Wednesday, February 18, 2009

CHARD TART

This is inspired by a couple of recipes by Deborah Madison. If you make your own tart dough, plan ahead for the chilling and pre-baking time (I didn’t and dinner was very late!). I’m sure you could use a pre-made crust if necessary, but this was pretty easy.

Tart Shell
½ cup white whole wheat flour
½ cup all purpose flour
3/8 teaspoon sea salt
5 tablespoons cold butter, cut into chunks
3 tablespoons sour cream
ice water

Combine the flours and salt in a food processor. Add the butter and pulse to form coarse crumbs, then add the sour cream and pulse again. Dribble in just enough ice water, about 1 tablespoon, to make damp looking crumbs, working as briefly as possible. Turn the dough out onto a board, gather into a ball, flatten into a disk, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 15 – 30 minutes.

Roll the chilled dough into a 10 inch circle, upend the tart pan on it and flip. Gently press the dough into the corners and sides. Freeze for 15 or more minutes, until ready to pre-bake (wrap well to freeze overnight or up to a week).

Preheat oven to 425. Place the frozen tart shell on a sheet pan and bake about 20 minutes, until light brown and set. Prick any swollen spots with a sharp knife during baking to prevent large bubbles.

Chard Filling
1 bunch chard, stems removed and roughly chopped
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 yellow onion, diced
2 gloves garlic, minced
¾ teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 ½ cups half and half
1 teaspoon lemon zest
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan
½ teaspoon nutmeg
pepper and salt
1 cup grated gruyère cheese

Reduce oven temperature to 375. In a wide skillet, heat butter and oil. Add onions and sauté until soft. Add garlic and sauté one minute. Add chard in handfuls, salting lightly, tossing to wilt. Remove from heat.

Beat eggs in a medium bowl. Add milk, lemon zest, Parmesan, nutmeg and parsley. Stir in the chard and onion mixture and season with pepper and salt.

Spread the gruyere in the pre-baked tart shell and pour custard with chard on top. (I had extra and baked it in a large ramekin). Bake for about 40 minutes, until golden brown and firm.

1 comment:

  1. WOW we loved this!! I mixed in a bit of TJ's pre-cooked bacon, chopped in small pieces, as the chard was wilting. I love the crust, and the flavor of the filing is superb. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete