Swedish Cheese Tart

“Swedish Cheese Tart” is not the most exciting recipe I have ever come across. It is, for that matter, an incredibly dull version of the sexier, Gallic version; the Quiche. I was thrilled, then, when this red-headed stepchild of a quiche turned into a delicious and indulgent meal, easily thrown together in a few minutes and a fabulous addition to my new and ever expanding repertoire of Scandinavian recipes. It just needed a little help.

A problem I often encounter when cooking Norwegian food is lack of access to certain ingredients. Things like lingonberries, fresh herring, and reindeer are simply not readily available in our neck of the woods. I ran into this problem while collecting ingredients for this cheese tart. The recipe calls for Swedish Västerbotten, a strong, hard cheese reminiscent of an aged cheddar or young parmesan. While I was unable to find Västerbotten, the good people of Saint James Cheese Company, who are astoundingly well informed and enthusiastic, provided me with a chunk of Prima Donna Extra Mature Gouda from The Netherlands Interestingly enough, it tasted like a combination of cheddar and parmesan, ideal for my intended use. It was the perfect substitution.

I used a tart base I found in Trina Hahnemann’s The Scandinavian Cookbook, a source which I have used often over the last few weeks. The Swedish Cheese Tart recipe is quite basic and needed some serious tarting up (ba-dum ching). I added a few ingredients, modified others and messed around with some of the ratios. The result was Swedish Cheese Tart, reimagined: A creamy, rich, fragrant cheese quiche which was head and tails better then most quiche I’ve ever tasted. We served the savory tart along side a wonderful San Danielle Prosciutto (also from Saint James Cheese) and a simple salad of arugula and balsamic vinaigrette. It was a perfect dinner and I can’t wait to have a slice for lunch tomorrow

Swedish Cheese Tart (serves 4)

1 puff pasty sheet, thawed
butter for greasing
4 eggs
2/3 cup heavy cream
8 oz gouda, grated
2 cloves garlic, diced
2 scallions, green and white bits finely chopped
1/2 tsp cayenne
large pinch sea salt
generous amount of pepper

Preheat the oven to 395F and grease a 9″ fluted tart pan. Roll out your puff pastry sheet, until thin and large enough to fill the tart pan. Carefully lay the pastry into the pan, folding over the edges and cutting off any excess.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix until well incorporated. Add salt and pepper to taste, but be quite generous with the pepper.

Pour batter into the tart pan and cook for 45 minutes or until golden brown. Eat immediately, while still warm.