Tarte Aux Asperges

If you saw Ken's blog over the weekend you saw what we got at Saturday's market in town. We had seen a dish prepared on Cuisine TV that looked good : tarte aux asperges (asparagus tart). I downloaded the recipe from their web site. Of course, I modified it a bit - Carrine used green asparagus and I used white; she used Parma ham and I used French Savoie; she made small individual tarts and I made a larger one.

A blind-baked tart shell ready to receive the filling.

It's a very simple dish to prepare (although maybe not for Amy H.). First, make and blind bake a tart shell. I used a rectangular tart pan to better fit the asparagus. Next, trim the asparagus to fit the shell, then cook them in boiling salted water for about 15 minutes or until just tender. Don't overcook them because they're going into the oven later.

Above and below, cooked asparagus spears wrapped in jambon cru.

When the spears have cooled, wrap them two by two in a slice of jambon de savoie (or any other cured raw ham that you like). Next, make a custard with two eggs, 10 cl of milk, 10 cl of crème fraiche, and about 50 grams of finely grated parmesan cheese. Add pepper to taste, but don't add salt - the cured ham is quite salty already.

Lay the wrapped asparagus gently into the custard filling.

Pour the custard into the tart shell and arrange the wrapped asparagus on top. Bake in a pre-heated 220ºC oven for about 15 minutes. Let cool a bit and serve with a green salad. You can slice the tart any way you like depending on how many people you're serving.

Lunch is served - it was good, too !