, ginger, cranberries and potatoes. This week Sandi selected our ingredient and she went with brie. There goes the diet!
It was hard to find a brie recipe that I liked. So many of them involved lots of butter, brown, sugar, and other bad stuff. Don't get me wrong - sweet brie appetizers are really, really good but it sure isn't what I should be eating right now.
I had decided to make a brie and apple soup that I planned on serving in shot glasses with apple chips as a garnish. Then we spent the day making 59 dozen cookies. The soup plan went out the window! I needed something quick and easy. Enter these tarts . . .
The original recipe called for prepared phyllo cups - something that is a challenge to find here in Canada. Happily I had a sheet of puff pastry in the fridge so I used that instead. This added significantly to the fat content of the tarts but all things in moderation . . .
The result was excellent. These tasted great and were quick. Another one of those recipes that is far more impressive than the amount of effort needed to get it on the table would warrant.
Brie and Leek Tarts
1 medium leek (white portion only), finely chopped
3 tablespoons butter
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
Dash salt and white pepper
Dash ground nutmeg
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
2 ounces Brie cheese, rind removed
In a small skillet, saute leek in butter until tender. Add the garlic; cook 1 minute longer.
Stir in the cream, salt, pepper and nutmeg; cook and stir for 1-2 minutes or until thickened.
Cut the sheet of puff pastry into 12 squares. Place a square of pastry into each cup of a small muffin pan. Fold the pastry so that it forms a shell.
Slice cheese into 12 pieces; place one piece in each tart shell. Top each with 1-1/2 teaspoons leek mixture.
Bake at 425° for 10 - 15 minutes or until the puff pastry is golden. Refrigerate leftovers (if there are any!). Yield: 12 appetizers.
Yum! Jerry, I love the idea of leeks with the brie instead of a sweet application.
I'll be trying this one for sure.
Posted by: Deborah | December 06, 2009 at 03:17 PM
Jerry, you always come up with the best recipes!
Posted by: nancyhol | December 07, 2009 at 01:08 AM
Thanks - the leftovers were amazing too. MMMM
Posted by: JDeQ | December 10, 2009 at 11:52 AM