Sprouting Broccoli, Kale and Cauliflower tart

I should apologise to you my readers. I know you must be tired of reading about weather. I don't want to mention London weather in every post, but local weather is truly crazy! Do you remember the beautiful blue sky in one of the pictures from a last week's post? I think it was the hottest day of this year. Unfortunately, that is no longer true. This week, we were thinking about turning the heating on again!

I will keep this post short because my hands and fingers are numb (we didn't turn the heating on) and I have probably pinched a nerve in my back which makes sitting at the computer quite painful.

I really enjoyed a Sunday photo walk in spite of the horrible weather. P. has bought an old fashioned film camera and we set out to give it a first try. I'm quite curious how the photos will turn out. Cold and dreary weather was, however quite pleasing in the end, because it produced lovely soft lighting, offering good photography conditions. I went with my digital camera so I can share some pictures with you instead of long writing.

But let's get back to the tart. I really like savoury tarts. Not only they are quite easy to make, but I also love their endless versatility. I usually use ready-made puff pastry (like in this recipe), because it makes the process even easier. However, I wanted to push myself a bit further this time.

Then I found Aran's recipe for a savoury tart, and decision was made. The addition of thyme and rosemary in the pastry sounded very promising. I slightly altered the recipe and ended up with a gluten-free version because I ran out of plain flour and was too lazy to bother getting dressed and go shopping. And only flour I had at home was gluten and wheat free plain white flour blend. I already mentioned this flour in my gluten-free cookies post.

You will have some leftover dough scraps from the tart. Use them to make crackers. They go wonderfully with a soup. I left the dough in the fridge for two days and the cracker turned out perfectly. I made two batches and I left the second batch too long in the oven, so they were a bit darker. They tasted great with a homemade roasted tomato soup, though.

Sprouting broccoli, kale and cauliflower tart

400g gluten and wheat free plain white flour blend

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp fresh thyme

1 tsp dried rosemary

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

200g butter, cut into cubes and chilled

8tbsp cold water

2 tbsp olive oil

1 large yellow onion, halved and sliced

1/2 head of cauliflower, broken into small pieces

5 stems purple sprouting broccoli, stems removed and chopped

2 cups chopped kale

1tsp freshly ground black pepper

1tsp salt

1/2 cup double cream

1 cup milk

3 eggs

200g cheddar cheese, grated

1. In a large bowl combine flour, salt, thyme, rosemary and black pepper. Using a fork mash the butter into the flour until crumbly.

2. Stir in the cold water and bring the pastry together into a ball. Shape the dough into a flat square, wrap it in plastic wrap and place in refrigerator for 2 hours.

3. Turn out the dough onto a piece of plastic wrap and roll to about 0.4cm thick. Lift still on the wrap and place in a tart pan. Press sides gently in and remove any dough that hangs over the edge of the tart pan. With the plastic wrap still on chill it for another 1 hour.

4. Use the scraps to make crackers. Press all of the dough scraps together gently, do not overwork them with kneading. If you want to make crackers right away, roll the dough to 0.5-0.7cm thick and cut squares. Place them on a lined baking sheet and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Before baking sprinkle the crackers with freshly grated black pepper, coarse grained salt or some cheese. Bake for 12-15 minutes at 180C.

5. In a pan heat the olive oil and saute the onion for 5 minutes. Add the kale, broccoli and cauliflower and saute for another 5 minutes. Let it cool a bit. In the meantime, whisk the eggs, milk, double cream, thyme, salt and pepper in a bowl.

6. Take the tart pan out of the fridge and spread the vegetable over the crust. Sprinkle with the grated cheese and pour the egg mixture on top.

7. Bake at 200C for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 180C and bake for another 20-25 minutes or until the top is golden.

Olive and Caramelised Onion Tart

I have two good news for you today. Do you remember when I talked about a delicious savoury tart recipe, I wanted to share with you? I was going on holiday, and a week before that, I was too busy to cook, photograph and write. Well, I actually photographed a lot. But let's get back to the news. The first good news is, that I didn't forget about the recipe, and I have it for you today! And the second good news is, I can finally tell you the reason why I was busy.

