Blätterteigtarte mit grünem Spargel, Feta und Radieschen-Öl (puff pastry tart with green asparagus, feta and radish oil)
Store-bought puff pastry rather than a laminated dough made from scratch, topped with blanched green asparagus and feta and baked hot and fast so the pastry actually puffs. The radish oil at the end, made from the leaves rather than the roots, is the one unusual step worth doing properly.
Prep20 min
Cook20 min
Oven220°C
Servings4
Christoph's asparagus and feta puff pastry tart, using the radish leaves rather than throwing them out to make the finishing oil.
Ingredients
Written for a 30 × 25 cm baking sheet
Units
Temperature
Servings
Tart
- 275 g puff pastry, shop-bought, one sheet rounded
- 500 g green asparagus, woody ends trimmed rounded
- 15 ml olive oil rounded
- 100 g feta, crumbled rounded
- 1 egg, beaten, for glazing the border rounded
- to taste freshly ground black pepper rounded
Radish oil
- 30 g radish leaves, from one bunch, washed rounded
- 60 ml neutral oil rounded
- 4 radishes, thinly sliced, for the top rounded
Dietary labels are a guide, not a guarantee. If you have an allergy, read the ingredients yourself.
Method
- Blanch the asparagus in boiling salted water for 2 minutes, then plunge into ice water and drain well. Pat dry.
- Unroll the puff pastry onto a lined baking sheet. Score a border about 2 cm in from the edge with a sharp knife, cutting only partway through the dough, not all the way through.
- Prick the base inside the border all over with a fork, to stop it puffing up as much as the border.
- Arrange the asparagus inside the border, alternating direction if there is room, and scatter the feta over.
- Brush the border with the beaten egg and season the tart with pepper.
- Bake at 220°C for 18 to 20 minutes, until the pastry is well puffed and deep golden brown at the edges.
- While the tart bakes, blend the radish leaves and oil together until smooth and bright green, then season with a pinch of salt.
- Drizzle the radish oil over the tart and scatter the sliced radishes on top just before serving.
Notes
- Scoring, not cutting, the border is what makes it puff up separately from the centre. A full cut through the dough lets steam escape before it can lift the edge into a proper rim.
- Blanching the asparagus first matters at this oven temperature. Raw asparagus does not have time to cook through in 20 minutes at 220°C without the pastry burning first.
- The radish leaves are usually thrown away, which is a waste; they have a genuine peppery flavour close to watercress and make a good, unusual oil instead of ending up in the compost.
- This is best straight from the oven; puff pastry loses its crispness within a few hours and does not reheat especially well.
Ingredient substitutions
- Green asparagus can be white asparagus, peeled and blanched slightly longer, about 4 minutes, since it is tougher raw.
- If radish leaves are not available, a handful of watercress or baby spinach blended with the oil gives a similar colour and a comparable, if milder, peppery note.
- Feta can be goat’s cheese, crumbled the same way.
- A scattering of toasted pine nuts over the finished tart is a good, simple addition.
From Christoph Mayer