Making it through the first year of parenthood is a huge achievement, so when my daughter turned one this month we knew we deserved a celebration. What better way to celebrate than to share a lovely spring day with friends and family, good food and champagne, and these fresh creamy tarts — perfect for the high-tea themed party and featuring her favourite food!
When food is this simple, the ingredients should be perfect. When designing the filling for these, I called on a few of my favourite providores for their fresh produce; a beautifully creamy ricotta from Paesanella, some home-smoked trout and fresh peas from Marrickville markets. The tart shells can be homemade if time permits, or otherwise bought as the perfect shortcut – I absolutely love these thin shortcrust cases from Pasteles Bakehouse.
Ingredients:
2 cups fresh ricotta
2 cups cooked peas, some reserved for garnish
Zest of 2 lemons, finely grated
2 fillets of smoked trout, flaked
40 tart shells, homemade or store-bought
Chives, finely chopped for garnish
Method:
1. Place ricotta, 1.5 cups of peas, lemon zest, salt and pepper in a food processor and blitz lightly until you have a smashed consistency. Be careful not to overwhip, or you will lose all the lovely texture from the peas. Alternatively, mash these together by hand.
- Flake the smoked trout into large pieces ensuring you remove all fine bones.
- Place a dollop of the smashed pea mix into readymade tart shells, top with flaked trout, chives and a few peas. Serve immediately.
Note: This filling would also be perfect as the topping to a large puff pastry or filo tart.
Words and photo by Jada Bennett-Cross