A very summery dinner :)

Well as the sun is shining, I made a very summery dinner and wow was it nice and I must say, I almost forgot it was still just above freezing outside :)) I love it when food can do that!

Wild Mushroom, Spinach and Manchego cheese tart with a Walnut Pastry

Walnut pastry
60g walnut
250g plain flour
125g butter
Pinch of salt
1 egg yolk
2 tbsp water chilled

Filling
300g wild mushrooms - mixture
Good handful of spinach
100g Manchego cheese grated
300ml double cream
3 eggs
Salt and Pepper

Olive oil for frying

Make up the pastry
First of all toast the walnuts in the oven for about 5 minutes and allow to cool
Add the walnuts and half the flour to the bowl of a food processor and pulse until walnuts are broken up.
Add the remaining flour, butter and pinch of salt and blitz until you have a fine breadcrumb consistency.
Add the egg yolk and blitz. Add a tbsp of water at a time until the dough comes together.
Tip onto a floured work surface and gently work to form a smooth ball (the trick is not to over work as you don't want it to be tough)
Wrap in cling film and place in the fridge for at least half an hour.

Roll out the dough and fill a tart tin. Blind bake at 200/190 fan for 20 minutes and remove baking beans and bake for a further 5 minutes.

Reduce the oven temp to 190/180 fan
Slice the mushrooms and fry for a couple of minutes until they just start to go soft.
Fill the pastry case with the spinach, top with the mushrooms and then the grated Manchego cheese.
Mix together the double cream and eggs and some seasoning and pour this over the other ingredients in the pastry case
Place in a pre heated oven for 30-35 minutes. Serve warm


Roasted Cherry Tomatoes and Aubergine with rosemary, garlic and cannellini beans
(Of course feel free to substitute the beans to butter beans or flageolet beans if you wanted)

10 Cherry tomatoes
1 Aubergine cut into cubes
Rosemary
4 Garlic cloves
5 tbsp Garlic oil
1 tin of cannellini beans

Add all the ingredients to a roasting tray and add to a pre heated oven (180/170 fan) and roast for 15-20 minutes
The cannellini beans will go soft so if you prefer yours harder then please feel free to either add them in the last 5 minutes of cooking or add just before serving. (This is a large side dish so reduce if only serving to a few people)

All served with a rocket salad with peppers, tomatoes, roasted red peppers and artichoke hearts and walnut and seeded soda bread