Leek Rarebit Tart

Pastry shell-

Place the flour into a mixing bowl, add the salt, cut up the butter into small pieces , stir through the butter and rub in with cool fingertips. Stir in the egg yolks and a little cold water to bring it into a pliable dough. .

Shape into a flattened disc and wrap in clingfilm and rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Roll out the pastry on a floured surface, the crust should be no more than 6mm/¼-inch thick and then used to line a flan tin which, in general, are no deeper than 4cm/1½-inches. Trim away excess pastry, line with a sheet of foil and baking beans.  Chill for 30 minutes.

Bake blind for 15-20 minutes in a preheated oven at gas 6/200c/400f, remove from the oven, and remove the foil and beans. Reduce the temperature of the oven to gas4/180C/160C Fan for about 10-15 minutes until dry to the touch. Now you are ready to fill and bake your tart.

The filling-

Brush the cooked pastry shell interior with the mustard.

Top with the cooked leeks.

Heat the milk in a pan, add the grated cheese, mustard and chilli powder and melt the cheese slowly over a low heat.  Remove from the heat and stir in the flour.  Mix well and return to the heat and thicken, stirring all the time.  Remove from the heat and cool a little, then whisk in the eggs.  Pour over the top of the leeks, top with a good crust of cheese and breadcrumbs and bake at 200c/180c Circotherm/gas 6 until bubbling and golden on top.

 

Serves 8

Ingredients

Pastry Case

250g plain flour

¼ teaspoon sea salt

140g chilled butter

2 egg yolks

3-4 tablespoons chilled water

Rarebit filling

Rarebit filling

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard for the tart base

3 Medium leeks, trimmed, washed and finely shredded sautéed in 50g butter

150ml full fat milk

1 teaspoon mustard powder

1/4 teaspoon chilli powder

30g plain flour

200g full flavoured hard cheese

3 medium sized eggs

Topping

50g full flavoured hard cheese mixed with 2 tablespoons of breadcrumbs and 1 tablespoons chopped herbs.