Being the naïve and gutsy (hahano) individual I am, I have recently found myself doing boxing classes. Needless to say, I am awful at it, but what I have learnt is that my arms have never felt pain before now. Sure, you think- I will soon develop some strength in those noodles I hold my hands up with, and get used it. You, are therefore also just as naïve as I would appear to be- and just as wrong, I am told you just learn to punch harder and better. I am in so much future trouble, my body will never forgive me, but my gosh it is fun.
Ok so you’re thinking, sure, your arms hurt, but what on earth has this got to do with this beautiful, time consuming, delicious vegetable tart you think that we really opened up this website page to read about. Well really it was a way for me to tell you, if your arms/ noodles (armoodles?) are in as much pain as mine, choosing to make a tart that requires lots of delicate work and movement is one of the biggest mistakes you could make, TRUST ME. Alternatively, if your arms are not as pathetic as mine evidently are, then it is a pretty darn delicious treat to give yourself- and incredibly healthy too. So be sure to check out my recipe below which is one from my old site which I have had for a while, but recently re-captured in an effort to make my photos look better than blah. x
VEGETABLE SPIRAL TART
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PREP TIME: 40 minutes
COOKING TIME: 30-40 minutes
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INGREDIENTS
Pastry
1-2 sheets of Short crust pastry
Crème Fraiche
1 cup heavy cream
2 table spoons buttermilk
Mixed together
Optional: djorn mustard
Filling
3x carrots,
2 x zucchini,
1 x sweet potato
1 x eggplant
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METHOD
- Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees fan forced, and line a 20cm tart dish with baking paper (easier than greasing it as you can just lift out the tart after).
- As this is pre-heating, peel all the vegetables for the filling with a vegetable peeler, making long thin strips and placing them aside until all vegetables are done.
- Once the oven is hot, start blind- baking the pastry, and follow the instructions given, letting the pastry cool completely afterwards- or else your base layer will run and not work.
- For your creme fraiche base, mix all the ingredients together until smooth. Then, spoon this into the base tart, and cover the entire base evenly using a spoon.
- Now the tricky part (hope you packed your patience). Starting in the middle, roll a small piece of carrot into a spiral and place in the centre of the tart, continuing the spiral with another piece of carrot, and then another. I like to alternate every three or four pieces of vegetables, to make the colour change. Continue until the entire base of the tart is covered and completed.
- Bake in an oven for 30-40 minutes, or until the vegetables look slightly cooked. Remove, and eat.