ROSEMARY, GOAT’S CHEESE & MUSHROOM TART WITH PINK PEPPERCORNS
CHANGE IT UP If you have friends round and are looking for an easy starter, you can make this as four individual tarts by cutting the pastry into smaller rectangles
This tart is inspired by the Disney Pixar film Ratatouille, when Remy spears rosemary, a mushroom and a piece of cheese together to toast over a chimney. I’m sure he would have approved of the addition of pink peppercorns. Find them next to black pepper at the supermarket. They add a wonderful aromatic flavour as well as a pop of colour.
Serves 2 generously
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 25 minutes
200g brown chestnut mushrooms, roughly sliced
1 tbsp olive oil
3 sprigs of fresh rosemary, leaves finely chopped
2 heaped tbsp crème fraîche
1 x 320g ready-rolled puff pastry sheet
2 x 125g goat’s cheese logs, sliced
2 tsp or so pink peppercorns
a handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
FOR THE SALAD
100g baby leaf spinach
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
½ a lemon, juice only
a pinch of sea salt
- Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Mix the mushrooms in a bowl with the olive oil and half the rosemary.
- Spread the crème fraîche over the puff pastry, leaving a 1cm border. Top with the remaining chopped rosemary, the mushrooms, then the sliced goat’s cheese.
- Transfer to the oven and bake for 25 minutes, until the edges are a deep golden brown and crisp. Just before the tart is ready, toss the spinach with the extra virgin olive oil, the lemon juice and sea salt and set aside.
- Once the tart is crisp and cooked through, scatter over the pink peppercorns and chopped flat-leaf parsley, and serve with the spinach salad alongside.
CHANGE IT UP If you have friends round and are looking for an easy starter, you can make this as four individual tarts by cutting the pastry into smaller rectangles.
The recipes on these pages are taken from best-selling cookery writer and food stylist Rukmini Iyer’s new book The Quick Roasting Tin (Square Peg, £16.99).
To order a copy for £10.99 with free p&p until 12 January, call 01603 648155 or go to mailshop.co.uk. Rukmini’s fee for this feature has been donated to Crisis, Shelter and Rape Crisis South London