Freeform ricotta and spinach tart

Babiche Martens

"Never be afraid to add plenty of butter," my mother says. She doesn't use scales but always gets it just right. Free-form tarts, of course, can be filled with any selection of delicious flavour. For mine I have used spinach and ricotta with a hint of blue cheese. These are always great to serve for lunch when my mum and sisters come for lunch.

Pastry

200 g	Flour
100 g	Butter
1 tsp	Salt
1	Egg, yolk
2 Tbsp	Water, cold

Filling

200 g	Spinach, wilted (Main)
2	Spring onions, sliced thinly
250 g	Ricotta cheese (Main)
2	Eggs
¼ cup	Parmesan cheese, grated
40 g	Blue cheese, crumbled
1	Egg, yolk, to glaze pastry

Directions

1. To make the pastry, place the flour, butter and salt into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolk and water and mix until a firm dough. Wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 180C.
3. To make the filling, in a large bowl combine the spinach, onions, ricotta, eggs, parmesan, salt and plenty of ground pepper.
4. Roll the pastry on a lightly floured bench into a 30cm circle. Place onto an oven tray.
5. Spoon the filling into the centre of the pastry leaving a 2cm border. Fold the edges in onto the filling, around the entire circle. Crumble the blue cheese over the filling. Brush the pastry with the egg yolk.