Imported asparagus is available all-year round, but there’s nothing quite like the flavour of homegrown asparagus, which is in season in May and June. This delicate vegetable is so beautiful to look at, easy to work with and cooks quickly. Just trim off the woody base of the stalks and take it from there. It marries really well with the nutty flavour of Italian Parmigiano cheese.

Asparagus & Parmigiano Tart

1 quantity of savoury pastry (below)

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½ beaten egg for brushing pastry

8-9 spears of asparagus

300ml (10fl oz) cream

150ml (5fl oz) milk

4 large egg yolks

2 tbsp freshly grated Parmigiano

Salt and black pepper

1. Preheat the oven to gas mark 6/200°C/400°F and grease a 23cm/9in round Pyrex pie dish.

2. Make the pastry according to the instructions below.

3. Line the pie dish base and sides with the pastry and trim to fit exactly. Keep any extra pieces of pastry as you may need them later.

4. Bake the pastry blind for 15 minutes in the centre of the oven. There is no need to use baking beans for gluten-free pastry.

5. Next, check if there are any holes in the pastry that appeared while you baked the pastry and that you may have missed earlier. Fill any holes with a little of the spare pastry and then brush over with the beaten egg.

6. Turn the oven down to gas mark 4/180°C/350°F.

7. Steam the asparagus and leave to cool.

8. Whisk the cream, milk and egg yolks together, add the grated Parmigiano and season.

9. Spoon the cooled asparagus into the pastry case, then pour the custard over the asparagus. Bake in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until puffed up and just set and browned.

10. Leave to cool for 10 minutes, then serve with a dressed green salad.

Savoury pastry

Makes enough for six tartlets or for a base and top of a 13cm/5in pie

If you are nervous starting off handling the gluten-free pastry, using cling film is a great comfort. This pastry is great for quiches and savoury tarts.

200g (8oz) Denise’s Delicious flour blend (see below)

Pinch of salt

1 tsp xanthan gum

100g (4oz) butter/margarine, at room temperature

1 large egg

2 tbsp cold water, if needed

1. Sieve the flour, salt and xanthan gum into a medium-sized bowl.

2. Cut the butter/margarine into cubes and add to the flour mixture. Using an electric mixer, on speed two, work the butter/margarine into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs.

3. In a small bowl, beat the egg lightly with a fork.

4. Add the egg to the mixture and using the mixer, bring together in a ball. One egg is sufficient for this and the mix will form into a ball. However, if the egg is not very large, then add the water one tablespoon at a time. Do not add the water if the mix does not need it – you don’t want a sticky pastry.

5. Wrap in a piece of grease-proof paper and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes. When ready to roll out, roll on to a board floured with potato flour. If you are nervous about handling gluten-free pastry, then place it between two pieces of cling film and roll out.

Denise’s Delicious flour blend

Makes approximately 850g (2lb) flour blend

This is a great, all-round white flour. If you are avoiding corn, then use tapioca flour instead. There are lots of decent white gluten-free/wheat-free flours on the market, but all perform differently. I have blended this to suit my recipes here.

250g (10oz) rice flour

25g (1oz) tapioca flour

275g (11oz) potato flour

275g (11oz) corn flour

13g (½oz) teff flour

1 tsp gluten-free (GF) baking powder

1 teaspoon guar gum

1. Sieve all the ingredients into a bowl and mix well.

Recipes by Denise O’ Callaghan from her book Recipes from my Gluten-Free Kitchen (Mercier Press). For more information, see www.delicious.ie