What are you serving over the festive season? Follow these tips from "I Love Fruit & Veg from Europe."

Pile on the fruit in this delicious, light recipe: savoury tart with cheese and pears.

LONDON, Dec. 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Make your festive meals tasty and healthy, with “I Love Fruit & Veg from Europe“, the international programme that promotes the consumption of quality European fruit and vegetables, for a healthier and more sustainable diet. The project is supported by the producer organizations Agritalia, A.O.A., La Deliziosa, Meridia, and Terra Orti and co-funded by the European Commission.

Alongside traditional dishes, we suggest appetisers, pies, salads and desserts bursting with fruit and vegetables. Fruit traditionally concludes a dinner, but it can be served in a side dish: here we suggest pears, but citrus fruits also work well in salads. Vegetables can be raw, cooked, fried or baked: the house will be filled with the scents of fennel, broccoli, cauliflower, endive, pumpkin and spinach.

Try this surprising recipe – a cheese and pear savoury tart, made with shortcrust pastry and guaranteed to please your guests.

Serves eight

Preparation: 20 minutes

Cooking: 35 minutes

Resting: one hour

Ingredients

For the shortcrust pastry:

350g Italian type 1 flour (light wholewheat)

100g dry white wine

100g extra virgin olive oil

salt

1 sprig fresh rosemary

For the filling:

5 medium/small Coscia pears

200g strong blue cheese, cut into pieces

fresh rosemary

Start by preparing the shortcrust pastry. Tip the flour, white wine, extra virgin olive oil, a pinch of salt and chopped rosemary needles into a bowl. Knead to form a smooth and firm dough, wrap it in cling film and rest for an hour in the fridge. Then roll out the pastry to a thickness of about 0.5cm and place it in a 22cm diameter pie dish, lined with baking paper. Prick the bottom of the pastry with a fork and scatter over the cheese. Keep a few small pieces for later. Cut the pears into uniform slices and arrange them on the tart. Bake at 200°C for 35 minutes. Once cooked, rest for five minutes, then scatter over the remaining cubes of cheese which will melt on the surface creating an even more attractive effect. Serve while still warm, garnished with a few rosemary needles.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

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