Scottish Smoked Salmon and Asparagus Tart is a delicious combination of smoked salmon, soured cream egg custard, and fresh asparagus spears. Perfect for outdoor summer entertaining serve with a simple salad.
It’s an ideal recipe for summer lunches and picnics and would easily grace a summer buffet at a wedding or other occasion because it’s fairly straightforward to make.
What is Smoked Salmon?
Smoked salmon can be hot smoked or cold smoked. In this recipe I use cold smoked salmon. The salmon is first brined and prepared with various herbs depending on the particular smokehouse. The fish is then slowly smoked in a specialist ‘smoke box’. The smoke preserves the fish without cooking it.
Is Cold Smoked Salmon Raw?
Yes, it is raw but has been cured by the brine and preserved by the smoking process. You can eat raw smoked salmon but you can also add it to cooked dishes like this tart.
What is Asparagus?
Asparagus or A. officinalis is grown for its delicately-flavoured young shoots, or spears. It is a member of the lily family and has a very short season that starts at the end of April and runs until the middle of June. Serve the delicous young asparagus spears baked, griddled, roasted, steamed, boiled or blanched.
How to make Smoked Salmon & Asparagus Tart
Follow the step-by-step instructions to make this delicous savoury tart.
What ingredients do I need?
You will need:
- Flour
- Butter
- Shortening (white vegetable fat)
- Eggs
- Smoked Salmon
- Sour Cream
- Asparagus
You can buy the uncooked pastry or even a ready-made pastry case if you are not confident about pastry making or simply don’t have the time.
Make the pastry
- Put all the dry ingredients, including the grated cheese, into a food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
- Add the egg and the water and pulse until the mixture starts to come together, add a little more water if it is too dry.
Chill the pastry dough
Press the mixture into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill in the fridge for 20 minutes minimum.
Line the Tart Tin
Roll out the pastry thinly in a circle and line the tart tin. Trim the pastry around the edge of the tin but leave enough to allow for a little shrinkage
Blind Bake the pastry case
- Place a piece of baking parchment onto the pastry and top with baking beans or dried peas, beans or rice.
- Bake blind for 15-20 minutes, then remove the paper and beans and bake for another 5 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
Why do I have to blind bake the pastry case?
Blind baking simply means baking the pastry shell before filling it. If you put a wet filling into an unbaked pastry case the base is unlikely to cook properly and you will get a ‘soggy bottom’ rather than a crisp bite of buttery crust.
I don’t have my own video for this but here is a YouTube video from the Co-op which shows you how to line a tart tin and bake blind.
Fill the cooled pastry case
Use Scottish smoked salmon or another good quality smoked salmon. This gives the tart a delicious smoky, salty taste that makes it so moreish.
Add the Asparagus Spears
Asparagus spears are less expensive this year, supermarkets are stacking them high and selling them cheap, I just hope that doesn’t mean the farmers are struggling to make their profit margins and also that it doesn’t affect the quality.
These spears certainly are very fresh and the woody bottom of the stem broke off with a satisfactory snap!
Make the custard
Make the custard by whisking together the milk, eggs, a little soured cream. and seasoning. This delicious savoury custard brings together all the ingredients into a tasty Smoked Salmon and Asparagus Tart.
How do I serve Smoked Salmon & Asparagus Tart?
Serve the Smoked Salmon & Asparagus Tart warm with baked potatoes and vegetables or at room temperature with a delicious salad. This tart is great for picnics and outdoor eating too.
Salads to serve with Scottish Smoked Salmon & Asparagus Tart
More Quiche and Tarts from Farmersgirl Kitchen
More savoury tarts
- Sunny Picnic Quiches – Fab Food 4 All
- Pete’s Courgette, Blue Cheese, and Cherry Tomato Quiche – Kavey Eats
- Creamy Courgette Puff Pastry Tart – Family, Friends, Food
- Three Allium Smoked Chilli Tart – Tin & Thyme
Smoked Salmon and Asparagus Tart
Ingredients
For the pastry case
- 225 grams plain all purpose flour
- 110 grams butter diced
- 40 grams lard or vegetable baking fat diced
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 whole egg beaten
For the filling
- 200 grams Scottish smoked salmon
- 250 grams asparagus
- 1 whole egg
- 2 egg yolks
- 200 millilitres soured cream
- 50 millilitres milk
- ground black pepper
Instructions
To make the pastry
- Sift the flour into a bowl
- Rub the fats into the flour with your fingertips until they resemble breadcrumbs, or whizz it up in your food processor.
