Asparagus Tarts

If it's Spring (in New Zealand anyway), it must be asparagus season. 

Being a semi-reluctant vegetable eater, I like my vegetables adorned with extras (think cauliflower in a cheese sauce), so I usually roast asparagus with olive oil, garlic and lemon zest (see below). Taking this embellishment a (big) step further, I'm delighted to say they taste just wonderful in this creamy filling wrapped in a rich pastry.

These tarts are ideal for lunch (or a simple supper dish). Serve with a lightly dressed salad of bitter greens such as rocket, red leaf lettuce, watercress, radicchio and endive, for contrast.

Asparagus Tarts 

Pastry

350g plain flour

½ tsp salt

200g butter

4-5 tbsp cold water

Filling

1 bunch cooked asparagus*

300ml single cream

2 egg yolks

sea salt & ground pepper

pinch nutmeg or freshly grated nutmeg

* For extra flavour, I roast mine in the oven with a drizzle of olive oil, crushed garlic and lemon zest for 12-15 minutes but you can boil the spears lightly in salted water until tender.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C.

Sift the flour and salt into a mixing bowl.  Add 175g of the butter and rub it into the flour with your fingertips.  Add the water and bind to a dough.

Roll the dough out on to a lightly floured board and cut to the size of your tart tins. I used four mini tart tins with a base diameter of 8.5cm and a top diameter of 11.5cm. 

Line the base of the tins with a circle of baking paper (I do this even though I use non-stick tins - just in case!).  Using a fork, prick the base of each tart then place the tart tins on a baking tray and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.  Remove the tray with the tart tins from the oven while you prepare the filling.  Turn the oven down to 180 degrees C. 

Cut the asparagus to fit and divide between the tins.  Whisk the cream and egg yolks together and season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.  Pour the mix carefully and evenly amongst the tins. Depending on the size of your tins, you may have some left over.

Return the tarts to the oven and bake for 15 minutes until filling has set.  The filling should be just set and no more.

Serve with a lightly dressed salad of bitter greens.

Salmon Quiche

I have this theory that Jamie Oliver is on speed which is why he can claim 15 or 30 minute meals that, in my reality anyway, take far longer. I just can’t get the hang of how he sets out the recipes, so I deconstruct and put it all back together again, but differently.  In spite of the time, I find his recipes extremely tasty and I’ve been using them a lot lately but when I really want something quick this recipe is one I use again and again.

It’s one of those self-crusting tarts that is quick, easy to throw together and open to all sorts of variations - which is always a good thing.  Instead of salmon, substitute cooked chicken or chopped ham or roasted vegetables. Lately I’ve been using Regal salmon which makes for a richer (and more expensive) tart but tinned salmon or tuna will do just fine.

I like to drizzle a teensy drop of balsamic vinegar or vincotto on each tomato (I don’t know why, I just do), then finish it off with a good handful of chopped herbs - coriander, Italian parsley and basil or a little dill are good. 

Serve with pickled pears or chutney and a green salad or vegetable dish such as the sweet stem broccoli recipe below.

Salmon Quiche

Serves 3-4

1 onion                                              

3 eggs                                                

50g/¼ cup melted butter               

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

1 cup milk

½ cup self-raising flour

1 tin 210g red salmon, drained or 200g Regal wood roasted salmon, skin removed

2 tomatoes, sliced or several cherry tomatoes halved

fresh herbs, e.g. basil, Italian parsley or coriander

Heat oven to 180°C.  Grease a flan tin or dish.

Chop onion finely in a food processor.  Add the eggs, cheese, milk and salt and pepper and whizz to combine.

Pour the melted butter and self-raising flour into the mix and whizz briefly to combine.   Pour into the greased flan dish.

Break small chunks of salmon and place evenly around the dish.  Arrange tomato slices or halved tomatoes across the top (and if you want, dot some vincotto or balsamic vinegar on each tomato).  Sprinkle with herbs.

Bake for approximately 45-50 minutes in the oven.

Sweet Stem Broccoli with Zesty Lemon

For me, the hardest thing about broccoli isn’t the spelling of it (and judging by the grocer’s blackboards, I’m not the only one), but the eating.  Apart from a few odd pieces here and there (drowned in cheese sauce or disguised in Asian stir fries), I have avoided broccoli.  So it was nice to discover a younger, sweeter broccoli that I actually liked eating. Bellaverde Sweet Stem Broccoli is from The Fresh Grower and is local (very local to me) – just strange that I always seem to find it in city supermarkets rather than here.  Maybe I could find a field nearby growing it?

There was a nice recipe on the pack so I’m proud to give you the one (and maybe only?) broccoli recipe on this blog.

Sweet Stem Broccoli with Zesty Lemon

1 pack (250g) Sweet Stem Broccoli (or use ordinary broccoli but cook for longer)

salt

2 tbsp butter

½ lemon zested

1 tsp minced garlic

¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper

Sesame seeds or pinenuts

Blanch the broccoli in a large pot of boiling salted water for 2 minutes.  Drain immediately and immerse in a bowl of iced water.

