Tartelette au Poulet

I just made this lovely, tasty and flaky tartelettes few days ago during my Easter holidays. They are easy to make with handy ingredients, and.....smell so good during baking, so yummy that I ate two in a row! But of course I didn't ate them all and save some for my friends too! You can always make them ahead of time and rewarm them in your oven, for six 10cm tartelettes, you need

• one recipe pâte brisée (recipe follows)
• four small organic carrots 
• one stalk of organic celery  
• one stalk of leek  
• six organic brown mushrooms
• 50 g green peas
• one piece of organic chicken thigh
• one french shallot
• two cloves of garlic
• three quail egg (cooked and halved)
• fresh herbs (I use some chopped sage and parsley)
• olive oil (for sauteed)
• butter (for sauteed)
• one teaspoon duck fat (optional)
• two tablespoon flour
• 50 ml heavy cream
• chicken stock or water
• one tablespoon Rum
• egg wash
• chicken marinate (salt & pepper, herbs de provence, sweet paprika, honey, olive oil)

Here is how I put these lovely tartelettes together....

First, I finely diced my carrots, celery, shallots and garlic cloves. I also had my leek thinly sliced and small chopped my mushrooms. My chicken thigh was deboned, small chopped and marinated and set aside. I love brown meat more since it has more flavor.... now its time to make my tartelettes..

my method for filling...

• heat up sauteed pan to medium high heat with olive oil and brown your marinated chicken thigh meat and set aside
• use same pan, heat up butter, duck fat and olive oil, sweat one third of shallot and garlic and throw in your mushrooms and add a bit salt, keep sauteed your mushrooms till liquid dried up and then flambé with Rum (watch out fire!) and set aside
• use same pan again, heat up butter and olive oil and sweat rest of your shallots and garlic, add in leek until it soften up a bit, then add carrots & celery and cook till tender
• now add back your chicken meat, mushrooms and green peas, cook them together for a few more minutes then add flour and cook for another couple minutes
• finally add some chicken stock or water then your heavy cream, fresh herbs, salt & pepper and your filling is done! Your filling should just hold together but not too solidy nor liquidy
• rest your filling until cool before assembling your tartelettes

assemble your tartelettes...

• butter and flour six 10cm tartlette pans (I use non-stick flutted ones) and chill in your fridge
• pre-heat your oven to 350F
• divided chilled pâte brisée into six pieces and roll out 2/3 of each pieces to 2mm thickness roundies on a lightly floured surface, gently place them on your pre-chilled pans and shape them to edges of your pan, remember to leave a bit of dough hang over the edges
• fill all your tartelettes with cooled filling plus half a cooked quail egg and roll out all your remaining 1/3 of dough into 1mm thick roundies
• paint a bit egg wash on the edges of your tartelettes and put your roundy on top, crimp them together and trim off excess dough
• if you have some dough left, gather them together and make some decoration. I made lovely heart shapes for my tartelettes and glue them on with egg wash 
• lightly coat them with egg wash, punch a small vent hole in middle and you can pop them into oven for around thirty minutes
• once you smell great aroma in the air, your tartelettes should be ready and look golden brown, just take them out and enjoy them rightaway!

Now, let's see how my tartelettes go, oh my tummy is growling! Wow they turned out perfect with a lovely golden brown colour! I rested them for a couple minutes and they came out very easy and smellllll.. great!  I can't wait to sink my folks and try a bite.....

OMG, it tasted perfect! Thin flaky, fluffy, crumbly and buttery crust combine with amazingly delicious chicken filling make these tartelettes scrumptious.  My little heart made them much more cutier and quail egg give this tartelettes a surprise! I ate so fast nearly burn my lips but they are really tasty and I had another one in no time!
Notes...

• I didn't blind bake nor prick my tarte dough
• a vent hole is a must to let steam of filling to escape
• your dough won't be pretty if you overwork or stretch your tart dough
• your filling should not be too salty as they will get saltier once they are cooled
• you can always muitiply your filling and freeze them ahead of time for future use
• most probably you cannot finish all six tart by yourself, you can plastic wrap them in your fridge for next two days, just wrap them with foil and rewarm them at 375F for ~ fifteen minutes
• I found broil these tartelettes with grated Raclette cheese on top for a few minutes make these little cuties even more delicious!

pâte brisée for six tartelettes (adapted from Michel Roux's Pastry)

for this tender, delicate, flaky and crumbly dough, you need...

• 250g all purpose flour 
• 150g chilled butter (cut into 1 cm small cubes)
• 1/2 teaspoon ~ 3g salt (or 10g sugar for sweet tart but dough will brown faster)
• pinch of sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon sweet paprika
• one large egg (slightly beaten)
• one tablespoon ~ 15ml cold milk

my method...

• I use a standing mixer with paddle attachment, sift flour, paprika, salt, sugar into mixer and add cubed butter in mixer
• mix in low to medium speed until butter become small peas texture
• add in egg and mix in low speed until homogeneous
• add in milk gently with mixer in low speed until dough begins to hold and form a mass
• work dough with your hands to form a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and chill at least thirty minutes and your dough is ready!
• you may substitute butter with shortening or lard but need to adjust your flour and milk amount

Enjoy!