Vegetarian mains
Chard, onion and goat's cheese tart with pine nuts and currants
A simple base of chard and goat's cheese topped with a rich combination of currants and pine nuts. This is a tart that's good for lunch, a dinner starter or a picnic. You can make the onion and chard mix and pre-bake the tart base in advance, then do the final bake just 15 minutes before you are ready to eat.
Ingredients
- 3 onions, finely sliced
- 3 tbsp olive oil and a trickle more
- 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 300-600g chard
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- juice of ½ lemon
- 400g shortcrust pastry
- 200g soft goat's cheese, crumbled
- handful pine nuts, gently dry fried until golden
- handful currants or raisins, soaked in warm water for 20 mins and drained
- salt and pepper
Method
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Step 1
Preheat oven to 220°C/Gas 7. Sweat the onions in the olive oil over a lowish heat until golden, about 20-25 minutes. Add the garlic and stir for a few minutes more.
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Step 2
Chop the chard stalks finely (discard any that are really big and stringy) and the leaves roughly. Blanch the chard in 2cm water in a covered saucepan until the stalks are just tender and the leaves wilted. Rinse under cold water and squeeze out.
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Step 3
Combine with the onion and garlic mix and season with salt, pepper, nutmeg and a squeeze of lemon.
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Step 4
Roll out pastry to a thickness of about 2mm, either in a single rough rectangle or 4 individual tart bases (rectangles or circles). Lay on a lightly oiled and floured baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes in the middle of the oven. You can do everything up to this point several hours in advance.
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Step 5
Reduce or preheat oven to 200°C/Gas 6. Spread the chard and onion mix over the pastry base, leaving a border of 1-2cm clear round the edge.
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Step 6
Scatter over the goat's cheese, pine nuts and currants and a final trickle of olive oil. Return to the oven for 10-15 minutes or until the pastry is crisp and the cheese is starting to brown.
