Smoked Salmon Tart

Serves 3

Makes 3x10cm tarts or 1x22cm tart

Cheddar shortcrust pastry
1 cup Plain flour, plus extra to dust
1 tbsp Almond meal
1/4 cup Mainland Vintage Cheddar cheese, finely grated
75g Westgold salted butter
1 tbsp Coconut oil
1-2 tbsp chilled water

Smoked Salmon
200g fillet of Ora King Salmon, skin off, diced into 2cm cubes
1 tsp smoking chips (I used applewood)

Filling
2 Eggs
2 Egg yolks
1/3 Pure or thickened cream
1/3 cup Mainland Vintage Cheddar cheese, finely grated
10 chives, chopped
1 sprig of dill, chopped
1/2 tsp flaked salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

To finish
Ora King Salmon Caviar
Mix of edible flower petals and herbs/greens (I used Dill, Chives, Warrigal greens and pea sprouts)
Egmont Manuka honey MGO30+
Saddleback Pinot Gris

1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees.
2. For the pastry, blitz all ingredients (except the water) in a food processor until it looks like a fine crumb texture. Add the water and pulse until it just starts to form a dough ball. Turn off the food processor and tip onto some glad wrap. Press the pastry together until it forms a ball. Wrap the pastry up and place it into the freezer to cool for 5 minutes.
3. For the smoked salmon, place the salmon cubes into a large bowl and cover with glad wrap – leave a small hole for the tube of the smoking gun. Place the smoking chips into the gun and light. Ensure the bowl is filled with thick smoke and then remove the gun and close up the wrapped bowl. Set aside.
4. Remove the pastry from the freezer and roll out until its roughly 3mm thick. Grease the tart tins and then place the pastry over the top, ensuring it is pushed to the edges and even all over. Place a sheet of baking paper inside the tart and fill with baking beads/rice/dried beans. Bake the tart/s in the oven for 15 minutes. Remove the weights and paper, increase the heat to 190 degrees and then cook for another 10 minutes or until golden.
   While the tart/s are cooking, make the filling. Combine all of the ingredients and whisk to combine. Set aside.
5. Remove the tart/s from the oven and evenly distribute the smoked salmon and then pour over the filling mixture until its almost filled. Place tart/s back into the oven and continue to cook for another 5 minutes or until salmon/filling is cooked/set.
6. Remove the tart/s from the oven and cool slightly. Carefully remove the tart from tart shell and top with fresh herbs/edible flowers and salmon caviar. Drizzle lightly with some Manuka honey and serve with a slightly chilled glass of Saddleback Pinot Gris. Enjoy!