Gerard's Mustard Tart...French Fridays with Dorie...a little late

I guess blogging without obligation should become my middle name. I have all the best intentions but life just gets in the way. I feel guilty when I have pictures waiting to be uploaded and blog posts to write...but that is the way it is. No excuses. I have been trying to get here and comment on as many of my friends blog posts as I can, but that is about all the time I have had. It is ok...my kids have been busy...my husband is back home from Belgium...real life has been full and I am just fine with that.

 I joined French Fridays with Dorie with all of the best intentions to get going from the start...but well...so it goes. No matter, I will try my best to catch up. We had a very Dorie week this week...we had this gorgeous, delicious, Mustard Tart and a salad for dinner one night and I will post the rest of the meals we had when I can. I am delighted so far with this new book...."Around my French Table" by Dorie Greenspan. Everything I have tried has been wonderful. One of the rules of "French Fridays with Dorie" is not to post the actual recipes...that should encourage all of you to buy this book and try the recipes. I highly recommend it. It is a gorgeous book. A labor of love that is for sure...I am enjoying reading through it and I have made four dinners from it this week alone...which for me is pretty amazing!

We loved the bold flavors in this unusual tart. I also loved Dories wonderful recipe for the tart dough itself. It came together in an instant and rolled out like a dream. It was very easy to handle and tasted delicious.

I made the dough the day before I needed it and parked it in the fridge. It differs from my usual Pate Brisee as it has an egg in it. This may just become my new favorite! After being rolled out and placed in the tart pan it gets stashed in the freezer for a while and since it was frozen it was very easy to blind bake. I just used a sheet of non stick foil to line the dough in the pan...no pie weights, rice, or beans were needed.

We really enjoyed this. My 17 year old not as much, he is not a huge mustard fan and carrots are not his favorite veggie, I would not gauge the success of this recipe by him. He was eyeing it suspiciously as soon as he saw those carrots and the two jars of mustard on the counter. Ahhh.....his loss...more for us!
I had gorgeous thin organic carrots with tops, the leeks were fresh from the Farmer's market and also tender and lovely. When baked into the tart, the veggies were meltingly soft and tender, very easy to eat in this tart. Some folks reported that they had problems with the texture of the veggies being too hard. I did not find that at all. I loved the flavor of the Creme Fraiche in this.We had the tart with a lightly dressed green salad. I made the recipe exactly as written and I know I will make it again and again. I can not wait to make the tomato version.My husband enjoyed the leftovers for lunch the next day. A winner! Thank you Dorie!

Please go out and buy this book...you will be so happy that you did. There is a link to French Fridays with Dorie on my sidebar...take a look and see what wonderful things all of the members there are cooking up!
You can download the recipes for this month only right here....