This is a great picnic or weekend lunch tart that can be used to breathe new life into odds and ends ingredients that need using up! Serve it warm or cold, with a salad or some delicious homemade chutney.

INGREDIENTS

1 quantity Sour Cream Pastry or 2 sheets frozen, ready rolled Puff pastry

1 large bunch silverbeet*
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
375g ricotta
2 large eggs, beaten
Handful fresh herbs: Italian parsley, dill, basil (soft green)
Cheese: a good handful grated tasty, ½ block crumbled fetta**
Handful of green olives, halved
Zest of a lemon
Salt and Pepper

METHOD

Pastry:

Start by rolling out your pastry and fitting it into a deepish 24cm tart tin (a loose base is always good). Try not to stretch the pastry as you’re rolling and lifting it. Pop your lined tin into the fridge for a good 30 mins until well chilled.

Heat the oven to 190C, prick the pastry base lightly with a fork then line with baking paper and fill with pie weights. Bake for 20 mins or until edges are lightly golden, remove from the oven, lift out the baking beans and paper and pop your tart shell back into the oven for another 10 mins or so until the base is cooked and dryish. Reduce oven to 180C.

Filling:

Heat a large saute pan over a medium heat, add olive oil. Saute finely diced onion (and silverbeet stems if using), adding a pinch of salt, for 10 mins until softened and verging on lightly golden (add a little more oil if you need to). Add crushed garlic and saute for a further minute or two. Remove to a bowl and leave aside to cool.

In a bowl, mix ricotta, eggs, cheeses, lemon zest, olives, herbs and seasoning until well combined. Add the cooled silverbeet mixture. Tip into the tart shell and bake in a 180C oven for approximately 40-50 mins or until filling has just set. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a good 20 mins in the tin then remove to a platter or board and serve.

* I often finely chop the stems of my silverbeet if it’s in good condition ie not too old or woody and add this to the onion mixture whilst sautéing. Feel free to add spinach and other greens that need using up. Just make sure it's drained well before adding it to the egg mixture.

** This is also a great opportunity to use up scraps of cheese that you may have drying out in the back of the fridge (don't forget a good cheese vault will keep your cheese in good condition for much longer) - a good grating of parmesan, a few slices of Brie or Camembert, little odds and ends from a cheese board etc. Blue should be used judiciously as it can take over!