These Spinach & Ricotta Tarts with puff pastry make the most delicious little party food treat... or even a nice lazy lunch. Quick and easy to prepare, great tasting and freezable! These really are so good.
I know that virtually every recipe on Bake Play Smile is a sweet one (I'm soooooory!!). But I'm totally making up for that today with these super simple Spinach & Ricotta Tarts.
Spinach and ricotta go together so beautifully. It would have to be one of my fave little foodie combinations. In fact, whoever thought to add the two together is clearly a genius. Oh and when you add some crispy puff pastry into the mix... umm BLISS!!
I love these little Spinach & Ricotta Tarts because they make a really delicious lunch, quick weeknight dinner, or my fave - a lazy brunch. Because they're freezable, you can make and cook them ahead of time and then just reheat them when you need a yummy savoury hit.
The spinach and ricotta filling also has an onion and some parmesan cheese for extra taste. Geez I love parmesan cheese. It just makes everything SO much better.
Once you've popped your Spinach & Ricotta Tarts into the oven, make yourself a cuppa, sit down for a minute and smell the awesomeness coming from your kitchen. Seriously the best smell in the world.
You can serve these Spinach & Ricotta Tarts warm or cold. If you have them warm, make sure you add a good dollop of chutney... boy oh boy, that's the best. You can also pop them in your little ones lunchbox for something a bit different (you can even pop them in frozen and they'll be defrosted by lunchtime - perfect!).
So what do you think? Have I made amends for my zillions of sweet recipes yet? Hehehe... probably not! The savoury recipes are still by far outweighed by the sugary goodness happening on this site!
Spinach & Ricotta Tarts
Ingredients
- 2 sheets puff pastry sheets defrosted
- 1 onion chopped finely
- 1 tbs olive oil
- 250 g frozen spinach thawed and strained
- 200 g ricotta cheese
- 50 g parmesan cheese finely grated
- salt and pepper
- 1 egg whisked
Instructions
Conventional Method
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius (fan-forced).
- Lightly grease 1 X 12 hole muffin tin with cooking oil spray.
- Cut each pastry sheet into 6 squares and press into the muffin holes. Set aside.
- Saute the chopped onion and olive oil in a frying pan until soft. Place into a bowl.
- Place the thawed frozen spinach into a strainer and remove any excess liquid (the more liquid you can remove, the crispier your pastries will be).
- Add the spinach to the onion.
- Add the ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese and season with salt and pepper. Mix until well combined.
- Divide the mixture evenly between the pastry cases.
- Brush the whisked egg over the pastry.
- Cook in the oven for approximately 20 minutes or until golden and crispy.
- Allow to cool for 5 minutes in the tray before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Thermomix Method
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius (fan-forced). Lightly grease 1 X 12 hole muffin tin with cooking oil spray.
- Cut each pastry sheet into 6 squares and press into the muffin holes. Set aside.
- Place the parmesan cheese into the TM bowl and grate on Speed 8 for 5-10 seconds. Set aside.
- Place the onion into the TM bowl. Chop on Speed 8 for 5 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and repeat.
- Add the olive oil and saute on 100 degrees, 4 minutes, Speed 2.
- Place the thawed frozen spinach into a strainer and remove any excess liquid (the more liquid you can remove, the crispier your pastries will be).
- Add the spinach, ricotta cheese and parmesan cheese to the TM bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Mix on Reverse Speed 5 for 20 seconds or until completely combined.
- Divide the mixture evenly between the pastry cases.
- Brush the whisked egg over the pastry.
- Cook in the oven for approximately 20 minutes or until golden and crispy.
- Allow to cool for 5 minutes in the tray before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
Serve the tarts warm with chutney for an extra yummy lunch.
Steph Blythman
Just love these, and so did everyone else. Made them ahead and froze them to save time as mentioned. Brilliant.
Lucy
Fantastic!!!
Carolyn
Hi Lucy, just wondering could you replace the frozen spinach with fresh spinach?
Lucy
Absolutely!
Heather Hartley
Has anybody tried making these in a mini-muffin pan? I'm thinking more of a one-bite canapé.
Lucy
That's a great idea!
Samantha
How do you reheat them after? Do you defrost them first or heat from frozen?
Lucy
Hi Samantha, you can do either! Just place in a low oven (around 140 degrees) and cook until heated through.