Cool and creamy Asparagus tart

The perfect spring dish can be served alongside a rocket salad and new potatoes. Asparagus is seasonal in spring, so this is a great opportunity to get some into your diet when they are at their best.

Serves: 4 / Ready in: 1 hour 30 mins / Difficulty: 3/5 / Storing: Best eaten fresh, can be stored in the fridge for 3 days.

Ingredients

1 pack pre-made Shortcrust pastry
Greaseproof paper & blind baking beans/rice/dried peas
1 egg
1 bunch fresh green asparagus
150ml creme fresh or cream
250g ricotta cheese
50g parmesan cheese, grated
1 lemon, zest and juice
Fresh dill
Salt & pepper

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Take an oven-proof tart dish and line it with greaseproof paper. Then roll out the pastry over the dish, allowing the pastry to fold over the edges, we will cut this back later. Make sure the pastry is snug to the dish and pushed down around the bottom of the dish.

Now place another piece of greaseproof paper over the pastry, ensuring it covers all of the pastry. Tip in your blind baking beans/rice or peas (anything that is weighty and dry and of course doesn’t burn). Gently push down the blind baking items so that the weight will keep the pastry in the tart form.

Once the oven is heated, put the pastry in for approx 20 mins, until the pastry under the blind baking items is cooking nicely. Once it’s cooked enough that it’s starting to look cooked, remove the blind baking items, by lifting off the layer of greaseproof paper.

Then take an egg, crack it and beat it with a fork. Paint a layer of egg wash all over the pastry with a brush. Pop it back in the oven for 5 mins, until all is nicely golden. - Keep an eye on it, we don’t want it to burn. If the edges look like they might, take some greaseproof paper to cover them.

While the pastry is cooking you can make a start on the asparagus.

Boil a large pot of water. Take the asparagus and snap the ends off, by doing this you ensure that the woody part is removed, the fresher the asparagus the less snaps off. With the snapped-off stem you can make a soup, recipe here.

Once you’ve snapped the end off, cut 1 inch from the tips and put to one side. With the remaining fresh stalk slice it into thin circles, approx 1/2 a cm.

Now we need to quickly blanch the asparagus circles and tips in boiling water, place the tips in first for 2 mins, then add the circle in for a further min. Have a taste check to ensure both tips and circles have cooked slightly, they should still be slightly firm but not mushy!

Drain and place them into a large bowl of very cold water, to stop the cooking process. After a couple of minutes, drain the cool water and put the asparagus into a sieve. Gently run cool water over them until they are completely cool. Allow to drain.

It’s time to make the filling. In a bowl add the ricotta, creme fresh or cream and mix until smooth. Add the lemon zest, juice, grated parmesan, salt, pepper and finely chopped dill. Give it a good mix together and add in the asparagus circle, give it a final mix and pop it in the oven.

Once the pastry is cooked and has cooled a little, pop it in the fridge too and allow to fully cool until cold to touch, approx 20 mins.