Chicory and Goat’s Cheese Puff Pastry Pie

This tart strongly resembles the Caramelised Chicory and Onion Tarte Tatin from Delicious, March 2010, although I prefer the Tarte Tatin version because it is sweeter and therefore better balances the slight bitterness of the chicories. Also, I liked the idea of the Tarte Tatin recipe of adding pine nuts (almond flakes in my case, I don't like pine nuts) to the tart.

I had some issues with the recipe instructions. According to the instructions, you are supposed to put the chicory heads in a casserole with butter and cook over very low heat for about 4 minutes, until the chicory is quite soft and sweet tasting. After 4 minutes of cooking on very low, in an uncovered casserole, the chicory heads are nowhere near there. You might want to try medium heat in a covered casserole, or uncovered for at least 10-15 minutes to achieve that result! (*) We decided to go with the instructed 4 minutes, and the chicories turned out well. However, I think they also would have turned well but softer and sweeter if we had cooked them longer at this stage.

Consequently, you are instructed to assemble the tart on a baking sheet. Why then specify that the chicory heads should be cooked in a casserole? I have no idea, but I do know that I climbed on a chair to get my casserole when a pan would have done the trick just as well.

All in all, however, the tart turned out very nicely, it looked nice and tasted nice, even though I had forgotten to add the goat's cheese and had to serve it cold. In the end, that wasn't too bad after all because I served the goat's cheese drizzled with honey to add some extra sweetness (see comment above).

*) I would suggest covering the chicory heads as I don't think you're supposed to turn them around and therefore only the bottom part of the chicories gets the heat while the top stays cold. Then again, covering captures humidity, no idea how that would impact them.