Asparagus & Blue Cheese Tart

Photo © Anne-Marie Minhall

Temperatures are set to soar in London over the next couple of days with numbers of 33 degrees among those being mentioned.

I'm planning menus so that the oven doesn't have to be on & so today it's tart time. 

Something that can be cooked today & eaten cold together with baby potatoes & salad. Speaking of which, may I stray away for a moment to give some judgements about salad please? 

In no particular order ..

Lettuce - Gem or nothing

Beetroot - Only from a jar & whole

Cucumber - Always refreshing & only peeled for a Greek Salad otherwise, leave be

Watercress - The real deal for 'This is doing me some good, I know it ..' peppery beast

Radishes - One of the first things I grew in the garden growing up & another fiery treat

Tomatoes - Have to be small, juicy & sweet, the type which burst open when you eat them

Spring Onions - YES, YES, YES, big, bold ones which bring a tear to the eye when you cut them

Anyway, back to business. 

I was going to make my own pastry, honest, but it got too warm so I picked up a roll of ready-made shortcrust. You'll need a 22cm case

Set the oven at 200C/180C/Gas Mark 6

15 Asparagus Spears cut into halves 

300ml Double Cream 

2 Eggs

Bleu D'Auvergne 200g (or any good blue cheese)

Put the asparagus into a pan of boiling water & cook for 3-5 minutes

Drain before transferring the asparagus into a bowl of cold water to stop them cooking any further & to retain their colour

Pour the double cream into a bowl, add the eggs, season & whisk lightly together 

Line the tart case with the pastry & get it into every nook & cranny before seasoning generously with black pepper - check for any cracks

Scrunch up some greaseproof paper & line the pastry with it before putting baking beans in

Bake for 15-20 minutes before carefully removing the beans & paper before returning the pastry case to the oven for a further 5 minutes

Turn the oven down to 180C/160C/Gas Mark 4

Place the asparagus spears in the pastry case, then crumble the blue cheese over the top. 

Pour the cream & egg mix in before transferring to the oven and bake for about 40 minutes

Leave to cool before digging in

A satisfying meal with a crisp salad & some baby potatoes.

Salad Cream - yay or nay? Robert may have thoughts.

That's a whole new post right there.

AMM