I was working on my first commercial photos! Yay! I can tell you, it felt absolutely fantastic to see my pictures in a Prague Palladium Magazine. Forgive me if I sound like I'm boasting, but I was so happy and wanted to share this joy with you.

My photos were featured in a food chapter of the spring/summer 2010 issue. The Magazine's primary purpose is to present clothing brands production and original Czech design. Magazine is produced by non-profit Association CZECHDESIGN.CZ, whose main idea and aim are to support quality Czech design both at home and abroad.

Photographing these pictures was an absolutely new experience for me and I've enjoyed it a lot! In fact, I wasn't the only one who enjoyed it. I felt tired and a bit despaired after my third attempt to cook Thai Tom Yum soup , but P. kept asking if he could eat it! :) Honestly, I was very happy over his appetite, as I didn't feel like eating it at all!

I must say, that I'm very grateful for the wonderful opportunity to photograph these pictures. I learned a lot and had fun.

Oh yes, the tart! Here it is.

I know I post the recipe more than a month or so later than I planned. However, it is a good time to share it with you, after all. Since by the calendar spring has finally come, that means the picnic season is coming soon. And this savoury tart is an ideal picnic food as it is delicious both warm and cold.

The main ingredients for this tart is red onion, but you don't need to worry about your bad breath. I simply love the onion here because the sugar and vinegar give it a scrumptious sweet and sour taste with a rich caramelised aroma.

This tart is not very photogenic because it gets quite dark during baking. But you can believe me, it has a fantastic taste! A strong flavour of anchovies and kalamata olives wonderfully complement the taste of the caramelised onion. I think you will either love or hate this tart. I definitely love it!

Olives and caramelised onion tart
Serves 4

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
6 large red onions, peeled and sliced
50ml balsamic vinegar
50ml white wine vinegar
70g cane sugar
salt and freshly ground pepper

500g puff pastry, divided into two pieces
65g kalamata olives, pitted and halved
12 anchovy fillets
12 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 egg yolk

1. In a saute pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat and fry the onion for about 20-25 minutes, until slightly golden and caramelised. Add both vinegars, sugar, salt and pepper and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onion mixture thickens.

2. On a lightly floured surface, roll out both pieces of the pastry into a rectangle. Place them on a baking sheet lined with a parchment paper.

3. Divide the onion mixture between both pieces and place the olives, anchovies and thyme on top. Fold the pastry edges over the filling.

4. Brush the edges with the egg yolk and bake in preheated oven to 200C for about 12-15 minutes, until golden brown.

Quick supper - Broccoli Tart

I have recently taken a liking to savoury tarts. They are perfect as a very quick and easy lunch or supper and almost any vegetable, cheese or ham leftovers can be used. My favourite one is leek and bacon tart. This time I bought too much broccoli to make a broccoli soup and I was thinking what to do with rest of it. Actually another reason led me to make the tart. I have defrosted puff pastry planning to make a pumpkin parcels. However, after a complete fiasco with a thai pumpkin soup I decided it wasn't the best idea. I very rarely throw food away, but the pumpkin soup was an exception. We managed to eat a bowl each, but we could not bring ourselves to eat another one.

On the other hand, this type of tart was never a disappointment. It is very tasty hot, straight after baking, but it always makes a great job next day too. I found out it is very important to check the tart frequently to prevent the broccoli to be burned. Unfortunately, I burned some pieces which were not covered with cheese, even so it was delicious.

Broccoli tart

Serves 4

Ingredients

500g pack puff pastry

150g soft cheese (e.g. Philadelphia)

1 garlic clove, crashed

1 tbsp fresh basil, finely chopped

1 tbsp fresh chive, finely chopped

2 tbsp milk

2 heads of broccoli, broken into small pieces

10 spring onions, sliced

200g hard cheese (e.g. cheddar), grated

1 Preheat oven to 180C. Roll out the puff pastry on a floured surface to the size of your baking tray. Lay the pastry on a baking tray lined with baking paper.

2 Mix together the soft cheese, milk, garlic and fresh herbs, season to taste. Spread the mixture over the pastry. Cover the cheese with the broccoli and scatter over the spring onion and grated cheese.

3 Flip the edges of the pastry over the filling. Bake for about 20 minutes until golden.