Pea and Slow Cooked Ham Tarts
As you have most probably gathered, we are pea fanatics, especially fresh new season garden peas from our own garden. Here is another pea delight that is delicious and perfect for a bright summers day. The vibrant colour and fresh taste makes this recipe extra special and worth a try.
The peas, mizuna and lambs lettuce were all harvested from my garden, if your peas are not ready you can use the frozen version.
A slice of freshly boiled ham is a wonderful reminder of home cooking. We eat well as we love cooking at home and are predominantly scratch cooks. I forget sometimes how time consuming some dishes and recipes can be. As food and cooking is part of our lives, we do not mind spending that extra few hours for a melt in the mouth moment. You might find this recipe a bit over the top, therefore I shall not take any offence if you wish to make this recipe with bought boiled ham, and there are plenty of top quality suppliers out there.
I like to make the most of my ingredients,so when I am spending precious time on boiling a ham I cook enough to have at least two meals. There is a running joke in our household, “that I have cooked for the whole street again!” I made these tarts with the freshly boiled ham and there were enough for a few rounds of ham, mustard and celeriac remoulade sandwiches the following day.
Perhaps it’s not such a bad thing that I can pretty much throw together a very good meal in no time! So say I in my own defence!
Short Crust Pastry
- 150g plain flour
- 80g unsalted butter, room temperature
- Pinch of salt
- 50g cold water
Weigh the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl.
Cut the butter in small pieces and add the butter to the flour. Use your fingertips to rub the butter into the flour. Ensure that all the butter is rubbed in and evenly distributed.
Add the ice cold water and use a pallet knife to cut the water into the flour. Work fast and do not over work the pastry, as it will make the pastry grey and stretchy.
Divide the pastry in two and press in squares. Cover the pastry with cling film and rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 200°C.
On a lightly floured work surface roll the pastry 3 – 4mm think out and use a 7cm in diameter cutter to cut 6 rounds.
I line the back of a muffin tray with the pastry to make the pastry cases for these tarts. It does look rustic and different from the pristine perfect tarts.
Blind bake the pastry for 20 minutes.
While the tart cases are baking make the pea cream filling.
Slow Cooked Ham
- 500g raw ham joint
- One large sprig of thyme
- One Bay leaf
Preheat the water bath to 82°C.
Rinse the ham under cold running water, pat dry. Seal the ham on hard vacuum with the herbs in a vacuum bag.
Place the ham in the preheated water bath for 16 hours.
Cool the ham in ice cold water, keep refrigerated until needed.
Pea Cream
- 200g fresh garden peas
- 75g double cream
- Juice of half a lemon
- 10g grain mustard
- 3 medium free range eggs
- Salt and pepper
Weigh the peas into the thermomix bowl, add the seasoning, lemon juice and the cream. Blend until smooth for 20 seconds at speed 10.
Add the grain mustard and the eggs, blend for 10 seconds at speed 10.
Set the timer to 5 minutes at speed 5 and cook at 80°C.
Assembling the tarts
Preheat the oven to 120°C.
Place the blind baked tart cases the right way up suspended on top of the muffin tray. Shred the ham and place a generous amount of ham into each blind baked tart case.
Pour the pea cream on top of the ham, until just under the rim of the pastry.
Gently transfer the tray to the preheated oven and bake for 15 - 20 minutes. I like to take the tarts out of the oven while they still have a slight wobble as they will continue to cook while cooling.
Assembling the dish
Use a pastry brush to paint a line of home made salad cream onto the serving plate. Place the tart onto the plate just off center of the painted line, garnish with salad leaves such as mizuna, lambs lettuce and pea tops. Cut a fresh pea pod in half to expose the fat fresh crispy peas. Drizzle with cold pressed extra virgin olive oil. Place a small quenelle of mascarpone on top of the pea and ham tart.
Serves 6 starter portions
Food Fanatics Tips
If your tart mixture was slightly aerated and has a white foamy top run a blow torch flame over the top to blow the bubbles away. This will give your tart a shiny glaze.
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Yummy recipe!!! Just a suggestion, if you want to make it a bit more high-end for guests, use instead jamon iberico de bellota – aka pata negra or black hoof-. Iberico has a strong and delicious flavor,
I buy mine from BuyJamon.com
BuyJamon.com the market place for iberico ham.
Hi Madelene
We LOVE peas too and this recipe of pea and slow cooked ham tarts is excellent. I do have a a couple of questions though, is there no way to mix the short crust pastry in the thermomixer? I’ve never seen a short crust pastry recipe that has cold water mixed into it. What is the difference between adding and not adding cold water? We live out in the tropics and trying work on short crust pastry in a kitchen where the average room temperature is at least 32 degrees celcius , with our hands can be very sticky. Cheers!
Really love the look of this pea and ham tart!