Watercress Cheese Tartlets Recipes

Steps:

• Put the flour and a pinch of salt in a large bowl. Rub in the butter until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. Stir in the egg and about 1-2 tbsp water to form a soft dough. Knead well then wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 200C/gas 6/fan 180C. Knead the pastry again and roll it out to line a 20cm loose-bottomed flan tin (the pastry won't shrink, so no need to chill). Patch holes with spare pastry and brush the base and sides with egg.
• For the filling, fry the onion in the oil until just soft, add the watercress and cook until just wilted. Beat the eggs and milk and stir in the watercress mixture and goat's cheese.
• Season and if you like, add a pinch of nutmeg. Put the flan tin on a bakingsheet and bake the pastry blind for 5 minutes. Add the filling and bake for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 180C/gas 4/ fan 160C and cook for 25-30 minutes or until lightly set.

Steps:

• 1. Over medium-high heat, saute shallots in butter for 2 minutes. Add lobster and tarragon, saute 2 minutes. Add Riesling and saute 2 minutes longer to cook lobster and evaporate most of the liquid from the pan. Set aside.
• 2. Flour a work surface and roll out the crust to flatten. Cut 3, 5-inch circles from each crust.
• 3. Spray the cups of a muffin pan with vegetable oil. Lay one pastry circle into each muffin cup, pressing the bottom flat to the bottom of the cup so it will sit flat after baking. Prick the bottom of each little cup and chill for 10 minutes.
• 4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake chilled tart shells 12 to 15 minutes until light gold. Remove and let cool before using (You can prepare to here up to 24 hours before using. Store in a cool, dry place).
• 5. Increase oven temperature to 375 degrees F. Fill each cup with a small chunk of Brie and 1/2 tsp. of lobster mixture, dust with almonds. Bake 7-8 minutes until cheese is bubbly. Serve.

Steps:

• Sift flour into a mixing bowl and add salt.
• Rub 1/3 cup of the butter into the flour until mixture resemble bread crumbs.
• Stir in the cold water to make a firm dough.
• Knead the dough lightly, ten roll out on a lightly floured surface.
• Line 4 4-inch tartlet pans with the dough, trimming the dough to fit the pans.
• Prick the bases with a fork and set aside in the refrigerator to chill.
• Meanwhile, heat the remaining butter in a skillet.
• Discard the stems from the watercress or spinach and add the leaves to the skillet (if using spinach, make sure it's well drained before mixing with the filling ingredients) along with the garlic and shallot.
• Cook for 1 to 2 minutes until the watercress is wilted.
• Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in the cheese, yogurt and paprika.
• Spoon the mixture into the pastry cases and cook in a preheated oven at 350F for 20 minutes or until the filling is firm.
• Turn out the tartlets and serve hot or cold.

Steps:

• Preheat a griddle or large skillet over medium-low heat. Make 4 sandwiches of sliced cheese, chopped greens and relish, distributing the ingredients evenly among them. Butter the outsides of the sammies with softened butter and cook in preheated pan until golden and cheese has melted.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400F.
• Roll out pastry on floured board to form a 12 inch circle.
• Using a 3 inch cutter, cut rounds of dough.
• By reworking dough scraps, there should be 12 rounds.
• Grease the back of a 12-cup muffin pan.
• Fit rounds onto pan and part way up sides of cup – the pastry goes on the OUTSIDE of the cup, not the inside, pressing lightly to seal.
• Bake for 10 minutes.
• If pastry has puffed up, press down lightly.
• Set aside to cool Reduce oven temperature to 350F.
• Remove pastry shells from backs of muffins pan and place upright on cookie sheet.
• Place ½ T of blue cheese in bottom of each shell.
• Combine eggs, cream, milk, grated cheese, nutmeg and salt.
• Divide mixture among shells, pouring almost to the top.
• Don’t overfill as cheese mixture will rise during baking.
• There may be a bit of leftover filling.
• Place filled shells in oven and bake for 15 minutes or until lightly browned and firm.
• Serve hot or tepid.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Unroll the pastry but leave it on the parchment, then transfer it to a baking tray. Brush egg yolk all over. Trim the edges with a large, sharp knife - this will give you a neater finish but isn't essential. Cut the pastry in half lengthways, and move the pieces apart so they have a little space to puff up as they cook. Score a border about 1cm from the edge of the pastry, all the way around, then cut slashes across the centre to prevent it from puffing too much. Be careful not to score the border.
• Toss the carrots and radishes in a little oil and a sprinkling of salt in a small roasting tin. Put the pastry on the top shelf of the oven and the veg on the middle one, and cook for 25 mins, or until the pastry is golden and has a crisp base, and the veg are starting to soften. Leave to cool while you make the lemony feta.
• Crumble the feta into a bowl, add the mascarpone, lemon zest and milk and blend using an electric hand whisk until smooth. Chill until needed. To make the salsa verde, put all the ingredients in a small hand processor and whizz to a pesto consistency. This will keep in the fridge for a few days.
• Bring a pan of water to the boil, and have a bowl to hand filled with cold water and some ice. Add the asparagus to the boiling water and cook for 1-2 mins until bright green but still crunchy. Use a slotted spoon to scoop out and plunge straight into the iced water. Do the same with the sugar snaps, and finally the peas, draining these in a sieve, then cool in the ice water with the other veg.
• Spread the whipped feta over the bases, top with the veg (you can mix them up or keep the roasted veg on one tart and the green veg on the other, if you like), then drizzle with salsa verde and a little oil. Best served within an hour or two, but leftovers will keep for a day in the fridge.