# I made my very first tart! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 2, 2004, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-made-my-very-first-tart/262805 "2004-09-02T17:39:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2004, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-made-my-very-first-tart/262805/1 "2004-09-02T17:39:36Z")
I made a leek tart! From scratch! I’m so proud of me. I used the recipe in the _Joy of Cooking_. I also used _Joy_’s recipe for a deluxe pastry crust, but halved it. It’s mostly butter with a wee bit of shortening. I didn’t use the food processor, rather a pastry blender, a silicone spatula and my trusty Pyrex mixing bowl. Once the dough came together, I formed it into a ball, wrapped it in plastic and put it in the refrigerator. The next step was cleaning and cutting the leeks. I forgot what a bitch this was. I hadn’t worked with that many leeks since I made vichyssoise – at least four years ago. J. Christ, if that didn’t take forever! Once they were cleaned and cut to the appropriate size, I sweated them in butter for a half hour. In the meantime, I mixed the half and half, eggs, nutmeg, salt and pepper. I also rolled out my dough into the tart pan. Well, I attempted to, really. This part was fun because I forgot to flour my surface and it stuck to the wax paper. I also learned I haven’t a clue how to roll a ball of dough into a circle. Not even Dali could have called my, uh, _form_ a circle. I stuck the whole mess in the freezer and was finally able to get it in the pan after a few minutes. It wasn’t pretty, though. I had too much on one side and not enough on the other. I trimmed and patched and patted until it was even. Well, as even as it was ever going to get. Since I had manipulated the dough so much and since it contained a fair amount of butter, I put it back in the freezer for another few minutes. When the leeks were done, I added them to the egg mixture and poured the concoction into the tart pan. Into a 400 degree oven it went for twenty-five minutes. The result? Not bad! It was rather leek-y. The recipe called for 2.5 lb of leeks but because I bought them from the (scale-less) farmers’ market and don’t possess a kitchen scale, I just used all the leeks I had – about eight. Also, my crust was a bit salty. The dough recipe called for unsalted butter, of which I have none, so I used salted butter. I also forgot to cut back on the amount of salt for which the recipe called. It had the right texture, though, and was quite flaky. Aesthetically, it was very pleasing. I used a tart pan with a removable bottom and a scalloped edge so the tart presented very well. The leeks varied in color from white to emerald, which made for a beautiful green mosaic. All and all it was a pleasant experience. I think I’ve learned from my mistakes and plan to make another tart this weekend. It won’t be a leek tart, however, because I need not clean leeks again for another few years, at least! I’m thinking an apple tart as I saw one of the stands at the farmers’ market had them last week. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2004, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-made-my-very-first-tart/262805/2 "2004-09-02T18:06:24Z")
Congratulations! Sounds yummy. I _think_ I’ve made a leek tart in the past, too, and it was a particularly tasty veggie tart. This sort of thing is an ideal thing to bring along on a picnic, together with some fresh fruit, crusty bread and wine. Lately I’ve made a tart with artichoke hearts, shredded zucchini, and spinach, and that one turned out dee-lish, as well. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2004, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-made-my-very-first-tart/262805/3 "2004-09-02T18:20:04Z")
You made a tart? Cool. How was she? ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2004, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-made-my-very-first-tart/262805/4 "2004-09-02T18:47:09Z")
I opened this thread to see if it was about a rookie pimp, and, uh…never mind. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2004, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-made-my-very-first-tart/262805/5 "2004-09-02T19:10:42Z")
I had my way with a tart once. Sweet and warm and red, followed by some frosting on top, mmm goodness. My toaster broke though, so I have to do them in the oven. They come out weird if I microwave them.