Carrot Tart
One again, it’s time for Quick Meals You Can Make After Work.
This time, it’s Carrot Tart. I guarantee you, even the kids will like it. As well as any meat-and-potatoes eaters in your house. You can make it as a light dinner (or lunch) with just a salad, or, as a heartier meal with wild rice and a green vegetable or salad. (This is also an excellent cold-weather dish, believe it or not.)
Not too many extra notes for this recipe, really. It’s pretty self-explanatory. If you don’t have or prefer not to use honey, you can use maple syrup (the real stuff, not Mrs. Butterworth’s), or raw or brown sugar.
And, yes. I did use a frozen pie crust.
The Ingredients
Clockwise from top: ground ginger; salt; fresh ground nutmeg; dry mustard; fresh ground black pepper; allspice
Carrots. I just thought this was pretty.
1 ea. 9-inch frozen pie crust or your favorite savory pie crust recipe
2 eggs
1 c. whole milk or half-and-half
1/2 tsp. dry mustard
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. allspice
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
2 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. honey
4 large carrots, grated (you want approximately 2 c. grated carrots)
2 tbsp. parsley, minced
-or-
1 tbsp. chervil, minced
1. If you are using a frozen crust, keep it frozen until you’re ready to fill it. If you’re using a from-scratch crust, par-bake the crust at 425F for 15 minutes and let cool.
2. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and honey together over medium heat.
Melting the butter and honey together.
Add the carrots and toss in the butter-honey mixture. Continue cooking until the carrots have softened slightly and all the liquid has evaporated, about 7 – 10 minutes.
Cooking the carrots. You want to cook them until they are just slightly softened. Remember, you’re going to cook them more in the oven.
Remove the carrots from the heat, spread out onto a plate or other flat surface and let cool for about 15 minutes.
3. Mix together the milk, eggs, spices, and parsley or chervil. Set aside.
The custard mixture. In this example, I used parsley. if you use chervil, you’ll have a slight anise flavor.
4. In the waiting pie shell, spread the carrots as evenly as possible over the bottom.
The prepared pie shell. I like to wrap the edges so they won’t burn in the oven.
Carrots in the pie shell. Spread them as evenly as possible.
Slowly pour in the custard mixture.
Adding the custard. be sure to pour slowly so the custard can seep into the carrots. If you pour too quickly it can overflow out of the shell.
Bake the tart at 375F for 30 – 35 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Let sit for about 10 minutes, then serve.
The finished pie. Mmm….
Make this meal as light or as hearty as you like. It’s a great cold-weather dish when it’s served with wild rice and a lovely green vegetable like green beans, asparagus, or a bitter green like kale or mustard.
Enjoy!
