Herb & Spinach Tart
(Inspired by Persian Frittata Kuku Sabzi)
My friend makes this incredible green herby frittata. I never tried or heard of it until she made me taste it. I have already mentioned in the past that green is my favourite colour and I always get drawn to green food. For this reason, when I discovered a frittata that was bright green and not all kinds of different shades of yellow I was really intrigued.
The classic version is made using an awful lot of coriander which is a complete no go for us as Philip absolutely hates it. With this in mind and with my constant craving of all sorts of pastry, I decided to give it a go and prepare a hybrid version of the Persian Frittata enclosed in a flakey shortcrust shell.
I intentionally called it Herb & Spinach tart and not Persian Frittata tart as I changed some of the ingredients and I don’t want to offend anyone. Being half Italian I know well how bastardising one of your national dishes can feel. I know we sometimes are a bit obsessive about staying true to the origin of a dish but I also feel that this is the reason why we have preserved our traditional dishes so well. With this in mind, I am happy to say that the original and traditional Persian Frittata is what inspired my green & herby tart.
Go green or go home
Ingredients
For the pastry
200 plain flour
1 tsp sugar
1 pinch of salt
140 butter
75 chilled water
1/4 tsp white vinegar
For the filling
100g parsley
3 tbsp of olive oil
100g dill
120g spinach
50g chives
Salt & Pepper
1 bunch of spring onions
6 eggs
2 tbsp flour
2 tbsp Greek yoghurt
2 tbsp double cream
2 tsp baking powder
Step by Step
For the crust
Cube the butter and chill it in the fridge for 30min
Chill the water before you use it. The colder it is the better your pastry will turn out
If you are using the stand mixer, mix the flour, salt and butter. If you are doing it by hand rub the butter in the flour, salt.
Add in the water & vinegar in your stand mixer and mix. It will come together very quickly. The same applies if you are doing it by hand
Shape the pastry as a disc and chill it for 2 hours
Grease an 8 inches deep tin with butter. Roll our your pastry and line your tart tin and chill it in the fridge for 30min
Preheat the oven at 180C. Cover you pastry tin with parchment paper and add baking beans (or rice if you don’t have baking beans). Blind bake your tart for a total of 30min. In the final 10min bake it without the baking bean so the bottom of your crust will be nice and golden
Whisk an egg and brush the bottom of your pastry. Put it back in the oven for 5min. This will coat the base of the tart and will prevent sogginess
For the filling
Finely chop all the herbs and spinach. It’s a lot, so feel free to use the food processor to finely chop everything
Finely chop the spring onions. In a pan, add the olive oil and sauté the onions for a few minutes. Add in the herbs and spinach and cook for a few minutes
Separately, beat the eggs and mix them with the yoghurt, double cream, flour and baking powder
Add in the cooked herbs and spinach in three separate batches, mix well and season with salt and pepper
Add your mix into the pastry shell and bake in a preheated oven at 180 C for 35 to 40 minutes
Tips & cheats
If you don’t want to go through the process of making the pastry and you are after something lighter you can always just bake the filling on its own in a tin.
Some of the herbs are light which means they’ll tend to float on the surface. Make sure you give one one last good stir with a spoon before you bake the tart.
You can enjoy this tart with a side of seasoned yoghurt. Season it as follows: 170g greek yoghurt, a pinch of salt and pepper, 1 tbsp of vinegar, 2 tbsps of olive oil and a sprinkle of dill.
