I didn’t intend on making Squash Goat Cheese Tartlets. Let me explain…
I have a question for you: How many times have you ever gotten home with your groceries and realized you bought the wrong package or something?
It happens to me all the time! I try really hard to pay attention to all the labeling and then overlook something. I really can’t take all the blame and I won’t! Why does the packaging have to constantly change? Why can’t they come up with a design and stick with it? It doesn’t happen with only grocery items either; it happens with everything.
Recently, I went to the store and came home with two wrong purchases at the same time. I needed some over the counter allergy medicine. I wanted the 24-hour and came home with the 12-hour instead. I swear I looked at the package for 5 minutes and still got the wrong thing. I can’t really say the same for the puff pastry though. I didn’t realize they had cups. I only thought it came in full sheets. I simply saw puff pastry and grabbed a box.
Discovering the pastry cups started my Meatless Monday off on the wrong foot. What the heck was I going to do with all these little teeny-tiny pastry cups? As I started to moan and groan, David said:
“you’ll have to stuff ‘em or go to the store.”
Um, no. I wasn’t making the 20-minute ride all the way to the store, so I made these Squash Goat Cheese Tartlets instead.
Here’s how I made them:
Prepare the pastry cups for package instructions.
When the pastry cups are done, take them out of the oven. Using a wooden spoon handle push the tops down inside of the cups.
Add about a ¼ teaspoon of goat cheese to each pastry cup (using approximately 1-ounce total). Set aside to finish cooling.
Chop the squash and onions.
Add olive oil to a large pan over medium-high heat. Add squash and thyme.
Cook the squash and onions until tender, about 15 to 20 minutes.
Using a potato masher, mash the squash and onions into a pulp.
Turn off heat and add the 2-ounces of remaining goat cheese and the mozzarella cheese to the squash.
Mix well with a spoon.
Allow the squash mixture to cool about 10 minutes, then add the mixture to a plastic zip-top bag.
Carefully cut the tip of the bottom corner of the bag (approximately ½-inch opening) to make it into a piping bag.
Pipe the squash mixture into each pastry cup and garnish with parsley.
Things don’t always go right in The Mountain Kitchen. I had every intention of making a really easy squash tart with caramelized onions and fresh ricotta cheese, but that didn’t happen. So I made these Squash Goat Cheese Tartlets instead. I am not ashamed of my mistakes or failures. I’m human and I’m ok with that. It happens quite often actually. Remember the crock-pot chicken? Or how about the Mushroom Quiche? You can find stories about my recipe disasters here: Recipe Fails.
I refuse to have one of the those Suzy Homemaker / Martha Stewart blogs where everything is neat, pretty, and FAKE! What you get here folks is real kitchen action. Like a Like a Clint Eastwood movie. You get the good, the bad and sometimes even the ugly; really ugly.
So remember, when life gives you teeny-tiny pastry cups, make Squash Goat Cheese tartlets!
Squash Goat Cheese Tartlets
Ingredients
- 24 Puff Pastry Cups
- ½ pound yellow squash chopped
- 1 small sweet onion sliced
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 3 ounces goat cheese (divided)
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste
- ¾ cup mozzarella cheese shredded
- parsley flakes (dried or fresh), for garnish
Instructions
- Prepare the pastry cups for package instructions. When the pastry cups are done, take them out of the oven. Using a wooden spoon handle push the tops down inside of the cups. Add about ¼ teaspoon of goat cheese to each pastry cup (using approximately 1-ounce total).
- Set aside to finish cooling.
- Chop the squash and onions. Add olive oil to a large pan over medium-high heat. Add squash and thyme. Cook the squash and onions until tender, about 15 to 20 minutes.
- Using a potato masher, mash the squash and onions into a pulp.
- Turn off heat and add the 2-ounces of remaining goat cheese and the mozzarella cheese to the squash. Mix well with a spoon.
- Allow the squash mixture to cool about 10 minutes, then add the mixture to a plastic zip-top bag.
- Carefully cut the tip of the bottom corner of the bag (approximately ½-inch opening) to make it into a piping bag.
- Pipe the squash mixture into each pastry cup and garnish with parsley.
Nutrition
Anna Buckley says
Love your failures…this looks like one very delicious mistake x
The Mountain Kitchen says
They turned out really yummy!
Colleen says
Happy Accidents!!!
The Mountain Kitchen says
Definitely! These little dudes were good!
Rachel says
Ummmmm yeahhhh…. I think you improvised just fine! Gorgeous!
The Mountain Kitchen says
Thanks, Rachel! Have a great week and hopefully lighter traffic!
Julie is HostessAtHeart says
Martha doesn’t live here either! I read your title wrong and thought these were goat tarts. I just can’ bring myself to eat goat…yet. I love the combo you came up with and they are so pretty too. Looking at your beautiful pictures of your home, I thought you didn’t have a 5 minute trip to the store.
The Mountain Kitchen says
LOL, Julie! I can’t bring myself to eat goat either. Now the cheese, is a different story! I’ve been using a lot of it lately. The closest store is only 10 miles away, but it is going around your elbow to get to your thumb that keeps you home if at all possible. It takes 5 minutes to get to the bottom where the mailbox is. Thanks for your compliment! 🙂
Cheryl "Cheffie Cooks" Wiser says
Some Debbie just do not know about our Goat, animal control and flip flops, do they??? As for these babies well I use the puff pastry cups for desserts quite often. I agree packaging keep changing and confuses me at times on Wednesday when I do my big shopping! If I buy the wrong thing I’ll use it with something…Good for David, how many did he eat?
The Mountain Kitchen says
So true, lol! He ate half. 🙂
Dana @ IveGotCake says
I freaking love you Debbie!
For ALWAYS keeping it real.
Like yeah – shit doesn’t always come out perfect and you can’t often re-do things – but here’s how you can still make them work.
And for this, I love you.
<3 <3 <3
The Mountain Kitchen says
I love you too! Thank you sweetheart!
I was watching the Pioneer woman the other day and I’m getting pretty sick of the fake staged stuff. On that particular episode her daughter and friends were making “dorm room crafts” because they are going away to college this fall. WTF is a “dorm room craft” & does anybody do that? The more I watched to more pissed off I got. I was like damn, I’ll never be that fake!
You’ve gotta roll with the punches, but for God sake, be human about it. Fess up when something goes bad. People can always relate.
Cheryl "Cheffie Cooks" Wiser says
BAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA I almost laughed til I wet myself Debbie! That was sooooooooooooooFunny. PW from what I understand changed her format and a lot of people do not care for the show as much this season??? I do not have time to watch it personally. So, I’ll email you why I use tasty kitchen for recipes.
Sarah says
We would have had no idea you had a snafu if you didn’t tell us. This recipes looks amazing! My mouth was literally hanging open reading this 🙂 And yes, they need to stop changing the labels all the time. It gets quite confusing.
The Mountain Kitchen says
Sarah – this could have gone really bad, but the tarts are great! The goat cheese and the squash are a perfect combination. It took a lot longer than I had planned. I still blame packaging! 😉
Lou says
Hey Debbie, I just discovered your blog. Lovely idea with the meatless monday. This recipe looks devine.
Best wishes
Lou
http://vegantarianlifestyle.com/blog/
The Mountain Kitchen says
Hi Lou! Thanks you for stopping by and taking time to comment. 🙂