Tourte de Blettes (Chard “mince pie”)

Classic French recipe that opens up the world of possibilities in leafy desserts…! Many variations, with the possible addition of cheese diverging from the mince pie theme

  • Leaves – Chard: stripped of the stems; washed, wilted, squeezed of as much liquid as possible, chopped
  • Core fruit – apple or pear: peeled, grated, squeezed out
  • Nuts – pine nuts is classic but pecan can work, toasted
  • Currents – raisins, soaked in liqueur – I like to use Pedro Ximenez; brandy is classic; Pernot might make sense
  • Citrus – lemon zest, or orange
  • Sugar – nothing too dark, have even tried using freeze-dried pollen
  • Spice – cinnamon or nutmeg or other winter warm spice
  • 1 or 2 eggs, beaten, to tie it all together
  • Pastry – sweet shortcrust pastry or one made with olive oil (and even yeast) for more savoury theme

    Options
    Classically has Parmesan sometimes – in that case, making a pastry with olive oil works well

Gas 5 / 190C
can use many different dish types – make encased tart
~30mins

Notes
no need to pre-bake pastry
You want the filling to not be wet, and may need to add something to soak any liquid up. Perhaps a nice flour, oat, crumb or powder (boabab?!)
dust with icing sugar when cool