Cheesy Artichoke and Kale Tart

 Frozen artichoke hearts were back in stock at the market!  So were frozen avocado chunks.  As far as I'm concerned, pandemic shortages are over.  It was a long wait for those items to come into season, get packaged, and ship to retailers.  I hope everyone appreciates that food doesn't automatically appear on store shelves any time of year.

Finding a recipe online was a bit harder.  Try googling Artichoke and Kale anything, and there aren't a lot of options.  Or it simply rejects your effort and sends you to the artichoke and spinach page.  So I ignored everything except the notion of using ricotta for the cheese and set off on my own.

I chose to make the crust with part buckwheat flour.  You could use part whole wheat, or all white flour.  It depends on the amount of earthiness you want to impart on the dish.  Brunch would call for only white flour.  The 2/3 cup of milk I used wasn't enough; the custard was very thick and there was barely enough of it.  I'm upping it to 1 C for the post.  Not sure if that will increase the bake time, so I'm stretching it a tiny bit.

1 batch pâte brisée
1 Tb olive oil
1/2 C diced onion
*1 clove garlic, minced
1 C frozen artichoke hearts, thawed
*2 C finely chopped kale, stems removed
1 egg
*1 C milk
1 C part-skim ricotta
salt and pepper to taste

1.  Roll out dough and press into an 11" tart pan or 9" pie pan.  I have a cute tool for my tart pan that flutes the edges.  Chill until ready to bake to reduce shrinkage in the oven.

2.  Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium heat.  Add onion and kale and cook until onion is soft and kale has wilted, stirring frequently.  This will take about 10 minutes.

3.  Cut artichoke hearts into bite-sized pieces and add to skillet with the garlic.  Cook until fragrant, about 5 minutes.  Season lightly with salt and pepper.  Remove from heat and start preheating oven to 400º.

4.  In a small bowl, whisk together egg and milk.  Whisk in ricotta until smooth.  Add about 1/2 tsp salt, less if the ricotta is on the salty side.

5.  Once the oven is up to temp, get crust out of the fridge.  Spread filling evenly on the bottom.  Pour milk mixture to fill in everything else.  Give it a minute to settle into the cracks.

6.  Bake for 40-45 minutes, until top is set and crust is golden.  Ricotta doesn't really brown.  Neither does a buckwheat flour crust, so I kind of guessed.  Allow to cool 10 minutes before cutting.

Serves 6

Difficulty rating  :)