This savory spring asparagus tart is the perfect way to highlight the bounty of the season. It sits in a buttery, flaky crust with a cheesy gruyere and ricotta filling.
I’ve spent the last month cooking through and taking inspiration from some real brilliant cookbooks. My latest deep dive has been Taste and Technique by Naomi Pomeroy, a self-taught chef who started the underground supper club craze in—you guessed it—Portland. She had amazing wins and painful crashes in her career, and in the cookbook she shares the building blocks she’s learned along the way to becoming a professional chef. Her chicken breast recipe, brined and basted and finished in the oven, is the first time I’ve made chicken breast that I didn’t want to claw out of my mouth because it was so dry. Her technique for cooking salmon produced a fish so delicious and buttery that I’ll never make salmon any other way. I trusted her enough to make this pseudo puff pastry dough, even though I’ve traditionally struggled with doughs like this. But that’s what I’m spending my time on now: actually learning something, making something new, growing my own repository of ideas and recipes and techniques to feed the people around me. 
Savory Spring Asparagus Tart
- Total Time: 1 hour 55 minutes
- Yield: 6 to 8 servings 1x
Description
This savory spring asparagus tart is the perfect way to highlight the bounty of the season. It sits in a buttery, flaky crust with a cheesy gruyere and ricotta filling.
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
- 1/2 cup cold (straight from the refrigerator) crème fraiche or sour cream
For the filling:
- 1/4 cup gruyere cheese (shredded)
- 1/2 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoon chives (chopped)
- 12 thin spears of asparagus (woody ends snapped off)
- Olive oil
Instructions
- In a food processor, pulse together flour, salt, and baking powder. Add a few cubes of butter at a time and pulse 15-20 times to incorporate. Continue to add butter and pulse 15-20 times until butter is broken up into small, pea-sized pieces. Add crème fraiche directly from the refrigerator and pulse a few more times until fully incorporated.
- Form dough into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap. Tap the dough on the counter to form into a 3 by 5 inch rectangle, then flatten the top to create an even shape. Place dough in refrigerator to chill for at least 1 hour or up to 24.
- Unwrap the plastic and rest dough for 15 minutes. Lightly flour your work surface and roll dough into a 6 by 9 inch rectangle with the long edge parallel to the countertop. Fold the rectangle in thirds so that the folds are vertical (like a book). Rotate the dough 90 degrees and roll out into a 6 by 9 inch rectangle again. Repeat the fold, and rotate once more. Roll out into a rectangle that’s about ¼ inch thick.
- Gently transfer dough to a 13 by 4 inch fluted tart pan. Press dough into edges and trim, leaving about ½ an inch overhang as the dough will shrink. Prick all over with a fork, then place into freezer for 15 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 425F. Bake dough for for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 375F and bake for an additional 10-12 minutes, until pastry is golden brown. Remove from oven.
- In a small bowl, mix together gruyere, ricotta, pepper and chives. Spread mixture gently into the center of the dough. Arrange asparagus spears on top, drizzle with olive oil and a little more black pepper. Bake for 2-3 minutes, until cheese is a little melty. Serve immediately.
Notes
Dough recipe adapted from Taste and Technique by Naomi Pomeroy.
- Prep Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: Side
