Saturday, May 14, 2016

Sweet potato, maple syrup and bacon puff pastry tart


Mmm. This seems to have most of our favorite foods (except chocolate!) in one recipe.  We felt we couldn't lose and we were right.




You may remember our previous tarts with purchased frozen puff pastry. Many of us here at MLK have recipes for puff pastry treats. But there is always the issue of what to do with the half of the puff pastry that remains.  So you can imagine how pleased I was to see a lovely looking tart in the village tea house and caterer’s display.  Sweet potato, maple syrup and bacon.  Yum! 



Sweet potato, maple syrup and bacon puff pastry tart: it needs no argument in its favor.
Ingredients:
1 sheet (½ package) frozen puff pastry, thawed
1 large sweet potato, cut in chunks
1 tablespoon olive oil
10 slices hickory smoked bacon (or your favorite)
2 – 3 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tsp thyme
Sea salt

Toss sweet potato chunks in olive oil and top with thyme, and sea salt. Roast sweet potato in 375 oven for 30 to 45 minutes or until tender.  Short of time? Just boil it up or even make ahead. 
Cool and mash.


Preheat oven to 425 F.  Unroll puff pastry and place on a baking tray and cover the top with parchment paper.  Bake for 15 minutes or until nice and golden.  Remove from oven and discard paper. Leave oven on.


Spread mashed sweet potato over pastry. 


 Don’t go right to the end, leave a half inch or so border.
Trim bacon to fit width of pastry. As you can see, ours was a bit too short - next time (and there will be a next time, we'll take it a bit further to pervent curling.  Lay ten or so slices overlapping until the pastry is covered. Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden.  


Remove and brush tart (and bacon) with maple syrup.  Return to oven for about 10 minutes, until bacon seems cooked and tart is rich golden color.  Keep an eye: it can burn at this temperature.





Remove and add a bit more maple syrup if that suits you.  Cut in four and serve.  

Confession time: two of us ate the entire thing.  It was delicious and we will certainly do it again.  We’ll do the sweet potatoes ahead of time in future: that was it’s a nice easy way to do brunch or lunch with a green salad.  Or do what we did and treat it as a pizza with pizzazz!


The shadowy body known as VICTORIA ABBOTT is collaboration between artist and photographer Victoria Maffini and her mother Mary Jane, author of three mystery series.  Together they write the book collector mysteries.  








 By the way, we  (THAT'S VICTORIA ABBOTT) are very excited that THE MARSH MADNESS isshortlisted for a Bony Blithe Award, for 'mysteries that make us smile'.




We think THE MARSH MADNESS might make YOU smile. If you haven't read it yet, it's easy to get!  HERE  Or ask your favorite bookseller.  

And if you have read it, then keep in mind that THE HAMMETT HEX is now ready for pre-order.




Or wherever you like to order books!





6 comments:

  1. Shoot, I forgot to pick up more puff pastry at the market. Next time! (Or else I'll have to try this with filo pastry.) Yum!

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    1. Sheila, we always go through this. Then we have the half package left over. LOL! Thanks for coming by.

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  2. Oh yes! This sounds decadent.
    If you cut part way through the pastry, about 1/4-1/2 inch from the edge, before the first baking, you;ll get a raised edge. Not essential, but nice.

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    1. Nice idea, Libby! I'll give that a try the next time. Hugs. MJ

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  3. What's not to like about this recipe? Yum!

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  4. Nancy R - I missed this recipe on the weekend and just catching up now. It sounds amazing and I will definitely try it! Cheers MJ and thanks.

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