Pea Spring Onion Tart Food

FRENCH PEA AND SPRING ONION TART

Steps:

• For crème fraîche pastry, process flour, butter and 1 tsp sea salt in a food processor until fine crumbs form, add crème fraîche and process until pastry just comes together. Form into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate to rest (1 hour).
• Preheat oven to 180C. Roll out pastry on a floured surface to 3mm thick, line a 24cm-diameter tart tin, trim edges and refrigerate to rest (30 minutes). Prick base and blind bake until light golden (10-12 minutes). Remove paper and weights, bake until crisp (6-8 minutes), brush with eggwash, bake until glazed (2 minutes) and set aside.
• Blanch peas until just tender (4-5 minutes), drain and set aside. Heat butter in a large frying pan over medium-high heat, add spring onion and garlic, stir occasionally until tender (4-5 minutes), add cos, stir until wilted, season to taste and set aside.
• Whisk yolks, crème fraîche and lemon rind in a bowl to combine and season to taste. Stir in peas, herbs and and lettuce mixture. Spoon into pastry case, spreading evenly, scatter with Gruyère, bake until golden and just set (15-20 minutes) and stand to cool for 15 minutes.
• For salad, blanch peas until just tender (4-5 minutes), remove with a slotted spoon, refresh and drain. Blanch sugarsnap peas until just tender (2-3 minutes), drain, refresh and drain. Combine in a bowl with tendrils and cos. Whisk lemon juice, mustard and crème fraîche in a small bowl, whisk in oil and season to taste. Pour over pea mixture, toss to coat and serve with warm tart.

DOUBLE CHEESE & SPRING VEGETABLE TART

Steps:

• Roll the pastry out into a rectangle on a work surface lightly dusted with flour. Scatter over the cheese, fold the pastry in half and roll out again into a circle that fits a 25cm tart tin with an overhang. Chill for 20 mins. Meanwhile, cook the asparagus in boiling water for 3 mins, then drain and refresh under cold water. Cook the fresh peas the same way for a minute, or simply defrost the frozen peas.
• Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Prick the base of the tart well with a fork, line with baking parchment and fill with baking beans. Bake the tart for 30 mins, remove the parchment and beans, prick again if it has puffed up, then bake for another 10-15 mins until biscuit brown.
• Meanwhile, beat the eggs in a bowl, add the crème fraîche and cream, season and add a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg. Scatter the peas and most of the watercress over the tart and crumble over half the goat's cheese. Pour over the creamy egg mixture, then lay the asparagus spears on top. Finally, slice the remaining goat's cheese and arrange on top, then bake for 25-30 mins until the custard is just set and the cheese is golden brown. Leave to cool in the tin, trim the edges of the pastry, then remove from the tin, scatter with the remaining watercress and serve cut into slices. Can be made up to a day ahead, leave out the fridge to keep the pastry crisp.

ONION TART

Steps:

• Blend flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Scatter butter over flour, top with lid and pulse 12 pulses to cut butter into flour to a coarse meal consistency.
• Dump butter-flour mixture into a medium stainless bowl. Make a well in the center and pour ice-cold water into the well.
• Using a flexible plastic dough scraper instead of your warm hands, bring the dough together by folding and pressing. Be firm and brisk and get the dough past its shaggy stage into a neat disk, trying to avoid using your hands or too much kneading. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes. Heat the oven to 375 degrees.
• Meanwhile, cut the onions in half and peel them. Slice the halves with the ribs (root end to sprout end direction), not against, to create julienne slices rather than half moons.
• In a wide sauté pan over medium-low heat, melt the bacon fat and slowly sweat the onions until they are caramelized. Take all the minutes you need - 25 or so - to let them soften to translucent, then to let the water they release start to evaporate, then to allow the sugars they contain to start to brown in the pan, so that you end up with soft, sweet and evenly browned onions. This is achieved by a slow caramelization. Set onions aside to cool.
• Roll tart dough out to a 1/4-inch-thick round, and drape over a round 10-inch fluted false-bottom tart pan. Lay dough into the pan, gently pressing into the bottom, and roll the pin across the pan to cut off the excess dough. Use your fingers to press the edges into the flutes, accentuating the shape of the dough edge. Dock the bottom of the dough with the tines of a fork, weight the pastry with beans or weight and blind-bake for 25 minutes.
• In a bowl, beat the egg with the cream. Stir in the caramelized onions. Season with pepper, nutmeg and salt to taste. Stir well, and make sure the onions are all evenly coated with the custard.
• Remove tart shell from oven, and slip it onto a baking sheet. Remove weights, fill with the onion-custard mixture and distribute it evenly. Return tart to oven on the sheet, and bake for 25 minutes, or until custard has set, the tops of the onions start to achieve a deeper brown and the dough is dark golden brown at the edges.
• Remove from the ring, and allow to cool just a few minutes on the rack, so that the piping hot tart shell can kind of tighten up enough to be sliced with a sharp chef's knife. (In the first few minutes straight out of the oven, the dough is kind of soft from the heat, possibly giving you the false impression that you have a soggy tart. Let it sit on the rack just to shake off this initial soft stage and to recrisp and refirm, which it will.) Cut into wedges, and serve while hot.

PEA, MINT & GOAT'S CHEESE QUICHE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Follow steps 1 and 2 of the Sticky onion & cheddar quiche recipe, opposite page. 2 While the pastry is chilling, cook the peas in boiling water for 3 mins, then drain and refresh under cold water. Use a hand blender to purée the peas with the olive oil, then stir in the chopped mint and season.
• Lightly prick the base of the tart with a fork, line the tart case with a large circle of greaseproof paper or foil, then fill with baking beans. Blind-bake the tart for 20 mins, remove the paper and beans, then continue to cook for 5-10 mins until biscuit brown.
• While the tart is cooking, beat the eggs in a large bowl. Gradually add the cream and stir in the onions. Season. When the case is ready, spoon and spread the peas over the base, pour over the egg mix, then finally scatter over the goat's cheese. Bake for 20-25 mins until set and golden brown. Leave to cool in the case, trim the edges of the pastry, then remove and serve in slices.