Melt the butter in a pan big enough to hold the stems flat in one layer.  Add the lemon zest (reserve a little to serve) and garlic and stir.

Drain the broccoli and add to the pan.  Stir to coat the broccoli and heat for 2-3 minutes (until heated through).

Toss the broccoli with ½ tsp salt, ½ tsp pepper, sesame seeds or pinenuts and sprinkle the remainder of the lemon zest on top.

Ottolenghi's roasted vegetables with tahini dressing, za'atar and pine nuts

For me, birthdays are definitely something to be celebrated.  As one gets older though, the celebration is a double-edged sword.  Whilst I’m happy to celebrate the occasion, I’m not so fond of acknowledging (or should I say ignoring?) some of the other physical or mental aspects that come with another year.  But whilst I breathe and remain in good health, I have something to celebrate, so I will. 

I was planning on sharing my birthday cake with you (the recipe that is, the cake is all but gone) but running two chocolate posts consecutively at this time of year seemed like over indulgence, even to me.  So here’s one of the dishes served at my birthday lunch last Sunday (yes, I was almost a Christmas baby). 

If you’re very lucky (like me) you may just have received Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi as a Christmas present (mine was a birthday gift). 

Although I had a small box of za’atar spice, it was past the sniff-by test.  So I quickly threw some spices and herbs together using this Internet recipe  as inspiration.  It’s worth making fresh as the smell and taste is far superior than the bought blend.  I had no fresh oregano so substituted fresh thyme, which I finely chopped and added to the spices.  Coincidentally that same night, I watched Jamie Oliver’s American road trip programme.  Jamie was in New York making za’atar with an Egyptian chef and I noticed the ingredients differed slightly again.  That made me feel better.

Inhaling the spice gave me a real zing so I was not at all surprised when the dish turned out to be my favourite of the day.  I just loved that the tahini dressing, za’atar and toasted pine nuts not only made the roasted vegetables look exotic, they tasted sensational too.  And this is just the first recipe I’ve tried.  More please...

I served the pine nuts on the side as my daughter has a nut allergy.

For the recipe, click this link to the original recipe on The Guardian website.  

One last thought – I can’t believe I’m writing a blog post on Christmas Day.  Merry Christmas!

know your onions

I once had a checkout operator at the local supermarket pick up a red onion from my groceries on the conveyor belt and ask me what it was.  I recovered from that Jamie Oliver moment where I was stunned into silence that someone did not recognize a fairly common vegetable, and told her.  She asked what you would do with it.  After that, I picked her checkout every time.  I truly liked her innocence.  It made going to the supermarket a much more rewarding experience.  She never failed to ask me questions about produce I had bought or comment on how much wine I had in my shopping trolley and was I going to drink it all myself. (I wasn’t!)  Sadly, she is not on the checkouts anymore.  I hope it was an educational experience for her.

What’s been an educational experience for me is watching the onion pickers out here in the produce belt. They spend hours from daybreak to sunset  lifting the onions from the earth. Inside the house you can hear the hypnotic clicking sound as the pickers move slowly down the rows, hand clipping the onion tops off. Sometimes, it’s like an art form. The picked and clipped onions are placed on the earth in groups. Gradually a line forms as they are laid out to dry in the sun (this apparently kills the root system at the bottom of each bulb). And finally, there is row upon row of bagged onions waiting to be collected. It’s a beautiful sight - a photo begging to be taken.

I love ...

oven baked red onions and vegetables
sliced raw red onions with cheese in toasted sandwiches
raw red onions in salads – sweet and juicy, adding colour



I tried making onion marmalade for the first time. It turned out fine - a little sweet for me perhaps, but others liked it. Later I saw a recipe on the BBC website. From the photo, it looked like their onions had held their glorious red colour (perhaps they'd just Photo-shopped it?).  I'll try it sometime and let you know...

This one is adapted from a recipe in Fruits of the Earth by Gloria Nicol.

red onion marmalade

1kg (2lb 4oz) red onions, peeled, quartered and then sliced

2 tbsp olive oil

250ml (17fl oz) red wine vinegar

250ml (17fl oz) balsamic vinegar

750g (1lb 10oz) muscovado sugar (or a dark brown sugar)

2 bay leaves

2 tsp salt

ground black pepper

1. Heat the oil in a large stainless steel pan or preserving pan.  Add onions and cook gently for about 20 minutes until soft but not browned.
2. Add all other ingredients and simmer gently for 1-1½ hours until mixture is dark and thick but still juicy, stirring occasionally.
3. Pour the marmalade into hot, sterilized jars and seal.

Tip
I wash the jars in hot soapy water, then rinse. While still wet, I place them in the microwave for 1 minute to sterilize. I pour boiling hot water over the lids and any utensils I will be using to spoon the preserve into the jars. I tend to use a mini ladle for this.

I've been having a hard time posting this blog.  The formatting keeps previewing all wrong.  Now, I don't know if this is me or Blogger.  So, if you're looking at it and it looks kind of funny - I've given up and gone to bed!