Tarted Up: 5 Of The Best Savoury Tarts For Spring

As the weeks roll by and the promise of spring hangs thick in the air (even if there has been some delay with the weather getting the memo), so we refresh our recipes to suit our mood. Out, then, with comforting pies and in with their summery cousins: the spring tart. Fresh, easy to make ahead and perfect for lunch under the sun with a crisp and refreshing glass of white wine (weather gods permitting), we are all for making them with ready-rolled pastry and layering up with seasonal veg and then serving with a simple green salad. Simple yet sensational: the perfect combination in our books.

Main image: Waitrose

Spring Vegetable Tart

Good Housekeeping


An absolute knock-out, this spring vegetable tart is a feast for the eyes as much as the taste buds. Vibrant, delicious and healthy, the focus here is on seasonal veg: think spring greens, radishes, spring onions, mint and walnuts, all of which zingy freshness works beautifully in combination with the creamy ricotta and lemons base. Use ready-rolled shortcrust pastry – and go! An ideal way to get a good crop of your thirty plants a week in. Find the recipe here.

Baked Ricotta Tart With Spring Veg, Mint And Peashoots

Olive Magazine


This beautiful puff pastry tart makes a great tear-and-share dish for spring and summer lunches, strewn as it is with peas, asparagus, thyme, onions and mint, before being doused in a honey, oil and lemon dressing. Refreshing, delicious and so brilliantly quick to make. Find the recipe here.

Oven-Dried Tomato And Taleggio Tart With Pesto

Delicious Magazine


We’re not quite there yet, but June onwards marks the start of British tomato season in earnest, and we will celebrate that joyous fact by rustling up this flavoursome tart, which showcases them sensationally. Low on ingredients but big on flavour, it’s a great excuse to mainline taleggio, all piled onto a bed of glorious pesto. All the flavours of the Med in a bite. Find the recipe here.

Feta And Dandelion Tart

Great British Chefs/ Urvashi Roy


Have you ever eyed up the dandelions dotting the lawn and felt your stomach growl in anticipation? No? Well, Urvashi Roy is set to change all that, her feta and dandelion tart proving that these diminutive yellow flowers are not only a good source of sustenance, but a delicious one at that. She writes, ‘Considered to be lawn wreckers by some, they are subjected to all sorts of torture by chemicals and the dreaded fork. But in days of old, this ‘weed’ was rich pickings for the daily diet. The flowers, leaves and root are all edible and used in many different ways – teas and tonics to fritters and bread… Seems such a shame to toss them into the compost when they are such a sunny, happy looking plant. Now is really the best time to pick them. They are only just starting to pop up, so source leaves that are thin and part of a plant that has not yet budded. These will be earthy, a little nutty and not so bitter.’ As she notes, do only pick them if you can be sure they have not been doused in chemicals. That ascertained, try them in this gorgeous tart, alongside tangy feta, softening crème fraiche and the bite of sunflower seeds or pine nuts. An instant sunshine-filled classic. Find the recipe here.

Sticky Shallot Tart

Waitrose


Behold the beauty of the shallot, seen here browned to the point of perfect stickiness just before they hit full caramelisation. Scattered with rosemary, this tart smells as wonderful as it looks – do take Waitrose’s advice and sprinkle some shavings of hard goat’s cheese over the top for extra salty indulgence. Find the recipe here.