
Most gluten-free pastry is fragile and very high glycaemic, meaning it raises your blood sugars quickly so I wanted to find an alternative that held together and had a crispy crumb when you cut into it. This pastry is based on ground almonds so is more nutrient and fibre dense than regular pastry and will be better for your blood sugars too. Best of all you do not need to roll this shortcrust pastry and you can simply spread out it with a spoon.
Ingredients
Pastry
250g ground almonds
25g butter (room temperature)
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Filling
1 red onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 eggs
220g full-fat natural yogurt
100g cubed feta cheese
25g grated Parmesan cheese
200g asparagus spears
salt and pepper
Method
- Turn the oven to 180°C Fan/ 200°C Conventional.
- Add all of the pastry ingredients to a food processor and gently mix. The mixture should stick together easily and not come apart when pressed.
- Grease the sides of a 22cm/ 9inch flan dish and line with a round piece of baking parchment.
- Add the pastry to the base, and spread evenly with a spoon until the base and sides are equally covered. Fork the base a few times to create air holes.
- Add a circle of baking paper to the pastry and add some baking beans. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes remove the beans and the paper and pop back in the oven for a further 10 minutes to set. Next make the filling.
- Finely chop the onion and sauté in a frying pan of olive oil until clear and soft.
- Cook the asparagus spears in some salted, boiling water until al dente, this is usually around 5 minutes, depending on how thick the spears are. Cut the spears to size so that you can arrange them on the tart and slice the rest thinly ready to add to the filling mixture.
- Add the eggs, yogurt, salt and pepper to a food processor and mix GENTLY until combined. Do not over process at this stage. You can also whisk the ingredients together in a bowl. Add any remaining asparagus.
- Pour the filling mixture into the pastry case.
- Sprinkle over the feta cheese cubes and arrange the asparagus spears on the top decoratively. Next grate over the Parmesan cheese if using.
- Return to the oven for 35-40 minutes. Remove from oven when golden in colour and completely set in the centre.
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