This is one of my favourite recipes for this column so far. Light, fresh goat’s cheese and artichokes baked in a tart with a smooth, herb-packed base and finished with hazelnuts; I especially like the contrast of the crisp filo against the filling. There are a lot of herbs here, but they balance beautifully, so I’d advise using them all, particularly the chives. (I bought 30g packs of mint and basil, but by the time I had got rid of the stems, there were just 20g leaves left. My herb windowsill is lavish with rosemary, sage and oregano, but sadly not the soft herbs yet.)
Goat’s cheese, herb and hazelnut spring tart
You want a soft, rindless goat’s cheese for this.
Prep 20 min
Cook 25 min
Serves 4
30g flat-leaf parsley, leaves and stems
20g mint, leaves only
20g basil, leaves only
15g chives
100g shelled hazelnuts, half very roughly chopped, the rest left whole
1 tsp sea salt flakes
3 medium eggs
4 sheets filo pastry
280g jar artichokes in oil, drained and oil reserved
125g log rindless soft goat’s cheese
Heat the oven to 200C (180C fan)/390F/gas 6. Put the parsley, mint, basil, most of the chives (reserve a few to finish), the whole hazelnuts, salt and eggs into a high-speed blender, then blitz for a minute, until very smooth and the consistency of double cream.
Line a 24-25cm round pie dish with crumpled baking paper (crumpling will mean you can push it into the round edges of the dish). Lay a sheet of the filo over the paper, brush generously with some of the reserved artichoke oil, then lay a second sheet of filo on top at a 90-degree angle. Brush this with oil, then repeat with the remaining two sheets of filo. Once all the filo is in the dish, crumple up the edges a little to create a lip.
Pour the green mixture into the pastry, scraping out any last bits from the blender, then arrange the drained artichokes on top. Top them with teaspoonfuls of goat’s cheese (it’s too soft to crumble, so I break off teaspoon-sized bits). Scatter over the chopped hazelnuts, then bake for 25 minutes.
Remove from the oven, and leave the tart to settle and cool for 10 minutes. Finely chop the reserved chives, scatter over the top of the tart and serve warm.