Tarteletter (Tartlets w/ Chicken and Asparagus)
These crispy and buttery tartlet shells are filled with a delicious and creamy chicken and asparagus sauce. They are amazing served for dinner, and any leftover sauce can be transformed into a delicious soup or pasta sauce!
Ingredients
PASTRY SHELLS
- 300 grams all purpose flour (plus a little extra for rolling out the dough)
- 200 grams butter, cold
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 tsp salt
FILLING
- 450 - 700 grams chicken breast (sometimes, we find that the packs of chicken breast we buy are between 1 and 1.5 lbs, so any pack of between that size should work!)
- 400 - 500 grams asparagus
- 1 medium onion
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 56 grams butter
- 60 grams flour
- 375 ml milk
- 250 ml chicken stock (you may need a little extra!)
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- Salt to taste
- Pepper to taste
- Chopped fresh parsley (optional)
Instructions
- Start by making your pastry dough. Combine salt and flour in a food processor or mix by hand. Pulse a few times to combine.
- Add cubed, cold butter and pulse until it resembles sand.
- If doing this by hand, just break up the cold butter with your fingers and crumble until it reaches a sand like consistency.
- Add your egg and pulse until the mixture beings to form a dough, or mix together using a spoon in a bowl, then knead together with your hands to combine.
- The dough should hold together when you press it in your fingers!
- Wrap your dough in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes. Towards the end of the chilling time, preheat the oven to 390 F (200 C).
- Prep your mini tart cases by rubbing them with a little bit of oil or butter (these* [this is an affiliate link] are the cases we use). You can also make these in a muffin tin instead! After the dough has chilled, roll out to about 1/4 inch thickness. Cut out rounds that are larger than your tart cases and begin to line the cases with the pastry dough. You can also divide the dough into equal pieces and press it into the tin and all the way up the sides. It's totally fine if the pastry dough breaks and you have to patch it up! Make sure to press the dough into any ridges in the tart case.
- Once you've lined the mini pastry cases, trim the edge for a neater look. You can reuse the scraps by pressing them back together and rolling out again!
- We got 24 total pastry shells out of this but this may vary depending on the size of your tart cases. You may have to bake in batches - we had to bake these in two batches because we only have 12 tart cases.
- Once you have lined all the cases, set them on a baking tray. If the dough got warm from working with it, pop them in the fridge or freezer for 5-10 minutes before baking.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes until lightly golden around the edges. Set aside to cool.
- Repeat lining the tart cases with dough if necessary and repeat the baking process.
- While the pastry shells are baking and/or cooling, prepare the filling ingredients. Chop your asparagus into small rounds and finely dice your onion.
- Heat up a cast iron skillet with 1 tsp of olive oil and add your chicken. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until your chicken is fully cooked. You can also cook your chicken in the oven on a baking sheet; cook at 400F (205C) for 20-25 minutes, until the internal temperature reaches 165F (74C).
- Take out the chicken and let it rest on a cutting board. In the same cast iron skillet, or a pot, combine your chopped asparagus and onion, garlic powder, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook until the asparagus is tender. Set aside while you work on the rest of the filling.
- Chop the chicken into small, bite sized pieces.
- To make the creamy sauce, start by melting 4 tbsp of butter over medium heat in a large pot. Once the butter has fully melted, add 5 tbsp of flour and whisk into the butter. You want to cook this just enough to get rid of any raw flour taste, so just a minute or two.
- After about a minute, start adding your milk to the pot slowly, whisking constantly to avoid lumps.
- Once you have added all the milk, start adding your chicken stock, still whisking continuously. Bring the mixture to a boil for at least a few minutes. You should be left with a creamy and thick sauce. If it is very thick and more paste like, you can add more stock and whisk it in! Make sure to season to taste.
- Once the base of the sauce is ready, add your asparagus mixture and chicken. Add parsley as well.
- Stir well to combine.
- If you're not going to serve them immediately, you can chill the filling and cover the pastry cases at room temperature until ready to assemble and eat. Just make sure to heat the filling up again before assembling! When you're ready to serve, spoon the mixture into your tart shells. Top with fresh herbs such as parsley and enjoy!
- A final note: you may end up with leftover filling! We wanted to make sure there was enough in case the tart cases you are using aren't the exact same size as ours. You can make a wonderful soup with the leftovers by simply heating up the filling and adding more stock!
