GUEST BLOG: Tarts with a heart

By guest blogger ADELE JORDAN

On Saturday, in another great session run by Kim from Islington Mill Cafe, we cooked up broad bean, feta and mint tart, asparagus, pea and goats cheese quiche, and red onion, pea, herbs and goats cheese quiche.


First Kim got us making the pastry, something we were all quite wary of, given our bad past experiences, but by grating the butter into the flour and being gentle with the crumbing but brave in the rolling, we all did ourselves proud. We baked the cases blind using two methods: either ‘gently’ prodding the pastry with a fork (that’s where I’ve always gone wrong before!) or using uncooked dried chick peas to weigh it down (but make sure to carefully label them Baking Beans for future reference as they’re toxic once only partially cooked).



Next, we started on the mixture, podding the peas and fresh broad beans, roasting the red onions, crumbling the cheeses and chopping up the mint and thyme. The smells were just wonderful. Mixing the various combinations together, and not forgetting the juice of a lemon that brings out all the distinctive flavours, we tipped the different mixtures into the various cases made up of either puff or shortcrust pastry and put them in the oven to bake through.


We were all blown away by the tastes of all those lovely ingredients and so inspired - I even cooked the tart for Sunday dinner, from memory, and it turned out a treat! Here are just some of the comments from people who took part...

‘It was a great confidence builder for me as a kitchen novice.’ Tony Cunningham

‘It was a lovely experience, bringing people of all skill levels to a level that everyone was comfortable with.’ Harjinder Kaur

'Fantastic morning, inspiring to learn some new cooking techniques and use seasonal delicious ingredients.' Ruth Cammish

'Please continue to do great courses... Thanks so much!' Rachel Hockey

'Really inspirational. Thank you!' – Rachael Maskill

'The food was delicious. Cracking Good Food is a brilliant project – long may it last!' Richard Frost

'Really enjoyable and affordable.' Ellen Fenton