I love puff pastry tarts. The ease of just unrolling a sheet, scattering it with something delicious and giving it a quick stint in the oven, and dinner has almost cooked itself. This variation, with an olive tapenade-spiked cream cheese base, asparagus and eggs works as well for dinner as it does for a weekend brunch. If you’re a chilli fiend, a scattering of hot chilli flakes (or, indeed, sliced fresh chilli) won’t go amiss, either.
Asparagus tart with tapenade and eggs
Prep 15 min
Cook 20 min
Serves 4
320g ready-rolled puff pastry (ideally all butter)
150g full-fat cream cheese
3 heaped tsp black olive tapenade – I like Belazu
400g asparagus
1 tsp olive oil
Sea salt flakes
4 medium eggs
1 tsp aleppo chilli flakes (optional)
Heat the oven to 220C (200C fan)/425F/gas 7. Unroll the pastry on to a baking tray, using the paper it came wrapped in to line the tray. With a sharp knife, score a border all around the pastry 2½cm from the outer edge.
Mix the cream cheese and tapenade in a small bowl, then spread this all over the pastry up to the scored border.
Snap or cut the woody ends off the asparagus, tip the spears into a bowl, add the olive oil and a half-teaspoon of salt, and toss to coat. Arrange the spears all over the pastry, drizzle over the oil from the bowl, then bake for 15 minutes.
Take the tart out of the oven, make four holes and crack in the eggs. Turn down the oven to 200C (180C fan)/350F/gas 4, then bake the tart for six minutes more, until the egg whites are set and the yolks are set on top but still soft to the touch – they should be runny inside (if you prefer your yolks cooked through, give the eggs eight minutes instead, but be aware that oven temperatures vary, so check after six minutes to avoid overcooked, bouncy yolks).
Scatter the tart with some flaky sea salt and the chilli flakes, if using, and serve immediately.
