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| TOMATO AND PROSCIUTTO TARTS |
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When
cooking for friends, we cooks want to talk to them
too. The days of dinner parties where one bobs like a cork
from kitchen to drawing room, missing punch lines and the
threads of all the good conversations until the food has
been cleared away, are a thing of the past. These tarts,
assembled before everyone arrives, are perfect as an
ambulant starter. You can whisk them into and out of the
oven and hand them round while people drink without
missing a beat. If you can't find good plum tomatoes, use
halved organic cherry tomatoes instead.
Makes 8 small tarts
- 300g/10oz
puff pastry
- 150ml/5
fl oz best virgin olive oil
- 2 small
bundles straight rice noodles
- 3 cloves
of garlic
- Black
pepper
- 10 plum
tomatoes, or about 40 cherry tomatoes
- Handful
of basil, and the same of either thyme or rosemary
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Preheat the oven to 190°C, 375°F, Gas 5. Start with
300g/10oz of pure butter puff pastry; this tart is
characterised by its buttery, oily flakiness. Roll out the
pastry and stamp it into eight 10cm/4 inch circles, then
place them on a greased baking sheet and leave them in
the fridge until you need them.
Tear the prosciutto roughly and put it in the food
processor with half the olive oil, the garlic cloves and the
pepper. Blitz for a few seconds to make a rough purée.
Slice the plum tomatoes, or halve if you are using cherry
ones. Tear the basil leaves and add them to the remaining
olive oil, but not more than 20 minutes before you are going
to use them or they will bruise and blacken.
Spoon a mound of the prosciutto mixture on to each tart
base, leaving a good-sized clear edge. Place a circle of
tomatoes on top, brush with a little of the oil and basil
mixture, sprinkle with roughly chopped thyme or rosemary,
and cook for about 15 minutes, until the pastry is puffed up
and cooked through.
Put the tarts on a rack and brush with the oil and basil
mixture, then serve warm.
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| TOMATO, GOAT'S CAMEMBERT AND HERB TART |
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Serve this any time, any place,
anywhere – it oozes rustic sophistication
and is utterly unlike the eggy, creamy
dishes we think of when we think of
savoury tarts. If you’ve got the time,
make your herbed brushing oil the
night before, so that the flavours have
plenty of time to marry.
Serves 6 for supper, 8 for lunch
- 180g/6oz organic white flour
- Pinch of sea salt
- 80g/2 3/4oz unsalted butter
- 2-3 tbsp best olive oil
- 100g/generous 3oz Gruyère
cheese, grated
- 1 dozen or so organic tomatoes, sliced
- 4 x 125g/4 1/2oz Camembert-style
goat’s cheeses, sliced
For the herbed brushing oil
- 125ml/4
fl oz extra virgin olive oil
- 1 dsp
each of finely chopped rosemary, thyme, basil, fennel and flat-leaf parsley
- 1 clove
of garlic, crushed
- Salt
and black pepper
- 1 bay
leaf
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Combine all the ingredients for the
brushing oil in a jar or bowl and leave
overnight if possible, or at least for a
couple of hours.
Make shortcrust pastry using organic white flour and
80g/2 3/4 oz unsalted butter, but use
your best olive oil instead of water –
you might need a bit more than 2
tablespoons. Chill, then roll out and
use to line a 30cm/12 inch tart tin.
Preheat the oven to 190°C, 375°F,
Gas 5 and put a baking sheet in
the oven.
Spread the mustard over the pastry
base, then scatter over the Gruyère.
Cover with alternate overlapping slices
of tomato and goat’s cheese in
concentric circles, then brush two-
thirds of the herby oil over the surface.
Bake the tart on the preheated
baking sheet for about 35 minutes; it
will be heaving, brown and bubbling.
Remove from the oven, brush with the
remaining oil and leave to cool for at
least 10 minutes before turning out
and serving.
A broad bean and asparagus salad
would dress it up; a simple green one
would dress it down.
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| SPINACH AND ANCHOVY TART |
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Perfect at any time of year, but plus-perfect in the
spring, when you can buy or grow tiny pousse, the baby
leaves of spinach that are gently unferrous and don’t
exude copious amounts of liquid when cooked.
Serves
6
- 120g/4oz organic white flour
- Pinch of sea salt
- 60g/2oz unsalted butter, chilled
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 325g/12oz organic baby spinach
- Black pepper
- 200ml/7 fl oz double cream
- 1 egg and 2 egg yolks
- 12 anchovy fillets
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Make shortcrust pastry (see overleaf)using organic
white flour and 60g/2oz unsalted butter, but instead of
adding water, add a generous tablespoon of your best
olive oil to the mixture before blitzing it all together in the
food processor. Chill,then roll out and line a 22cm/9
inch tart tin.
Preheat the oven to 190°C, 375°F,Gas 5. Bake the
pastry blind for 15 minutes, then remove the
dried beans, prick the base with a fork and return to the
oven for a further 5 minutes.
While the pastry is in the oven, heat 30g/1oz butter
and 1 tbsp olive oil in a heavy-bottomed enamel
saucepan, add the spinach and pepper, and stir briefly
until the spinach has wilted but not lost its shape, about
couple of minutes.
Whisk the cream, egg and yolks together, then pour
any liquid from the spinach pan. Tip the spinach and
anchovies into a processor and process as briefly as
you dare, to keep their texture and not reduce them to a
slushy purée. Throw them into the bowl with the cream
and eggs and stir with a fork,then pour the whole lot into
the pastry case and cook for about 25 minutes.
Leave to cool for 10 minutes, then serve with
something plain, like a cherry tomato salad and good,
white country bread and butter.
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