Asparagus & Feta Puff Pastry Tarts - FOOD PHOTO SHOOT

in #photography7 years ago (edited)

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I’m having major deja vu about saying this, but our Spring seems to be hiding.

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I’ve been hard on myself in the past about talking about the weather in too many posts, but this time I feel like it’s warranted because I woke up on April 1st/Easter Sunday/April Fool’s Day to see huge fat snowflakes coming down outside my window. And if that just happened to be a fluke in out town, I’d probably not mention it, but then I heard from some of you guys that it’s been snowing all over the country. My sister and her husband were driving through some snow in the Midwest yesterday and I just saw a news report about New York getting a bunch.

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I think everyone’s having a bit too much fun saying that it’s nature’s April fool’s prank to us. I mean, who needs a white Christmas when you can a white Easter? Clearly 2018 didn’t get the memo about global warming.

Not only that but it’s been pretty much the same weather since Sunday so that’s exciting. Maybe it really was just a little joke from nature and now we’re in for a perfect rest of the season but with it continuing to snow it’s hard to imagine. I hesitate to say it’s going to be warm now, but I think it just might.

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And speaking of Spring things, somehow my 9 and a half year old little sister talked my parents into agreeing to a few ducks for our backyard. Of course, many other people must have been excited to get ducklings right now because my parents weren’t able to find any available so we ended up with some baby chicks. Six of them actually and they’re too small and too similar to be named yet but I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before they’re older and large enough to tell apart. I’ll keep you updated on the naming situation.

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A few years ago when we had our little family farm experiment I remember moments of being sure I’d never want chickens in the future, but I have to admit I really miss having the fresh eggs and another nice thing is being able to feed them some of the kitchen scraps that would otherwise go to waste. Guys, not that we feed them just anything, but from past experience I’m pretty sure chickens will eat basically everything in front of them.

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Sorry, I’ll get to the point of this post eventually. So these tarts are super easy my friends. Ever since moving back to the States I tend to forget about how many things and conveniences are available. Puff pastry, for example, is one of them. I picked some up recently and when I was recipe planning for this week I just knew I wanted to try a Springtime appetizer with some seasonal produce.

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To me, there’s hardly any veggies that say Spring better than asparagus and radishes. I also love the bright color combination they have and how beautiful they finish off these tarts. So yeah, if you’re looking for something quick and easy to prepare for an upcoming brunch-eon or picnic I’d say you’ve found it. They take right around 45 minutes from start to finish but they come out of the oven looking so perfect they’ll be sure to convince the guests you’ve spent hours on them.

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Asparagus & Feta Puff Pastry Tarts


Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Yield: 12 tarts

A perfect Springtime appetizer to share with friends and family throughout the season. Think how pretty they'd be at a picnic!

Ingredients

1 of a 17.3-ounce package Puff Pastry Sheets (1 sheet), thawed

Filling:


1 bunch of fresh asparagus (about 20 spears), trimmed
1 cup fresh radishes, stems cut
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons lemon juice, divided
1 cup cream cheese, softened
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
6 ounces feta cheese crumbles
36 fresh raspberries or semi-sweet chocolate pieces

Instructions

Lightly dust a clean work surface with flour. Unfold one of the pastry sheets and roll into a rectangle that's about 18x9-inches. Cut into 6 smaller rectangles (6x3inch) and prick the centers of the pastries with a fork. Repeat with second sheet.
Cut the asparagus into 2-inch pieces and thinly slice the radishes. Place them in a medium bowl and toss with the olive oil, garlic, 1 teaspoon of lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste.
Stir together the softened cream cheese with the egg and another teaspoon lemon juice. Add salt and pepper and stir to combine. Spoon the cream mixture onto the cut pastry rectangles (about 2 tablespoons each), leaving about 3/4-inch of border and top them with a few pieces of the radish and asparagus mixture. Fold up the four edges of each tart and line a baking tray with parchment or silicone pads.
Heat the oven to 375°F and place them on your baking tray. Place the tray and sprinkle the feta on the top of each then place in the freezer to chill while your oven heats (at least 10 minutes).
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the pastries are golden brown. Let the pastries cool in the pans on wire racks for 5 minutes.
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For more great food ideas, please do not forget to look at my other recent food posts

  1. All The Chunks Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies - VIDEO
  2. Lavender Vanilla Bean French Beignets
  3. Super Moist Malted Milk Chocolate Chip Bunny Cake
  4. Roasted Purple Potatoes & Cod Sheet Pan Dinner
  5. Tropical Breeze Carrot Juice Smoothie
  6. Toasted Peeps S’mores Skillet Brownie
  7. Chocolate Hazelnut Granola Orange Greek Yogurt Bowl
  8. Coconut Macaroon Nest Shortbread Cookie Tarts
  9. Coconut Vanilla Fluffy Bunny Ears Cupcakes
  10. 30-Minute Thai Basil Asian Steak Stir-Fry

ALL CONTENT IS MINE AND ORIGINAL! All of these food photos were taken with my Nikon D750 and my favorite Lens, the Nikon AF-S FX NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8G. You can find out more in my INTRO POST.

