Goats' cheese spring tart with roasted fig and chicory salad
- Prepare
- less than 30 mins
- Cook
- 30 mins to 1 hour
- Serve
- Serves 4
Packed full of herbs and fresh spring flavours, Rukmini Iyer’s easy filo tart and salad is sure to be a crowd pleaser.
Ingredients
For the goats’ cheese tart
- 30g/1oz fresh flatleaf parsley, leaves and stems
- 20g/¾oz fresh mint, leaves only
- 20g/¾oz fresh basil, leaves only
- 15g/½oz fresh chives
- 100g/3½oz shelled hazelnuts, half very roughly chopped, the rest left whole
- 3 medium free-range eggs
- 4 sheets filo pastry
- 280g/10oz jar artichokes in oil, drained and oil reserved
- 125g/4½oz log rindless soft goats’ cheese
- 1 tsp sea salt flakes
For the roasted fig and chicory salad
For the dressing
- 1 lemon, juice only
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- pinch sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
To make the goats’ cheese tart, preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6.
Put the parsley, mint, basil, most of the chives (reserve a few to finish), the whole hazelnuts, salt and eggs into a high-speed blender, then blend for a minute, until very smooth and the consistency of double cream.
Line a 24–25cm/9½–10in round pie dish with crumpled baking paper (crumpling will mean you can push it into the round edges of the dish). Lay a sheet of filo pastry over the paper, brush generously with some of the reserved artichoke oil, then lay a second sheet of filo on top at a 90 degree angle. Brush this with oil, then repeat with the remaining two sheets of filo. Once all the filo is in the dish, crumple up the edges a little to create a lip.
Pour the green mixture into the pastry, scraping out any last bits from the blender, then arrange the drained artichokes on top. Top them with teaspoonfuls of goats’ cheese (it’s too soft to crumble, so I break off teaspoon-sized bits). Scatter over the chopped hazelnuts, then bake for 25 minutes.
Remove from the oven and leave the tart to settle and cool for 10 minutes. Finely chop the reserved chives, scatter over the top of the tart and serve warm.
To make the roasted fig and chicory salad, either use the same oven as the tart or preheat a second oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6.
Tip the chicory, figs, hazelnuts and onion into a roasting tin large enough to hold everything in a single layer.
Mix gently with the olive oil, the sea salt and some freshly ground black pepper, then drizzle with the honey.
Scatter the focaccia over the top, then transfer the tin to the oven and cook for 25–30 minutes.
Meanwhile, to make the dressing, whisk the lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper together.
Let the vegetables cool down, then mix with the rocket, toasted focaccia and dressing before serving alongside the tart.
