Fennel and Roquefort Tart is an elegant appetizer or light meal richly flavored with creamy Roquefort cheese and fennel, from the doyenne of French cooking, Anne Willan.
Born into a wealthy family in Yorkshire England, Anne Willan got her degree in economics from Cambridge, but soon after graduation took cooking classes that altered the direction of her life. Anne moved to France where she honed her cooking skills and married a world banker. Their lives took them back and forth across the Atlantic for many years but they eventually settled into a country Chateau in Burgundy, France where Anne founded the famous French culinary school La Varenne in 1975.
She’s put in over 35 years as an educator, cookbook author and food columnist, and is recognized as one of the world’s experts on French cooking.
Anne moved from her chateau in France to Los Angeles in 1973 to be closer to her daughter. While she has been inspired by the amazing produce and vibrant food culture of southern California, she says wistfully…“I do miss the cheese, though”.
This fennel and roquefort tart, or quiche, is a classic example of the simple genius of rustic French cooking. The ingredients are simple, but powerful…Roquefort cheese packs a huge flavor punch, and fennel adds a sophisticated licorice flavor and a subtle crunch. Fresh thyme and a touch of nutmeg complete the flavor profile ~ perfection!
If you don’t have any of Anne’s cookbooks and you want to check out her recipes, the La Varenne website has a wonderful index of recipes organized by year and season.
Fennel and Roquefort Tart
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lb fennel bulb, trimmed and sliced
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 2 Tbsp chopped thyme
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 6 oz Roquefort cheese, crumbled
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1 pinch ground nutmeg
- pastry dough, baked in a 10 inch tart pan
Instructions
- Set oven to 375°F.
prepare the filling
- Melt butter in a frying pan over medium heat, then add fennel, thyme, salt and pepper. *Use very little salt, as the cheese is very salty. Press a piece of buttered foil on top, cover and sweat the fennel, stirring occasionally, until very soft but not brown, 20-30 minutes. Meanwhile, make the custard.
prepare the custard
- Add egg, egg yolk, milk, cream, nutmeg, salt and pepper to a mixing bowl. Whisk until just combined.
assemble and bake
- When fennel is soft, add Roquefort cheese and stir to melt the cheese. (I skipped this step because I thought the cheese would be nicer if left crumbled to melt as the tart baked, partly for texture and partly for taste) Spread mixture evenly in base of pastry shell and pour over custard. Gently mix fennel and custard with a fork.
- Bake the tart in heated oven until done, 30-35 minutes. Let cool slightly before un-molding. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Nutrition
notes:
- A frozen pie crust will make quick work of this fennel and roquefort tart recipe.
Don’t forget to pin this delicious Fennel and Roquefort Tart~
There is something wrong with this recipe. I followed the instructions exactly, but had to bake more than an hour in order to get the tart to set. At 35 to 40 minutes it was still liquid. I looked at similar tart recipes and found that they called for 3 or 4 eggs, not 1 and a yolk. Also they called for cream, not mostly milk and cream. In the end, it tasted good, but because of the extra long bake, the crust stuck to the pan and was too dry.
I don’t know what could have gone wrong for you Rhys, this recipe works great for me, and Anne Willan’s recipe is quite well tested. Remember this is not an American style quiche, but a much slimmer European style tart. I always recommend checking your oven temp with an oven thermometer when things take much longer to cook than expected.
Sue,
I made this tart for a group of gourmands and they asked for the recipe. Thanks for posting it.
I am making another two for a party this afternoon. My pie crust has no egg in it though and it comes out really nice. I think the pre-ccoking of the shell for 10 minutes is important. That’s a personal preference though.
Fantastic looking tart! I could eat this combination every night of the week.
fact: i won some roquefort from ile de france and it was in my fridge for 8 hours before i gave it away. that was a few weeks ago, and my fridge STILL stinks. 🙂