Tarte aux blettes
Bonjour à tous et toutes! Welcome back to Mised Out!
I was at the farmers market this weekend and happened across glorious piles of rainbow swiss chard. While the leaves are a consistent dark green, the stems vary from green-white to yellow to red to purple. Chard is fantastically healthy with loads of vitamins A, K, and C. In culinary terms, chard sits somewhere between spinach kale – which means kids (and a fair number of adults) will refuse it on principle alone.
Which is a shame because properly cooked, chard can be absolute delicious. A native to the Mediterranean region, chard has been a staple in French cooking for years. But what would be the best way to highlight the riot of color in the rainbow chard I’d found? A simple tarte (only 4 ingredients!) from Trish Deseine seemed ideal because it beautifully focuses on the chard.
Deseine has a great vegetarian cookbook out now: La (bonne) cuisine veggie et vegan d’une omnivoire réticente (mais amoureuse). The title should give you a few clues about Deseine’s style – veggie forward, humorous, and practical. Most of the recipes are ready in less than 60 minutes, and very approachable for home cooks. Definitely a staple in The Kitchen these days!
The tarte is straightforward to make, and delicious as-is. And since it takes 30 minutes to prep and cook, it’s ideal for a weeknight dinner. You can also make your own version by adding traditional pizza ingredients like mushrooms, ham or black olives. Start with the basic recipe here and then let your imagination run! Just keep an eye on the tart as it’s cooking, since the swiss chard can burn quickly if left in the oven too long.
And now dear readers, without further adieu, Trish Deseine’s tarte aux blettes.
Tarte aux blettes
Ingredients
- 1 pâte à tarte or à pizza prête à l'emploi rectangulaire
- 5 cuil. à soupe de sauce ou de coulis de tomates
- 12 petites feuilles de blettes lavées et essorées
- Huile d'olive
- Sel, poivre
- 3 cuil. à soupe de parmesan râpé
Instructions
- Prêchauffez le four à 200° C.
- Étalez la pâte sur une plaque de four tapissée de paper sulfurisé.
- À l'aide d'une cuillère, répartissez la sauce ou le coulis de tomates sur la surface de la pâte. Déposez délicatement les feuilles de blette au-dessus, en ouvrant la partie verte, en alternat les couleurs et en pressant les côtes dans le sauce pour bien les étuver pendant la cuisson. Assaisonnez, ajoutez quelques gouttes d'huile d'olive et le parmesan, puis enfournez pour 20 à 25 min, en veillant à ce que les bords ne brûlent pas.
- Ôtez du four et servez avec un pesto et/ou du parmesan fraîchement râpé.