A delicious tart converted from my friend Jane’s recipe. We enjoyed this immensely when she made it for our girls weekend.Serves 6
Pastry: 160g Plain Flour
75g chilled unsalted butter
pinch of salt
4 tablespoons sparkling mineral water
Kumara & Pancetta Filling:250g kumara, peeled and sliced nearly 1cm wide, and then halved
4 large eggs
65g thickened cream (the runny sort)
60g milk
2 tablespoons gruyere cheese, grated
pinch of nutmeg
5 flat pancetta slices, rind removed, cut into 1cm strips
caramelised onion (optional)
˝ cup spinach or wild rocket leaves
Method:
1. Add flour, butter, salt to TM bowl and whiz
3 Seconds, Speed 7. Add water and
Knead, 1 min. Shape into a rectangular blob and wrap in cling wrap and chill in fridge for 1 hour.
2. Add 500g water to TM bowl, and in the steaming basket add the kumara with some cooking salt
20 Minutes, Varoma, Speed 1. Drain & cool. (No need to wash jug)
3. Pre-heat oven to 180
oC and line a 20cm loose bottomed tart tin. Roll pastry out on floured surface to about 5mm thick. Trim excess. Prick base with a fork. Blind bake for 10mins, then remove paper and weights, bake further 5-10ish minutes or until golden and dry.
4. Increase oven temp to 190
oC. Place eggs, cream, milk into TM jug
3 Seconds, Speed 5. Add cheese and nutmeg
5 Seconds, Speed 2, Reverse. Season to taste.
5. Arrange pancetta strips, caramelised onion (optional), spinach, and kumara in pastry case. Pour over filling and bake 30-40 minutes until set. Serve warm.
Tips:
Thinly sliced baby zucchini can be used instead of the spinach or rocket, and you can “play around with it and it seems to work”.
Caramelised Onion recipe here:
http://www.superkitchenmachine.com/2009/3646/thermomix-onion-recipe.htmlmembers' commentsJulieO - It's a little 'rustic' looking as I found my pastry shrunk here and there but that added to its charm.
I used Amanda's Caramelised Onion recipe as I've made Helene's before and wasn't too keen.
I fried off the pancetta strips in a dry non-stick frypan before using in the tart and used zucchini instead of spinach as I had one in the fridge. I used aged cheddar instead of the Gruyere.
After baking, I had a small slice not long after coming out of the oven and I must admit at first I wasn't sure if I liked it or not but after allowing it to cool down to room temp and then trying it again, all the flavours had settled down and I thought it was really good, both of us did. I will make it again. Also, I used a 26cm tart tin, it all wouldn't have fitted into my 20cm tin.
JD - We loved this tart too CP. I used prosciutto because that was all I could get at Foodland, tasty cheddar instead of gruyere, added some caramelised garlic to some caramelised onion I had in the fridge and it was very tasty.
