asparagus, pea and feta tart

asparagus, pea and feta tart

• 9 Nov 2022

Today's post is to ensure you that I don't live on cakes, biscuits and buns alone. As well as sweet baking I also do some savoury baking.

 

It's spring time in Sydney and the fruit shops are filled with new season asparagus. Whilst looking for recipes for Christmas 2022, I came across some recipes from Kepos Kitchen, including this one for an asparagus, pea and feta tart.

I love peas, asparagus, feta cheese and a soft boiled egg, so I was sold. The only problem I had was trying to track down my favourite brand of all butter puff pastry, Careme. When that proved impossible I went with what I could find in the supermarket. A 24 x 24cm square tart seemed a bit unwieldy, so I cut the pastry into two halves and made 2 tarts.

Here's the recipe for you from Hummus and Co by Michael Rantissi and Kristy Frawley which makes 2 tarts. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C.

Asparagus, pea and feta tart – serves 3-4
Ingredients

350 g frozen green peas, thawed overnight
1 sheet store bought puff pastry, about 24cm x 24cm
Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
4 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for drizzling

12-14 asparagus spears, peeled and trimmed
150 g feta
3 soft boiled eggs
Micro herbs for garnish (optional)
 
Method

Preheat the oven to 190°C, conventional. Line a large baking tray with baking paper. 

Cut the pastry lengthwise into two 12cm pieces. Using a knife, make a 1cm border around the edge of the pastry (don’t cut all the way through) then dock the centre with a fork. Put the pastries on the prepared tray and bake for about 20 minutes or until golden brown, puffed up and very firm. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool to room temperature. 

Put the peas in a bowl and crush them. Stir in the lemon zest, lemon juice and zest and 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

Heat a chargrill pan or a barbecue grill plate to high. Drizzle the asparagus with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, until grill marks appear.

To assemble the tart, put the pastries onto a serving or chopping board (as this will be easier to cut the tart) and top each with half of the crushed pea mixture. Crumble the feta evenly over the tarts. Cut the eggs into half and arrange them on the tarts. Top with the grilled asparagus, sprinkle with sea salt and cracked black pepper. Drizzle with additional olive oil and micro herbs if using.

I had half of one of the tarts for my lunch and the leftovers were devoured for an afternoon snack. The tart was really delicious especially the char on the asparagus spears. This recipe is definitely a keeper.

See you all again next week with some more baking from my kitchen.

Bye for now,

Jillian