
- Prep Time: 60 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Serving: Serves more than 10
Pea and Ham Tarts
These beautiful little tarts, shared with us by talented Madalene from The British Larder, are the perfect fancy fare for your next after 5 function. The brilliant green filling is eye catching, and the taste is delicious. The pastry is made by hand so as to avoid overworking the dough, and the filling is easily accomplished using your thermo mixer.
Recipe Tester Feedback: "A great amuse-gueule, fun and easy to make. Taste wise, they were lovely and fresh. The base was crisp and flaky. The bit of lemon juice in the filling is a great idea to keep it fresh and vibrant." - Jeroen
No: Nuts
Contains: Gluten / Dairy / Egg
Preparation Time 1 hour
Cooking Time 40 minutes
Makes 12 tarts
Best served fresh
Ingredients
- Short crust pastry:
- plain flour - 150g
- salt - pinch
- butter - 80g, unsalted, room temperature
- water - 50g, cold
- Pea and ham filling:
- peas - 200g, fresh or frozen
- double cream - 75g, warmed
- mustard - 10g, wholegrain
- eggs - 3 medium, free range
- lemon - 1/2, juice only
- sea salt - to taste
- pepper - freshly cracked, black, to taste
- ham - 300g, cooked, flaked
Method
Short crust pastry:
- Weigh the flour (150g) and salt (pinch) into a large mixing bowl.
- Cut the butter (80g) into small pieces and add the butter to the flour. Use your fingertips to rub the butter into the flour. Ensure that all the butter is rubbed in and evenly distributed.
- Add the cold water (50g) and use a pallet knife to cut the water into the flour. Work fast and do not overwork the pastry, as it will make the pastry grey and elastic. You need to avoid this.
- Cover the pastry with cling film and rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 200C.
- On a lightly floured work surface roll out the pastry 3–4mm thick, and use the cookie cutter to cut the rounds.
- Turn a muffin tin upside down and cover each mound with a round of pastry to make the pastry cases for these tarts. It looks rustic and different from the pristine perfect tarts. Make the tart cases relatively deep.
- Blind bake the pastry for 20 minutes.
- While the tart cases are baking make the pea and ham filling.
Pea and ham filling:
- Weigh the peas (200g) into the bowl and blend until smooth. Speed 10 / 20 seconds. You may need to scrape down sides and repeat.
- Add the cream (75g), mustard (10g), eggs (3), lemon juice (1/2), salt and pepper (to taste) to the bowl. Blend Speed 10 / 10 seconds.
- To cook the tarts, preheat the oven to 120C.
Assembly:
- Place the blind baked tart cases the right way up suspended over the gaps of the muffin tray.
- Shred the ham (300g) and place a generous amount of ham into each blind baked tart case.
- Pour the filling on top of the ham, until just under the rim of the pastry.
- Bake the tarts for 15 – 20 minutes. Remove the tarts from the oven while they still have a slight wobble as they will continue to cook while cooling.
- Transfer tarts to a serving platter.
Note: If your tart mixture was slightly aerated and has a white foamy top, run a blow torch flame over the top to blow the bubbles away. This will give your tart a shiny glaze.