- Add the salt and the beaten egg and mix to a dough, adding a little cold water if necessary. Try not to handle the dough too much as this makes it tough.
- Wrap the pastry in clingfilm and refrigerate for 20-30 minutes.
- Roll out on a lightly floured work surface and use to line a 28 cm/11 inch loose-bottomed flan tin.
- Cover the pastry with greaseproof paper or foil and fill with baking beans or any raw dried beans.
- Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180C/350F/gas mark 4 for 20 minutes.
- Remove the beans and paper and return the pastry case to the oven for 5-10 minutes until lightly coloured.
- Leave to cool .
For the Filling
- Preheat the oven to 170 C/325 F/Gas mark 3
- Lay the smoked salmon in the base of the pastry case.
- Snap off the woody ends of the asparagus, simply bend the spear and it will snap off at the right place, lay the asparagus spears across the tart, alternating the direction of the heads.
- Beat the whole egg and egg yolks and add the soured cream and milk and blend together, add a few grinds of black pepper, no salt is required as the smoked salmon is quite salty.
- Place the flan tin onto a baking tray and gently pour the egg and cream mixture into the flan.
- Bake for 30-40 minutes or until set.
Kavey Favelle says
Ooh I love the look of this, two favourite ingredients in a quiche, another favourite! Yes please!
Janice Pattie says
Thanks, Kavey, they are certainly some of my favorites too.
Rachel Cameron says
Looks delicious, will be having a go!
Janice Pattie says
Thanks Rachel, I’m sure you’ll love it as much as we did.
Camilla Hawkins says
Your quiche looks wonderful Janice, must try making this as I’ve never used sour cream in quiche before. Thanks for linking to my picnic quiches:-)
Dannii says
Smoked salmon and asparagus is such a delicious combo, and we often have it for breakfast. But I love the look of this tart.
Janice Pattie says
Thanks Dannii, I guess you could eat this Tart for breakfast too! I’ve had quiche for breakfast in the USA, it makes sense when you think about it.
Claire Jessiman says
Ah Janice you’ve captured all my favourite flavours right there! There does seem to be a lot of really chunky Asparagus around at the moment a wee bit piled high and sold cheap. I’ve managed to get local Scottish but at close to £5 a bundle.
Janice Pattie says
Goodness, that is expensive. Hope it was super delicious 😋
Jan Bennett says
Oooh now this looks so good! I’m going to have a go at making this 🙂
Janice Pattie says
Aw thanks, Jan. It was really good, but with those ingredients, you can’t really go wrong!
Michelle @ Greedy Gourmet says
Can’t go wrong with smoked salmon and asparagus. Oh, you have me drooling for a tart now!
Janice Pattie says
Thanks Michelle, glad you liked it.
Glamorous Glutton says
We live very close to an asparagus farm so this would be perfect, Mr Glam does love a tart!! I agree about the worry when supermarkets sell the produce cheaply which is why, if I can I like to buy from producers. GG
Janice Pattie says
Oh lucky you living close to an asparagus farm. Better be quick, the season is nearly over!
Emma @ Adventures of a London Kiwi says
This. Sounds. Simply. Amazing. I need to make this asap!
Janice Pattie says
Thanks Emma, it’s a simple thing, but those ingredients make it special.
Lesley says
I do love your quiche recipes, they are always so reliable. This flavour combination is right up my street and makes the best use of spring fresh asparagus. Delicious.
Janice Pattie says
Thank you, that’s good to hear. It’s a favourite flavour combination for me too.
Rebecca Smith - Glutaram says
I have yet to make a successful egg free quiche yet I still torture myself and click on a quiche recipe everytime I come across one that takes my fancy, this – looks – divine. Exactly the fillings I adore. You may have given me the nudge to step back into the kitchen and try to make this but without the eggs, wish me luck haha!
Janice Pattie says
Oh that’s so interesting, I’d love to see what you manage to make.
Kate - Gluten Free Alchemist says
Oh yes! All my favourite flavours in one delicious quiche. And quiche is my perfect summer meal, so this will definitely be on my table soon (with a GF pastry crust… of course!) xx
Thanks for sharing with #CookBlogShare
Janice Pattie says
Perfect! I hope you enjoy it.
Cat says
The perfect way to celebrate delicious Spring ingredients. This is great for a tasty lunch or picnic as well as dinner.
Janice Pattie says
Thanks, love the fresh seasonal ingredients in this tart.
Eb Gargano | Easy Peasy Foodie says
This looks so pretty! The perfect tart for spring 😀