Ricotta, vegetable and salmon roe’ tartlets

Make a savoury spring dish with this poppy seed, herbed ricotta cheese, peas, beans, asparagus and Petrossian salmon roe tart recipe. It is just perfect for making mini tarts as a starter or for an impressive bite-size appetizer.

Preparation time: 30 minutes • Cooking time: 33 minutes • Resting time: 1h30

Serves 4

For the shortcrust pastry

• 250g (9 oz) Type 45 wheat flour
• 125g (4 oz) butter chunks
• 2 egg yolks (1 for the pastry + 1 for the egg wash)
• 5 cl (3.55 tbsp) water
• 1 tbsp poppy seeds
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 mini tart tins (5 inches in diameter)

For the filling

• 450g (16 oz) ricotta cheese
• Fresh herbs of your choice (chervil, chives, tarragon)
• Salt and pepper
• 1kg (35 oz) fresh unshelled peas or 350g (12 oz) frozen peas
• 500g (18 oz) fresh and unshelled broad beans or 150g (5 oz) frozen broad beans
• 125g (4 oz) salmon roe
• 1 bunch of green asparagus

Method

For the dough

1. Sift the flour onto the work surface in a mound and form a well in the centre. Add the salt, water, an egg yolk, poppy seeds and mix with your fingertips.
2. Rub the butter chunks briefly between your fingertips to aerate the mixture before tipping it into the well.
3. Gradually pull the flour into the centre to form a ball. Knead the dough enough until smooth, be careful not to soften the butter too much.
4. Wrap the dough in cling film and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
5. Take the dough out of the fridge, roll it out on your work surface with a rolling pin. Cut out discs larger than the mini tart tins and lay it in your pre-buttered tart tins.
6. Carefully pat the dough down and fold it up and over to the top rim of the tart tin. Set aside in cool place for 30 minutes.
7. Preheat your oven to 160°C.
8. Blind bake the crust with baking beans or lentils to weight down the base to prevent it from rising in the oven. Bake for about 30 minutes at 160°C.
9. Take the mini tarts out of the oven, brush egg wash mixture and bake again for 3 minutes to dry and keep it from getting soggy before adding the filling.
10. Take out of the oven and leave to cool.

For vegetables

1. Fill a pot with water, add a few tablespoons of salt and bring it to the boil.
2. Trim the asparagus by cutting off about 3-4cm from the bottom of the stalk. Peel off the asparagus skin with a peeler (run the peeler from the end to just below the tip).
3. Once boiling, lower the heat to a gentle boil.
4. Carefully plunge the asparagus into the boiling water (tips up) and cook for 10-12 minutes until “al dente”.
5. Poke the point of a knife to check whether the asparagus spears are properly cooked; it should glide into the asparagus with a slight resistance.
6. Plunge into cold water to stop the cooking process and set the green colour. Drain and set aside.
7. Once the asparagus have cooled, cut off the tips and cut those halves lengthways. Set aside for the presentation. Chop the stems into small cubes.
8. Scoop out the peas and beans, remove, the shells and allow to cool for about 5 minutes in water or steam.
9. Drain and plunge straight into cold water to bring out the green colour.

To serve

1. Chop the fresh herbs and mix with the ricotta cheese, salt and pepper.
2. Arrange the mixture in your tart crust.
3. Add the peas, beans, asparagus tips and salmon roes.
4. Serve immediately.

Photographies : Aimery Chemin • Stylisme culinaire : Coralie Ferreira