This is a really easy and quick to make tart that will really impress your visitors. Lovely with a simple salad and new potatoes. This is a Sarah Whitaker recipe.
Ingredients
For the Pastry
1) Cheat and buy some ready rolled shortcrust. If Mary Berry does it then why can’t you!
2) If you don’t want to cheat, then…
6 oz (175g) plain flour
3 oz (85g) butter
1tbsp Parmesan cheese
2-3 tbsp water
1 tsp poppy seeds
1/2 tsp mixed drives herbs
Up to 3 tbsp water
For the Filling
1 oz (25g) butter
12 oz (350g) leeks
3 eggs
1/2 pint (300ml) cream
Salt and Pepper
5 oz (150g) camembert
Oven
Simmering Oven, 130C, 250F, Gas 1 and floor of roasting oven
Method
- If you are making the pastry, put the flour, butter, poppy seeds, herbs and Parmesan into a processor and whizz until it becomes the texture of breadcrumbs. With the motor running, add the water a spoonful at a time until it comes together as dough. Rollout the pastry and line a 9″(23 cm) flan dish. Chill until required.
- Trim and slice the leeks.
- Melt the butter in a pan on the boiling plate and add the leeks. Put the lid on the pan and when the lid is too hot to rest your hand on, there will be enough steam in the pan in order to move the pan into the simmering oven for 15 minutes until they are soft.
- Mix together the cream, eggs and seasoning. Add this to the leek mixture then pour into the pastry case.
- Slice the cheese thinly and arrange the slices on top of the leeks in the pastry.
In the Oven
- Put the dish on the floor of the roasting oven and bake for about 25 minutes until the cheese has melted and puffed up a bit.
- Garnish with a bit of parsley.
- Serve with salad, new potatoes and sunshine!
Tips
Forget loose-base tins. A pyrex dish is perfect for this.
No need to worry about blind-baking the pastry first. In the AGA, it will cook from underneath!
As the dish is on the floor of the oven the pastry bottom will be lovely and crispy.
Enjoy!
