Savory Leek And Carrot Tarts

[momxyz]

A family member gave me a very nice Christmas gift last year - a subscription to La Cucina Italiana. Its a gorgeus magazine - part travelogue, part gourmet cooking. I've made a few things from this (so many recipes, so little time) and they are scrumptious. (Thank goodness for brown rice pasta!)

Anyhoo, this months recipe of choice is this luscious looking vegetable tart. My challenge is the dough. I need to adapt it as simply as possible.

I have, from a previous inquiry and thread, RissaRoos apple tart recipe (posted by nasaladay). we never ended up trying this. Chiefly because I haven't gone out and found sources for flours other than brown rice, which I buy from a friend who grinds her own, or xanthum gum. For this recipe, I am hoping some of you will have a simple way of adapting the dough. I wondered about simply substituting either brown rice flour or a baking mix like Pamela's for the all purpose flour called for in this recipe?

The dough only goes in the bottom of the tart pans (either 2 4 3/4" tart pans or 1 9" pan).

Dough:

1 cup unbeached all purpose flour

1/4 tsp sea salt

4 Tbsp unsalted butter at room temp

2 Tbsp blanched slivered almonds

2 large egg yolks

1 Tbsp ice water.

combine flour and salt, add butter and mix until incorporated. Add almonds and egg yolks. Mix dough until it resembles course meal. Mix in ice water and knead dough until smooth. Form dough into ball, press into disc, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.

Then you make the filling - will fill you all in on that if anyones interested.

you butter your tart pans and coat each pan with about tsp breadcrumbs (no problem, have my own gluten free crumbs), making sure sides are well coated. then on a well floured work surface, roll out dough to 1/8 in thick. cut out discs to fit the bottom of pans. Fit the dough into the bottom of the pan w/o pressing up sides. Then you add the vegetable mixture...etc etc

thanks in advance for any suggestions....

[lpellegr]

Bette Hagman's Vinegar Crust recipe comes out like regular pie dough, and you could substitute that, but seeing as how this is a savory pie, might I suggest something different? For quiche I often use a grated potato crust, which comes from the original Moosewood Cookbook:

for a 9" pie:

2c grated raw potato (I think you could also substitute frozen hash brown shreds) - grate them into a bowl of water to keep from turning dark

1/2 t salt

1 egg, beaten

1/4 c grated onion (or substitute some onion powder)

Put the grated potato in a colander, salt it, and let it drain for 10 min. Squeeze out excess moisture and combine with the egg and onion. Pat it into oiled pie pans and bake at 400 until browned (about 40 min, but maybe less).

Make these, then add your filling and bake as usual.

As to the recipe you posted, I would think any gluten-free baking mix would work with a little xanthan gum, especially as you have egg yolks to help hold it together. For most pie crust you want to cut the butter into the flour with a pastry blender and not let the pieces get too small, then only mix it at the end until it holds together, without kneading. I suspect you will just have to experiment the first time.