Spinach and telemea cheese tart

Name: Spinach and telemea cheese tart
Ingredients: 350 g flour; 1 teaspoon baking powder; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 80 g butter or margarine; 1 egg; 3 tablespoons cold water; 1 tablespoon oil; 500 g salted telemea; 2 eggs; 400 g spinach; 2 cloves garlic; 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper; 1 egg yolk; 2 tablespoons milk; 1 tablespoon poppy seeds

Salad - Spinach and telemea cheese tart by Andra I. - Recipia

Raw spinach goes straight into the filling, and this spinach and telemea cheese tart comes out with a firm center and a golden lattice top. I choose telemea, a Romanian brined cheese, by how salty it is, not by how white it looks. Prep: 25 minutes. Cook: 30-35 minutes. Rest: 30 minutes. Total time: 85-90 minutes. Serves: 8. About 490 kcal and 17 g protein per serving.

Ingredients

For the dough

350 g flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
80 g butter or margarine
1 egg
3 tablespoons cold water
1 tablespoon oil

For the filling

500 g salted telemea
2 eggs
400 g spinach
2 cloves garlic
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

For the top

1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon poppy seeds

Preparation

1. Mix the flour with the baking powder and salt. Add the butter, egg and cold water, then knead until you have a fairly firm dough that doesn’t stick. 2. If the telemea is too salty, rinse it and leave it to drain well. Blend it with the 2 eggs, then add the spinach, finely chopped garlic and pepper; blend for another 2-3 minutes, until smooth. 3. Heat the oven to 200°C. Roll out three quarters of the dough into a round sheet. Grease the tart tin with 1 tablespoon of oil and dust with flour, then lay in the dough with the edges raised slightly. Prick it here and there with a fork. 4. Spread the filling over the dough. Roll out the remaining dough and cut it into strips for the lattice. Mix the egg yolk with the milk, brush the lattice and sprinkle with poppy seeds. 5. Bake the tart for 30-35 minutes, until the lattice is golden and the filling has set. 6. Leave it to cool in the tin for 30 minutes, then transfer it to a serving plate.

Notes

Frozen spinach should be thawed and squeezed well before blending; fresh spinach should be dried after washing so it doesn’t water down the filling. Telemea varies a lot in saltiness: rinse it only if it’s too salty, then leave it to drain well. For a drier filling, choose firm telemea that breaks into pieces, rather than soft, wet cheese. You can replace the poppy seeds with the same amount of sesame seeds. The dough contains gluten, and the filling contains dairy and eggs, so this tart isn’t suitable for a meal without them. With a simple green salad, a slice is more like a savory pie than a custard tart. I prefer baby spinach, because there are no fibrous stems among the pieces of cheese. Covered, it keeps in the fridge for up to 3 days; you can bake it a few hours ahead and leave it to cool in the tin.