The arrival of Spring is often seen with lots of Asian greens, artichoke, snow peas, spring onions and asparagus in our local market. When I saw this asparagus and spring onion tart recipe from the book, Gordon Ramsay's Great British Pub Food, I know that this vegetarian tart is perfect to eat at this current season.
Vegetarian tart!? Fully loaded with greens!? Knowing me and my family, I know that this is clearly the kind of food that I always like but not exactly sure how my meat-loving husband and fussy son will react having this very green tart for our dinner. Finger-crossed...
Asparagus and Spring Onion Tart (Gordon Ramsay)
Yippee! I can link this post too to Little Thumb Up with Flour theme!
Seeing greens!!! Exactly! This is the taste of Spring!
No wastage! I used the green part of the onions to cook this...
... and saved the roots to grow more spring onions.
My Aussie friends laughed at me whenever I said that I peeled the lower part of asparagus. Don't laugh! I'm doing this under the instructions of Gordon Ramsay! - LOL!
The pastry contains no eggs at all and can be quite fragile to handle.
The inside became flaky after part of the pastry stick on the baking paper after removing it.
Assembling the tart...
... is like making a quiche mixture.
The assembling continues and bake...
The cheesy mixture puffed up when it is freshly baked and shrunk when it cooled...
Ops! See how crumbly this pastry is... This piece went into my mouth :p No wastage!
Every slice of this is delicious!
I'm very happy and surprised that my husband and son were enjoying this tart very much. The recipe says that it serves 6 but the three of us finished this tart all in one meal. Aren't we ferocious?... LOL!To my surprise, I didn't hear any complains and comments like "where is the meat?", "too much vege for me!", "I don't this" or "I don't like that". Everyone was happy. The tart pastry (without any egg) is very short... melting in our mouth and being so delicious but I find it a little too crumbly to handle. Apart from the pastry, assembling and baking this tart is super easy. Despite that the tart is over-loaded with greens, it is very well-balanced with cheese and eggs with minimal seasonings, maximizing the taste and beauty of Spring.
After enjoying this delicious meal, my son and I were excited watching the spring onion roots growing and saw this happened on the next day... My husband had transplanted these into pots. Finger-crossed...
Our Spring-ing spring onions :D
Here's the recipe from the book, Gordon Ramsay's Great British Pub Food or here
(with my modification in blue)
For the short crust pastry:
200g plain flour plus extra for dusting1/4 tsp salt
100 g cold butter, cut into small cubes
egg white from 1 egg (to glaze)
For the filling:
1 bunch spring onions (trimmed)50 g butter
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
salt to taste
250ml pouring cream (35% fat)
100g cheese, grated (I used 125g Gruyère)
350g asparagus spears (trimmed and lower parts of stalks peeled)
(I used 2 bunches of baby asparagus)
To make the pastry:
Put flour and salt into a bowl, add chopped butter and rub in until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs. Add 3 tbsp of ice cold water and mix with a butter knife until the dough just comes together.
If it seems too dry, add a little extra water, but try not to make dough too wet. Lightly knead into a smooth ball, wrap in cling film and leave to rest in the fridge for at least 30 mins before rolling out.
Roll out onto a lightly floured surface to a large round, to the thickness of 1 pound coin / 5mm. Use to line 23-24 cm round tart tin (or 11.5 x 34 x 2.5cm loose-based fluted tart pan)leaving a little excess overhanging the rim. Chill again for at least 30 mins.
Heat the oven to 200°C / 180°C fan forced. Line the tart case with baking paper and dried or ceramic baking beans and bake blind for 15 mins. Remove the paper and beans and bake for further 5 mins. Leave to cool slightly, then trim off the excess pastry around the rim. Brush the inside of the tart case with egg white to glaze. Leave to cool while prepare the filling. Reduce the oven setting to 180°C / 160°C fan forced
To make the filling:
Slice the spring onions on the diagonal. Melt the butter in a pan, add the spring onions with salt and pepper to season and cook gently over medium heat until soft but not browned. Remove and allow to cool slightly.
Blanch the asparagus in a pan of boiling water for 2 to 3 mins; they should still retain a bite.
Drain and refresh under cold running water, then drain well. Cut the asparagus spears in half lengthwise - I didn't have to do that because I used baby asparagus.
Whisk the eggs, egg yolks and cream together in a bowl. Reserve a good handful of cheese for sprinkling, and the rest of the cheese to the creamy mixture and season well with sea salt and fresh ground black pepper.
Sprinkle half the remaining cheese (I used just a small handful as I like most of it to be on top) in a thin layer over the pastry base and scatter over the spring onions. Arrange the asparagus on top, then carefully pour on the creamy mixture to just below the rim of the pastry. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and bake for 35 to 45 mins or until the filling is set and golden - I baked mine for 40 mins. Leave to cool in the tin slightly before unmoulding.
Serve warm or at room temperature.
Happy Baking
This post is linked to Cook like a Star (Gordon Ramsay) organised by me, Bake for Happy Kids, Yen from Eat Your Heart Out and Mich from Piece of Cake
Wanna cook or bake like Gordon Ramsay? To join, simply cook or bake his recipes from websites like LifeStyle Food, BBC GoodFood and Channel 4, or his cookbooks and link with us at this Zoe's, this Yen's or this Mich's post for the whole of Aug 2014.
To use this linky tool, please make sure that: (1) Your post must be a current post. (2) Please mention Cook like a Star in your post and link back to us at Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, Yen from Eat Your Heart Out and Mich from Piece of Cake Cheers! For more details, please see this.
Here are my blogging friends that have joined me cooking for this event. Please visit their blogs for more of their 5-stars cooking.
This post is also linked to the event, Little Thumbs up organised by Doreen from my little favorite DIY and me, Bake for Happy Kids, hosted by Diana from Domestic Goddess Wannabe at this post.
Our Little Thumbs Up event starts on the first Tuesday until the last day of the month. Please join us! To join, simply cook or bake any recipe with the theme of the month which is FLOUR for August 2014 and link with us at this post anytime until 31st August 2014.
If you are wondering what kind of flour you can use to participate this event, please check out this message from Diana...
"Flour is an essential ingredient in my (and I am sure, many of your) kitchen. It is the base of pastas and noodles, cakes and biscuits, or even as thickening agents in the making of a roux. The list of food items made using flour is endless. As such, we will be limiting the theme to mainly Wheat Flour, namely:
- All-Purpose (also known as Plain) Flour
- Bread Flour
- Cake Flour
- Self-raising Flour
- Pastry Flour
- Wholemeal Flour
- Hong Kong (also known as Waterlily) Flour
- Superlite Flour
- Top Flour
What after August 2014? Kit from I-Lost in Austen will be the next hostess of September 2014 and her theme is APPLE! Her Little Thumbs Up event starts on the first Tuesday of August 2014 (2nd Sep) until the last day of the month.
Don't forget your thumbs up or display this badge! And make sure that: (1) Your post must be a current post preferably within this month. (2) Please mention Little Thumbs Up in your post and link back to Bake for Happy Kids, my little favorite DIY or/and Diana from Domestic Goddess Wannabe. For more details, please see this.