I made this for a birthday luncheon with maple salmon from this website, and a fresh corn salad. It was great! After a 'test run' I did find the mustard a bit too pronounced, so I added a little more creme fraiche. The puff pastry I had in my supermarket (Pepperidge Farms) was about 10" by 10", so when I rolled up (twisted) a half inch on all sides, I was left with a 9" by 9" area. For this, I needed about 12-13 medium sized stalks of Asparagus, but only used one portion of the sauce. This square was perfect for 4 portions as a side dish.
I can never go wrong with Chef John's recipes! I did change slightly to cater to my family's tastes. I didn't trust myself to make the shell so I put the puff pastry into my rectangle tart pan. As the grocery only had thin asparagus I had to us a lot more. I cut into thirds. I used some garlic-herb soft cheese and sour cream as the base. I served as an Easter appetizer. Everyone loved it! Next time I'll make two!
It was really good. I mean, look at the ingredients -- you'd have to mess up worse than I did to make it not delicious.
First, apparently, there are different sizes of puff pastry. This is my first time using it, so I didn't realize it and I got a giant one. It didn't really detract from the deliciousness, it just made a ton more than Chef John's. Second, I didn't have a silicone baking mat. I didn't think it would make a big difference, but the bottom burned really bad in the first 10 minutes of "pre baking". The burned part luckily stuck to the pan, so I just ran with it, and the second part of the baking when I transferred it to a different pan it crisped it up nicely. All in all, very delicious.
Easy and delicious. Looks beautiful too.
I really like asparagus tarts on puff pastry but I did not care for the asparagus/cream/Dijon combo. These are all ingredients I like just not this combo. I liked recipes that were more asparagus with cheese styled.
Added heirloom carrots sliced to similar size for added color. Great Thanksgiving side dish!
Very fancy and very easy. I has the potential to be a 5 star. Next time I will make more sauce and add a little more seasoning.
4-stars for presentation (although I bought the fatter spears - planning for 5/person I could've used another spear or 2 of asparagus to fill the pastry). Attractive presentation easy to prepare. I liked the asparagus; wish the bottom portion of the pastry was flakier. I didn't love the pairing of the mustard sauce with the vegetable.