Crab and haloumi tart with sour cream pastry

This tart is great hot or cold, which is why I can take it to the park or a friend’s house. It's easy and impressive!

Credit: China Squirrel

• serves

  4

• prep

  25 minutes

• cook

  1:10 hour

• difficulty

  Mid

This recipe is such a treat! Even though it’s a tart as such, crab and haloumi really make it exciting. I first tried this recipe with my colleague Ish at his restaurant Gigi Baba, and now we feature the revised tart frequently at the Workers’ Food Room in Melbourne. We've changed it slightly and incorporated a sour cream pastry. We serve it with a cucumber, avocado and witlof salad dressed with Kefalotyri aïoli.

Ish's inspiration for this recipe comes from the pilavuna, which is a Cypriot haloumi pie. We use Ish’s homemade haloumi which makes them extra special.

Ingredients

Sour cream pastry

• 400 g (2 ⅔ cups) plain flour
• 250 g cold unsalted butter, chopped
• pinch of salt
• 200 g sour cream

Filling

• 100 ml olive oil
• 2 brown onions, thinly sliced
• 50 g feta, grated
• 100 g haloumi, grated
• 3 egg yolks
• 150 ml thickened cream
• 2 tbsp chopped parsley
• 150 g uncooked blue swimmer crab meat (see Note)

Chilling time 1 hour

Instructions

To make the sour cream pastry, place the flour, butter and salt in a blender and process until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add the sour cream and process just until the pastry comes together. Turn out on to a lightly floured work surface, shape into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap. Be careful not to overknead. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface until 5 mm-thick. Line the base and sides of a deep 17 cm tart tin with removeable base. Refrigerate for another 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, to make the filling, heat the oil in a saucepan over low heat. Add the sliced onions and cook for 10 minutes or until translucent. Season with salt, then cook for another 4-5 minutes or until the sugar has dissolved and slightly reduced.  

Place the feta, haloumi, egg yolks, cream and parsley in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Stir gently to combine.  

Preheat the oven to 160°C.

Scatter the onions, then the crab meat evenly over the tart shell then carefully pour in the cheese filling. Bake the tart for 50-55 minutes or just until the filling is just set.

Note

• Uncooked picked crab meat is available from good fish mongers. Alternatively, pick the meat from 2 uncooked blue swimmer crabs or 1 spanner crab. 

Photography, styling and food preparation by china squirrel. Recipe courtesy of Kirsty Chiaplias of The Workers' Food Room, Melbourne.

Tune into the SBS 2 Broadcast of Tropfest at 8:30pm on Sunday December 7.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

This recipe is such a treat! Even though it’s a tart as such, crab and haloumi really make it exciting. I first tried this recipe with my colleague Ish at his restaurant Gigi Baba, and now we feature the revised tart frequently at the Workers’ Food Room in Melbourne. We've changed it slightly and incorporated a sour cream pastry. We serve it with a cucumber, avocado and witlof salad dressed with Kefalotyri aïoli.

Ish's inspiration for this recipe comes from the pilavuna, which is a Cypriot haloumi pie. We use Ish’s homemade haloumi which makes them extra special.