Medium
4–6
By Miss South
Published 2014
This is a beautiful tart with a rich savoury custard, salmon and caramelised onion in a shortcrust pastry. It makes a fantastic packed lunch, picnic centrepiece or dish to impress friends and family at the weekend. Don’t be nervous around the pastry: it can sense your fear. Just relax and remember that the filling is the star of this show.
Start with the pastry, and make sure everything is set up and ready to use. Pastry ingredients need to be cold to get the best finish so work quickly. However, I find it is best to take the butter out of the fridge 10 minutes before you need it or you have to work it for longer and warm it up by accident. I put the water into the fridge at the same time.
Sift the flour into a large bowl and add the cubed butter and the salt. Gently rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Lift the crumbs up in the bowl and let them fall again to keep the air in the mix.
Add the water, a tablespoon at a time, scattering it over the mix evenly, and bring it all together with your hands. The dough should be firm, but not sticky. You may need a drop or two more water if it looks dry. Once the dough comes together in a lump, leaving the bowl clean around it, wrap it in cling film and chill for 30 minutes to relax the gluten and make it easier to roll out.
Wrap the pastry round the rolling pin and lift it into the tart tin. Using your fingers, lift and press the pastry snugly into the tin. Don’t trim it at this stage: pastry shrinks when cooked and, if you trim it, you risk not having enough depth for the filling. Prick the base a few times with a fork.
Line the pastry with greaseproof paper and fill it with dried rice or baking beans.
Reduce the oven temperature to 175°C.
Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over a low heat, then add the onions and soften until they are translucent. This should take about 10 minutes. Add the sugar and lemon juice to help the onions to caramelise and
Turn your courgettes into ribbons using a potato peeler: this makes them look lovely and allows them to cook more easily too.
Arrange the ribbons of courgette and the slices of smoked salmon over the onions in the tart case so they are evenly distributed. Don’t chop the salmon. You want bite to the tart.
Gently warm the cream in a small pan with the bay leaf, nutmeg and mustard over a low heat. Add the egg yolks one at a time, whisking them in well, and then the beaten whole egg. Whisk the mixture thoroughly and season, bearing in mind the saltiness of the fish when doing so.
Pour the custard into the tart tin. Finish with spoonfuls of the mascarpone (if using). Check you have reduced the oven temperature to 175°C and
Remove the tart from the oven. Allow to cool for a minute or two and then set the tin on an upturned bowl and ease the tart out. Cool for 5 minutes and then serve warm with dressed salad leaves or potato salad. It can also be served cold at a picnic.
You could use shop bought pastry for the tart, but Ella’s pastry is foolproof.
© 2014 All rights reserved. Published by Kitchen Press.