• 1 round of premade, roll out pie dough
• 1 10-inch tart pan (or 10-inch pie pan)
• parchment paper
• dried beans as pie weights
• 12-15 stalks of asparagus
• 1/2 cup diced roasted red peppers
• 4-ounces goat cheese
• salt and pepper

Procedure:

Asparagus tart

Watch and learn as Chef Dan Eaton makes a savory tart with asparagus, goat cheese, roasted red peppers and eggs.

Then prick the bottom of the chilled dough with a fork, line it with parchment paper and add some dried beans to that to weight it down, and put it on the center rack of the preheated oven.

While the shell is partially baking for 10 or 15 minutes, cut the bottom inch or two off of 12 or 15 stalks of asparagus; cut those crosswise into bite sized pieces. Add them to a pan with a little bit of water and put that on the stovetop on high heat, with a tightly fitting lid.

While the asparagus is cooking, crack 3 large eggs into a mixing bowl and add 1 cup of half-and-half to that, with a little salt and pepper, and whisk it up. After the asparagus has been steaming for 4 or 5 minutes, turn the heat off and drain off the water.

Leave the lid off of the asparagus so it doesn't keep cooking, and then pull the tart shell out of the oven and take the parchment paper and beans out of the shell and place it back in the oven for another 4 or 5 minutes.

At some point, you'll need to dice about 1/2 cup of roasted red peppers and to assemble the tart, sprinkle the cooked asparagus into the bottom of the shell with the roasted red peppers and 4 ounces of crumbled goat cheese and finish by adding as much custard as the shell will take. Then place it back on the center rack of the oven. It should take about 30 to 35 minutes to bake.

Hints:

This technique and amount of custard will work with all kinds of fillings. Use a pie pan if you want instead of a tart pan or use a premade pie dough that already comes in a pan.

Serves 8