Asparagus and Feta Tart with Tomato and Bocconcini Salad
A good vegetarian meal doesn't have to be complicated
I recently heard an interview with Guy Grossi where he said ‘simple is hard!’. Well, Guy Grossi, I guess I just levelled up to expert with this tart - and you can, too!
This tart is a not an egg based tart, like a lot of vegetarian tarts and quiches. It’s just the vegetables all on their own, given the chance to shine. I mean, with feta. And… other stuff.
You will need: A chopping board, a decent chopping knife, a small sharp knife, a roasting tray, a salad serving bowl
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Ingredients
375g puff pastry (I use Careme, use whatever brand is available to you)
2-3 bunches of asparagus
100g feta
1 lemon, cut into quarters
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Tomato and Bocconcini Salad
150g tub cherry bocconcini
2-3 tomatoes
2 cucumbers
60g rocket (or the smallest bag you can get)
Red wine vinegar, to taste
Olive oil
Lemon juice, salt, and pepper, to taste
Method
Take your puff pastry out of the freezer, if you haven’t already. Most single sheets will defrost at room temperature pretty quickly, so cover them with a damp (not wet) tea towel so that they don’t dry out. If you are using a roll of puff pastry, take it out of its cardboard packaging, as this will only insulate it.
Preheat your oven to 180C
Break the woody ends off your asparagus. Do this by bending the spear, pushing gently towards the woody end…
… until it snaps. It might end up not being exactly where the fresh spear ends and the woody end begins, but it is a far more accurate method than just guessing.
Roll out/unpeel/unsheath your pastry. If it breaks because your usual supermarket are a pack of useless goons and have let the pastry defrost and then freeze again, causing it to dry out and split, it’s easily fixable by pinching the pieces together again with your fingers.
Place baking paper onto your roasting tray. Use the backing paper to help you place your pastry sheet onto the baking paper. Now read that again.
Using a small sharp knife, cut about a 2-3cm border around the edge of the pastry. Do not cut all the way through - what you are doing here is just cutting through a few layers of pastry to give the tart a border.
Place in the oven and bake for approximately 10-15 minutes, or until the edges of the pastry are starting to lift.
Use the knife again to cut through a few more layers, so that there is definite separation between the middle of the tart and the border. But don’t cut all the way through!
Lay the asparagus out on your pastry on the inside of your border. You can have the spears all facing one way if you like, but I find it cooks better if you alternate them top to tail. No need to be exact, just turn a few here and there.
Drizzle with a quarter of the lemon. Add more if you prefer more. Season with salt and pepper, too.
Crumble the feta over the asparagus. If you don’t want to do it with your hands, you can cut it with a knife, or mash it with a fork and sprinkle it on.
Drizzle with olive oil. This not only helps the asparagus caramelise, it give it flavour. Cook in the oven for 25 minutes or until the asparagus is cooked and the pastry deep golden brown.
While that’s cooking, make your salad. Cut your tomato into largish dice.
Put them in a bowl and sprinkle a small amount of salt over them. This will draw the juice out and add flavour to the dressing.
Cut the cucumbers into similar sized pieces by cutting them into long batons first, then slicing 1-2cm chunks off down the baton.
Add the cherry bocconcini. You can leave it whole or, as I discovered, cut the pieces in half because although your pouring photo looked cool, the individual pieces were too big for the rest of the salad.
There we go.
Add a drizzle of olive oil and a splash of red wine vinegar. Stir to combine, taste for seasoning and add more salt and pepper if necessary.
By now, your tart should be ready.
While the tart cools, add the rocket to the salad and stir to combine. If you add the rocket too early, it might wilt and just look gross. Add more olive oil or lemon juice if it looks a bit dry.
Now you have a vegetarian dinner that would make Guy Grossi’s wig spin.
Serve slices of the tart with the salad and wedges of lemon, if desired.
