Crispy Camembert Tart with Marjoram, Asparagus and Chard

(Vegetarian)

Simon’s mom was nonplussed when the camera came out, and then bemused. She chuckled over it, the way one would over a private joke, sporadically and without warning, throughout the meal.  Mostly when she was biting into the tart. At one point she might have muttered, in her crisp Queen’s English,  “Can cheese say cheese?”  My mom, on the other hand, wanted to get in on the game, helping to arrange the fork and sprinkle a crumb here and there. “Oh, this plate looks really nice with the green stuff in the pie. Is that spinach?  And the yellow rim matches the egg.”  Simon, of course, had learned long ago to refrain from saying anything that could make things take any longer. He knows that when the camera comes out, it’s nearly time to eat.

It was a belated Mother’s Day Tea Time.  To do a proper British tea, I would have had to come up with seven courses. Simon’s mother, who is a proper Brit,  agreed that the American version would be lovely jubbly.  And so we settled for two courses, plus a smattering of teas.

First course: poppyseed scones.  They highlighted the bergamot and citrus notes in the Lady Grey tea that was served alongside.  Mine weren’t lemony enough so I made a lemon cream garnish.  To accomplish his I added lemon rind, lemon extract, and then, out of necessity, a pinch of confectioner’s sugar, to the cream I was whipping up. Though I’m not sharing that recipe today I tell you this for a reason: I learned something. I feared that the cream would curdle as soon as the acidic  lemon was added, and in fact it did. But after a minute or so of whipping it all emulsified again, and it turned out to be rich, smooth and bright.

Second course, then, was this Camembert tart with parsley, chard, marjoram (the green stuff my mother spoke of) and asparagus, plus a few mushrooms. It was ad hoc, pieced together with what I had bought at the market earlier that morning or what I was able to snip from the backyard.

I am fond of tarts, except for the problem of a crust. I often find that store bought puff pastry dough leaves me wanting to swab out my mouth with a paper towel. I really wanted to avoid that — but not by making my own from scratch. I’m not that Slow a Foodie.

Then I hit upon an idea: pastry sheets. Right, so what really happened is that I accidentally grabbed them instead of pastry dough.  True serendipity. It was perfect, and I was chuffed. And here’s why I think it worked so well: the sheets have to be buttered individually – and laid one at a time – which means that I could decide how much to grease them and how thick to pile them. Lisa at Lisa is Cooking also pointed out to me, during a recent email discussion, that if they’re cooked hot and cooked till brown she thought the unctuous factor would be reduced, and that sounded about right to me. So I made sure to cook them well and oil them lightly, and the crust was crispy and the color of dark caramels, and it flaked into tissue-paper crumbs on the plate.

The thing that makes this tart special is the Camembert.  A lightly-aged, bloomy-rind cheese, Camembert is very similar to Brie. Both are creamy and straw-colored and represent the ultimate decadence in cheese. The primary difference between the two is that Camembert is produced in smaller wheels, which ultimately does affect its flavor.

Because Camembert is made is smaller pieces, it loses moisture faster (whereas a true Brie gets softer as it ages) and therefore the (very subtle to begin with) flavor is concentrated faster in Camembert. It’s also saltier to my tongue – probably for the same reason.  Unfortunately a true Brie or Camembert is nearly impossible to come by in the US (hey Gilda – can you get it in Canada?) because of laws governing raw milk. In the US, cheese made with raw milk must be aged at least sixty days before it can be sold; Camembert and Brie, if aged that long, would take on the qualities of hazardous waste. In the US, then, these cheeses are made with pasteurized milk and therefore lack some of the complexity of a true raw milk cheese.

Happily, very good substitutes are available. I like Ile de France, which I was introduced to a year ago when the company sent me a sample. Since then I’ve found both the Camembert and the Brie at my Trader Joe’s, and both are rich, gently flavored, a touch salty and undeniably luxurious.

Camembert Tart with Market Chard and Asparagus and Backyard Marjoram and Parsley

Can you tell I’m pretty excited about being able to get food locally again? My favorite local spot is the pots on my front porch – I feel very Jamie Oliver-esque, leaning out the window to snip off dinner.

The mushroom variety you use here is entirely up to you. Note that wild mushrooms have stronger flavor – which will pair nicely with the Camembert. I went with baby portabellos this time.

The Recipe:
About 16 sheets of phyllo puff pastry
1-2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 leek, diced (white part only)
4 tablespoons fresh marjoram, chopped
4 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
3 large leaves of chard
4 mushrooms
8 ounces fresh asparagus, bottoms snapped off
2 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
4 ounces cream or half and half
4.5 ounces Camembert, sliced thinly
Salt and black pepper, freshly ground
Freshly ground Parmesan

Preheat oven to 350.  Brush a round pie plate with oil, then layer the pastry sheets, brushing each one with melted butter and rotating the plate slightly after each sheet is placed so that you end up with equal thickness around the edges. After you have laid about 12 sheets, fold over the remaining sheets and place them in the center of the pie plate so that all the pastry is used to thicken the bottom of the tart. You’re aiming for a sturdy base with thin, delicate sides.

Dice the leeks, using just the white part. Leeks need special cleaning, as their papery layers grow sort of like rings on a tree, trapping in the dirt particles as they expand. Make sure you rinse between each layer then.

In a skillet, sauté the garlic and leeks on medium heat for about 3 minutes. Stir in half the parsley and marjoram and the mushrooms. Add more oil if necessary and lower heat just slightly. Cook till mushrooms are soft, about 4 minutes. Add the asparagus and cook for another minute or so (if the asparagus is very fresh this is all it will need; you can test it by trying to eat an uncooked piece. If it offends you, then you’ll need to cook a bit longer). Stir in the chard and stir it until it’s wilted.

Stir the cooked vegetables into the pastry crust and distribute them evenly across the tart. Layer the cheese across the top of the vegetables.

Beat together eggs, yolk, cream and remaining parsley and marjoram. Add fresh pepper and salt to taste. Whip well with a form then, pour this over the vegetable and cheese mix.

Bake for approx 20 minutes until the cheese has melted and the egg mixture is set and golden — the pastry dough should be deep brown and crispy. Remove from oven and immediately grate some Parmesan on top. Add another round of fresh ground pepper. Allow to sit for about 10 minutes before serving – long enough to set, but not so long that it gets cool.

Serve with tea and scones and you’ll have a right proper British repast.