And, by the way, to all the minnows out there, my intro post did a huge $0.21. The key to success on Steemit is to be consistent and persistent. Click on the link below for some great tutorials on how you can also succeed on the steem blockchain:

Master Toolkit: Steemit Resource Guide Illustrated by @sndbox


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I think this is one of the finest meal for all age groups.

exactly, you can make different toppings for different groups with different tastes.
nom!

I've asked you before @introvert-dime why you vote up all your own replies at basically full strength all the time, but the post itself at VERY low power (around 7% usually it seems) and here is the deal.

It is considered pretty scammy here to do that.

And you have been doing it a long time and it is time to address this poor behaviour.

Once in awhile is fine. Not all day, every day for weeks on end.

That is garbage behaviour here.

You seem to pick high profile posts, or users to do this on always and then vote your comments to the top increasing your visibility and you do this all day long, every day, all the time.

That is frowned upon here, not like you need someone to tell you this behaviour is scammy and poor.

I think I might start pasting this reply into your scammy replies to people, since your replies are all self-voted to the top for VISIBILITY. ALL THE TIME.

-- here is the proof just recently again, on SteemD.com which I encourage everyone to check out on the blockchain.

This Reply posted April 3rd, 2018 to @introvert-dime, as I have done with them before..... without reply.

unique stuffing

Yeah indeed it is,
Most especially I like the instructions and steps of making these delicious 😋 and yummy recipes

mom mom used to make stuffing and we would take it to these old bakeries with cobblestone ovens and I'd watch the bakers make pies with them and bake them with fresh fire. I'm getting hungry now. ^__^

what kind of stuffing recipes you have for pastries? I'm curious.

what kind of stuffing recipes you have for pastries? I'm curious.

cabbage and sausage stuffed puff pastry are my favorite stuffings though,
What kind of stuffing do mummy use @donutboy?

ew, sausage is gross.

mom used to make two kinds, my favorite was the spinach one.

Wow......it seems you don't really like sausage stuffings...!
Mommy's boy loves spinach stuffings :D
although I've never tasted that before but I'll be going out in search for that in my city soon.... ☺

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Image source
mothers Love 😍

mom mom used to make stuffing and we would take it to these old bakeries with cobblestone ovens and I'd watch the bakers make pies with them and bake them with fresh fire

Very very yummy 😋, mom knows how to make the good stuffs they're always the best.

some of my cousin's moms are terrible to be honest.

I can't wait until I am a good mommy though!

Oh @donutboy wants to be a good (mommy) that's lovely
☺......i guess you wanna be a good father that's gonna give he's children mothers love right..? ;D

Same thing happened here in Finland too, it just started snowing out of nowhere. But hey, spring is there somewhere, hope it reveals itself soon :)

I hope so for you as well. My parents have a good friend that recently moved to Finland. Who knows, maybe I'll make it there soon

Beautiful .. looks delicious
Well done .. a wonderful recipe from you
Thanks for sharing

Honestly, it looks so yummy!
It somehow looks like pizza, I will try this at home and hope i can imitate the taste.

Very much with the color

I have confidence you can pull it off, best wishes!

Wow! This looks amazing! I've always wondered how they make puff pastry tarts and now I know. It's actually pretty simple since the dough is store-bought. Will try.

I do hope that you give it a try @victoriacalloway, I know you'll be successful

LOOKS DELISH

wow that's really delicious and awesomeness looks pretty amazing

thanks so much for all of your support @blazing

Great work as always, we were just saying how most of our best friends are either veggie or vegan, the sous vide doesn't really lend it's-self to either so this ones super useful to have in the bag! I'm with you on the cold spring/warm summer thing. Last year we had a lovely spring here in the UK then April, May and June were pretty cold and rubbish! I think the terrible Feb/March and snow on the 2nd of April (must have been later over here!) must mean that it's going to get AWESOME this summer! Our snow was all gone 24 hours after it arrived, it's rainy now but the temperatures rising!

I still haven't obtained my sous vide yet, but I'm seriously thinking about it.

It actually snowed here yesterday, it's crazy. But I know the Spring in all it's glory is on the way.

Thanks so much for the great commenting @skiesandsports

In Russia this year Easter is on 8. April. You not gonna believe this, today I was lucky, because on the street is the real spring! Today the sun shone brightly, the snow was melting and puddles everywhere, and so warm, that you can walk without a hat!
I really like the look of tarts, they look like small boats) I wish you a speedy onset of this warm spring!

it's always interesting to me that you guys celebrate the holidays at different dates. So glad you got some sun. Thanks so much for all of the support @naditinkoff