River Cottage Great Pies
by Gelf Alderson
(Bloomsbury, £22 Hardback)
Photography © Emma Lee
How to Make These Easy Cheesy Broccoli Tarts
Simple, healthy and delicious - you can whip these tarts up in a flash
Broccoli is one of the most frequently purchased vegetables in the UK, but most of it is imported. Homegrown purple sprouting is the best option. It has two lengthy seasons: early spring through to early summer and autumn through to Christmas. At other times, look for tenderstem and standard broccoli that's been grown in this country.
Serves
6
Ingredients
- 500g rough puff pastry
- Flour, to dust
- Egg wash (beaten egg)
- For the filling
- 350g broccoli florets (purple sprouting, tender-stem or regular)
- 250g soft goat’s cheese, crumbled
- 2 medium eggs, beaten
- Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
- A small bunch of coriander, leaves picked and roughly chopped
- 100g almonds (skin on), roughly chopped
- Sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper
Method
Preheat the oven to 220C/200C Fan/Gas 7 and line a baking sheet with baking paper.
To prepare the filling, bring a pan of lightly salted water to the boil, add the broccoli and cook for three to four minutes. Drain, then spread out in a single layer on a tray and allow to cool.
Mix the goat’s cheese and beaten eggs together in a bowl. Add the broccoli florets, lemon zest, chopped coriander and almonds, toss to mix and season well with salt and pepper.
Set aside a quarter of the pastry. Roll out the rest of the pastry to a 30 x 25cm rectangle, about five millimetres thick, and trim to neaten. Place on the lined baking sheet and brush the outer two centimetres with egg wash.
Roll out the remaining pastry to a five-millimetre-thick oblong. Cut two-centimetre-wide strips to fit on the egg-washed edges of the first rectangle, position them and press gently to adhere. Brush this pastry border with egg wash. Prick the pastry within the border with a fork.
Spoon the broccoli filling over the pastry base within the raised border and bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until the filling is set in the middle and golden brown. Serve hot from the oven or at room temperature.
