When I decided to switch careers and attend culinary school I thought about opening a small cafe which focused on serving both savory and sweet tarts, as well as sandwiches, soups and baked goods. So I spent a lot of time researching tart and pie dough recipes and experimenting with different ingredients. But after working in the restaurant industry for the past three years, and being exposed to so many ingredients and techniques—the concept for my restaurant changes on a daily basis. I have at least 10 ideas going on at any given time—it’s exhausting! However, I still love working with dough—any type of dough—whether it be short crust, puff pastry, pizza, bread, or cookie dough.

Now that the fall season is here, I decided to create a Roasted Cauliflower, Caramelized Onion and Gruyere Tart with Fresh Figs and Ruby Port Reduction.  I really look forward to when the season changes and you have an opportunity to work with new ingredients.  And fall is my favorite time of year!

To make the tart dough, I used 4 cups of flour, 10 ounces of diced cold (frozen) butter, 1 tsp of salt and 3/4 to1 cup of ice cold water. After processing the dough, I let it rest in the walk-in for about an hour before rolling it out. I prefer using 4” individual tart pans, but somehow small items get lost in the restaurant and so I used a 10” pan and cut the tart into individual wedges.  Either way it looks beautiful on the plate.

I make my tart fillings different than most recipes whereby you saute your ingredients, let them cool and then whisk in cold cream and egg yolks. To me this has the consistency of French toast batter or scrambled eggs and you end up tasting more egg than the main ingredient.  I prefer to roast and then slowly saute all the ingredients and seasonings together and then add the cream and reduce until thick and creamy before tempering in the egg yolks and stirring in the cheese. You won’t believe the difference in flavor—it’s amazing!  We sold out of this tart during dinner service—everyone loved it—and so will you! Enjoy!!