Asparagus and Spring Onion Tart

By Valerie Kolligian Thayer • June 10, 2021 • Recipes

There are a few puff pastry tarts here on The Kitchen Scout, including Easy Spanokopita Tart and Asparagus, Ham & Gruyere Tart, but there is always room for one more!

This week, I was fortunate enough to head to Martha’s Vineyard for a little getaway with some girlfriends. What a treat! I haven’t been to the island in decades, since a group of my young 20-something friends and I used to rent a house for a few weeks each summer. It was nice to see the island and all its beauty again through an adult lense!

While here, we enjoyed some of the most amazing bread (whole wheat boule) and cheese (Eidolon) from the stunning Grey Barn, which has a beautiful farm stand shop filled with lots of deliciousness. We also purchased some of Martha’s Vineyard Smokehouse Spicy Yellowfin Tuna Spread that was addictively good.

I always like seeing what other people choose for crackers and my friend didn’t disappoint, introducing us to two new favorites. These gluten free Sea Salt crackers from Onesto are produced in Vermont and are maybe the best tasting GF cracker I’ve tried to date. And these olive oil and gray salt from Rustic Bakery were also yummy. Rustic Bakery also makes some fabulous shortbread cookies. We sampled the Lemon Meyer and Chocolate Cacao Nib flavors we purchased at the Chilmark General Store.

While we ordered take out for dinner from Beachroad to pair with salad we whipped up with the most delicious greens from Grey Barn, our hostess prepared a delicious meal for us on the evening of our arrival. And that is the recipe I am sharing with you today!

The original recipe comes from Susie Middleton who writes the Cook Martha’s Vineyard website, an online feature of Martha’s Vineyard Magazine. I have previously posted a recipe of Susie’s from one of her cookbooks for Spicy Thai Shrimp & Bok Choy Stir-Fry here on the blog. Susie is the past Editor of Fine Cooking and I have always respected her both for her writing and recipe development. She continues to write about her life on the island, cooking and gardening that you can access via her website SixBurnerSue. Follow her!

Anyway, fully expecting her recipe to be a hit, we took some photos on my friend’s beautiful board from Etu Home that I now want to add to my collection, before we dug in.

My contribution was rolling out the puff pastry dough with a wine bottle, and teaching another friend how to score the pastry to create puffed edges that you see in the photos. We made two – we were hungry! The recipe takes advantage of in season asparagus and spring onions and some salami for a little heft. These are sauteed and then cooled. On top of the rolled out dough is spread a mixture of ricotta, parmesan, egg, lemon zest and some freshly chopped tarragon. If you don’t care for tarragon, use some mint as the original recipe suggests which evokes spring, but basil is always a good idea.

My friend had run the recipe by me ahead of our visit and I suggested we ask the others if they care for salami (we both eat it but was not sure about the others). We forgot to ask and everyone loved it ha ha. You can omit it, or add some cooked bacon or even proscuitto. Oh, and one friend did not know that there was a tool you could use to easily zest a lemon so for anyone out there using a box grater as she has been to grate your citrus, please consider buying one of these or one of these asap! I use mine all the time for citrus and cheese.

The recipe is so versatile that once asparagus has had its moment, you could replace it with so many other wonderful vegetables including some zucchini or yellow squash, corn or even some slivered sugar snap peas would be delicious. The tart was perfect for a light dinner, but you could also cut it into smaller pieces to serve as an appetizer with a glass of wine.

If it’s sounding like we nourished ourselves pretty well these past few days, you are right! Including the requisite lobster roll because, why not…

Until next time, Martha’s Vineyard…

Asparagus and Spring Onion Tart

The recipe for this tart is from Susie Middleton via the Cook Martha's Vineyard website, an online feature of Martha's Vineyard Magazine. Try it with the asparagus suggested, but other vegetables such as zucchini, squash, corn or slivered sugar snap peas could work as the summer progresses. Easy to put together for a light dinner or cut into small pieces to serve as an appetizer. Enjoy!

Ingredients

1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed in the fridge (8 1/2 ounces)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
8 ounces trimmed asparagus (about 12 to 14 ounces before trimming), sliced thinly on the bias into 2-inch pieces
1½ ounces thinly sliced salami, stacked and sliced crosswise
1 small spring onion (about a 2-inch wide bulb), white and light green parts sliced crosswise into ¼-inch slices, or 4 to 5 large scallions very thickly sliced (white parts only)
Kosher salt
1 large egg
1 tablespoon heavy cream
1 cup ricotta (not skim)
½ cup plus 2 to 3 tablespoons coarsely grated Parmigiano (preferably chopped in a small food processor; you will need about 3 ounces to start with)
2 to 3 teaspoons finely chopped tarragon, mint or basil, more for garnish
1/2 teaspoon (packed) freshly grated lemon zest
Fresh black pepper
All-purpose flour for dusting

Instructions

Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Cover a large, heavy-duty rimmed baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper. Remove the puff pastry from the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature while you prepare the toppings.
In a large nonstick stir-fry pan (preferably) or skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the asparagus, salami, spring onions or scallions, and ½ teaspoon salt. Turn the heat to medium high.
Cook, stirring just occasionally for a minute or so, then frequently, until the asparagus are bright green and just beginning to take on color and the onions have softened a bit, a total of 4 to 5 minutes. (These ingredients will be going into the oven, so you’re just cooking them lightly.) Transfer the vegetables from the pan to a sheet pan or large plate; spread out to cool slightly.
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the egg and cream. Add the ricotta, the ½ cup Parmigiano, 2 teaspoons of the herbs, lemon zest, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, and several grinds of pepper. Set aside.
Dust a rolling surface with all-purpose flour. Roll out the puff pastry into a rectangle about 14 inches long and 10 or 11 inches wide. Transfer to the baking sheet.
Use a sharp knife and a ruler to score (don’t cut through) a border all the way around the pastry, about ¾ to 1 inch in from the edge. Use a fork to prick holes, spaced about a half-inch apart, all over the pastry inside the border.
Use a silicone spatula to spread the ricotta mixture over the surface of the dough. Spoon and scatter the sautéed asparagus mixture over the ricotta, spacing things out as best you can. Sprinkle the remaining few tablespoons of Parmigiano over the top.
Bake, rotating the sheet pan back to front once during cooking, until the pastry is puffed and golden, about 25 minutes.
Let cool for 10 to 15 minutes, garnish with herb leaves, and cut into slices to serve warm.

https://www.thekitchenscout.com/recipes/asparagus-and-spring-onion-tart/

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