Fig & blue cheese tart

Fig & blue cheese tart

This extra special tart with crumbly walnut pastry makes a fabulous vegetarian dinner

Difficulty and servings

Easy

Serves 6 - 8

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 40 mins

Cook time

Cook 1 hr 55 mins

plus chilling
Vegetarian

Vegetarian

Method

  1. First make the pastry. Tip the flours into a food processor with ½ tsp salt and the diced butter. Pulse until you can't feel any lumps, then tip in the walnuts. Mix the egg yolks with 3 tbsp cold water, then dribble this into the machine while you pulse again until the pastry comes together. Tip the pastry out onto a floured surface, lightly bring it together into a ball, then roll out and line a deep 20-23cm tart tin with overhang. The pastry may crack, but just patch it back together, then cover and chill for 1 hr.
  2. To make the filling, melt the remaining butter in a large pan, then add the shallots and soften for 10-15 mins, until golden and squishy. Stir in the thyme for 1 min, then remove from the heat. Beat the eggs in a jug with the crème fraîche and cream. Crumble in the cheese and season with pepper and a small amount of salt.
  3. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Blind bake the pastry for 20 mins, remove the baking beans and paper, then bake for a further 15-20 mins until golden and sandy. Reduce the oven temp to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Add the cooled onions to the cream mixture and pour into the case. Sit the fig halves on top, cut side up, sprinkle with some more thyme and bake on the middle shelf for 1 hr-1hr 10 mins until the tart is browning and has a slight wobble - the cheese middle will firm up on sitting. Cool for about 15-20 mins, then remove from tin and serve with a green salad.
Try

Pastry

This crumbly, nutty walnut pastry is absolutely delicious, but a bit harder to work with than plain shortcrust. If you're nervous about making your own, simply buy a 500g ready-made pack, roll to a rough rectangle, top with the chopped walnuts, then fold in half and re-roll to line the tin.

978 kcalories, protein 20g, carbohydrate 46g, fat 81 g, saturated fat 41g, fibre 5g, sugar 8g, salt 1.35 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, Vegetarian Christmas 2009.

Try 3 issues of Good Food magazine for £3 - subscribe now!

Latest comments and suggestions

  • Binder photo Pauline

    26 November 2009

    Pauline commented on this recipe

    Can this be made for Xmas now and frozen? I wonder how the figs would survive.

    Flag as inappropriate

    Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  • Binder photo Flossie

    26 April 2010

    Flossie rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    This was really yummy, although I made the pastry without the wholemeal flour. I will definitly cook this again.

    Flag as inappropriate

    Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  • Binder photo elzebub

    20 May 2010

    elzebub commented on this recipe

    Soooo good! Also made it without the wholemeal flour and it was delicious...YUM!

    Flag as inappropriate

    Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  • Binder photo Heidi Good

    12 January 2011

    Heidi Good rated and commented on this recipe

    3 stars

    This was very nice and even better cold the following day. My flan dish is a little smaller than recommended so I made a smaller one and put it in the freezer. I shared that last night with a friend and it was still delicious. The figs seemed to survive without problem. My next challenge is to reduce the fat content as now that Xmas is over, it's back on the diet!

    Flag as inappropriate

    Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  • Binder photo Ellen

    06 February 2011

    Ellen rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Outstanding. I made this as the veggie option for a dinner party and all the carnivores were clamouring over it. I did the cheat version of the pastry - delicious.

    Flag as inappropriate

    Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  • Binder photo Angie

    25 November 2011

    Angie rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Wonderful, both warm from the oven and cold the next day. I made this for guests and it went down very well with everybody. I increased the quantities by half again and used a 30cm flan tin, which gave 8-10 servings for a main course. I also did the cheat's version of the pastry (using frozen gluten-free pastry) and it turned out very well.

    Flag as inappropriate

    Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  • Binder photo Freshpants

    28 November 2011

    Freshpants commented on this recipe

    I'm the worst pastry chef on the planet and although my tart wasn't pretty around the ages, it was truly delicious.

    Flag as inappropriate

    Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  • Binder photo Dave

    23 March 2012

    Dave commented on this recipe

    I made this for the Christmas lunch starter for 8, served cold with salad leaves. It went down a storm. The pastry was a doddle to make though just a bit fiddly to roll out, but easy to fill the cracks once in the dish.

    Flag as inappropriate

    Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  • Binder photo lentils

    21 November 2012

    lentils commented on this recipe

    This took forever to make but was totally delicious. We ate it for Xmas day and again on Boxing Day. Went down a storm as a special veggie treat and the meat eaters loved it. Big winner in our house!!

    Flag as inappropriate

    Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  • Binder photo susie

    03 December 2012

    susie rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    This was so easy and yummy I made it for guests staying at our B&B here in France and they loved it. Figs and Walnuts came from the garden!

    Flag as inappropriate

    Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  • Binder photo Mark James Taylor

    30 December 2012

    Mark James Taylor commented on this recipe

    Looks stunning. Popular with Veggies and meat eaters alike. Worth making the walnut pastry, it's yummy and really makes the tart special.

    Flag as inappropriate

    Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

Leave a comment or suggestion

You must sign in or register to leave a comment.

Sign in / Register

Difficulty and servings

Easy

Serves 6 - 8

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 40 mins

Cook time

Cook 1 hr 55 mins

plus chilling
Vegetarian

Vegetarian

Ingredients

  • 200g plain flour , plus a little extra for rolling pastry
  • 100g plain wholemeal flour
  • 175g cold butter , 150g diced into chunks
  • 100g walnuts , roughly chopped in a food processor
  • 3 eggs , plus 2 yolks
  • 400g shallots , sliced
  • 1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves, plus extra to decorate
  • 200ml pot crème fraîche
  • 200ml double cream
  • 140g blue cheese - Danish Blue is a good vegetarian one
  • 3-4 figs , halved, cut sides brushed with a little oil
Print this recipe
Add to your binder

978 kcalories, protein 20g, carbohydrate 46g, fat 81 g, saturated fat 41g, fibre 5g, sugar 8g, salt 1.35 g

Advertisement

Your binder

Here are three other great reasons why to sign up:

  • You get an online binder, where you can store all your favourite recipes and create menus.
  • You can add your own recipes to this site for others to try; plus, rate and make comments on recipes, and share your views on our blog.

Follow Good Food

Advertisement

All about Good Food

Magazine

Good Food Magazine

Subscribe to Good Food magazine - enjoy 100+ triple-tested recipes delivered to your door, every month.

Order today, and receive your first 3 issues for just £3

On TV

Foodie TV

See your favourite chefs on Sky Channel 247, Virgin TV 260 and find their recipes at goodfoodchannel.co.uk.

Good Food Apps

Good Food Apps

For Good Food on the go, download our apps to your phone or portable device.
Find out more here

Buy ingredients

With just one click, the full list of recipe ingredients will be put into a basket at your choice of provider. Choose from:

mySupermarket Compare prices and choose a retailer you wish to buy them from.

Ocado Let Ocado deliver all you need for this recipe, right to your door

Tesco Buy all the ingredients from our recipes through your Tesco online shop.

new

Asda Shop with Asda? You can now buy ingredients for our recipes via your Asda online shop.

In association with the above providers. Terms and conditions apply.

Close