Asparagus, cheese and onion tart

I notice that I have been a little bit lazy with asparagus posts this spring and early summer. I have been cooking quite many asparagus dishes, but somehow they haven't made it to the blog. Okay, there have been at least these asparagus recipes: Spring Risotto, Asparagus Pasta and Very Green Salad, but still there's room for more.

Today I made an asparagus, cheese and onion tart, as I have been planning to make such a tart or pie for a while. I wanted to make it quite rich and cheesy, but still have asparagus proudly presented. This is it folks!

Ingredients

4 shallots

2 garlic cloves

10 g butter

½ tsp salt

½ tsp ground white pepper

½ tsp Herbes de Provence

400 g shortcrust pastry

1 egg

100 ml milk

150 g Red Leicester and Cheddar cheese mix

230 g bunch of green asparagus

Method

Cook the chopped shallot rings and finely chopped garlic in butter until soft. Season with white pepper, salt and Provençal herbs. Allow to cool again.

Roll out the pastry thinly and place it into a Ø 25cm pie tin that has been lined with baking parchment.

Clean and cut the asparagus into halves and beat the egg with the milk. Mix the shallots with the grated cheese and spread on the pastry base.

Pour the milk and egg mix on the top of the cheese and shallots and place the asparagus on the top. The asparagus will then cook in the oven, no other preparation needed. I know they look slightly dehydrated on the photos, but they were still fully succulent and full of flavour.

Bake at 180C for about 40 minutes. Then let cool a little bit and serve when still warm. Enjoy!

Your VegHog