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Silverbeet tart from Nice (tourte de blettes a la nicoise)

Stephanie Alexander
Stephanie Alexander

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Sweet and savoury silverbeet tart.
Sweet and savoury silverbeet tart.Marina Oliphant

This sweet and savoury tart combines silverbeet (or blettes as they are known in Provence) with currants and other sweet ingredients - sometimes with custard, sometimes finished with a lattice of pastry, sometimes with a double crust.

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Ingredients

Pastry

  • 225g plain flour

  • 1 tsp salt

  • 60g castor sugar

  • 85g unsalted butter

  • 2 egg yolks

  • 2 tbsp hot milk

Filling

  • 400g silverbeet leaves (weighed after stripping leaves from stems)

  • ¼ cup apricot jam or fine-cut marmalade

  • ½ cup pinenuts

  • ½ cup dried currants, soaked in â…“ cup orange juice (or rum)

  • 1 tsp orange blossom water

  • 1 egg

  • 1 tbsp sugar

Method

  1. For the pastry: Put flour, salt and sugar in bowl of food processor. Give a brief whiz to mix. Drop in butter, cut into pieces.

    Pulse until mix resembles breadcrumbs.

    With motor running, add yolks and hot milk. Process until pastry just forms a ball.

    Remove and divide into two-thirds and one-third. Press each piece into a flat disc, wrap in plastic film or foil and refrigerate for one hour.

    For the filling

    Wash the silverbeet leaves. Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Drop in leaves, swish around for a minute or so until water reboils.Quickly lift leaves from the hot water and cool in very cold water. With yourhands, squeeze the silverbeet leaves well and give a final squeeze in a clean cloth.

    Chop leaves roughly and put into a bowl with the jam, pinenuts, currants and any remaining orange juice or rum, and orange flower water.

    Preheat oven to 200C. Roll out the larger piece of pastry and line a 22cm, loose-bottomed tart tin with it. Chill for 20 minutes.

    Spoon in the filling, pushing it well into the corners of the tart. Roll out the remaining pastry and cut into 1cm strips. Arrange in a lattice pattern across the top of the tart. Brush with the egg and scatter the lattice with a little castor sugar.

    Bake tart for 20-30 minutes until pastry is golden brown. Cool before cutting, but release the tart from the ring while still warm or the stickyapple and apricot juices can cause the pastry to fuse to the tin.

    Tip: This is good served with thick cream.

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Stephanie AlexanderStephanie Alexander is an Australian cook, restaurateur and food legend.

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