Recipe by Sarah Epps
This tart is beautiful way to meet the transformation of Spring, when foraged nettles are at their peak. Make it when you want to turn something heavy into something nourishing, whether that is a quiet grief or simply the first gathering of the season, and serve it as an appetizer, a light lunch, or a dish to share.
This recipe is inspired by Renée Erickson's nettle and lentil salad from A Boat, A Whale, and A Walrus and Suzanne Goin's swiss chard tart from Sunday Suppers at Lucques. The flavors of the salad are combined here with the technique of the tart into one savory sweet, nourishing dish. This nettle tart is vegetarian, made with butter, goat cheese, and egg, so it is not suited to vegan or gluten-free tables.
Serves 6 to 8.
Ingredients
- 1 box frozen puff pastry (preferably all-butter like DuFour)
- 1 raw egg mixed with 1 tbs. water
- Grapeseed oil
- 2 bunches of nettles, about 8 cups raw
- 2 shallots, peeled and sliced thinly
- ½ cup dried currants
- 2 tbs. amaro
- 2 tbs. sherry vinegar (can substitute white or red wine vinegar)
- 4 oz. soft goat cheese
- 4 oz. crème fraîche
- Zest of 1 lemon
- Salt and pepper to taste
Equipment
- Parchment paper
- Baking sheet
- Paring knife
- Pastry brush
- Large bowl
- Tongs
- Large sauté pan
- Large cutting board
Process
- Partially thaw the puff pastry. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper. When the dough is pliable enough to work with, unfold it on the parchment paper. Take a sharp paring knife and score the pastry around the edges. Use a pastry brush to brush raw egg mixed with water onto the edges of the dough, about a 2 inch border on all sides. Cover the dough with plastic wrap (you may be able to reuse the wrap the dough came in) and place in the refrigerator.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees (if your oven has a convection bake setting, use that). In a small bowl, soak the currants in the amaro and sherry vinegar. Fill a large bowl with water and carefully submerge the nettles in the water, using tongs to handle them (or cover your hands in plastic produce bags). Agitate the nettles until the dirt clinging to them settles to the bottom of the bowl. Change the water and repeat twice more until there is little dirt settling.
- Heat a large sauté pan with a few tablespoons of grapeseed oil. Using tongs, transfer the clean wet nettles to the pan and cook on medium high until they are wilted. Add a few more tablespoons of water for them to steam if they look dry. When they are dark and look cooked through, turn off the heat and let them cool in the pan.
- While the nettles are cooling, mix the goat cheese, crème fraîche, and lemon zest together, and add salt and pepper to taste. Slice the shallots if you have not already.
- Transfer your cooled nettles to a cutting board. In the pan the nettles were in, turn on the heat and add more oil or butter, and then the shallots. Sauté the shallots for a few minutes until golden and soft, then add the currants and their liquid and turn the heat to high to reduce the liquid to a syrupy thickness. Chop the nettles and remove any woody stems.
- Take the dough out of the refrigerator and remove the plastic wrap. Spoon the goat cheese mixture onto the tart, leaving a one quarter inch border. Layer on the nettles, and then the currant shallot mixture. Sprinkle with a little flaky salt and fresh pepper. Transfer to the oven and bake until thoroughly brown and crispy on the bottom; if it is not crispy on the bottom, the dough will be gummy and unpleasant to eat. Check after 20 minutes and keep going until it is crispy, turning down the heat if you need to in order to keep the top from burning.
- When the tart is done, remove it and slide it onto a cutting board to slice it into rectangles the size of your choosing. Enjoy as an hors d'oeuvre, a side dish, or a light lunch with a salad.
