Asparagus and Gruyere Tart

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! I hope your weekend is filled with awesome beer, green food, and great company. But before you get started on your fun-filled weekend, I send you off with this very green, St. Patty’s Day Tart.

To be honest, I was actually planning on posting about Brown Eyed Baker’s Lofthouse Style Frosted Sugar Cookies, and I even bought green sugar sprinkles but once I read through the recipe, I knew I wouldn’t be able to pull it off in time. I’m a person with no patience, and these cookies require a little more time than I had anticipated since the dough had to be chilled in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. And since I’ve started using natural light in most of my posts, I just didn’t want to fight the clock to the 7 o’clock sunset so I chose to make this easy, yet gorgeous looking asparagus and gruyere tart. It’s no corned beef and cabbage but it’s green so that counts for something, right?

Now this is a super simple recipe using a puff pastry base which is baked on its own for about 12 minutes. Then you just sprinkle on some of your favorite cheese (I used gruyere) and then top it with asparagus spears drizzled with olive oil, salt and pepper. I know it seems super simple with the ingredient list but basic ingredients like olive oil, salt and pepper can go a long way.

Sometimes, simple is just best, which is what makes this dish a masterpiece.

Asparagus and Gruyere Tart (adapted from Full Fork Ahead):

Yields 6 servings

1 Pepperidge Farm puff pastry sheet
1 1/2 cups shredded Gruyere cheese
1 (12-ounce) package asparagus spears, trimmed
1 tablespoon olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

On a lightly floured surface, thaw the puff pastry for about 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat; set aside.

Roll the puff pastry into a 16-by-10-inch rectangle. (Mine wouldn’t go any further than 14-by-10-inches.)

Trim the uneven edges. (It won’t be the end of the world if it isn’t a perfect rectangle. Actually, it might be a little better without the perfect edges – gives it an artistic look, don’t you think?)

With very delicate hands, place the puff pastry onto the prepared baking sheet. Using a fork, pierce the dough in horizontal lines at 1-inch intervals.