It's a dessert.
And it's made from chard. Well, and pastry, too, and a few other things. But it's the chard that makes it.
It turns out like this:
And you can move in for that all-important close-up here:
actually, that's less close up than the first photo. Darn it. Anyway, moving on...
But. A dessert?
No, I couldn't decide whether someone was having me on or not, either. So the only thing to do was to have a go at it and decide for myself.
And you know what? It's actually very good. It IS a dessert. A pretty amazing one, too. And I reckon that with all that chard in it, you can claim that it's healthy as well.
So here you have it - one healthy tart for dessert. Make it and amaze your friends and mother-in-law. I was given the recipe from the cat-sitter, who got it from a magazine, but I don't know which one because the photocopy I've got has cut off the bottom of the page... If anyone recognises the recipe, please let me know and I'll be happy to give proper credit. Absolutely no copyright infringement intended.
Provencal swiss chard tart (serves 6)
Olive oil pastry
380g plain flour
sea salt
150ml olive oil
2 med egg yolks
Filling
Slug of cider or white wine vinegar
400g swiss chard
2tbsp olive oil
40g pine nuts
30g caster sugar
200g young creamy goat's cheese or curd
1 tbsp lemon juice
40g raisins
optional icing sugar for dusting
Egg glaze
I med egg yolk
1 tbsp milk
For the pastry:
Place flour and pinch of salt in the bowl of a food processor, trickle in the olive oil with the motor running, and then add the 2 yolks. Give the dough a stir - it will be crumbly at this point. Now trickle in enough cold water to bring the dough together (about 70 ml), stopping the motor when it starts to cling together in lumps. Wrap dough in clingfilm and chill for at least an hour.
At the same time, prepare filling. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and add a slug of vinegar. Trim the ends of the chard stalks and thinly slice the stems and leaves. Add both to the pan, bring back to the boil, and simmer for 3 mins. Drain into a colander, gently press out excess water + set aside to steam dry for a few mins.
Heat 2tbsp oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat, add pine nuts and fry until lightly coloured, then remove to a bowl. Add the chard to the pan and fry for a couple of minutes until starting to colour. Stir in the sugar and a pinch of salt, blend in the goat's cheese, then add the lemon juice and mix in the pine nuts and raisins. Leave to cool.
Preheat oven to 180C/160C fan/350F/gas 4. Have ready a large baking sheet.
Roll out 2/3rds of the pastry on a lightly floured worktop and cut out a circle 27cm in diameter. Roll our the remaining third of the pastry and cut a circle 20cm in diameter.
Place the large circle on a baking sheet. Spread the filling to within 3-4cm of the rim (to cover the same area as the smaller circle). Score the smaller circel with a few cuts radiating from the centre and lay it on top of the filling. To finish, combine egg yolk + milk. Brush the edge of the bottom circle with the egg glaze and fold the edge over the top circle to seal the pie. Brush pie all over with more glaze and bake for 30 mins. Serve at room temperature, dusted with icing sugar if wished.
EAT IT!!
24 comments:
What? No. I don't believe it. Except of course, that you actually made it. Okay okay I'll eat it! :) Just make me one. (or rather, just a slice ;)
A dessert with chard!! Well you certainly showed it can be done by baking it - kudos to you :0)
It certainly looks pretty! I'm not sure I'd go for making it myself though, I'm not a fan of that type of pie crust, hm, perhaps one could change that a bit...
Btw, how did your garden survive you holiday absence?
This is so strange I just have to try it! I love the photo, It looks really good/
:-O Hmm. Never would have thought of that!
I'm game. The combo of ingredients sounds wonderful.
Very interesting, didn't realise it was a sweet until I had a second look!
I'd be yelling too - that is well and truly weird - I am bookmarking this to try because I have to taste this!
It seems to be an unusual dessert! Interesting enough...I would try it
Now, that is definitely different, but it does look lovely :-)
This is so interesting! I can't imagine it's very sweet though - I'd probably have been tempted to leave out the sugar and have it as a main meal pie, heh. You are a braver woman than I, obviously. But hey, if you say it's good...
This is such an odd combination of ingredients, I'm glad it actually tasted nice!
Will have to bookmark this to try it some day!
we have so much chard in the garden, I will have to try it.
This looks exceptionally good - who'da thought a dessert could include chard?
That does look good! I love chard, so versatile. Looks like a great dish for brunch, too.
That. Is. Brilliant. : )
Eh? And an olive oil pastry? It's as if my definition of dessert is different from other people's. Still, loads of chard to use up...
Mark - just a slice? What are you, a wimp or something?? ;-)
Pia - garden very well looked after by a friend in the end, so all was well!
Sam - strange, but true..
Johanna - let me know how it goes..
Karine - good for you. It's certainly not what you expect
Indigo - I DO say it's good!
Jenny - do, even only to shock your friends and family ;-)
Maybelles Mom, Anne Marie - great for using up chard
I've had something similar, but it definitely wasn't dessert. Chard pie, with raisins and pine nuts in, but it also contained a whole lot of Middle Eastern spices - so kind of fiery, sweet and spicy. Was wonderful, but I'd totally forgotten about the recipe until I read this - so thanks for reminding me.
Still trying to get my head round chard in a dessert . . .
What an amzing looking dessert. Now I know what to do with all that chard growing at my plot.
In Nice, where it is a speciality, Swiss chard tart ("tartes aux blettes") comes in both sweet ("sucrée") and savoury ("salée") versions. The latter may be filled with onions, rice, ham, egg, grated cheese, thyme, olives and (as in kathryn's version) pine nuts and raisins in addition to the chard.
Had this in SF (Sylvain Portay was the chef @ the Ritz and he made a fantastic version of it!) and in Nice. Now I make it here at home (I'm a chef as well.) It brings humble, earthy chard to ethereal status.
Ooh - that's some weird sounding pie there. I must admit I quite fancy it though as it looks good and clarty. I like a clarty tart!
Thanks for this article, really worthwhile material.
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