Egg, cheese and greens tart (Tarte al djote)

This is a cheese, egg and silverbeet (chard) tart from Nivelles, a town in Walloon Brabant, south of Brussels. This rather rustic tart has its origins in medieval times.

Credit: Regula Ysewijn / Murdoch Books

• makes

  4

• prep

  30 minutes

• cook

  25 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Although many old texts mention cheese tarts and cheese tarts with green leafy vegetables, there is no mention of the name ‘al djote’, which is perfectly normal in culinary history, as people only felt the need to name every single dish much later … The only thing we know for sure is that its current recipe was in existence in 1918, when the Restaurant des Allliès was advertised as ‘the oldest house recognised for delicious al djote tarts’.

Tarte al djote is traditionally made with a boulette cheese (or bètchèye in Walloon). This cheese is made by mixing raw skimmed milk into fermented curds, leaving it to dry. Its texture is dry and crumbly.

Ingredients

For the pastry

• 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) plain flour
• 125 g (4½ oz) salted butter, softened
• 11 g (⅜ oz) instant dry yeast
• 10 g (⅜ oz) salt
• 2 eggs
• 125 ml (4 fl oz) full-fat milk

For the filling

• 400 g (14 oz) cheese (see Note)
• 75 g (2¾ oz) salted butter, plus extra butter, to serve
• 1 egg, plus 1 egg yolk
• ½ tsp ground white pepper
• Pinch (⅛ tsp) salt
• 35 g (1¼ oz) silverbeet (Swiss chard), leaves only, finely chopped
• 25 g (1 oz) French shallots (eschalots), finely chopped
• 20 g (¾ oz) flat-leaf parsley leaves, finely chopped

Use four 20 cm (8 inch) top diameter x 18 cm (7 inch) base diameter x 2.5 cm (1 inch) depth pie tins, greased and floured.

Resting time: 30 minutes or overnight.

Instructions

1. To make the pastry, combine the flour, butter, yeast and salt in a large bowl or the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook and knead until you get a coarse mixture. Add the eggs and milk and knead for 10 minutes until the dough is smooth. Cover the bowl and set aside to rest for 30 minutes or overnight in the fridge.
2. For the filling, crumble or grate the cheese and leave it out to get ‘sweaty’.
3. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat and brown it (beurre noisette). Set aside to cool so that the butter doesn’t cook the eggs.
4. Mix the cheese with the cooled melted butter, the egg, egg yolk, pepper and salt. Fold the chard, eschalots and parsley through and set aside.
5. Preheat the oven to 210°C (410°F). Do not use the fan setting.
6. When the dough has risen, knock out the air, divide in 4 and roll out one piece of dough as thin as you can. Do the same for all 4 pieces, then lay them over the greased tins, press into the base and cut away the excess pastry. Pierce the bases all over with a fork.
7. Spoon in filling to just under 1 cm (⅜ inch) deep in each pie.
8. Place the tarts on a rack on the lowest shelf of the oven and bake for 20 minutes until the crust has a blush. Transfer to a wire rack and set aside to rest for 5 minutes for the cheese to coagulate so you can safely remove the tart from the tin.
9. Serve warm, with a knob of extra butter on top to melt. Pair with a full-bodied red wine (Burgundy is traditional) or a dark monastery beer.
10. The next day you can reheat the tart in a 200°C (400°F) oven for 10 minutes.
11. The baked tarts freeze incredibly well: just thaw in the fridge and reheat.

Note

• Tarte al djote is made with a boulette cheese (or bètchèye in Walloon). This cheese is made by mixing raw skimmed milk into fermented curds, leaving it to dry. Its texture is dry and crumbly. I know that it might be hard to source the boulette cheese for this tart, but since it is descended from centuries-old recipes where the cheese wasn’t specified and cooks knew best which cheese to use for the recipe, it is totally fine to swap the traditional cheese for grated mature cheddar or gouda, or a similar cheese local to you, if you think it will work better.

Image and recipe from Dark Rye and Honey Cake by Regula Ysewijn, photography by Regula Ysewijn (Murdoch Books, $55)

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.

Although many old texts mention cheese tarts and cheese tarts with green leafy vegetables, there is no mention of the name ‘al djote’, which is perfectly normal in culinary history, as people only felt the need to name every single dish much later … The only thing we know for sure is that its current recipe was in existence in 1918, when the Restaurant des Allliès was advertised as ‘the oldest house recognised for delicious al djote tarts’.

Tarte al djote is traditionally made with a boulette cheese (or bètchèye in Walloon). This cheese is made by mixing raw skimmed milk into fermented curds, leaving it to dry. Its texture is dry and crumbly.