Asparagus, Green Garlic and Hazelnut Tart
It’s time to announce an exciting new project in the works. For a few months now, I’ve been writing a cookbook. Highly seasonal, easy, nutritious and tasty food that celebrates the wonderful ingredients that grow all around us. From windowsill herbs to foraged wild garlic, simple salads to heart mains, 1 minute meals to the fermented and preserved. At once a cookbook and love letter to all things I find most valuable about food and all it means to us as living, breathing and eating beings.
To celebrate this, I wanted to release a recipe from the book itself to help you really enjoy your green garlic (as featured in this weeks video).
If you aren’t sure what green garlic is then go ahead and watch the video! But I imagine most of you are here thanks to the video, so welcome to the tasty side of gardening.
This recipe makes use of a great tip for using nuts in your day to day cooking. By soaking nuts in boiling water you can soften them, then blend them into a creamy base for both sweet and savoury tarts (by adding a little sugar or salt). The golden rule is equal weight of nuts to water. So if you’re using a different sized tray, line it with pastry, then weigh out your nuts in the tray itself. When the tray is covered, this will tell you how much water you need. Why not try blending other flavours into your fillings? Such as wild garlic, basil, miso, spices, or vanilla, berries, and spirits. You can also try experimenting with nut varieties, or mix and match if you happen to have a few packs open at once.
You can also water it down further to make a beautiful sauce.
Recipe - Serves 4
Pastry:
70g Butter / plant based alternative
140g Wholemeal plain flour*
A dash of milk / plant based alternative
Salt
Filling:
6-8 Asparagus
200g Hazelnuts
200ml Water
3 Green garlic stems
A dash of cider vinegar
Salt and pepper
*For this recipe I used a Welsh heritage variety of flour made from Hen Gymro wheat. For extra flavour and I recommend you do similar. Try asking in your local health food shop or look up millers nearby.
Serve with kimchi or sauerkraut for a sour and salty fermented funk to really lift the creaminess of the tart.
Step 1.
Combine the butter, flour and salt from the pastry ingredients list by rubbing them between your thumb and fingers until it forms a crumbly texture. Alternatively, you can blend them together in a good processor, but I kept it clean for the filling because I didn’t want to wash it up twice for one recipe!
When combined, add a very small splash of milk and work the dough until it forms a ball. Do not add too much milk and do not overwork the dough. This will make your pastry chewy and tough.
Step 2.
Roll out the pastry and lay it into a greased tart pan. Make sure to repair any cracks with spare pastry, then let it rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Whilst it rests, boil the water from the filling ingredients list and cover the hazelnuts with it. Let them sit in the hot water for 20 minutes. This will soften them.
Step 3.
Preheat the oven at 200C / 400F and blind bake the pastry for 20 minutes. I found the pastry was firm enough to pop straight in without baking beads to weigh it down but feel free to use them if unsure.
Whilst the pastry bakes, tip the hazelnuts and water into a blender with the cider vinegar and salt and pepper. Blend for 1 minute, then add the cleaned and roughly chopped green garlic. Continue to blend until completely smooth. If the mixture is too thick, add a little more water.
Step 4.
When the pastry is blind baked, add the filling and lay the asparagus on top, pushing it down into the tart. You may need to chop some up to make them fit, get artistic and have fun. Drizzle a tiny bit of oil over the top and return the tart to the oven for 40 minutes. The asparagus might lift up but they will lay back down again as they cook.
The tart is finished when it’s light and slightly golden brown. Let it rest for 20 minutes, then serve.