ONE O F MY FAVORITE LUNCHES IS A savory tart accompanied by a green salad. A few years ago, I spent several weeks working on a pastry assignment in Cascais, a small seaside town outside of Lisbon, Portugal. It was a quaint beach town with cobblestone streets and outdoor cafés that catered to the many tourists who flooded the town in the summer. Tucked away on a side street was an eclectic French café that served incredible lunches. The menu, which changed daily, was mostly composed of savory tarts, tartines, and salads. It soon became my hangout spot and to this day is the inspiration for many of the savory tarts I make.
Swiss Chard, Pear & Gruyère Tart
Servings
8 Servings
Ingredients
- ½ cup 70 g superfine brown rice flour, plus more for dusting
- 1/3 cup 45 g quinoa flour
- 1/3 cup 35 g almond flour
- 2 tablespoons potato starch
- 2 tablespoons tapioca starch
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 stick 8 tablespoons or 110 g cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 6 to 8 tablespoons ice water
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium leek sliced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 4 cups 175 g chopped Swiss chard (remove tough ribs but use the tender ones)
- 2 tablespoons white wine
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
- 2 eggs
- 1 tablespoon sweet rice flour or Cornstarch
- 1/2 cup 125 ml whole milk
- 1/2 cup 125 ml unsweetened coconut milk
- 1/2 ounce 15 g Parmesan cheese, finely grated
- 2 ounces 60 g Gruyere cheese, grated
- 1 medium Bartlett or Bosc pear thinly sliced, preferably with a mandoline
- Microgreens for garnish
Instructions
- make the crust
- 1 Add the first seven ingredients to the bowl of a food processor. Pulse a couple of times to aerate. Add the cold butter to the flour mixture and pulse ten times, until the butter is cut into pea-size pieces.
- 2 Add 6 tablespoons ice water and pulse until the dough comes together. It will not form a ball. Check the dough to see if it holds together when pressed between your fingers. Add more water if needed.
- 3 Turn the dough out onto a work surface, knead it a couple of times, and press it together to form a disk. Wrap it in plastic wrap. Press it down to flatten it and refrigerate it for 30 minutes.
- 4 Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Lightly dust your (preferably cold) work surface with superfine brown rice flour and roll out the dough to a ¼-inch thickness. If the dough cracks while rolling, pinch it back together. Fill the tart mold with the dough and press it gently into the mold. Cut off excess dough. Refrigerate the dough for 15 minutes.
- 5 Blind-bake the tart by covering it with a piece of parchment paper and topping the paper with pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the pie weights and paper and continue baking for another 10 minutes, until lightly golden. Let it cool slightly while preparing the filling. (Leave the oven on.)
- prepare the filing and bake the tart
- 1 In a large sauté pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the leek and garlic and cook until tender, about 5 minutes.
- 2 Add the Swiss chard, white wine, ½ teaspoon of the salt, ¼ teaspoon of the black pepper, and nutmeg. Cook until the chard is wilted and most of the liquid has evaporated, about 5 minutes. Set aside to cool slightly.
- Makes one 9-inch round tart or one 14 by 4-inch rectangular tart
- 3 Whisk together the eggs, sweet rice flour, milk, coconut milk, Parmesan, 1 ounce (30 g) of the Gruyère, remaining ½ teaspoon salt, and remaining ¼ teaspoon black pepper.
- 4 Fill the tart crust with the Swiss chard and top with slices of pear. Lightly press the filling down and pour the custard over it. Top with the remaining 1 ounce (30 g) Gruyère.
- 5 Bake at 375°F (190°C) for about 25 minutes, until golden brown. Let it cool slightly before cutting. Serve the tart garnished with microgreens.
Silly of me*
Actually the Holon foods cheese is the same one with the lenient hechshered cheese; silly off; the other one is good afaik
Thanks for sharing, I might try that. I used to get one that was imported from Switzerland, but I don’t see it anymore. Either way the kosher cheese market is constantly evolving with all hashgachas so let’s hope this one is good and if not keep asking and they will come.
Thank you for your reply. While I would be perfectly happy to eat that cheese myself, I can’t use it in my kitchen because of other people’s standards; based on its website, it seems that it is produced based on the leniency that all cheese is kosher if its ingredients are kosher (so it is presumably gevinas akum, if you believe in that). Based on my research, you can order strictly kosher Gruyere online from Holon Foods or Agis Goodies. You can also buy it at Holon Foods in Brooklyn if you are in NYC. I can’t speak for the quality as of now.
I find it sporadically, almost like there is a season, but when I do I find it at Stop & Shop by The Good Life I think is the name.
Where do you find good kosher gruyere in the US?
a nice dairy alternative
I love chard and so does my daughter. We are both gluten free and I am glad to see you cut down on the rice flour in this recipe inasmuch as gluten free people ate so many rice products they have to cut way down now because of the arsenic in the rice. Can you believe they are still farming with arsenic? Did you read the article in Consumer Reports on arsenic in rice? I am going to try to make this delicious tart without eggs because my daughter can’t have eggs. People who can eat everything are lucky but they say gf people are more sensitive to other things too like music and literature.
I think these flovors together would be absolutely yummy and I will have to make this.