Savoury Jackfruit Tart

My brother and his partner came round for dinner this week and I was determined to make something different, With one vegetarian, one vegan and one Coeliac in the family; meals can get complicated. I really didn't want to make our family go to meals of either curry or risotto so I decided to challenge myself to make something new and challenge my brother (the vegetarian) to something he had never tried before - Jackfruit. I have had and made pulled pork type alternatives using jackfruit before but had never had anything else and really wanted to serve something that went with roast potatoes so a tart seemed ideal. This one draws inspiration from loads of recipes I found on line and is a mashup of the parts of each I like best, all encased in my faithful pastry recipe which I have been making for years. The tart was a big hit with my brother who went back for seconds and took half the leftovers home with him -  as he's my harshest critic, I consider this an absolute win! Apologies for the strange colours on the blog, I had a technical glitch and I'm still trying to fix it. 

Ingredients:

For the pastry:
225g plain flour
100g butter - i use dairy free
4-6 tbsp cold water

For the filling: 
1 tin jackfruit in water (drained)
2 cups soy milk 
1 large carrot 
1 onion 
6 cloves garlic 
2 tsp italian herbs
2 tsp salt 
1 stock cube 
1 tsp black pepper 
1 cup frozen peas 
1 tbsp olive oil 
Method:

Place the flour and butter into a large bowl and rub together until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Slowly add the water while gently kneading with your hands to bring the dough together then tip out onto a piece of cling-film and use to form the dough into a ball. Pop into the fridge for at least 30 minutes while the filling cooks. 

Finely mince the onions and garlic. Place a pan over a medium heat and add the olive oil. Saute the onions and garlic until the onions are translucent and there garlic has a touch of colour. Chop the jackfruit into small pieces, making sure to cut through the core. Add the jackfruit to the pan along with the stock cube, herbs, salt and pepper and gently fry for 2-3 minutes. Chop the carrot into small rounds and add in along with the soy milk. Simmer on a low heat until the carrot is soft then add in the peas. Reduce the liquid in the pan until the mixture is thick and coats the vegetables. I'm not going to lie, at one point I thought the milk had separated and I had totally messed up but bare with it and it all comes together in the end. 

Preheat your oven to 160c. Take the dough from the fridge and roll out on a floured surface to around a 30cm circle. Take a loose bottomed tart tin and carefully drape the pastry over. Take a small piece of excess pastry and use this to push the pastry into the tin, getting into all the corners. Trim the pastry to the top of the dish.  Line the pastry with baking foil and blind bake for 10 minutes until golden brown and slightly crisp looking. 

Fill the pastry with the jackfruit mixture, smoothing it carefully to the sides then return the tart to the oven to bake for a further 15 minutes until the pastry is golden and the filling is lightly coloured and has settled into the casing. 

I served this with roast potatoes, green vegetables and gravy for dinner then had the leftovers cold  with salad for lunch the next day and each were equally lovely. 

When you make this please take a picture and tag me using #diaryofadefectivehousewife 

Enjoy!