a Provencal dessert MADE FROM CHARD...

Excuse the shouting. I just wanted to make sure you sat up.

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!!