Leftovers Tart

Food traditions are amongst my very favourite. The moment when you bite into your first mouthful of a much-loved dish that you always look forward to, that always evokes a blissful moan of delight. The ever reliable flavour that fills your mouth and takes your heart back to a bank of memories that reliably bloom every time you eat that cherished dish. I have many special memories that always take me back to my own moments but for my kids (who’re far from kids at 19 & 21) and the family I’ve created its plain old sausage rolls. I only ever use this recipe from Donna Hay with a few family tweaks, any attempts to try a different one always roundly rejected. Every year our national football grand final is always accompanied by a large batch of these, indeed I wouldn’t even bother trying to sit down to watch the game with the family without them. BUT without fail every time I make them I get the amount of pastry wrong….every single time!! Now normally it’s a small amount and I ahem may or may not roll up the pastry with some jam and throw it in the oven with the rest for a little cook’s treat. This year however I really got it wrong, I had a whole sheet left over and that’s a little too much to justify as a treat. So with head in the fridge looking for inspo and an armload of bits and pieces this little tart was born. I shared it on Instagram with a pic of sausage rolls and at best thought we might chat about the footy but instead I’ve received many requests for a recipe for what I first called Leftovers Tart but have now dubbed Frittata Tart because ‘leftovers tart’ lacked an enticing quality all recipe titles should have. With a shell of flaky puff pastry, some quickly assembled bits and bobs and an eggy filling similar to a frittata texture and flavour, it’s delicious warm or cold is super flexible and fast to throw together and looks fancy. Oh and it uses up some of those fridge filing leftovers.

From the time I decide to make this I can get it in the oven in 20 minutes of minimal effort. A great one to use for impromptu get togethers or busy nights.

Ingredients:

1 Sheet of frozen puff pastry thawed. You may need to patchwork this like the one on Instagram but that’s totally fine, it all tastes the same.

1 large handful of baby spinach leaves. I like to remove the stalks and tear the leaves up a bit but you do you.

2-3 Tbs of bought caramelised onion jam.

8 eggs

¼ C of Milk, cream or sour cream. Whatever you have in the fridge will work.

1/2 tsp of finely chopped herbs of your choice. I’ve used thyme here but your favourite will be delicious too.

Cheese, I’ve used half a wheel of leftover Brie. A handful of grated cheddar, dobs of goats cheese, or crumbled feta will also work beautifully. Or again you can mix it up and use up leftovers

Method:

Preheat oven to 190c. Grease a 35cm rectangular tart tin or 26cm round tart tin.

Line prepared tin with thawed frozen pastry happily patchworking where needed. It’s ‘rustic’ remember.

Layer fresh spinach leaves on the bottom of the case. Drop spoonfuls of onion jam over the spinach.

Beat eggs and milk/cream/sour cream together with herbs. Pour over the spinach and jam. Lay slices of cheese on top and pop in the oven for 30 minutes. After 15 minutes turn oven down to 180.

Serve warm or cold.

Notes:

*This recipe is great to use up the left over bits from yesterday’s cheese platter so long as they’ve not been sitting in the sun for too long.

*If you don’t have onion jam you can slowly caramelise a small, sliced onion over very low heat until translucent and soft a little oil and biter. For the last few minutes add 1 tbs of balsamic vinegar and half a tsp of sugar stir and dissolve sugar for a few minutes and cool slightly before using. 

*You can also use platter condiments like quince paste or the like in place of the onion jam.

*The pictured tart has prosciutto added. If you have some similar sliced meat you’d like to add do so before pouring over the egg mixture.