There are hundreds of events around the country that are being held to try and encourage people to live more sustainably. This year Climate Week are encouraging us all to try and eat low carbon meals. By eating locally produced, seasonal foods we can lower our carbon footprint. Also by eating less meat and dairy foods, as these have very high carbon footprints, we can help reduce our environmental impact. And of course one of the easiest ways we can help is by using our leftovers and making sure we don’t waste any food. Each year around 18million tonnes of edible food ends up in landfill. Around 1/3 of this waste is made by households so if everyone made the effort to use their leftovers we could help reduce the waste!
Here is a recipe for a delicious Rich Leek Tart from Christine Mosler, a local food writer based in Frome, Somerset,? who has lots of yummy recipes. Why not visit your local market or farm shop to get the most local ingredients possible. The cheddar we used is from a lovely local dairy, Wyke Farms which is about 10 minutes away from us here at Myakka.
Ingredients
1 pack fresh short crust pastry
500g trimmed leeks, sliced
50g butter
75ml single cream
75ml semi-skimmed milk
3 eggs
75g grated cheddar (we use Wyke Farms Mature by Nature Organic Cheese)
1 tsp Dijon mustard
salt and pepper
Method
1. Lightly grease a 23cm flan dish (a bit bigger is fine but you’ll have filling left over if you go any smaller). Roll out the pastry to fit, don’t trim the edges yet. Fork the case all over. Chill for 20 mins.
2. Preheat oven to 180c.
3. While the oven is heating and the pastry case is chilling. Make the filling. Melt the butter and olive oil gently over a low heat. Add the chopped leeks and cover. Cook gently for 20 mins – half an hour until leeks are soft and buttery. Try not to brown too much. Avoid taking the lid off and allow the leeks to steam and sizzle at the same time.
4. Whisk the eggs in a bowl then whisk in the cream, milk, Dijon and salt and pepper. Add 3/4 of the grated cheese.
5. Line the pastry case with baking parchment and baking beans (I use dried chick peas which I keep for this purpose) and pop into the oven for 15 minutes. Remove the baking parchment and beans and cook for a further 5 mins to cook the base.
6. Cover the pastry case with the leeks. Pour in the egg/cream/cheese mixture. Top with the remaining cheese. Trim the edges. (I forgot this bit and trimmed before I blind baked the case this time and, as you can see from the photo below, it shrank!)
7. Cook for 20 mins at 180c then turn the oven up to 200c and cook for a further 10 -20 mins until beautifully golden brown on top and smelling gorgeous!
Serve with new potatoes and French beans or salad.
If you would like to see anymore of Christine’s delicious recipes please visit her blog by clicking here. To find out more about Climate Week and to find an event near you please click here.
