Leek Tart (Tarte aux Poireaux)

Unlike in New Zealand where 'real men don't eat quiche', French men are only too happy to enjoy quiches and tarts and Tarte au Poireaux is one of Luc's favourite meals. His mum whips up great tarts in no time using store bought pastry and a custardy base made of eggs and creme fraiche. Unfortunately for countries like NZ and esp Australia, the store-bought pastries there are usually rubbish so it's well worth making your own - which is fairly quick if you multitask and get another step done while pastry is chilling. Creme fraiche is also not widely available and very expensive in any case, so while living in Australia, we started making this version, with recipes for a savoury custard and a shortcrust pastry (I made wholemeal) from Perth wholefood chef Jude Blereau. They both come from her book 'Wholefood: heal, nourish, delight' which is a great resource book for getting back to basics and tips on preparing different ingredients. 

This recipe is for leek tart (tarte aux poireaux) which is simple but delicious. You can use the basic recipe to make other tarts with winter or summer roast vegetables, things like pumpkin and blue cheese, spinach and pine nuts etc. 'Wholefood' cookbook also has a version I'd like to try with sweet potato, caremelized onion and artichoke. So use the idea and have fun!

Please forgive this lacklustre photo - I didn't think to take one when it came out of the oven so this is of a leftover piece reheated (and thus pastry overcooked) which we had the next day with wholemeal garlic bread and orange & grilled fennel salad.

Leek Tart

Ingredients:

1 quantity (450g / 1 lb)shortcrust pastry - see recipe below
1 quantity of basic savoury custard - see recipe below
3 medium leeks, (hard green tops removed), well cleaned and chopped
1 T olive oil
optional:
2-4 t dijon mustard
⅓ c grated melting cheese like 'tasty', cheddar, gruyere or compte

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200˚C (350˚F / Gas mark 4).
2. Line a 24cm (Diameter) x 3.5cm (Deep) / (9½ x 1¼ inch) tart dish with the pastry and trim the edges. (Tin or enamel tart dishes are best to transfer heat quickly to set gluten in pastry before butter all melts, while ceramic dishes diffuse heat which can result in soggier pastry). Put in the fridge for at least 20 minutes, or until well chilled (otherwise the pastry can slump down away from the sides while cooking and won't be nice and flakey).
3. While the pastry-shell is chilling, prepare the leeks. Make sure they are well-cleaned of any grit and dirt by slicing in half lengthways - so you can separate the leaves - and rinsing well in cold water. Sauté the leeks in the olive oil, stirring so they don't brown. When they are tender remove from heat.
4. Blind-bake the pastry-shell: Line the well chilled pastry shell with baking paper and fill with baking beans or raw rice. Put into the hot oven on the hot baking tray and bake blind for 15 minutes. Remove baking paper (being careful not to spill the beans / rice. These, once cool, can be stored and reused for future blind baking). Bake pastry-shell for a further 5 minutes or until the base of the pastry is dry.
5. While the pastry is blind baking you could prepare the savoury custard (see recipe below).
6. Next, we spread our ingredients (here, leek) over the base of the pastry-shell and pour over the custard, using only enough to bring the level to just below the top of the pastry. If using cheese and/or mustard, first use the back of a spoon to spread the mustard over the base of the tart then sprinkle over cheese before adding the leek. 
7. Carefully place the filled tart in the oven and bake for 15 minutes (at 200˚C / 400˚F / Gas 6) before turning down to 180˚C (350˚F / Gas 4) and check after a further 50 minutes (or earlier, if you think your oven is too hot or you're using a fanbake setting. The tart should be set and becoming golden on top. If you would like to top it with cheese, sprinkle over a good melting cheese approximately 20 minutes before it is ready (I don't feel the need to do that when I'm using tasty organic leeks).

Shortcrust Pastry (Wholemeal or plain)

125-180g (4 ½ - 6 oz) unsalted butter
250 g (9 oz / 2 cups) flour (wholemeal, atta or plain wheat or spelt)*
90-170 ml (3-5½ fl oz) ice-cold water

*Wholemeal flours require a wetter dough (as they absorb more liquid). You can choose to mix wholemeal and plain flour or wholemeal and atta flour if you like. I tend to use just one or the other, depending on what I'm making. With many savoury tarts I prefer the nutty flavour of wholemeal.

Method:

1. Using a pastry cutter / butter knife / your fingertips, cut the butter into the flour in the bowl until it is incorporated but still chunky (small chunks). If using a food processor, pulse one or two times, or until ready to turn out into a bowl.
2. Begin to mix the water gradually into the flour and butter (using a butter knife to cut the wet into the dry). Use only as much water as you need - the higher the percentage of wholemeal/whole wheat flour you use, the more water needed. Once the mixture looks evenly moist, bring it together into a ball (but don't knead or work it too much).
3. Flatten the ball of dough and chill for about 20 minutes, long enough to take the softness off the butter. The dough is now ready to roll out and use.

Basic Savoury Custard

Enough for a simple tart with few ingredients. The more ingredients you add, the less custard you will need.

For a 24cm (Diameter) x 3.5cm (Deep) / (9½ x 1¼ inch) Tart Dish

500ml (17 fl oz / 2 cups) milk (dairy or soy)

small sprig of fresh thyme or fresh oregano or green garlic (to infuse soy milk)

1 fresh bay leaf

1 garlic clove, quartered

sea salt, to taste

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

2 eggs

1 egg yolk

Put the milk in a saucepan (along with your choice of seasonings if using soy milk), the bay leaf and the garlic and place over a very low heat. Don't allow it to boil, but heat it until it just begins to steam. Remove from the heat, cover, then put in the fridge.

When cool, remove the skin (if there is one) and herb sprig (but not the leaves) and mash the garlic into the custard. Season to taste with salt and pepper, then whisk in the eggs.