Asparagus and ricotta tart with herb pastry

This unusual quiche comes from Great British Bakeoff star Flora Shedden's really charming cookbook Gatherings

Flora writes: "This tart is a beautiful fresh spring bake. It is much lighter than a traditional quiche due to the mixture of ricotta and crème fraîche.

You can use dried herbs, but I really recommend having pots of fresh ones dotted around the house. They are easy to maintain and really lift dishes like this.

The pastry can be used in any savoury tart or quiche for something a bit different to a regular shortcrust.

For the pastry

100g (3½oz) cold unsalted butter, cubed
150g (5½oz) plain flour, plus extra for dusting
40g (1½oz) wholemeal flour
10g (¼oz) cornflour
2 teaspoons chopped fresh herbs (such as basil, thyme and sage)
2–4 tablespoons milk
salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the filling

250g (9oz) asparagus, chopped diagonally into thirds
100g (3½oz) peas or shelled broad beans
200g (7oz) ricotta cheese
100ml (3½fl oz) milk
100g (3½oz) crème fraiche
2 eggs
3 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs (such as parsley, chives, mint)
75g (2¾oz) spring onions, finely sliced
75g (2¾oz) Parmesan cheese, grated
50g (1¾oz) pine nuts
salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the garnish
chopped fresh herbs (such as purple basil, parsley and chives), optional

Put all the ingredients for the pastry bar the milk in a food processor. Blitz until combined, then blitz in the milk 1 tablespoon at a time. Alternatively, rub the butter into the flours until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs, stir in the herbs, gradually add the milk, then knead gently until the mixture comes together. Once the pastry dough is smooth, wrap it in clingfilm and refrigerate for a minimum of 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180ºC (350ºF), Gas Mark 4.

Bring a pan of water to the boil and cook the asparagus pieces for no more than 3 minutes. Scoop them out of the water and immediately plunge them into a bowl of cold water. Cook the peas or broad beans in the same water for no more than 1 minute. Drain and add these to the cold water.

In a bowl, whisk the ricotta, milk, crème fraîche, eggs, herbs and some seasoning together.

Roll out the pastry dough on a lightly floured work surface to a thickness of 2–3mm (¹⁄16–¹⁄8 inch). Transfer the dough to a 23cm (9 inch) loose-bottomed tart tin and gently press it into the edges of the tin. Run the rolling pin across the top edges of the tin to cut away the overhanging pastry.

Drain the vegetables and pat them dry. Scatter the sliced spring onion over the pastry with half the grated Parmesan. Now add the vegetables, reserving a few of the asparagus tips. Carefully pour the egg mixture on top. Don’t worry if the vegetables all move around – this is fine.

Top with the remaining grated cheese, the pine nuts and the reserved asparagus tips. Bake for 35–45 minutes until the filling is set and the pastry is golden brown. Garnish with a sprinkling of chopped fresh herbs, then serve.

What to drink: A Loire sauvignon blanc like Sancerre or Pouilly Fumé would be perfect with this. Or an English Bacchus white wine.

From Gatherings by Flora Shedden which is published by Mitchell Beazley at £25 (www.octopusbooks.co.uk). Image © Laura Edwards.

Beetroot, goats cheese and walnut salad

One of the most useful things you can have in your cupboard at the moment is vac packed cooked beetroot which you can buy in the fresh section of most supermarkets. Fortunately it doesn’t look that appealing so there hasn’t been a run on it despite the fact it’s relatively inexpensive (90p in my local Co-op).

You can use it to make a salad, as I’ve done here and, with the same ingredients, turn it into a dip. Or a borscht if you’re so minded (which would create a use for the liquid in the pack though you would obviously need to add stock too.)

In terms of ingredients - and this applies to all the recipes I’m posting at the moment - just remember you can always substitute whatever you’ve got. You could make this salad with ANY crumbly white cheese - or blue cheese come to that. And substitute hazelnuts for walnuts - or some chunky crusty croutons if you haven’t got or are allergic to nuts.

Beetroot, goats cheese and walnut salad for 1

25g or so of walnut pieces or toasted hazelnuts

Half a 250g pack of cooked beetroot

40-50g hard goats cheese, feta or other white crumbly cheese

A handful of rocket or other salad leaves

2 tbsp salad dressing (see below)

A few chives if you have them

A few grinds of black pepper if you're a bit of a pepper fiend

If you have the oven on for something else pop the walnuts in for 3-4 minutes to refresh them otherwise toast them for a couple of minutes in a dry pan. Remove one or two of the beets from the pack and break roughly into pieces with a teaspoon. (Just looks a bit nicer and more natural than cubing them.) Crumble the cheese with a fork. Arrange the leaves on a plate, arrange the beetroot pieces on top and spoon over half the dressing. Scatter the cheese and nuts over the top and spoon over the remaining dressing. Grind over some cracked black pepper (why the plate is looking so messy) and sprinkle over a few snipped chives.

For the dressing

1/2 tsp Dijon mustard

1 dessertspoon red or white wine vinegar

3-4 dessertspoons of olive oil

Salt and pepper

Put the mustard in a jam jar with the vinegar, 3 dessertspoons of the olive oil and salt and pepper and shake vigorously. Add a little more oil if you find it too sharp.

