You win some, you lose some

I've been a bad little blogger again.

I have no time to post nor to read your posts. Unfortunately, this blog has been forced downward on my list of priorities : /

This past Saturday afternoon I had a yearning (yes, yearning) to make a tart. I have never made a tart before so many questions started racing through my mind: what recipe do I use, sweet or savory, what equipment do I need, etc. I consulted Mastering the Art of French Cooking and one of Ina Garten’s recipes to get an idea of how it's done. Also, having some goat cheese in the fridge I decided this tart was going to be savory. A caramelized onion and goat cheese tart, to be exact. And do I set out on my journey (yes, I am always this dramatic prior to trying new recipes.)

I consider myself more of a cook than a baker so the measuring, kneading and timing always make me anxious. But surprisingly the dough (flour, salt, sugar, cold butter, ice water) came together perfectly, and very fast. I refrigerated it for an hour and prepared the rest of the ingredients in the meantime.

I sautéed 3 medium yellow onions in olive oil and butter with salt and sugar for about 40 minutes.

Then I rolled out the refrigerated dough and pressed it into a glass Pyrex tart pan.

Julia’s recipe said to cook the shell by itself partially so I did just that…forgetting to weight it down. This is very I F’ed up…The dough puffed up and lost its shape and after that I knew it wouldn’t turn out the way I wanted it to.

I did finish what I started, though, three hours later, and my audience seemed pleased. It was good but the recipe and procedure need tweaking. I am planning to work on it soon and once it’s perfected I promise to share.

Yours truly.