the austrian cuisine event inspired me to write this post. this tarte is extraordinary delicious and i planned to write about it already last year with our very, very first few asparagus. but last year the picture was not good enough and this spring was really busy. but here we go: my green version of austria, with lots of herbs and our own green asparagus.

this dish is not at all what you might expect from traditional austrian cuisine. it feels more like a modern interpretation of classically austrian regional and seasonal ingredients. the recipe is an adaption of a recipe from one of my very favorite cookbooks: johann lafers heimatküche, which is particularly focused on styrian cuisine.

please do not misunderstand me, i really love the traditional austrian cuisine. but despite “mehlspeisen” there are very view vegetarian dishes that come up my mind. so i hope everybody will enjoy this vegetarian austrian tarte. it is extra aromatic because of the mixture of a lot of different herbs. of course you can vary the mixture according to what is growing in your garden. i really recommend to include tarragon because of its very aromatic and intensive flavor. and if still available, include some bear´s garlic too. bear´s garlic is already fully in bloom, but you can still eat it, it only will loose a bit of it´s intensity.

one very last thing i would like to highlight before sharing the recipe with you. what i really love in this recipe – despite the fresh herbs, giving flavor and color – is the idea of giving cooked mashed potatoes on the top of the pastry before adding the asparagus and herby egg-mixture. it makes the tarte surprisingly fluffy. but try by yourself!

 one hand full of green asparagus
500 g potatoes
50 g fresh herbs like parsley, chive, bear´s garlic, tarragon, and whatever you like
3 eggs
100 ml milk
150 g sour creme
salt
pepper
nutmeg
25 g butter
puff pastry
1 egg yolk

cook the potatoes for about 30 minutes and then refresh and peel them. roughly mash the potatoes and set aside.

if you take green asparagus you do neither have to peel or to precook it. in the case of white asparagus both will be necessary.

preheat the oven to 200° C. meanwhile prepare the herb and egg mixture. therefore wash all your herbs, dry and roughly chop. combine all the herbs with the eggs, milk and sour cream in a food processor. blend the mixture until it gets this nice green color. season to taste with salt, nutmeg and pepper.

grease a retangular baking dish or griddle with butter. fit the puff pastry in a baking dish  paying attention to also form an edge. spread over the mashed potatoes and place the asparagus on top. pour over the egg and herb mixture. coat the edge of the tarte with the egg yolk.

bake for 30 minutes at 200°C on the lowest level of your oven.

and enjoy!

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eine hand voll grünen spargel
500 g kartoffeln
50 g frische kräuter, zb. petersilie, schnittlauch, estragon, bärlauch oder was auch immer gerade wächst
3 eier
100 ml milch
150 g saure sahne/ sauerrahm
salz
pfeffer
muskatnuss
25 g butter
blätterteig
1 eigelb

kartoffeln etwa 30 m inuten kochen, dann abschrecken und schälen. anschließend die kartoffeln etwas zerdrücken und zur seite stellen.

grüner spargel muss für dieses gericht weder geschält noch vorgekocht werden. beides wäre im fall von weißem spargel notwendig.

den ofen auf 200°C vorheizen. in der zwischenzeit kann die kräuter-ei-mischung vorbereitet werden. dazu die kräuter waschen, trocken schleudern und grob hacken. alle Kräuter mit ei, milch und saurer sahne mischen und in einen hohen mixbecher geben. pürieren bzw. mixen bis die mischung eine schöne grüne farbe bekommt. mit salz, pfeffer und muskatnuss würzen.

eine rechteckige auflauform oder auch ein backblech mit butter einfetten. dann den blätterteig in die form legen und dabei darauf achten auch etwas teig zu einem rand hochzuziehen. die zerdrückten kartoffeln auf dem teig verteilen und die spargelstangen darauflegen. schließlich die eier-kräuter-mischung darüber geben und den teigrand mit dem verbleibenden eigelb einstreichen.

30 minuten bei 200°C backen, dabei das blech oder die auflaufform in die unterste schiene des backofens schieben.

und … an guadn!