Recipe of the Month

Sorrel and Onion Tart

If we only look, there is wild food all around us, and none more so than sorrel. It grows wherever there is iron in the soil, which means it is plentiful in our ditches and grasslands, and it is certainly plentiful in our garden. In the days to come it will grow like wildfire, a lovely touch of green in a time when leafy vegetables are in short supply. It is a beautiful herb, with that pronounced bitter-sweet taste. It is good with fish, added in to a velouté, good with egg dishes, and it makes a fine soup. But best of all try this wonderful Sorrel-Onion Tart from just about our most well-thumbed book, The Greens Cookbook by Deborah Madison and Edward Espe Brown (Bantam).

1 recipe Tart Dough (see below)
4 tablespoons butter, thinly sliced
1 large red onion, thinly sliced
half teaspoon salt
4 to 8 sorrel leaves
2 large eggs
1 cup heavy cream
2oz Gruyere cheese, grated (we use Bill Hogan's Gabriel or Desmond cheese for this)
Pepper

Prepare the tart dough, partially prebake it, and set it aside.
Melt 3 tablespoons of the butter in a wide pan, add the onion and the salt. Cover the pan, and stew slowly until the onion is completely soft, about 10 minutes. Check it occasionally and give it a stir.
While the onion is cooking, cut off the stems of the sorrel leaves and roughly slice the leaves. Melt the remaining tablespoon of butter in a pan, and add the sorrel by large handfuls. Although the amount of leaves will seem voluminous, they will quickly cook down to almost nothing. Cook over a low heat until they have wilted and turned a greyish-green colour, 3 to 4 minutes.
Whisk the eggs with the cream; then stir in the onion, sorrel, and half of the cheese. Taste for salt, and season with freshly ground black pepper.
Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Distribute the remaining cheese over the crust, then pour the filling on top. Bake in the centre of the oven until the custard is set and well coloured, about 35 to 40 minutes. Serve the tart while it is hot.

Tart Dough

1 cup unbleached white flour
three eighths teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1 and a half tablespoons solid vegetable shortening
two and a half to 3 tablespoons ice water

Combine the flour and salt in a bowl; then add the butter and shortening. With your hands, work the fat and flour together, sliding and flattening the mixture between your palms, or thumb and fingertips, until the butter and shortening are evenly distributed. Add two and a half tablespoons cold water, and lightly work it into the flour, using your fingers, slightly cupped together, or a fork. Gather the dough into a ball, sprinkle a few drops of water over any remaining dry ingredients, and gather them together. Cover the dough with waxed paper or plastic wrap, flatten it into a disk and let it rest at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator before using. The dough can also be frozen at this point for future use.
When you are ready to roll the dough, lightly flour the work surface and the top of the dough. If it is stiff from the cold, let it sit for 20 minutes before you roll it out. Roll it out with firm, even strokes into a circle about one eighth inch thick. Pick it up on the rolling pin and slide it onto the pie dish or tart mold. Or, alternatively, fold it into quarters, lay it with the point in the centre of the pan, then unfold. Trim the edges, leaving an overhang of an inch or so; then fold the overhang under and crimp the edge.
To partially prebake the crust, first freeze the empty shell until it is quite firm. If you intend to freeze the crust for an extended period of time, wrap it in foil. When ready to use, preheat the oven to 425ºF. Set the frozen tart shell directly into the oven, and bake until the crust has a "set" appearance and is just beginning to colour, about 8 to 10 minutes. While the crust is baking, check to see that the bottom is not swelling with steam and air. If it does, prick it lightly with a paring knife.
More traditionally, the crust may be prebaked unfrozen, first lining it with buttered foil, filling the foil with pie weights or dry beans, then baking, as above, until the edges are set and slightly browned.

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text © John & Sally McKenna
illustrations © Ken Buggy