I had some ready rolled shortcrust pastry in the fridge and was wondering what to do with it. I’m not a great fan of pastry, in fact I am a poor maker of pastry and when the need arises I rely on supermarket own brand!
I decided to make a leek tart as I had a leek from the recent Food Hub and also had some crème fraiche and eggs to make the custard for it.
After bringing the pastry up to room temperature, I greased a loose-bottomed flan tin and laid the pastry into it leaving plenty of overhang to allow for shrinkage. I pre-heated the oven to 180°C (gas 4) and after lining it with a piece of baking parchment, tipped on some baking beans to prevent the pastry from rising. I blind baked the flan base for about 20 minutes, then removed the baking beans and put it back in the oven for 10-15 minutes until it looked a pale biscuit colour. When done I removed it from the oven and allowed it to cool on a rack.
Whilst all this was happening, I sautéed the sliced leek and onion in olive oil and butter until soft. It didn’t look enough to fill my flan base so I thought, why not add some finely-sliced green cabbage (also from the Food Hub) to bulk it out? When sufficiently cooked I added a scant dessertspoon of plain flour to make a roux and a splash of milk to make a thick sauce. I allowed it to cool before pouring in a couple of spoons of the cream fraiche and adding 3 beaten whole eggs. To make the custard a bit more interesting, I grated some strong cheese (I used a mixture of hard goat and hard Italian-style cheese) into the vegetable sauce along with a heaped teaspoon of mustard (English or French) and a handful of thawed frozen peas and stirring it all together.
Finally it was time to pour the whole lot into the part-baked flan case, spread it around and grate a little more cheese over the top.
I baked it at 180°C for 30 minutes, checked it, and gave it a little extra time to brown the top. When done to perfection I removed it from the oven and allowed it to cool on a rack until I was able to remove it from the tin and enjoy!
A bit fiddly and involved but it tasted good and could be enjoyed hot or cold with a salad/picnic!