Feta and asparagus tart

A perfect picnic dish – an open-faced feta cheese, tomato, and asparagus tart. Great for sharing, though you may want to keep it all to yourself.

You’ll need:

• 1 sheet puff pastry
• 1 egg
• 1 large tomato
• about 6-7 thin/young spears of asparagus
• a large block (about 9-10oz) French or Greek (much stronger flavor) feta cheese
• 3 oz mild whipped cream cheese
• salt, pepper
• olive oil

1. Drape the pastry in a 8-inch pie plate. Weigh down the pastry and blind bake at 400F for 15 minutes.

2. In the same oven, quickly roast the asparagus (tossed with olive oil), for about 10 minutes until bright green and glossy.

3. Make the filling: crumble the feta and using a fork, mash it together with the cream cheese and egg (reserve a tiny bit of the egg for the egg wash). Season, but make sure not to add too much salt since the feta is already fairly salty.

4. Slice the tomato fairly thinly and trim the asparagus, if necessary.

5. Once you pastry shell is baked, cool slightly. Spread about 2/3 of the filling in the pastry, then layer the asparagus on top. Top with remaining cheese filling and tomato slices.

6. Brush the pastry with the reserved egg (mixed with a little bit of water) using a pastry brush.

7. Bake in the 400F oven until golden, about 25-30 minutes.

Enjoy hot or cold. We had our tart on the lawn in Prospect Park  – it was  a beautiful day.