When the original recipe skips over crucial details
but the IDEA of the recipe is just too gorgeous to resist…
try, try again,
rejoice,
then rewrite the recipe.
This tart is divine (and actually quite straightforward).
Adapted from Yes, More Please!
Gather:
For the pastry
3/4 cup plain flour
3/4 cup wholemeal flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp honey
2–3 sprigs of thyme (leaves only)
110 g cold butter
4–6 tbsp iced water
For the filling
2 long leeks (or three shorter ones)
3–4 small red-skinned/waxy potatoes (washed and dried)
1 tbsp honey
50 g butter
Zest of one lemon
Salt + pepper to taste
To garnish
Goat cheese (about half a “log”)
A few more sprigs of thyme
Black pepper
Then:
- Prepare the pastry.
In a large bowl, add the flours, salt, honey and thyme. - Chop the cold butter into 1cm cubes, and rub it into the flour mixture until you’ve got mostly pea-sized lumps remaining.
- Add the iced water 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing/kneading with your hands until you can just form a rough single lump/ball of dough. (You won’t use up all the water.)
- Flatten the dough into a disc, wrap it in cling wrap and pop it in the fridge for a couple of hours (or about half an hour in the freezer).
… - Once the dough has rested…
Butter a regular pie dish (glass is best, so you can see how it’s going on the inside) and preheat the oven to about 220° C. - Take the dough out of the fridge or freezer to let it warm up for a few minutes before rolling.
- Top-and-tail the leeks and remove the outermost “skin”, then slice them into about 1cm rounds, placing each slice in the bottom of the pie dish until the whole surface is covered.
… - Slice the potatoes into thin rounds (about half as thick as the leeks) and lay them on top of the leeks — in a single layer so it cooks evenly.
- Melt the butter, honey and lemon zest in a small saucepan (or the microwave) and pour that over the top, then season with salt and pepper. Set aside while you prep the dough.
… - Roll out the dough until it’s big enough to cover the pie dish with about 2cm overhang all around.*
- Carefully lift the dough and lay it over the leek/potato/pie dish. Tuck in the edges as tightly as you dare, and cut four small vents into the top.
Like so:
… - Bake at 220° C for 30–40 minutes or until the crust is deep golden brown and the edges (of the crust, and underneath/inside the pie dish if you’re lucky) are starting to caramelise.
Like so:
… - Allow the pie to sit like that for about 5 minutes, then slide a sharp knife around the edges to make sure the crust separates cleanly.
- Place a large(r) plate over the top of the pie, then flip it over and carefully lift off the pie dish — ideally all the leek will stay in place!
- Crumble the goat cheese over the top, then garnish with more thyme leaves and some black pepper.
… - Serve hot, with a crisp green salad and a glass of white wine.
Notes:
*My current strategy for rolling dough without it sticking to anything is to dust the benchtop with flour, lay down a sheet of baking paper, put the dough on top of that, dust the dough with flour, then put a sheet of cling wrap over the top of that before taking to it with a rolling pin. The baking paper means you can swivel the dough around as you roll, the flour means you can flip the dough over halfway through if you wish, and the cling wrap stops any butter lumps sticking to the rolling pin.
The Lucky Baker 