Walnut Time!

Here we are at the end of summer. It's harvest time and one of the main crops of the Dordogne is Walnuts. There are walnut trees everywhere. Supposedly the peasants had a use for every part of the nut except the air in the shell....A brown stain still used here for wood called Brou de Noix, Yellow brown dyes for cloth, the oil for salads and other culinary uses, ...the shells are burned for kindling and fuel and can also be used in tumble polishers and the nut meats. There are many recipes in Perigordine Cuisine that use walnuts. Tonight we had one of our easy favorites. Janet has been making this for years now and perfecting the recipe. A Roquefort Walnut Tart.
You don't even have to make a crust here. We use premade puff pastry crusts that are cheaply available in every supermarket. Just unroll in your tart pan. Use a shallow tart pan. I was able to find the varietty with a removable bottom in many cooking supply stores in America. The advantage of a premade puff pastry crust here is that it comes rolled in a piece of cooking parchment. You can use a pate brise if you have to but puff makes a crispy light base for this tart.
You need:
100 grams of Roquefort (nice firm blue cheese if you can't find it)
75 grams of emmenthal grated (or gruyere)
3 egg yolks
1.5 cl of creme fraiche (regular cream would do)
100 grams of chopped walnuts

Make the oven hot. 325 f (180c) roll out the pastry and prebake for a few minutes.
Mix in a bowl, the egg yolks, cream, crumbled roquefort, gruyere and nuts.
You shouldn't need any salt because the roquefort is salty.
Pour the mixture into the tart shell and bake for 35 to 40 minutes.
A few minutes before it is done, you could sprinkle a little more grated gruyere over the top for the perfect look!
Let it cool a few minutes when it comes out of the over, but it should be served immediately! This tart is very good for aperatif! You can cut into small servings.
Myself, I like a nice red wine with it. Tonight I had an inexpensive Bergerac, but in America, you have a nice choice of California and Australian wines that are pretty inexpensive.
I am going to publish a few more of my favorite walnut recipes in the next few days.
I have many different gateau aux noix recipes, buutthere is one killer gateau that is a classic found in the good patisseries here and I have made it a goal to replicate it and you can too!