Asparagus Tart with Cheese Pastry

Name: Asparagus Tart with Cheese Pastry
Yield: Serves 6
Ingredients: Salt and freshly ground black pepper; Salt and freshly ground black pepper; 5 oz/140 g plain flour; 1 rounded tsp dry mustard powder; 2 large eggs + 3 large egg yolks; 2 large eggs + 3 large egg yolks; 1 lb/450 g fresh asparagus, unchewable ends trimmed off, steamed until just tender; A dash of Tabasco sauce; Freshly grated nutmeg; ¾ pint/420 ml single cream (you can use milk if you prefer, but it doesn’t really do justice to the dish); ¾ pint/420 ml single cream (you can use milk if you prefer, but it doesn’t really do justice to the dish); 3 oz/84 g butter, hard from the refrigerator, cut into pieces; 3 oz/84 g mature Cheddar cheese, grated

Preparation info

Serves
6

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

The Claire Macdonald Cookbook

By Claire Macdonald

Published 1997

About

This makes a good vegetarian main course and is also ideal for a picnic. The cheesy pastry complements the delicate taste of the asparagus filling, without overpowering it.

Ingredients

For the pastry

3 oz/84 g butter, hard from the refrigerator, cut into pieces
3 oz/

Main course
Vegetarian

Method

If you have a food processor, process all the pastry ingredients together until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. If not, sieve the flour, mustard and salt into a bowl. Mix in the cheese, pepper and Tabasco sauce. Rub in the pieces of butter with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Pat the mixture round the sides and base of a 9-inch/23-cm flan dish, and put the dish