A garden in a tart, so pretty I almost couldn’t bring myself to slice it. This is more of a vegetarian dish, for those of you who may prefer it as I do, but you may include your favorite fillings too. I followed my shortbread crust recipe, but to cut down on calories I think I may attempt it crustless next time.
Enjoy, and happy spring anticipating!
Equipment
- 1 tart pan 22 cm, 2.5 cm deep (8.5 in, 1in deep)
Ingredients
Crust
- 280 g all-purpose flour (2 1/4 cups)
- 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 180 g unsalted butter very cold, cubed (1 1/2 sticks, approx 3/4 cup)
- 5 Tablespoons iced water
Filling
- 5-6 potatoes preferred type, medium-sized, peeled and halved
- 100 g mushrooms favorite variety, sliced (1 cup)
- 1 yellow onion medium, chopped
- 1 carrot medium, large-grated
- olive oil drizzle for sautéing
- salt and pepper to taste
Topping
- cheddar cheese mild, fine-grated, enough to sprinkle on top lightly
Optional decoration
- arugula, parsley and fresh flowers
Instructions
Crust
- Freeze butter for 10 minutes or until very cold.
- Working on a cold surface, use a sharp knife to cube butter.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar and salt. Add ice cold cubed butter, tossing to combine. Working quickly to avoid warming, use your hands to break up butter into smaller pieces, like coarse sand or small peas. I make all doughs by hand, but you may also use a food processor for this as long as you avoid over-mixing.
- Drizzle a few spoonfuls of iced water in mixture and toss to moisten. Continue adding remaining water until dough is crumbly but holds together when squeezed with fingers. To ensure a flaky crust, work quickly and do not over-process.
- Transfer dough (still crumbly) onto a piece of plastic wrap. Once wrapped, lightly form dough into a thick disk. (see photos below)
- Refrigerate 1 hour.
Filling
- While dough is refrigerating, prepare veggies. Peel and half potatoes, soft boil over medium-high heat for 10 minutes or so or until tender when pierced with fork.
- In a saucepan over medium to medium-high heat sauté mushrooms with drizzle of olive oil. When mushrooms are lightly browned, add onions and carrots and continue to sauté for 8 minutes or so. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Once potatoes are tender, strain and mash as preferred. I typically add a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper. Mix in sautéd veggies and adjust salt and pepper to taste again. (see notes)
Back to dough and baking
- After 1 hour, preheat oven to 180C/355F. Remove dough from fridge. Lightly sprinkle surface and rolling pin with flour and roll out dough approximately 12in (27cm) round. Dough should be stretched medium fine, not thick, about 1/8in (3.1mm) thick.
- Using your rolling pin, gently wrap dough around pin then unwrap it onto your tart dish. Carefully press dough to bottom and sides and using a knife trim off excess dough on top.
- Bake dough on center rack in preheated oven for 35 minutes.
- Remove baked dough from oven, fill with warmed potato and sautéd veggie mash. Top with just a little extra fine grated cheddar cheese, enough to cover the top lightly. Place in oven and broil for a couple of minutes, very lightly just to melt and slightly brown cheese.
Optional
- Decorate as you wish. I used fresh arugula, parsley and hyacinths (only decorative).
- I served the tart with a delicious salad made with arugula lightly sautéd in olive oil (cuts the bitterness a little), topped with thinly sliced pears and chopped walnuts.
Notes
You may include additional herbs and spices as preferred.
You may also use butter for sautéing vegetables and for mashing potatoes, but since the crust has so much butter I only used olive oil.
As always, three top tips for best crust: Use quality ingredients. Make sure all ingredients are very cold. When handling dough, less is more.
