Rachel Allen

Delicious savoury summery tarts

One of the things I love about making a savoury tart is that it’s almost a meal in one. Add a little green salad, and you have a perfectly delicious lunch or light supper. A tart also makes a wonderful alfresco lunch, and sliced up, most tarts are quite portable and delicious eaten cold as part of a picnic lunch, enjoyed in the sunshine.

Another thing I adore about a good tart is its fantastic versatility. There’s hardly an ingredient that won’t work well in a tart. Take the tomato and goat’s cheese tart, right. The puff pastry base would be just as happy with a topping of sliced mushrooms, some rich, creamy Irish farmhouse cheese and a little chopped fresh thyme or sage. Or another time, you might fancy pieces of roasted aubergine with chopped olives and a crumbly feta-style cheese. Really, your imagination is the only limitation. You just need to know what will work with the puff pastry and what won’t. Too much juice or moisture will give the tart a soggy base, and remember that if something takes more than half an hour to cook, such as potatoes, squash or pumpkin, then it’s worth pre-cooking those ingredients before assembling the tart.

The two shortcrust pastry tart recipes here both have a delicious savoury custard filling. The basic ratio of 1 egg to 100ml of cream (or 4 eggs to 400ml cream to fill a deep 23cm tin) that I’ve gone with here ensures the custard will set when it is baked, and it works really well with lots of other flavours, provided there’s not too much moisture. Feel free to replace the smoked salmon with smoked mackerel — or leave it out completely and swap in crispy bacon, chorizo pieces or even cubes of cooked potatoes. And if you have any tart filling left over, pour it into ramekins or tea cups and bake it for 15-20 minutes for a delicious and gluten-free savoury custard. Now that’s handy.

Next week, I’ll have some delicious recipes for sweet tarts.

“There’s hardly an ingredient that won’t work well in a tart”