Goat Cheese, Date & Walnut Tart with Hot Honey & Parsley Rough Puff Pastry.

 A goat cheese tart is a beautiful thing and this one is especially tasty using a good strong goat cheese and date and caramelised onion as a topping. And then there is the amazing hot honey that I drizzle over the top of it all.

 The tart has layers of flavour and depending on the type of goat cheese, will dictate the depth of flavour. Be brave and find a piece of strong cheese, it’s worth it.

 If you’re not into making pastry, use a shop bought ready rolled puff pastry sheet. This means there won’t be any parsley, but it is a lovely way to make a quick meal for those times when time is an issue.

 Go on, give it a go and enjoy your sweet life!

Serve hot or at room temperature

 What You Need.

 Parsley Rough Puff Pastry

•  250g Strong White Flour

• 250g Salted Butter – Cold & cut into small chunks

• 2 tbsp Dried Parsley

• 150 ml Cold Water Approx. – See Tip Box

• ½ tsp Salt

Only add enough cold water to bring it together ointo a soft dough - DO NOT KNEAD

 Hot Honey

•  350g Runny Honey

• 2 tbsp Dried Chilli Flakes

• 2 tbsp Cider Vinegar

 Tart Topping

•  150g Full Fat Cream Cheese – Room temperature

• 100g Strong Goat Cheese – Room temperature

• 100g Walnut Halves

• 12 Medjoola Dates – Stones Removed and roughly Chopped

• 3 tbsp Vegetable Oil

• 2 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar

• 1 Large Onion

• 1 Garlic Clove – Minced

• 1 tbsp Fresh Thyme – Leaves chopped

• Zest of 1 Lemon

• 1 Egg – For Egg Wash

• Malden Salt – To Taste – See Tip Box

• Fresh Ground Black Pepper – To Taste

Goat cheese, cream cheese and lemon zest together.

 How It’s Done

 Parsley Rough Puff Pastry

•  Place the flour, parsley and salt into a bowl and mix it all together.

• Put int the cold chopped butter and either use your fingertips (or a pastry cutting tool) to rub in the butter until the pieces are smaller and still visible.

• Make a well in the centre of the and add about half of the cold water

• Use a blunt knife to mix it together, before bringing it together with hands.

• Slowly add more water if needed

• The dough should be soft but not wet.

• It’s important not to over work the dough and only just bring it together without kneading it. – See Tip Box

• It should be possible to see the chunks of butter in the pastry.

• Leave the pastry in the bowl, place a piece of non- stick baking parchment on top of the dough and let it rest in the fridge for around 20- minutes – See Tip Box

• After its rested, add just a little flour onto a clean work surface and roll out the dough into a rectangle (about 12’ by 6’) – use as few rolls as possible to do this, the butter should still be visible at all times.

• Fold the bottom third of the pastry up to the middle and the top third of the pastry over the bottom fold.

• Repeat another two times and then wrap the pastry in cling film and let it rest in the fridge once more for at least 30 minutes.

Bottom 1/3 rd up and top 1/3 rd down.

 Hot Honey

•  Place the honey, chilli flakes and cider vinegar in to a saucepan.

• Heat very gently until it starts to come to a gentle simmer, stirring so it doesn’t stick to the bottom.

• Let it simmer on a gentle heat for 2 minutes, so the chilli flakes soften.

• Take it off the heat and let it cool for 2 minutes, before pouring it into a sterilised jar.

Heat everything for the hot honey gently

 Tart Topping

•  Place the goat cheese, cream cheese, lemon zest into a bowl and using a fork, mix it all together until all the lumps are gone and what’s left is a smooth mix of cheeses

• Place in the fridge until needed.

• Roughly chop the onion and put it into a frying pan along with the vegetable oil, and a pinch of the Malden salt.

• Heat on a medium heat until the onions are coloured and soft, scraping off any brown nits that stick to the bottom of the pan – don’t rush this stage. It will tale around 10-15 minutes to get the onions to the right level of brown – See Tip Box

• Turn the heat down to low and add the chopped dates to the pan, along with the balsamic vinegar, the minced garlic and the chopped thyme. Give it a really good stir, and add a good grind of fresh black pepper, and a pinch of Malden salt.

• Stir again and let it cook for around 3 minutes until the dates become soft.

Take your time cooking the onions.

• Remove from the heat and transfer to a bowl to get cold

• Line an oven tray with non-stick baking parchment and set it aside until needed.

• Remove the pastry from the fridge and dust the work surface with just a little flour.

• Roll the pastry out into a rectangle to fit the prepared oven tray – remember not to over work the pastry. It should still be possible to see the pieces of butter. – See Tip Box

• Lay the pastry sheet onto the prepared tray and use a blunt knife to make a mark (a border) about 2’ away from the edge, all the way around.

• Use a fork to poke holes all over in the middle bit of the pastry.

• Place the tray in the fridge for no less than 20 minutes.

Prick the centre with a fork

• Heat the oven to 200c

• Put the cheese mixture onto the middle of the pastry and spread it evenly over the centre rectangle.

• Next add the onion mixture, again spreading it evenly over the cheese mixture.

• Place the walnut halves over the top of the onion mixture, making sure to distribute them evenly.

• Turn the edges of the pastry over making sure not to get the pastry on the centre.

Fold over the edges before giving them them an egg wash

• Crack the egg into a cup and give it a beat with a fork.

• Brush the beaten egg over the edge part of the pastry.

• Put the tray into the hot oven and bake for 20-30 minutes until the pastry is a golden brown and the cheese can be seen to bubble slightly.

• Remove from the oven and generously drizzle over some of the hot honey.

• Let it cool for ten minutes before cutting.

• Serve hot or at room temperature.

• Add more hot honey if you want.

Store the hot honey in an airtight jar and give it a mix before using.

 Tip Box

•  How Much Cold Water – How much water needed is approximate

• To Taste – This is all about personal taste, so adding salt or pepper etc. Taste int before and after adding seasoning is how it works. Remember, its easy putting it in, but cant be taken out

• DO NOT knead the pastry – Pastry dough is not like bread dough it does not need to be kneaded.

Kneading pasty makes it tough to eat and in the case of rough puff, it will only melt the butter and it’s the butter which males the rise when it hits the heat.

• Covering the dough – Covering the dough when resting stops a crust forming on the surface. I use either cling film, non-stick baking parchment, or the paper used for the butter.

• Browning the onions – Taking time to brown the onions, is where the flavour happens. Brown means flavour and giving the onions love at this stage, will only mean added taste in the finished tart.

• Seeing the butter in the pastry – This is very important. It’s the butter within the pastry which once it hits the heat of the oven, will make the pastry rise and cause those lovely layers expected with rough puff pastry.

A tip to keep the pieces of butter is to only roll the pastry one way not back and froward

Sere with a fresh sprout salad