Surrey Homes | SH42 | April 2018 | Garden supplement inside

Food
Beet top and feta tart
Serves 8 Prep time: 15. Cooking time: 50-60 mins
Beetroot tops are often ready in the spring before the spinach
and chard, which is what gave me the inspiration for this tart.
They have a nutty, earthy flavour and are also good eaten on
their own as a steamed or boiled vegetable. I love this tart so
much that I cook and freeze the leaves for use all year.
Rhubarb tart
Serves 8 Prep time: 15 mins plus chilling Cooking time: 45-50 mins
Spring rhubarb is wonderfully pink and tender, so you can
dispense with the poaching step and put it straight into a pastry
case, with a little brown sugar before putting it in the oven. The
sugar caramelizes to give an almost toffee-like flavour. Eat hot or
cold. Either way, it goes well with cream, custard or ice-cream.
• Oil or butter, for greasing
• 1 quantity chilled
shortcrust pastry
• flour, for dusting
• beet tops (greens) from
8 plants, rinsed and
chopped
• 175 g/6 oz feta cheese,
diced or crumbled
• 300 ml/10 oz
(1¼ cups) crème fraîche
• 3 eggs
• 100 ml/3½ fl oz
(scant ½ cup) milk
• salt and pepper
1Preheat the oven to
180°C/350°F/Gas Mark
4, placing an oven rack in
the lower part of it. Grease
a 30-cm/12-inch loosebottom
tart pan. Roll out
the pastry (dough) on a
lightly floured work surface
until it is large enough to
line your tart pan.
Put the beet tops
2 (greens) into a pan with
just the water that clings to
them after washing. Cover
with a lid, cook over low
heat for about 5 minutes
until wilted. Let cool, then
drain and spread over the
bottom of the pastry case
(shell). Sprinkle with the
feta.
3Put the crème fraîche,
eggs and milk into a
bowl and beat together.
Pour this mixture into the
pastry case and season with
salt and pepper. Place on a
baking sheet and bake for
40–45 minutes until just set.
Take the tart out of the
4 oven and carefully slip
off the outer ring, leaving
the tart sitting on the base.
Return to the oven on
5 the baking sheet for
another 5–10 minutes so
that the sides get really crisp.
• Butter, for greasing
• 1 quantity chilled sweet
shortcrust pastry
• flour, for dusting
• 1 kg/2¼ lb rhubarb,
chopped into 5-cm/2-inch
pieces
• 2 tablespoons demerara
(turbinado) sugar
• 120 g/4 oz (½ cup) caster
sugar, plus extra for
sprinkling (optional)
1Preheat the oven to
190°C/375°F/Gas Mark
5, placing an oven rack in
the lower part of it. Butter a
25-cm/10-inch loose-bottom
tart pan.
2Roll out the pastry
(dough) thinly on a
lightly floured work surface
and use to line the prepared
pan. If using spring rhubarb,
arrange it in the pastry case
(shell) and sprinkle with the
demerara (turbinado) sugar.
If not using spring rhubarb,
put the caster (superfine)
sugar and 200 ml/
7 fl oz (¾ cup) water into
a pan and stir together over
medium heat until the sugar
dissolves. Bring to a gentle
boil, then add the chopped
rhubarb and simmer for 1
minute – you don’t
want it to lose its shape.
Drain the rhubarb, then
arrange inside the pastry case.
3Place the filled case on
a baking sheet and bake
on a low oven rack for 40
minutes. Take the tart out of
the oven and carefully slip
off the outer ring, leaving the
tart sitting on the base.
4Return to the oven on the
baking sheet for another
5–10 minutes so that the sides
get really crisp.
Slide the tart onto a plate and
sprinkle with caster sugar,
if desired. Let cool to room
temperature before serving.
133 surrey-homes.co.uk