Baby Spinach Tarts
Makes 20
 Ingredients
PARMESAN PASTRY
- 1 1/2 cups/185 g flour
- 4 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
- 100 g butter, chopped
- 2 - 3 tablespoons water - iced
SPINACH FILLING
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 2 spring onions, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 8 spinach leaves, shredded
- 125 g ricotta cheese, drained
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1/3 cup/90 mL milk 1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
- 4 tablespoons pine nuts
Method
1 To make pastry, place flour, parmesan cheese and
butter in a food processor and process until mixture resembles
fine breadcrumbs. With machine running, slowly add enough
water to form a soft dough. Turn dough onto a lightly floured
surface. Knead briefly. Wrap dough in plastic food wrap and
chill for 30 minutes.
2 Preheat oven to 200 C/Gas 6.
3 Roll out pastry to 3 mm thick. Using an 8 cm fluted
pastry cutter, cut out twenty pastry rounds. Place pastry
rounds in lightly greased patty tins. Pierce base and sides
of pastry with a fork. Bake for 5-10 minutes or until lightly
golden. Reduce oven temperature to 180 C/Gas 4.
4 To make filling, heat oil in a frying pan over a
medium heat. Add spring onions, garlic and spinach. Cook,
stirring, until spinach is wilted. Cool.
5 Combine spinach mixture, ricotta cheese, eggs, milk
and nutmeg in a bowl. Spoon filling into pastry cases. Sprinkle
with pine nuts. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until tarts are
golden and filling is set.
Cook's tip: The pastry cases can be made up to 3 days
in advance and stored in an airtight container. Or make the
cases several weeks in advance and freeze them. The filling
mixture can be made earlier in the day, then covered and kept
in the refrigerator until just prior to cooking.
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