Simple to make and beautifully presented, this tart showcases spring produce using ready-rolled puff pastry
Diana Henry
The Telegraph's award-winning cookery writer
Diana Henry is the Telegraph’s much-loved cookery writer. She shares recipes each week, for everything from speedy family dinners to special menus that friends will remember for months. She is also a regular broadcaster on BBC Radio 4, and her journalism and recipe books, including Simple and How to Eat a Peach, are multi-award-winning. A mother of two sons, Diana can satisfy even the fussiest of eaters.
Published
If you can’t get goat’s curd use a soft, creamy mild goat’s cheese instead.
Overview
Prep time
15 mins
Cook time
40 mins
Serves
4
as a light meal with salad
Ingredients
- 15g butter
- 1 large onion, very finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- Handful of mint leaves, finely chopped
- 1 x 325g pack ready-rolled puff pastry (I use Dorset Pastry)
- 365g slender asparagus spears
- Extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra to drizzle
- 6 radishes, preferably multi coloured, sliced very finely
- Small handful of pea shoots, small watercress leaves or other baby leaves
- 150g goat’s curd
- a few edible flowers (preferably blue, white or mauve)
Method
Step
Preheat the oven to 200C/190C fan/gas mark 6.
Step
Heat 15g butter in a frying pan and cook 1 finely chopped onion with a pinch of salt over a medium-low heat until very soft but not coloured. Add a splash of water (about ½ tbsp) every so often to keep it moist.
Step
Add 1 crushed garlic clove and a handful of finely chopped mint leaves and cook for a few minutes.
Step
Unroll a 325g sheet ready-rolled puff pastry and lay it on a large metal baking sheet.
Step
Using the tip of a knife score a 1½cm border all the way round, without cutting right through the pastry.
Step
Prick the rest of the pastry with a fork and ‘knock up’ the sides (gently tap the cut edges with a knife held horizontally).
Step
Bake for 20 minutes.
Step
Remove from the oven and press down the centre if it has puffed up.
Step
Spread the onion over the pastry and return to the oven. Cook for another 15 minutes until golden.
Step
Meanwhile trim off the woody ends of 365g asparagus spears. Either steam, or cook in a covered saucepan with the stalks in about 5cm water and the rest of the spears leaning up against the side of the pan. Cook until they are just tender, 4-6 minutes.
Step
Put into a broad bowl, drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil and season, ensuring that each stalk gets properly coated).
Step
Arrange the asparagus on the puff pastry along with 6 finely sliced radishes (preferably multi coloured), a small handful of pea shoots, watercress leaves or other baby leaves, some nuggets of the 150g goat’s curd and a few edible flowers. Season all over.
Step
Drizzle with a little more extra-virgin olive oil and serve.