Asparagus Tart with Wild Garlic Butter Flaky Pastry
If you’re reading this and wondering where on earth you’re going to find some wild garlic butter, that’s easy, check out my recipe for it here and make it yourself!
If you’re not up for making the wild garlic butter or just want to enjoy the layers of this flaky pastry using plain butter (the more traditional recipe for the pastry) just reach in the fridge for some and use that.
You won’t be disappointed with the pastry, but then I would say that wouldn’t I?!
Its buttery, and flaky and really easy to make.
No waiting around for hours while the pastry sets into making all of those iconic laminated layers.
No rolling out the butter and layering it in the dough.
Just a few turns and folds of the dough, a 20 minute rest in the fridge and its ready to go!
The trick of this pastry is to keep an eye on the lumps of butter, making sure that there’re always lumps in the pastry once it’s rolled out.
It’s the lumps of the cold butter hitting the heat of the oven which produces steam which in turn make the rise in layers.
One of the tricks to this is to not use hands when mixing.
So, here’s how I do it, how I keep my hot hands from melting the butter into the flour.
I use a pastry cutter when mixing in the butter, and then when adding the cold water, I use a blunt knife, mixing just enough to bring it all together.
Once the pastry is in one piece, just barely, I hardly handle it at all.
This makes the pastry light, layered, airy and if you do make the pastry with Wild Garlic Butter, over the top tasty!
Go on, enjoy your sweet life!
What You Need
Wild Garlic Butter Pastry – See Tip Box
250g Wild Garlic Butter
250g Plain Flour
Pinch of Salt
150ml Cold Water – This is approx. – See Tip Box
Filling
2 Bunches of Asparagus
2 Large Egg Yolks – See Tip Box
100g Full Fat Cream Cheese
1 Shallot – Minced
2 Large Garlic Cloves - Minced
½ Tsp Dried Thyme
½ Tsp Dried Oregano
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper
How It’s Done
Wild Garlic Butter Pastry
Cut the butter up into small cubes
Place the flour and pinch of salt into a large bowl, give it a mix up.
Add all of the cubed butter into the bowl containing the flour, and using a pastry cutter, cut the butter up into the flour until the butter pieces are around the size of large beans.
As the pastry cutter gets clogged with butter, use a blunt knife to scrape the butter back into the flour.
Make a well in the centre of the mixture, and pour the 150ml of the cold water into the flour.
Using a blunt knife, such as a butter knife, start to bring the dry ingredients together – See Tip Box
Once the dough has come together into a soft ball, take it out of the bowl and without handling it too much, shape it into a loose rectangle.
Dust the worksurface with a little flour and roll the pastry out into a rectangle
Fold the top third down and then the bottom third up
Give the pastry a ¼ turn and roll out to a rectangle again
Repeat this process another 2 times before wrapping in cling film and letting it rest in the fridge for 20 minutes. – See Tip Box
Filling
While the pastry is resting, heat the oven to 180c
Line an oven tray with parchment paper or a silicone mat and set it aside until needed
Prepare the asparagus – Hold an asparagus stalk at both ends and gently start to bend the stalk.
The top end of the stalk, after it breaks, is the piece to keep.
Set some water to boil, add a tsp of salt. Once the water is boiling, add the asparagus and let them cook until still slightly crunchy – approx. 5 minutes – See Tip Box
Drain the asparagus and let cold water run over the asparagus to stop the cooking process and keep the stalks nice and green.
One cold, drain really well and place it in a bowl.
Add the olive oil and salt and pepper to the bowl and give it a good mix to coat all of the asparagus with the oil mixture. Set it aside until needed later
Apart from the asparagus, place all the filling ingredients into a bowl and whisk them together to make a smooth paste.
Remove the pastry from the fridge, dust the work surface with a little flour and lay the pastry on top.
Roll the pastry out until around the thickness of a £1 coin.
Cut the pastry to fit the prepared oven tray and gently lay the remaining pastry on the tray.
Don’t waste the pastry thats left over - See Tip Box
Using a blunt knife, run it around the edges of the pastry, 1 inch from the edge making sure not to cut through the pastry.
Use a fork and prick the pastry in all over the centre of the pastry.
Place the tray into the hot over to blind bake – See Tip Box
Bake until the pastry is a very light golden brown (12-20 minutes – depending on the oven)
Once the pastry is ready, let it cool for 5 minutes.
Pour the filling mixture in the centre of the pastry and smooth it towards the edges keeping it in between the centre space.
Lay the partly cooked asparagus over the top of the filling and straight into the hot oven.
Bake the tart until the filling has risen a little, the pastry is a nice golden brown – See Tip Box
Tip Box
Cold water – It may take more than 150ml of cold water to bring the pastry together, so if more is needed, add the rest 1 Tbsp at a time just so it doesn’t get too wet.
Blind Bake – Blind baking is the process of baking without a filling before baking again.
Oven – All ovens vary so adjust baking tomes accordingly.
Eggs – Only the egg yolks are needed on this recipe but don’t throw the egg whites away. If you don’t want to use them, or eat them, straight away, put them into ice cube trays and freeze to use later in scrambled eggs or a meringue or two.
Left over pastry - Don’t throw the left over pastry away. It’s too good to waste. I’m partial to making a leftover pie form it and either baking straight away or freezing it to bake straight from the freezer when i need a quick meal. Ham and cheese is one of my favourites, usually because i’ve always got these in the fridge.
