WILD GARLIC TARTE SOLEIL A sun-shaped tart to celebrate the glossy, pungent wild garlic foraged each Spring from our woodland. Wild garlic not in season? Simply use spinach or chard instead. For a vegan version, use dairy-free puff pastry, brush with oil instead of egg, and replace the cheese with tapenade or vegan pesto.
100g wild garlic 2 sheets of puff pastry (approx. 300g each) 1 egg, beaten 1½ tbsp Dijon mustard 120g cheddar cheese, grated 60g parmesan, finely grated Black pepper 1 tsp poppy seeds
Put a kettle of water on to boil. Thoroughly wash the wild garlic and sit it in a heatproof bowl. Pour over the boiling water and leave it for about 30 seconds until it has softened and wilted. Drain and cool it by covering in cold water. Drain it again and then squeeze out as much excess water as you can before roughly chopping it. Roll each pastry sheet out into a large circle (approximately 26cm in diameter). It’s a good idea use a dinner plate as a template to cut around, to give you perfect circles. Put one circle on a lined baking tray and pop the other into the fridge until needed. Brush some beaten egg in a 1cm border around the edge of the pastry circle on the tray. Smear the inside of the circle evenly with mustard and then scatter over the chopped wild garlic and three quarters of the cheddar and parmesan. Finish with a few turns of black pepper. Remove the second sheet of pastry from the fridge and place it directly on top of the filling, pressing the edges together to seal. Mark the centre of the circle by pressing the rim of a small glass or cup onto it. This gives you central hub to cut towards. Take a ruler and lightly score the circle into 24 equal divisions through the centre. Take a large sharp knife and cut each line to the mark you made with the glass rim. This will give you 24 spokes radiating out from a central hub. One by one, take the end of each spoke and give it a full turn, making two distinct twists in the length. Try and bring the end back down in line with the circle edge. Do this all the way around. Brush the whole tart with beaten egg, then sprinkle the poppy seeds and remaining cheese over the top. Return it to the fridge for 10 minutes to rest while you preheat your oven to 190°c or Gas Mark 5. Transfer the tart to the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown. Serve warm.
BADDAFORD FARM & RIVERFORD ORGANIC FARMERS PAGE 8
