GLUTEN-FREE ASPARAGUS AND FOUR CHEESES TART
You can top our gluten-free Asparagus and Four Cheeses Tart with anything you have on hand. Halved cherry tomatoes, sliced preserved artichokes, roast fennel, zucchini or red capsicum would all be great but we’ve gone with asparagus.
Try varying the cheeses, even just use one type, (although it won’t then be a four cheeses tart!) just as long as you stick to the weight. What a great way to use up all those pesky bits of cheese hanging around the fridge.
It’s a perfect lunch or Sunday night supper dish when accompanied by a crisp green salad and is robust enough to throw into a picnic basket.
You can even blind bake the pastry a day or two beforehand, cook the onions the day before, then throw together a delicious tart in no time.
What are you waiting for!
Rosie
ASPARAGUS AND FOUR CHEESES TART
Serves 6
½ quantity Revenge Gluten-free Cream Cheese Pastry
50 gm unsalted butter
3 brown onions (around 400 gm) finely sliced
½ teaspoon fennel seeds
1 pinch dried chilli flakes
3 eggs
100 gm crème fraiche
1 tablespoon cream
60 gm cheddar cheese, grated
40 gm gruyere cheese, grated
60 gm firm goats’ cheese, grated
1 tablespoon cornflour
Freshly ground black pepper and sea salt flakes
2 bunches asparagus
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh parmesan, grated
Shaved parmesan to serve (optional)
Preheat oven to 160°C.
Roll out the pastry in between two sheets of baking paper to line a 23cm loose bottomed flan tin. Place in the fridge until the pastry is firm then blind bake.
Meanwhile, heat butter in a frying pan and saute the onions, fennel seeds and chilli flakes until the onions are soft and cooked through but not coloured. Allow to cool.
Increase oven to 180°C.
Whisk the eggs and crème fraiche together until smooth then stir in the cream followed by the cheddar, gruyere and goats’ cheeses.
Sprinkle the cornflour over the cooled onions and mix thoroughly. Add this to the cream mixture and combine well. Season with pepper and salt, being mindful that cheese is quite salty in itself.
Trim each asparagus spear just short of the length of the radius of the flan tin. Brush with the olive oil.
Transfer the onion/cream mixture to the blind baked flan shell. Arrange the asparagus on top, like the spokes of a wheel. Sprinkle the grated parmesan over the top.
Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes or until the filling is quite firm.
Allow to stand for 15 minutes before removing from the tin and transferring to a serving plate. Top with parmesan shavings if using.
Serve warm or at room temperature with a crisp green salad.