Spinach Feta tart

Last Sunday night I wanted to use up some leftover home made Feta cheese and decided to throw some bits and pieces together, praying it would come together in the end. This spinach-feta tart or quiche turned out to be surprisingly good actually. Well, according to my loving hubby that is...

Have a go at this recipe and decide for yourself!

Ingredients:
For the dough;
- 1 cup plain flour
- pinch cayenne pepper
- 100 grams cold salted butter, finely diced
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 Tbsp cold water

For the filling;
- Fresh spinach, couple of handfuls (I used native NZ spinach, but you can also use frozen spinach. I haven't got a clue how much you need with frozen spinach though...)
- 1 slice Feta cheese or other goat's cheese (approximately 150-200 grams) cubed
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 clove garlic
- knob of butter and splash of olive oil
- pinch of nutmeg
- salt and pepper to taste
- 3 eggs
- 250 ml milk or cream

Preparation:
Grease a 25 cm tart tin with removable bottom and put aside. Mix flour, salt and cayenne pepper in a bowl or food processor. Add the diced butter, egg yolk and water. Mix until the dough comes together and shape into a ball. Dust your bench top lightly with flour and flatten the dough with a rolling pin until your dough is large enough to line the base and sides of the tin. Roll the dough gently over your rolling pin and let it drop on your tin. Because of the addition of the egg yolk your dough will taste less fatty than the original flaky pastry and is less likely to break, which is ideal for dummies like me!
Chill the pastry for at least half an hour in the fridge (preferably one hour), this will prevent the dough from shrinking.

In the meantime prepare the filling.
Heat the butter and oil in a frying pan and lightly sauté the onion and garlic until soft but not browned. Add the spinach and cook until leaves are turning soft, then add salt and pepper to taste and a pinch of nutmeg. Don't overdo the nutmeg as this is a distinct flavour that can easily overtake the whole dish. Set aside to cool. Preheat oven to 200ºC.

Prebake the shell blind by lining the inside of the tin (on top of the pastry) with baking paper and put weights on top of the baking paper. I use uncooked rice, but you can also use dried beans. (Both the beans and rice can not be used for cooking after baking in the oven, but you can keep on using them for blind baking all the time.) If you really want to splash out you can also buy specific pie weights (little ceramic balls) in a cooking store, but they don't come cheap. Bake the shell for 8-9 minutes on 200ºC until the pastry is set. Remove the rice or beans and baking paper and prick the bottom with a fork, this will prevent the bottom from going soggy and bake for another 2-3 minutes. Remove from the oven. Reduce the heat to 190ºC.

In the meantime you can finish the filling. In a mixing bowl mix the eggs and milk or cream. Add the onion-spinach mixture and feta. Stir until evenly combined and pour in the tart shell. Bake for about 25-30 minutes or until the crust turns golden-brown. Let it cool for about 3-5 minutes before taking off the outer tin.

Serve with a green salad (preferably with a nutty taste such as mesclun, rocket etc) drizzled with extra vierge olive oil and balsamic vinegar. And of course accompanied with a good glass of wine!

-This tart keeps well in the fridge for several days and you can reheat it for about 1 minute in the microwave and for 5 mins in a 180ºC oven to crispen up the pastry.