Tarte de blettes

Serves 8 as a first course or 4 as a main course with a salad

The town of Nice has given us more than just salade niçoise. This tart, inspired by the classic local recipe for tarte de blettes, includes apple but sits firmly in the savoury camp. I have the food writer and cook Sophie Missing to thank for her delicious pastry recipe. It’s blind-baked in two stages, which ensures the bottom stays crisp when the wet filling goes on top.

For the pastry

— 270g plain flour, plus extra for dusting

— 135g cold butter, plus extra for greasing

— 1 egg, beaten, for brushing

For the filling

— 1kg chard

— 1 leek

— 3 tbsp olive oil, plus extra

for drizzling

— 1 large dessert apple

— 4 eggs

— 3 sage leaves, finely chopped

— leaves from 2 sprigs of

rosemary, finely chopped

— 200ml crème fraîche

— 1 tsp Dijon mustard

— 180g goat’s cheese, crumbled

or sliced Begin with the pastry: put the flour and a good pinch of salt in a bowl and whisk together. Chop the butter into cubes and rub it into the flour with your fingertips. When it has a breadcrumb-like texture, mix in one tablespoon of cold water. Keep adding water a tablespoon at a time (four usually suffice), mixing and squeezing the mixture with your hands until the pastry comes together into a ball. Wrap it in cling film and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes while you make the filling.

Trim and wash the chard. Use a knife to cut away the green tops, then roughly chop the pale stalks into 4cm chunks. Shred the separated leaves. Trim and wash the leek, then slice into 2cm rounds. Put a large handful of the shredded greens aside.

Place a deep frying pan over a medium heat and add the olive oil, chard stalks and leek. Sprinkle over salt and black pepper and then cook, stirring frequently, for about five minutes. Place the lid on the pan and cook for a further few minutes while you peel, core and roughly chop the apple into 2cm chunks. Stir the pieces of fruit into the pan and put the lid back on.

After another 5-10 minutes, add all but the reserved handful of shredded chard tops and place a lid on to steam. If your pan is small, cook the greens in two batches: add around half, then cover it with the lid. Once they have wilted down, add the second batch and repeat the steaming process. Remove the lid once the greens have wilted and keep stirring. When all the vegetables are silky and tender, turn off the heat.

After the pastry has been chilling for at least 30 minutes, preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas mark 6. Thoroughly grease a 28cm quiche tin with butter and line the base with greaseproof paper. Remove the pastry from the fridge and roll it into a circle on a lightly floured piece of greaseproof paper Continue rolling to enlarge the circle until the dough is just a few millimetres thick and wide enough to cover the quiche tin, and then some. If necessary, lightly flour your rolling pin and the dough as you do this to prevent it sticking.

Pick up the pastry, greaseproof paper and all, and flip into the tin. Gently push into position, trim the excess dough and prick the base with a fork. Place the piece of greaseproof paper back on top of the pastry and fill the case with baking beans. Blind-bake it for 10 minutes, then remove from the oven. Discard the beans and top piece of greaseproof paper, then brush the surface of the pastry with a little beaten egg. Place the tin back in the oven for another 5-10 minutes, until lightly golden. You may need to rotate it to colour the pastry evenly.

While the pastry is baking, crack the four remaining eggs into a mixing bowl, followed by any leftover egg used to brush the pastry. Add the chopped herbs and crème fraîche, then whisk. Season.

Once the pastry is ready, remove from the oven and spread the mustard over the base. Distribute the chard and apple filling evenly in the case, then pour the egg mixture on top. Sprinkle over the raw shredded greens set aside earlier, and finish with the goat’s cheese and a final extra drizzle of olive oil.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the filling has set. Remove the quiche from the tin, but wait at least 30 minutes before slicing. Serve at your leisure.