Flaming June
In summer, I’m always looking for something to serve with drinks – and tarte flambée hits the spot.
In summer, I’m always looking for things to go with drinks when we have people to stay, or when we have people over, which is to say I am always looking for things to go with drinks. Tarte flambée is one of my favourites.
It’s not a dish from the South – I make pissaladière if I want that – but from the north, from Alsace on the border with Germany, where it’s also called flammekueche or flammkuchen. Though it is quite fashionable now, it began – like so many of the most delicious things – as a peasant dish, often made to use up leftover bread dough and to test the temperature of the baker’s oven. If the flammekueche was cooked within a couple of minutes, it was at the right temperature to bake loaves. At its simplest, the dough is spread with a layer of crème fraîche or fromage blanc. It’s quite difficult to find fromage blanc outside of France, so in my recipe I use a combination of crème fraîche and sour cream, and I add an entirely inauthentic egg yolk because I like the texture. You can leave it out if you like. Traditionally, the cream layer is scattered with lardons and onions and that’s it, though you can add a scattering of grated Gruyère or Emmental (gratinée) or some sautéed mushrooms (forestière) if you like.
Tarte flambée breaks my rule of avoiding recipes that have the threat of violence that is “Serve immediately” at the end, but you can get all of the components ready – the dough, the sautéed lardons and sliced onions, the crème fraîche mixture – then assemble everything when people arrive and throw it into a screaming hot oven. Fend off starvation with some olives and almonds while the tarte flambée is baking and in about a dozen minutes, you’ll have the most delicious, apéro-hour snack – simply cut it into squares one or two bites big and serve with some Alsace beer or white wine, or an icy glass of rosé if you can’t resist adding a southern accent.
PS I am travelling at the moment, so many apols for not having a market haul for you this week.
Tarte flambée
Serve in small squares with drinks (if you’re serving the tarte flambée like this, roll it out into a rectangle or a squares to make it easier to cut up ) or in larger pieces with a green salad for a light lunch or starter. If you want to tarte it up a little, you can add grated Gruyère or Emmental, or other ingredients such as sautéed mushrooms or leeks. You can also replace the water in the dough with blonde beer, or use half and half beer and water for a deeper flavour.
Makes 1 large tarte flambée, enough for 4 as a starter, 6-8 as an hors d’oeuvre
For the base
280g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
1 tsp salt
150ml tepid water or blonde beer, or a mixture of the two
50ml sunflower oil – which is more usual and northern, but I use olive oil, as I don’t often have sunflower oil in the kitchen
To finish
1 tbsp sunflower oil, or olive oil (see above)
160g smoked lardons
150g crème fraîche
70ml sour cream
1 egg yolk
A nutmeg, for grating
1 small onion, about 100g, halved and very thinly sliced
Some finely chopped chives, to finish
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
To make the dough, whisk the flour and salt together in a bowl, then add the water or beer and the oil and stir it together with a dinner knife to make a raggy dough. Transfer it to a floured work surface and knead gently into a smooth ball. It will be quite soft and sticky, but it will firm up so hold your nerve. Cover with lightly oiled clingfilm and rest for 1 hour at room temperature.
While the dough is resting, warm the oil in a small frying pan and sauté the lardons until crisp. Drain on kitchen paper.
In a small bowl, whisk together the crème fraîche, sour cream and egg yolk, Season well with salt and pepper, then grate in a generous amount of nutmeg. I use about half a teaspoon to a teaspoon because I really like nutmeg, but you can use less or more, depending on your own tastes.
Heat the oven as high as it will go, at least 230C/120C Fan/Gas 8.
I use a large, 36x44cm baking sheet. If you don’t have such a large one, divide the dough in two and make two smaller tartes (roll the dough out on two separate pieces of baking parchment).
Lay a large sheet of baking parchment on a surface and lightly dust the parchment with flour. With a floured rolling pin, roll the dough into a large, thin round, oval, square or rectangle. The reason you’re doing it on the baking parchment is because you want the pastry to be so thin, it would be difficult to handle if it weren’t on the parchment.
Transfer the base/s to the oven sheet/s.
Spread the crème fraîche mixture over the dough, leaving a narrow border around the edges. Scatter over the onion and cooked lardons. Season with a few grinds of pepper, and some more nutmeg if you like.
Bake for 10–12 minutes, or until the base is crisp and the edges golden. Slide the tarte onto a board, scatter on some chives if you like, and use a sharp knife or a pizza cutter to cut into squares. They’re best served immediately, sorry.
You’ve totally tempted me with this one, Debora. I can’t wait to give it a go :)
This was fabulous! Thank you ☺️