This is a lovely spring recipe, great as a starter when entertaining, or just enjoyed as a weekend lunch, it tastes as good as it looks and I especially like it because it uses lots of ingredients from our allotment – spinach, chard, mint, broad beans, leeks and if I am lucky I may be given a little bit of asparagus by one of my fellow plot holders – Hurrah! It is also an easy recipe to adapt according to the ingredients you have to hand, and I tend to use ready-made pastry because it makes it so quick and easy.
Broad Bean, Pea, Baby Leeks & Asparagus Tartlets
Serves 4 People
Cooking time 30-40 Minutes
Ingredients
- 320g Ready-rolled Puff Pastry
- 200g Spinach or Rainbow chard
- 1 Pack of garlic & herb cream cheese such as Boursin or Philadelphia
- 1 Bunch fresh chopped mint
- 1 Lemon – juice & zest
- Glug of Olive Oil
- Handful of blanched broad beans
- Handful of peas
- Baby Leeks
- Asparagus
- Grated Parmesan to serve
Method:
- Heat the oven to 2800C / 1800C Fan / Gas 6. Unroll the ready-rolled puff pastry onto a baking sheet lined with non-stick baking paper. Cut the sheet into 4 equal rectangles. Using the tip of a sharp knife, score a 1cm border inside each pastry rectangle. Prick the centres all over with a fork.
- Bake the pastry for 30-40 minutes until golden and crisp – keep an eye on it as it cooks, you want it to be golden brown.
- Meanwhile, boil a kettle of water, put the spinach in a colander and pour over the water. Rinse with cold water, then put into a clean J-cloth and squeeze out as much water as possible. Put the spinach into a blender/processor with the cream cheese, chopped mint and the lemon juice. Whizz until smooth. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
- Heat a glug of olive oil in a two frying pans. In one cook the broad beans and peas, in the other the baby leeks & asparagus. Gently fry until softened.
- Let the cooked pastry cases cool a little, then spread the cream cheese mixture over the centre of each one.
- Spring the peas and beans over the top, then add the leeks and asparagus.
- Finally dress with grated parmesan and lemon zest.
In Season this month
Fruits & Nuts
Cherries, Elderflowers, Rhubarb
Vegetables & Herbs
Asparagus, Broccoli, Carrots, Lettuce, New Potatoes, Radishes, Rocket, Sorrel, Spinach, Spring Onions, Watercress
Meat & Game
Lamb, Wood Pigeon
Fish & Shellfish
Cod, Crab, Dover Sole, Halibut, John Dory, Lemon Sole, Plaice, Salmon, Sea Bass, Sea Trout
Going out of season
Morel Mushrooms
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