Beetroot, goat cheese and yoghurt dip

Serves 2-4 depending what else you’ve got on the table

Half a 250g pack of cooked beetroot

40g hard goats cheese or feta, cubed

1 small clove of garlic crushed or a pinch of garlic granules (optional)

1/4-1/2 tsp ground cumin

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp natural unsweetened yoghurt or kefir

Salt

Chop the beets roughly, put in a food processor or blender and pulse a few times to break up. Add the cubed cheese, garlic, if using, cumin and salt and whizz into a thick purée. Trickle in the oil while the motor is running as if you were making mayonnaise then add the yoghurt and briefly pulse. Tip into a bowl and serve with pitta, flatbread or crackers.

What to drink: Partly because of the goats cheese but sauvignon blanc goes really well with both of these. For other suggestions see

The best wines to pair with beetroot

Baingan Bharta - roasted smoky aubergine

I've been lucky enough to eat my friend Romy Gill's food on many occasions - she's an inspired home cook - so it's great to finally see her recipes in print.

This is one of her favourites from her lovely new book Zaika, which she describes as her 'ultimate desert island dish'.

Romy writes: The beauty of Indian food is that it not only has regional dishes but families cook each of these in so many ways. If you don’t like one method, you can just cook it another way! Baingan bharta with dal and roti would be my ultimate desert island dish; the perfect balance of smoky aubergine and the warmth of the green chillies is so divine.

The aubergines are roasted on the hob and then left to cool down before peeling off the skin and mashed; this recipe is how my mum made it, so I give her all the credit.

30 minutes

SERVES 3

2 medium-sized aubergines

6 tsp rapeseed oil

1 tsp cumin seeds

3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

3 medium onions, finely chopped

3 green chillies, seeds in, finely chopped

2 tomatoes, finely chopped

20g coriander leaves, finely chopped

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground turmeric

1 tsp salt

Roti, to serve (there is a recipe in the book)

Roast the aubergines over a gas burner on the hob over a medium heat using a pair of tongs to hold them, or under a preheated hot grill. Either way, turn the veg regularly for even roasting. Allow to cool, then when cool enough to handle, peel off the roasted skin. Mash the flesh in a large bowl.

Heat the oil in a pan, add the cumin seeds, then add the garlic and stir for 1 minute. Add the onions and chillies, cook for 4–5 minutes over a high heat and keep stirring. Once the onions are translucent, add the chopped tomatoes and coriander to the pan and cook for 3–4 minutes. When the tomatoes have broken down into the onions, add the rest of the spices and salt and mix together well. Finally, stir in the mashed aubergine and cook for 5 minutes over a medium heat.

Serve with roti.

What to drink: I'd probably drink lassi with this or one of the lovely soft drinks in the book but you could drink a light aromatic white like a sylvaner or riesling (I know Romy's favourite is the Kung Fu Girl riesling) or a rosé.

Extracted from Zaika: vegan recipes from India by Romy Gill, published by Seven Dials at £20. Photo ©Del Sneddon.

What wine to pair with curry: my top five picks

Watermelon, halloumi, lime-pickled red onions

There have been a lot of great veggie cookbooks this summer but one of the most useful is Genevieve Taylor's Charred which finally empowers vegetarians to enjoy barbecues as much as meat eaters. That said this isn't the recipe in the book that makes the most extensive use of the grill but it's such a sublime combination of ingredients it's really summer on a plate.

Gen writes: OK, I’ll admit that no actual vegetables were grilled in the making of this salad but I hope you agree it is worthy of inclusion. And, after all, grilled halloumi with almost anything is very much worth eating. You cangrill watermelon (useful to know if your melon is a little underripe), but I do prefer its texture when eaten raw.

Serves 6–8

1 small red onion, very thinly sliced

zest and juice of 2 limes

2 tsp caster sugar

1kg (2lb 3oz) watermelon, about ½ medium-sized one

4 tbsp olive oil

3 x 250g (9oz) blocks of halloumi, cut into 1cm (½ inch) thick slices

a small bunch of coriander (cilantro), leaves roughly chopped

a small bunch of mint, leaves roughly chopped

50g (½ cup) pistachios, toasted and roughly chopped

Put the onion into a small bowl with the lime zest and juice and the sugar, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Set aside for about 30 minutes while you prepare the rest of the salad.

Cut the watermelon into 1cm (½ inch) thick wedges, trimming off the rind as you go. Spread over a large platter.

Fire up your barbecue ready for direct grilling, or heat up a griddle pan on the hob.

Drizzle a little of the oil over the halloumi (save the rest for the salad), then place directly over the heat on the grill bars. Cook for 2–3 minutes, until seared, then turn over with a fish slice and cook the other side. Once the halloumi is cooked, cut each slice in half on the diagonal and scatter over the watermelon.

Sprinkle over the coriander, mint and pickled onion slices, drizzling over the lime juice from the bowl too. Scatter thechopped pistachios over the salad Finish with a generous drizzle of olive oil and a grind of salt and pepper and serve immediately,while the halloumi is still warm.

What to drink: Any crisp fresh white would be great with this from an albarino to a sauvignon blanc.

Extracted from Charred by Genevieve Taylor, published by Quadrille at £16.99. Photograph © Jason Ingram.