Leek Tarte Tatin

A lovely summery lunch dish to serve with salad and a good dollop of garlic mayonnaise. Although it looks complicated this recipe is actually very easy to make, especially when you use bought puff pastry (even in lockdown – no one has time to make puff pastry from scratch!).

Serves 4 (as a side) or 2 for a full main

Ingredients:

• 1/2 block of shop bought Puff Pastry (most are vegan but double check when buying)
• 1 Large Leek
• 2 tbsp Plant Based Butter
• 1 tsp Sugar
• 1/2 Preserved Lemon
• 2 tsp Oregano
• Salt and Pepper

Method:

*You need a medium sized metal or cast iron frying pan for this recipe as it needs to go in the oven*

1. Start by rolling out your puff pastry into rough circle until it is about 1cm thick. Cut a circle the size of your frying pan and then place on a flat tray and leave the pastry to chill in the fridge until ready.
2. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
3. Wash the leeks well and then slice off the bottom. Slice the leek in half and then in half again lengthways. Then slice into batons lengthways – you should get about 3 from each quarter. Repeat with the other half of the leek.
4. Heat your butter in your frying pan on a medium heat until melted before adding in the sugar. Add the strips of leeks into the pan – flat side down until you have an even layer in the bottom, that covers the base of the pan. You might need to trim a few pieces to make them fit.
5. Cook the leeks on a medium heat until you can see that they have started to caramelise – don’t turn them over as you only want them to caramelise on one side. It should take about 8-10 mins.
6. Finely dice the preserved lemon and sprinkle on top of the cooked leeks with the oregano, salt and pepper. Then remove from the heat.
7. Remove the pastry from the fridge and place on top of the leeks, tucking in the edges of the pastry around the leeks. You might need to trim some of the excess pastry if you have a little too much.
8. Once your leeks are nice and snug in their pastry blanket – cut three slits in the top of the pastry to let the steam escape and bake in the oven for 30 mins until the pastry is golden on top.
9. Leave to cool for about 5 mins before turning out onto a plate and digging in.

Fran

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