Asparagus and goat's curd tart

Serves 4-6 Starters and mains

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Method

First, make the pastry. Put the flours, buckwheat and salt in a food processor and blitz for a few seconds to combine – don’t worry if all the buckwheat doesn’t break down, it’s quite nice to leave some seeds whole. Add the butter and blitz again, until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs, then add the egg yolk and sour cream and blitz until combined. Add 1-3tbsp iced water, 1tbsp at a time, sprinkling it across the crumb and blitzing between additions until the dough clumps together (you may not need all the water). Tip the dough out and press it into a smooth ball, then shape into a rectangle, wrap in greaseproof paper and chill for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 200C/ 180C Fan/Gas 6. Roll the chilled pastry out on a lightly floured surface to a rectangle slightly bigger than a 25cm x 20cm tart tin, around the thickness of a pound coin. If it’s difficult to work with, roll it between two pieces of baking parchment. Line the tin with the pastry, letting it overhang, prick the base and chill for 20 minutes or so, until firm. Line the pastry shell with crumpled greaseproof paper, fill with baking beans and blind-bake for 20 minutes, then remove the paper and beans, return the pastry to the oven and bake for 10 minutes until crisp, nutty and golden. Remove and leave to cool, then remove the pastry shell from the tin.

Have a bowl of iced water ready. Place the asparagus in a saucepan with a tight-fitting lid, drizzle with a little olive oil – just enough to coat the spears rather than fry them – season with salt and pepper and turn on the heat to medium. Cook the asparagus, shaking the pan frequently, for around 4 minutes, until a sharp knife blade inserted into the thickest part of a spear comes out with no resistance. Remove the asparagus from the pan and plunge it immediately into iced water. Chop the stalks of half the asparagus spears into 1-cm discs, leaving the tips of the spears around 4cm long.

Combine the goat’s curd (or ricotta and goat’s cheese) with the lemon zest and juice, pink peppercorns and a large pinch of salt. Season to taste, then spread the mixture on the base of the tart shell. Dot with the pesto, then swirl the pesto into the cheese slightly. Cover with the chopped asparagus tips and spears, then arrange the long spears so they are covering the tart. Drain the onions and strew them across the tart, then garnish with chervil, tarragon and borage flowers.

For the pink pickled onions

Place the onion in a heatproof bowl, cover with boiling water and leave for 1 minute. Drain off the water, then add the spices, sugar, salt and cider vinegar to the bowl and stir to combine. When you’re ready to serve, drain on kitchen paper to get rid of some of the brine.