I saw something like this pea tart recipe somewhere. I thought I knew where, but when I came to make it, I couldn’t find it, so had to start from first principles. You could just as easily call this a pea quiche as a pea tart

What is in a pea tart

There aren’t many ingredients in it and it’s pretty simple to make. Just 3 ingredients in the pastry and 4 in the filling. If you aren’t familiar with making pastry, oil pastry is just about the simplest method in that you tip 3 ingredients into a bowl and stir it! I do encourage you to have a go if you haven’t managed it before.

What do I need to make this vegetable tart

For 4 servings, you will need
Pastry
▢ 200 g flour, self raising, or plain with 2 tsps baking powder
▢ 100 ml oil or 92g NB oil does not weigh the same grams as the volume in ml
▢ 70 ml cool water or up to 100ml, you may not need it all

Filling
▢ 200 g soft cheese, a Philadelphia type. I use the value kind which works beautifully
▢ 300 g peas, defrosted
▢ 2 large eggs
▢ 1 clove garlic crushed

How to make a pea tart

Pastry
▢ Put the flour and oil into a mixing bowl
▢ Add the water. You may need a little more or a little less depending in the flour, they are all different so go slowly
▢ Stir gently until amalgamated to make the pastry
▢ Leave for a few minutes for the gluten to develop
▢ Roll out to fit your flan tin

Filling
▢ Defrost the peas
▢ Mix all the filling ingredients together
▢ Season if you want, I didn’t and it was fine
▢ Pile into pastry case

Bake
▢ Bake at 180°C Fan / 200°C / 400°F / Gas Mark 6 for about 30 minutes until the filling is cooked through and firm
▢ Enjoy hot from the oven, or cold

Other vegetable tart recipes

Vegetarian tarts and quiches are versatile and very useful recipes to have in your repertoire. I will be experimenting with this particular savoury tart recipe, as I do, and trying it with all kinds of different vegetables. I liked the garlic in it, but it isn’t vital, so leave it out if you don’t like it or haven’t got any.

Or you could add numerous alternative flavourings, depending on which vegetable you are using, for example

• finely chopped mint with peas
• lemon zest with sweetcorn
• orange zest with carrots
• soy sauce / oyster sauce with mushrooms
• horseradish with peas or cauliflower

Alternative tart fillings

• Sliced and cooked mushrooms – cooked so most of the water is removed before cooking in the tart shell
• Sweetcorn should work well
• Finely diced carrot
• Cauliflower florets, cut small
• Broccoli florets, cut small
• Mixed frozen vegetables, defrosted
• a mixture of any of the above

 

Do try some fillings and see what you come up with – I’d love to know!

Spiced Carrot Tart

Red Pepper & Walnut Tart with Winter Coleslaw

Chicken with butternut squash and pesto tart