ARTICHOKE & SALTED RICOTTA TART WITH SALSA VERDE

SERVES 6-8

INGREDIENTS

185g (1 sheet) butter puff pastry

400g fresh ricotta

150g goat’s curd or fresh goat’s cheese

2 tsp flaky sea salt

6 large green olives, pitted and coarsely chopped

BRAISED ARTICHOKES

4 globe artichokes (if you can’t find fresh, use grilled and marinated artichokes from a deli) 1 lemon, halved, plus 4 peeled strips lemon rind 250ml dry white wine

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 clove garlic, bruised

4 sprigs thyme

SALSA VERDE

¾ cup (loosely packed) flat-leaf parsley 2 small cloves garlic, crushed

1 Tbsp capers in salt, rinsed

1 Tbsp white wine vinegar

⅓ cup (80ml) extra virgin olive oil

1 Place pastry sheet in a shallow 20cm x 30cm tin lined with baking paper. Top with a large sheet of baking paper and fill with baking weights. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

2 Trim artichoke stalks to 2cm and remove outer leaves. Trim outside of stalks with a small knife, then trim 2cm off the top of each artichoke and halve lengthways. Scoop out fibrous chokes with a teaspoon, then immediately rub cut surfaces with lemon. Transfer to a large, wide saucepan. Add wine, oil, garlic, thyme and lemon rind. Bring to a simmer and cook until artichokes are tender (35-40 minutes). Cool.

3 Meanwhile preheat oven to 180°C. Blind bake pastry until crisp (20-25 minutes), then remove weights and paper, carefully turn pastry over, weight once more and bake until other side is crisp and golden (20-25 minutes).

4 Meanwhile beat ricotta, goat’s curd and salt in a bowl until smooth.

5 For salsa verde, blend ingredients with a stick blender until finely chopped, adding extra oil if necessary.

6 Spread ricotta mix over pastry and top with artichokes, olives and salsa verde to serve.