Make-ahead Christmas recipe for 8 people, takes only 30 mins; recipe has shortcrust, plain flour, cheese, cayenne pepper, spinach, butter, shallot, garlic clove, thyme, mascarpone, nutmeg, cheddar, egg and breadcrumbs.
Spinach madeleine tart with cheesy pastry
Course: Make-ahead Christmas
Servings
8
servings
Prep time
25 mins
Ingredients
- Shortcrust: 320g sheet ready-rolled shortcrust
- Plain Flour: 2 tbsp plain flour, plus extra for dusting
- Cheese: 50g grated vegetarian Italian-style hard cheese, plus 2 tbsp
- Cayenne Pepper: 1/2 -1 tsp cayenne pepper
- Spinach: 500g frozen spinach, defrosted
- Butter: 50g butter
- Shallot: 2 shallots, finely chopped
- Garlic Clove: 1 large garlic clove, crushed
- Thyme: 2 thyme sprigs, leaves picked, plus extra to serve
- Mascarpone: 125g mascarpone
- Nutmeg: grating of nutmeg
- Cheddar: 150g vegetarian mature cheddar, grated
- Egg: 2 medium eggs
- Breadcrumbs: 1 tbsp breadcrumbs
Directions
- Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Unravel the pastry on a lightly floured work surface, and sprinkle the 2 tbsp of hard cheese over one half of the pastry along with 1/2 tsp cayenne and a crack of black pepper. Fold the other half of the pastry over to close it like a book, androll out, squashing the cheese in the middle, until it fits into a 22cm tart tin with an overhang. Prick the base with a fork, cover with a sheet of parchment and fill with baking beans. Cook for 15 mins, then remove the parchment and beans. Bake for 10-15 mins until lightly golden, then leave to cool in the tin.
- Line a baking sheet with baking parchment. Spoon small piles of the remaining hard cheese (about 16) in a thin layer onto the sheet, then bake for 5-7 mins until bubbling and melted. As soon as they look lacy, remove from the oven or they will burn quite quickly. Transfer to awire rackto cool and crisp up.Will keep in an airtight container for two days.
- Put the spinach in a sieve over a clean bowl, and squeeze well with the back of a spoon. Keep the liquid.
- Heat the butter in a heavy-based pan and fry the shallots with a pinch of salt for 10 mins. Stir in the garlic, thyme and 2 tbsp flour, then pour in 250ml of the spinach water, boiling for 1-2 mins. Stir in the mascarpone, nutmeg and a pinch of cayenne, and cook for 5 mins.
- Fold through the cheddar and spinach, tip into a bowl and leave to cool for 5-10 mins. Stir in the eggs. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the tart case, then pour in the filling. Bake for 35-40 mins until golden. Leave to cool a little before topping with thyme and the cheesy crisps.
