VEGETABLE PATCH TART

A miniature Mr McGregor’s garden to celebrate spring. If you have thinning from your own veg patch, use them here, or else choose whatever appeals from the greengrocer. You may even find the very first British asparagus, arriving any day now.

Serves four to six

INGREDIENTS

1 x 320g pack ready-rolled puff pastry

4 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, finely chopped 600g open cup mushrooms Small bunch (about 20g) fresh tarragon, chopped (or 2 tsp dried)

150ml crème fraîche 300g cream cheese

1 tbsp butter

4 tbsp fine dry breadcrumbs 1 garlic clove, crushed A selection of tiny vegetables, for example: Brussels sprouts, spring onions or baby leeks, asparagus tips, cauliflower florets, mini florets of broccoli, baby carrots, radishes Juice of ½ a lemon 5 leaves of kale

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/Gas 4. Take the pastry out of the fridge to warm up slightly (this stops it cracking when you unroll it).

Unroll the pastry on its paper, laying it on baking sheet. With a sharp knife, score a 2cm-wide border around the edge, without cutting right through the pastry.

Bake the pastry for 20 minutes then take it out of the oven. With a fish slice or the back of a spoon, press down on the central section of pastry, flattening it. Leave the border standing proud. Return the pastry to the oven for another 15-20 minutes, until golden and cooked through. Leave to cool.

Heat two tablespoons of olive oil in a large frying pan and cook the onion until beginning to turn golden.

Chop the mushrooms finely (a food processor works well). Add to the pan and cook over a medium high heat for 20 minutes, stirring frequently. The mushrooms will turn quite wet initially, but eventually will dry out and begin to lose their greyish tinge. When they are crumbly and smell slightly caramelised, tip into a bowl to cool.

Mix the crème fraîche and cream cheese together, then add half of this to the mushrooms along with the tarragon. Mix well, taste and season.

Spread the rest of the crème fraîche and cream cheese mixture on the bottom of the tart, then add the creamy mushroom mixture on top, smoothing it out.

Heat the butter in a small pan and add the breadcrumbs and garlic. Cook until golden then leave to cool.

Now cook the vegetables. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil, and have a bowl of iced water to one side. Trim the base of the sprouts but leave the outer leaves on. Cut the spring onions or leeks, and the asparagus, to about 8-10cm long. Cut the carrots to a similar length, trimming them to a point and leaving any tufts of leaves attached. Cook the vegetables one kind at a time in the boiling water, lifting them out with a slotted spoon when just done and plunging them into the iced water.

Drain the vegetables well, and toss in two tablespoons of olive oil, salt and pepper. Up to this point can be done a day ahead; keep the tart and the vegetables covered in the fridge.

Now to assemble the tart. Mix the lemon juice with the vegetables. Ease open the outer leaves of the Brussels sprouts to look more cabbage like. Use any loose sprout leaves to wrap the cauliflower florets, like mini cauliflowers.

Arrange the veg (apart from the kale) in rows on the mushroom “soil”, and make a breadcrumb path through the “patch.” Cut the frilly edges from the kale leaves and use to edge the path and different areas. Up to this point can be done up to an hour ahead; keep covered in a cool place.

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 150C/130C fan/Gas 2 and put the tart in the oven for five to 10 minutes, just to warm it through. Serve straight away.