Porree-Tarte mit Blauschimmelkäse (leek and blue cheese tart)
Units
Temperature
Servings
Ingredients
Base
- 200 g flour rounded
- 2 g fine salt rounded
- 100 g cold butter, cubed rounded
- 40 ml cold water rounded
Filling
- 20 g butter rounded
- 400 g leek, white and light green parts, sliced rounded
- 4 eggs rounded
- 200 ml cream rounded
- 120 g blue cheese, crumbled rounded
- 40 g walnuts, toasted and roughly chopped (optional) rounded
- to taste freshly ground black pepper rounded
Method
Method
- Rub the cold butter into the flour and salt until it looks like coarse crumbs, then add the water and bring together into a dough with a few folds. Wrap and chill for 20 minutes.
- Melt the butter in a pan over low heat and sweat the leek with a pinch of salt for 12 minutes, stirring often, until fully soft and pale, with no crunch left. Do not let it colour. Let cool slightly.
- Roll out the dough and line a 26 cm tart tin. Prick the base, line with baking paper and baking beans, and blind bake at 200°C for 12 minutes. Remove the beans and paper and bake 5 more minutes, until pale gold. Reduce the oven to 190°C.
- Whisk the eggs and cream together, then stir in the cooled leek.
- Scatter half the blue cheese and half the walnuts over the base, pour the custard over, then scatter the remaining blue cheese and walnuts on top. Season with pepper.
- Bake at 190°C for 30 to 35 minutes, until fully set with barely any give.
- Rest 10 minutes before slicing.
Notes
- Give the leek the full 12 minutes. Half-cooked leek stays sharp and slightly slimy in the finished tart; fully softened, it turns sweet and works with the blue cheese rather than against it.
- Watch the bake near the end. Blue cheese can turn bitter if it browns too much, so pull the tart as soon as the custard is set rather than baking for extra colour on top.
- Toast the walnuts before they go in, even briefly in a dry pan; raw walnuts taste flat next to the sharpness of the cheese.
- It keeps for 3 days in the fridge and is very good cold the next day, sliced thin as a starter.
Ingredient substitutions
- Blue cheese can range from a mild Bavarian blue to a sharp Roquefort or Gorgonzola; the stronger the cheese, the less is needed to carry the tart.
- Walnuts can be pecans or omitted entirely for a nut-free version.
- Leek can be part-replaced with sliced shallots for a slightly sweeter, more concentrated onion flavour.
- A layer of thinly sliced pear under the custard is a classic pairing with blue cheese if a fruit note is wanted.