Monday, May 28, 2012

Experimental Cookery 2012: Tomato and Pesto Tart

Lady Chocolat and I were at a barbeque on Satuday, for which we were asked to bring something for the buffet. So, LC duly looked through the various cookbooks, and picked out a number of options for things we could put together. She then told me which one we were going to do, which was convenient but perhaps rather negated the point of having options.

Anyway, the chosen food was the aforementioned Tomato and Pesto Tart, from Gordon's "Fast Food". And so, off we went to Tesco for those few ingredients we didn't have in stock. And, as an additional wrinkle in the plot, we had sufficient pastry for two tarts, and no alternate use for the leftovers, so we each made a tart...

The book certainly lived up to its promise. The tarts took about ten minutes to assemble, if that, and then a further twenty minutes in the oven. In truth, they barely counted as cooking at all, so simple was the process.

Anyway, they came out of the over and went into a box, and off to the barbeque we went. And, after that first traditional burger, it was time to try them.

Well, at least the rest of the barbeque was nice.

In truth, they were okay. But no better than okay, and certainly not living up to their promise. Lady Chocolat's effort was clearly the superior of the two (sob!), but the problem was a bit more fundamental than that - too much pesto, and not enough other flavour, coupled with it being that bit too dry. Basically, it was food, and perfectly edible, but... I don't think I would have it again.

(That said, it was noted that they would probably be more successful in bite-size form - a coin-sized circle of pastry, a blob of pesto, a little onion and tomato... That might be worth considering. Or we could just add bacon.)

#18: "Pathfinder: Raiders of the Fever Sea", by Greg A. Vaughan

1 comment:

Kezzie said...

I was going to ask for the recipe when I first read the post but upon reading your conclusion, maybe I wont bother! Good effort though!