Chew on This | Potato Tart

Leftovers. What once was a lovely dinner last night becomes a cold, plastic enrobed alien in the refrigerator today. 

Sure, your meal is wonderful straight out of the oven and spooned from the sizzling skillet. Warm, flavorful, and tasty. However, once dinner is over things change. Dinner morphs into leftover mode and leftovers aren't appealing. Right?

I rarely follow this line of thinking. What about leftover pizza? Cake? Chicken crepes? Pulled pork? I sometimes find myself coveting these 'less appealing' leftovers. And I get angry if someone (The Husband!) throws out perfectly perfect leftovers! Grrrrrr!

The Husband has always had a certain affliction towards leftovers. I don't know where the aversion comes from but it also includes the need to throw away leftovers promptly. In the dark of night. When I'm not around to run interference. The madness, and wastefulness, had to stop! So my challenge, for many years, has been to makeover the leftover. Disguising yesterday's food into something new and delicious.

This potato tart was one of the first offerings I placed before The Husband. It was a complete success and has been in the rotation for years.

Leftover mashed potatoes are the star of this tart. And even though in the past they didn't stand a chance for longer then 12 hours in our refrigerator, today we can celebrate. For the leftover has found new purpose at our table. Not in our garbage can.

Cares

Here's our recipe:

Potato Tart

2 pie crusts (homemade or store bought)

2 C mashed potatoes, warmed up

3/4 C sour cream

3/4 C sautéed onions

6 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled

1 C shredded cheddar cheese

salt and pepper

1 green onion, green parts only, chopped

Preheat oven to 375℉. Prepare tart pans by lightly spraying with cooking spray. I used two 
4 1/4x14" tart pans. You could also use two 8" or 9" tart pans.

To start, in a sauté pan, cook six slices of bacon until crispy. Drain bacon on paper towels and crumble. Set aside.

Next, pour out almost all of the bacon grease from the sauté pan, place pan back on the burner and cook your onions until soft and translucent. Set aside.

Now, roll out your pie crust and place in your tart pans. Prick the dough with a fork and place tart pans in the oven to par-bake the dough. Bake for 7 minutes. Remove from oven and allow dough to rest for about 5 minutes.

All the prep work is done, now you're ready to start assembling your tarts. Start with your mashed potato layer. Spread 1 cup of mashed potato onto each pie crust. Next, spoon on and smooth out your sour cream over the mashed potato layer - dividing the sour cream between both tart pans. Sprinkle on your onions and bacon. Finally, add your shredded cheddar cheese and dash on some salt and pepper.

Place tart pans back into the oven for 15 minutes. When ready, remove tarts from the oven and shower each pan with chopped green onion.  Serve your potato tart as a side dish or as the main dish with a side salad. Enjoy!