I was reminded of this lovely tart by twitter with a very tempting photo. It was originally published four years ago in my Dinner Tonight column in the Times. There have been several requests for the recipe, so here it is again and thanks to @wendyburn for the heads up. The tart is made with crumbly, buttery pastry flavoured with Parmesan. I made it by hand but it’s even more quickly done in a food processor. It’s a quiche-style tart with eggs and cream, the filling pre-cooked leeks, peas and feta. I plan to make it again but here is my badly copied photo of Wendy’s to give you an idea of what to expect. Serve it alone, with salad or with jacket potatoes cooked at the same time.
Serves 6
Prep: 30 min
Cook: 30 min
200g plain flour
160g butter
4 tbsp water
3 tbsp finely grated Parmesan
400g trimmed leeks
20 mint leaves
150g frozen petit pois
3 eggs
150ml double cream
100g Greek feta cheese
Sift the flour into a mixing bowl and dice 125g butter over the top. Add 1 tbsp Parmesan. Quickly rub together with fingertips until resembling crumbs. Add 1 tbsp water at a time, stirring with a knife or fork until clumping together. Quickly work into a ball. Pop in a plastic bag and chill for 30 minutes. Finely slice and rinse the leeks. Shred the mint. Melt 25g butter in a spacious, lidded frying pan over a medium heat. Stir in leeks and 1 tsp salt. Cook, covered, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes until soft. Leave to cool. Heat the oven to 220C/gas mark 7. Boil the peas in salted water. Drain. Whisk the eggs with the cream in a mixing bowl. Add crumbled feta. Smear a 23cm quiche tin with a removable base with 10g butter. Dust with flour and shake out the excess. Roll the pastry to fit, leaving an overhang. Cover loosely with foil and fill with baking beans or rice. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove the foil and cook for a further 5-10 minutes until set and lightly coloured. Reduce the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Spoon leeks into the pastry case. Add peas and mint. Pour over the eggs and dust with remaining Parmesan. Bake for 30 minutes or until set and golden. Trim pastry overhang, stand on a can to remove the pastry ring.