Samphire has a sweet, salty taste that balances well with chillies, shallots and nutty butter. If you can't find samphire, this recipe will work well with asparagus but you'll need to add a good sprinkle of sea salt.
Ingredients
6 shallots, thinly sliced
100 g/7 tablespoons butter
200 g/7 oz. ready-rolled puff pastry
150 g/5½ oz. samphire
4 red chillies/chiles, thinly sliced
100 g/¾ cup cubed feta cheese
Method
Preheat the oven to 200° C (400° F) Gas 5. Put the shallots in a saucepan with the butter and set over a medium heat.
Heat until the butter is foaming. Leave on the heat until the foaming starts to reduce, then remove immediately and allow to cool. You should get a distinctive nutty aroma from the cooked butter.
Unroll the puff pastry onto a floured baking sheet and trim with a sharp knife to 30 x 20 cm/12 x 8 inches. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes until the pastry is just starting to turn golden and has risen. Allow to cool for a few minutes, then using a sharp knife, cut a line halfway through the pastry about 2 cm/¾ inch from the sides. Press the inner pastry down using a fish slice to flatten slightly.
Check the samphire shoots for any woody bases and remove them. Tear the samphire into 2-cm/¾-inch pieces and set aside.
Scoop the shallots out of the butter in the saucepan. Scatter around the inner pastry section along with some of the butter. Scatter the samphire and, chillies/chiles (use as many or as few as you like) around the tart and crumble over the feta.
Return the tart to the oven for 5 minutes, until the feta starts to melt and the pastry turns golden brown and crispy. Remove from the oven, drizzle a little more brown butter over the tart and serve immediately.
This recipe is from Vegetables by Mat Follas. To get more great blog posts like this one - direct to your inbox – be sure to sign up to our mailing list here.