Yesterday was one of those days where our village is engulfed in what we call ‘mizzle’ mist and drizzle. After walking the dog and picking a whole basket full of brussel shoots we headed back home to dry off. Brussel shoots are dead easy to grow, once you have utilized your tops just let the plant produce shoots and cut them when they are young just before flowering. You could describe them as a brussels version of sprouting broccoli.
On rainy days like yesterday I like to stay in the comfort of our kitchen and experiment. Sometimes is works and sometimes it doesn’t,yesterday it worked although I would add lots of wild garlic to my mixture of greens next time to give the filling a fuller flavor.
As I didn’t have any butter in the house I decided to go for a bread dough base which is lower in fat anyway. I made this using about 110 g of strong whole grain flour, 110 g of plain white flour and 40 g of hemp flour which is high in protein and omega oils. I added a teaspoon of instant yeast, a pinch of salt and just under 150 ml of warm water. All this went in to the mixer until thoroughly kneaded.
Whist the dough was rising in a warm place, I chopped up some onions and garlic frying them off in a pan with a little oil. I thoroughly washed then chopped up my brussel shoots and leaves. I also gathered some Sage and Oregano from the garden to add to the mixture. In future I would add a large bunch of wild garlic to the mixture of greens.
After an hour or two the dough was ready to be rolled out as thin as possible and I lined a 9 inch spring form which I oiled before hand. Now I was ready to fill the tart. I started with about 80 g of ground almonds this helps to soak up any moisture and avoids getting a soggy bottom. Next I added the onion and garlic mixture followed by the greens and herbs. I whisked up 6 eggs adding a decent amount of salt and pepper then pouring the eggs into the tart. To finish it off I laid a lattice of left over dough over the top and sprinkled over two handfuls of Parmesan.
I popped my concoction in the oven (gas mark 6) for about an hour covering the tart with tin foil for the first 30 min to stop the tart from burning on top.
All in all it made for a decent dinner.
What’s your favorite allotment produce concoction?
