Turnip Green Tart (Or Spinach)

This is another great recipe from a favorite blog I follow of Heidi Swanson @ 101cookbooks.com. Check it out!

Turnip Green Tart

It's convenient for me to make enough dough for two tart shells in one shot, so that's what I call for here. You can always freeze the extra dough or shell for use later in the week/month. They seem to keep fine in the freezer, well wrapped, for a few weeks, but not much longer than that. Green garlic is also great in the filling in place of the garlic clove - a couple tablespoons (chopped).

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Ingredients:

Cornmeal Tart Shell:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup spelt flour

scant 1 cup medium coarse corn meal

3/4 teaspoon fine grain salt

1 1/4 cups unsalted butter, cut in cubes

1 large egg yolk

1/4 cup - 3/4 cup cold water

Turnip Green Filling:

1/4 lb. turnip greens, or spinach greens, de-stemmed

1 small clove of garlic

2 large eggs + 1 yolk

3/4 cup veg. broth

1/4 cup heavy cream

scant 1/4 teaspoon salt (more if broth unsalted)

2 teaspoons Dijon-style mustard

1 1/2 teaspoons herbs of Provence

(opt.)Gruyere cheese & a bit of crushed red pepper flakes, for topping

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Special Equipment: special equipment: tart pans - 9-inch (23 cm) round, 8 x 11 inch (20 x 28) rectangle, or equivalent.

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Directions: Start by making the tart dough. Combine flours, cornmeal, and salt in food processor. Pulse in butter, 20+ pulses, or until the mixture resembles sandy pebbles on a beach. Add the egg yolk and 1/4 cup water. Pulse, trickle in more water if needed, just until dough comes together. Turn out onto a floured counter top and gather into a ball. Divide the dough into two equal pieces, shape each into a ball, press into 1/2-inch thick disks, and wrap in plastic, or place in baggies. Chill for at least an hour.

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Preheat the oven to 350F. Place a rack in the middle of the oven. When you're ready to line the tart pans with dough, place one of the dough disks on a lightly floured surface and roll out until the dough is large enough to line your tart pan. I usually eyeball it - you can see in the photo the dough is about 1/6 - 1/8 inch thick. Dust underneath with flour to discourage sticking throughout the rolling process. Carefully transfer the dough to the pan. Don't worry too much if you get a tear or hole, you can patch those up later with scraps. Work quickly to ease the dough into place, taking care not to stretch the dough. Press it along the bottom of the pan, out to the walls, and against the sides. Trim any excess dough - I use the palm of my hand against the edge of the tart pan to cut off any extra dough, alternately you can roll a rolling pin across the rim of the pan for a clean edge. Chill in the refrigerator for thirty minutes or so while you roll out your extra tart shell. Double wrap that one in plastic and freeze it for future use.

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You're going to partially bake the tart shell before filling it, so pull the shell out of the refrigerator, dock it with a fork, making small holes along the bottom of the shell. Line the shell with parchment paper and fill to the rim with pie weights or dried beans, bake for 25 minutes. Carefully remove the pie weights and finish baking for another 5 minutes, or until the crust is dry and just barely starting to brown. Remove from oven and let cool completely.

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To make the filling: Chop the greens and garlic in a food processor. You can do this by hand as well, but in this case the processor makes quick work of this. Add the eggs and yolk, pulse. Then the broth and cream. Lastly, incorporate the salt, mustard, and herbs. When you're ready to bake, fill the tart shell and bake for 30 minutes or so, or until the center is set, and has firmed up to the touch. About 2/3 of the way through I like to sprinkle with a bit of Gruyere cheese. I can't help but zap the top of most tarts under the broiler for a minute or two just prior to pulling it out of the oven - it browns up the top nicely, and lends a rustic look to it. Finish with a sprinkling of crushed red pepper flakes if you don't mind a bit of heat.