From the Witches Kitchen
Pear, Walnut & Blue Cheese Tart: A Savoury Bake for Mabon
Make a golden Mabon tart with pear, walnut, blue cheese, chard and sage in a crisp walnut pastry.
Prep Time
1 hour 15 minutes
Cook Time
45–55 minutes
Serves
6 servings
Ingredients
Walnut pastry
- 50g walnut halves
- 150g plain flour
- 80g cold unsalted butter, chopped
- 1 egg yolk
- Pinch of salt
Filling
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 4 shallots, sliced
- Small bunch fresh sage, finely chopped
- 200g chard
- 2 ripe pears, halved, cored and thinly sliced
- 3 large eggs
- Grating of nutmeg
- 150g crème fraîche
- 150g Gorgonzola dolce or vegetarian alternative
- 50g walnut halves
Kitchen Witch Notes
Walnuts are often linked with wisdom and protection; pears with abundance and sweetness; sage with clearing and grounding. Let the making be the ritual: slow down, cook with care and notice the turning season.
Serving Suggestions
Serve warm with roasted roots, an apple salad or a glass of cider. It is also excellent cold from the fridge, wrapped in a cardigan and avoiding your responsibilities.
Introduction
Sweet pears, earthy walnuts, sharp blue cheese and fragrant sage make this tart feel properly autumnal. It is rich enough for a Mabon table but still pleasantly unfussy, which is rather the point.
Make it for a seasonal supper, then enjoy the leftovers cold the next day. Kitchen witchcraft need not be complicated to count.
Method
- Blitz the walnuts for the pastry until finely ground. Add the flour and salt, then rub or pulse in the butter. Add the egg yolk and just enough cold water to bring the dough together. Shape into a disc and chill for 30 minutes.
- Heat the oven to 180°C, 160°C fan or Gas Mark 4. Cook the shallots, sage and chard stalks gently in the butter and olive oil for 5–8 minutes. Add the chard leaves, wilt, then set aside.
- Roll out the pastry and line a 20cm tart tin. Chill for 30 minutes, then blind bake for 15 minutes with baking beans and 8–10 minutes without. Toss the pear slices with a little olive oil and roast until just softened.
- Whisk the eggs, nutmeg and crème fraîche, then stir through the blue cheese. Pour half into the tart case, layer in the chard mixture and pears, then add the remaining custard and walnuts.
- Bake for 28–30 minutes until golden and softly set. Rest for 20 minutes before slicing.
Swaps & Variations
Use feta or a vegetarian blue cheese if you prefer. Spinach works in place of chard, and ready-rolled shortcrust pastry makes this a perfectly reasonable weeknight shortcut.
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