Asparagus and Goat Cheese Tart (with Flaky Cream Cheese Pastry)

We're fortunate to have asparagus in our market pretty much year round and we do love to eat it.  But the best flavor comes from the locally grown bundles that arrive in late spring.  We roast them, grill them, slice them raw into salads, saute them with a fried egg on top or add them to omelets.  But I couldn't let the growing season go without also baking them into a savory tart.

Although I always shave Parmesan cheese over our usual asparagus dishes, I knew I'd use goat cheese for the tart.  The flavors go together so perfectly and...well...I love goat cheese!  But my other reason for making a tart is that I wanted to experiment with a different pastry dough.  I usually just use a savory pie crust dough but I wanted something a little flakier.  I've made doughs with egg in them (pate sucre) but I always think they're hard to manipulate.  So the experiment was to use a touch of cream cheese instead and I was delighted with the result.

The cream cheese dough was super easy to work with and rolled easily.  It also gave the crust a much flakier texture that went well with the delicate flavors of the tart.  We ate it one day as a side dish, another day as a lunch with salad.  It went down easily and disappeared much too fast.  Enjoy!


Ingredients
Pastry Dough:
1 Cup plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 Teaspoon baking powder
1/2 Teaspoon salt
1 Stick unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1" pieces
2 oz. Cream cheese, chilled
1/4 Cup ice water

Filling:
6 oz. Goat cheese
1/4 Cup ricotta cheese
1 Clove garlic, peeled and minced
2 Tablespoons chives, chopped
2 Tablespoons milk
1 Small bunch (about 8-10 spears) asparagus
Salt & pepper to taste

Make the pastry dough by adding the flour, baking powder and salt to the bowl of a food processor.  Add the chilled butter and pulse until the mixture resembles course crumbs.  Add the cream cheese and pulse about 5 times just to incorporate it.  With the machine running, slowly pour the ice water through the feed tube until a dough ball forms.  Pat the dough out on a lightly floured surface, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Make the filling by combining the goat cheese, ricotta cheese, garlic, chives and milk in a bowl.  Add another teaspoon or two of milk if the mixture is too tight.  Season with salt and pepper.  Slice the asparagus into bite size pieces and mix into the cheese mixture.

Roll out the dough on a floured surface until it is about 10" around and lay it into a 9" tart shell, preferably one with a removable bottom.  Trim the edges by running the rolling pin along the flutes so the excess will be cut off.  If you have a little extra dough left over, like I did, you can make a lattice design or just cut out shapes with a cutter.  Add the cheese filling and bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for approximately 1 hour or until the dough is lightly golden brown.  Cool slightly before removing from the pan.  Makes about 8 servings.