Asparagus Courgette & Three Cheese Tartlets

I recently posted about this asparagus salad back when asparagus was bang in season. We’ve come to the end of the season again now (sob) so this recipe comes a little late but you could always get your hands on some foreign asparagus if you wanted. Courgettes on the other hand are just coming into season, perfect! This quick and easy puff pastry tartlet is another great way of showcasing it in all its glory. You could make your own puff pastry but would make the task a pretty long job so let someone else take the slack and buy some, I do!

For the cheese element we used up the end of a few cheeses we had the in fridge – it totalled about 150g, but there certainly weren’t equal quantities of each so just go with what you have, as long as they’re not too strong as it it would overpower the veg, and thats what’s the star of the show here. Another option would be just to use goats cheese as I’ve done a similar tart using this as the only cheese and it also works really well. Serve with a simple green salad.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

6 spears asparagus
1 courgette, sliced
150g cheese roughly cubed (of your choice – we used Tomme de Savoie, Munster & Morbier)
1 sheet of ready made puff pastry
4 tablespoons caramelised onion chutney
1 egg – beaten, to egg wash the tarts

Method:

Cut out your tartlets. I used a side plate to cut around. When you have your circles of pastry, score a line all around the outside, about 0.5-1cm in from the edge. Be careful not to cut through the pastry all the way to the bottom.
Brush egg wash all over the tarts the put in a preheated oven at 180ºC for about 15mins until just turning golden.
Bring a saucepan of salted water to the boil and blanch the asparagus and courgette slices for about 2-3 mins. Take off the heat and put into ice cold water to refresh
Remove the tarts from oven and spread 2 tbsp of the onion chutney over the base of the tart (keeping within the inside line)
Top with the asparagus and courgette and then scatter the cheese cubes – fitting them in and around the veg and a few over the top as well.

Pop the tarts back in the oven for about another 10 minutes, until the cheese has melted and all has gone a nice golden brown. Serve hot from the oven with a nice green salad.

Happy eating :)