Blue Cheese and Walnut Tart with Vincotto Flavour Pearls

Freshly baked Pastry is definitely one of the good things in life. Our recipe for Blue Cheese and Walnut Tart with Vincotto Flavour Flavour Pearls is a deliciously simple one that you will definitely make more than once!
Buttery Puff Pastry topped with piquant Blue Cheese and crisp Walnuts marry just beautifully with the rich Raisiny flavour of our Limited Edition Vincotto Flavour Pearls. Unless you decide to make you own Puff it’s a quick dish to prepare for last minute guests.

What you’ll need

• 1 pkt Puff Pastry (I used Careme), semi-defrost
• Blue Cheese – a generous slice per tart
• Walnuts – 1 cup, roughly broken up
• Fresh Thyme, chopped
• Honey – drizzle
• Egg yolk with a dash of water, to glaze the Pastry edges before baking
• Parsley, chopped
• Vincotto Flavour Pearls

To do

Pre-heat your oven to 200C. Line a baking tray with baking paper or a silpat mat. 

Using a round cutter or a knife around something round cut out the required number of pastries. I used a 9cm cutter. You could certainly serve a square or rectangle shape too (less wasted Pastry then). Place them onto the lined tray. Carefully score a border of aprox 1 cm around each piece with a small knife. Lightly brush the edge with some of the Egg Yolk and Water. This will give a lovely colour after it’s cooked.

Using a fork dock/prick the centre of each Pastry thoroughly.  Add the Blue Cheese, a slice or crumbled. Whatever works to cover most of the docked part of the Pastry. Season this with plenty of Salt & pepper and a good sprinkle of chopped fresh Thyme. This is ready for the oven now. You can prepare to this point and refrigerate them until your guests arrive if you like. *If you really dislike Blue Cheese feel free to substitute with something else. Goats Cheese or a Brie would work well*

Next

Pop the Pastries into the oven for a good 5 minutes. Quickly take them out and add a sprinkle of the Walnuts and a drizzle of Honey onto each then back into the oven for at least 5 minutes or until the Pastry is puffed and golden. 

*beware if you have a powerful fanforced oven – my pastries blew around a little so not quite as pretty as I’d planned!

To serve

These tarts taste their best served a little warm or at room temperature. Use a lifter and place the Pastries onto serving plates. Add a little sprinkle of freshly chopped Parsley and finish with a spoonful of Limited Edition Vincotto Flavour Pearls before serving.

Until next time

From the Peninsula Larder Team

“I’m living on things that excite me, be they pastry, or lobster, or love…”