Recipes: Blue cheese & bacon tart

This hearty, main course tart is a good get-ahead dish, as all the ingredients can be prepped ahead right up until the final baking

edients

• 200g unsmoked bacon lardons
• olive oil
• 2 onions , finely diced
• 1 garlic clove , finely grated on a microplane
• thyme leaves from 3 sprigs
• 400g mixed mushrooms , sliced if large
• butter
• 100g young spinach
• 4 eggs
• 150ml milk
• 200g goat's curd (find it in cheese shops or use curd cheese)
• 200g blue cheese , crumbled
• 3 tbsp parmesan , grated

SHORTCRUST PASTRY

• 350g plain flour
• 200g butter , chilled and diced
• 2 eggs , separated

  

  1. MAKING THE PASTRY - To make the rich shortcrust pastry, whizz the flour and butter to breadcrumbs in a food processor. Add the egg yolks and pulse until it starts to come together (you might need to add a splash of cold water). Wrap in clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes.
  2. Heat the oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5. Roll the pastry out on a lightly floured surface then line a 24cm x 4cm tart tin (I use a straight-sided tart ring but any tart tin with these dimensions will work). A good chef's trick is to leave the excess pastry draped over the edges of the tin to stop it from shrinking. Line with baking paper and beans then put on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes. Take out the beans and paper, brush all over with egg white (left from the pastry) and bake for another 10 minutes. The egg white will seal any cracks in the pastry and stop it going soggy. Take out of the oven to cool, and turn the oven down to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4.
  3. PREPARING THE FILLING - All the filling ingredients need cooking first - this is important for two reasons. It concentrates flavour and it gets rid of excess moisture. Soggy ingredients can ruin a tart. Tip the lardons into a hot pan with 1 tbsp olive oil. You want them to be really crisp so take the colour quite dark. When the lardons are cooked, tip the oil away and drain them on a double layer of kitchen paper. Add the onions and garlic to the same pan with another glug of olive oil and the thyme and cook until softened and golden.
  4. Now add the mushrooms and increase the heat a little. Cook until all their water has evaporated and they are browned and nutty. I'm using a selection of wild mushrooms but you can use any combination you like. Season the mushrooms then add a knob of butter, tip the bacon back in with the spinach and stir until the spinach has wilted down. Tip everything on to a plate to cool a little while you make the custard.
  5. MAKING THE CUSTARD AND FINISHING OFF - Whisk the eggs and milk together then add the curd cheese and blend until smooth using a hand blender. Season then add the filling mix and stir. To finish the tart, layer up the blue cheese with the filling mix then finish with a good scattering of parmesan. Bake for 35-45 minutes until just set. Trim off the excess pastry and leave the tart to sit for 20 minutes before you cut it.

  TIP

  The star ingredient in this tart is blue cheese - something we are brilliant at producing in this country. There are so many great varieties, like Colston Bassett stilton and Exmoor Blue.

  PER SERVING

  634 kcalories, protein 23,9g, carbohydrate 39g, fat 43,6 g, saturated fat 24g, fibre 2,4g, salt 2,42 g