May 7, 2009: Maggie's Burnished Eggplant In Addition To Leek Tart

vegetarian-themed episode of Beth commented on her success amongst Maggie's leek together with aubergine tart tatin, I decided to choose a become also - I require only the faintest encouragement to conception pastry for dinner! Luckily I was working from abode on this day; it gave me the chance to laid upward the pastry dough together with carbohydrate syrup early.

The pastry dough was done amongst a swift pulse of the nutrient processor together with handily used upward a flake of my leftover sour cream. The carbohydrate syrup started out amongst promise, but ended upward the bane of my afternoon. It's made upward of a quintessentially Maggie Beer Barossa-based combination of water, sugar, verjuice together with wine cotto. Verjuice is an acidic juice of unripe grapes, spell wine cotto is some other grape-based production that seems almost alone to live Maggie's domain. We truly already owned some rarely-used Maggie Beer^TM verjuice together with I elected to substitute the wine cotto amongst balsamic vinegar.

The syrup ingredients sense of savor fabulous, all sweetness together with tangy together with hinting at the caramelised tart to come, but reducing them to ane 6th of their master copy book was unsafe business. I wasn't also concerned past times the flake of bubbling that went on during the outset xv minutes of reduction - it's simply speeding upward the evaporation, right? - but in ane lawsuit I lapsed into inattention it shifted rather speedily to burnt sugar. It wasn't hence much bubbling whatever to a greater extent than every bit fizzing together with expanding! Its colouring cloth was yet lovely but when the molten carbohydrate had cooled downwards plenty for a taste, this was ane of the most horrible, acrid things I've e'er sampled. I unhappily filled the saucepan amongst warm H2O together with the syrup stiffened into some sort of Poison Toffee, cemented stirring spoon together with all.

So I began again, this fourth dimension using a oestrus diffuser on the stove, never allowing the syrup to unleash a unmarried bubble. It took a lot longer together with I anxiously took the syrup off the oestrus when it yet had the book of near 3/4 of a loving cup (I should choose been aiming for 1/4 cup). This afterward proved to live the undoing of this upside-down tart, rendering the crust soggy together with impossible to flip inwards ane piece (see the 2d less glamourous photograph above).

While this tart turned out to live a lot of trouble, it was undeniably tasty. The pastry together with eggplant inwards item were out of this globe together with perfectly offset past times the goats' cheese. I'd sure consider making a variation on it in ane lawsuit again - maybe something amongst a blind-baked, right-way-round crust, double the eggplant together with one-half the leek, together with a sparing drizzle of verjuice together with balsamic vinegar. No syrup. Oh no, sure no syrup.

Maggie's burnished eggplant together with leek tart
(by Maggie Beer, every bit presented on the Cook together with the Chef)

pastry:
125g apparently flour
100g butter, cold
60mL sour cream

sugar syrup:
1/2 loving cup water
1/2 loving cup verjuice
1/2 loving cup sugar
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

filling:
2 leeks, amongst the by together with large white business office sliced into 3cm cylinders
1/4 loving cup verjuice
1 large eggplant
olive oil
salt together with pepper, to taste
1 teaspoon chopped mint
1 tablespoon chopped lemon thyme

topping:
120g goats' cheese
2 tablespoons chopped mint

To brand the pastry, chop the butter into minor cubes. Place the flour together with butter inwards a nutrient processor, blending until they resemble breadcrumbs. Add the sour cream, a flake at a fourth dimension together with blending amongst each bit, until the dough begins to come upward together. Note that yous may non require to add together all of the sour cream (I didn't).

Tip the dough onto a lightly floured bench together with choose it together into a smoothen ball. Wrap the dough inwards plastic together with refrigerate it for at to the lowest degree xx minutes. If you're making the pastry good inwards advance, let it to residuum at room temperature for 15-20 minutes earlier trying to whorl it.

Next, brand the carbohydrate syrup. Stir together the sugar, H2O together with verjuice inwards a minor saucepan on low-medium heat. Gently bring down the mixture to near a 1/4 loving cup inwards volume, beingness careful non to burn downwards it. Stir through the balsamic vinegar together with laid the syrup aside.

Cut the eggplant into large chunks together with soak them inwards a large bowl of salted H2O for one-half an lx minutes or thereabouts; this volition preclude them from soaking upward also much oil.

This is a skillful fourth dimension to preheat the oven - aim for 180°C.

If yous choose an oven-proof frypan, this recipe volition at in ane lawsuit brand skillful role of it. Since nosotros don't, I used an ordinary frypan together with a pie dish. Heat some olive stone oil inwards your frypan together with add together the leek chunks; adjust them hence that the circular cutting sides are touching the pan. Cook them until they're golden brown, together with then flip them over until the other end's also golden brown. Transfer them to the pie dish together with bake them inwards the oven until they're simply tender. Take them out together with laid them aside; plough the oven upward to 200°C.

Drain the eggplant chunks together with plonk them inwards the frypan amongst a niggling extra oil. Brown them nicely on all sides, pour inwards the verjuice, together with move along to ready them until all the liquid has evaporated or been absorbed. Arrange the eggplant inwards the pie dish, interspersing the pieces amongst the leek. Sprinkle over the mint together with lemon thyme. Drizzle the lot amongst the carbohydrate syrup.

Roll out the pastry hence that it's a flake larger than the pie dish together with role it to embrace the tart filling, tucking the edges in. Bake the tart for 10 minutes, together with then bring down the oven temperature to 180°C together with bake for a farther 30-35 minutes. Allow the tart some fourth dimension to cool down. Flip it upside downwards onto a plate together with garnish it amongst dabs of goats' cheese together with a sprinkling of mint.