Salvagno Tarte Soleil

A delicious combination of light, buttery puff pastry and moreish, salty Salvagno olive paste. Deceptively easy and beautifully presented, this fun, pull-apart dish will surprise and delight your guests.

Serves 8-10 as a canapé

500g Paneton ready rolled puff pastry (leave in fridge overnight to thaw)
Girolomoni organic ‘00’ flour, for dusting
3 Tbsp Salvagno olive paste
1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tsp cold water (for egg wash)
1 Tbsp Pinoli pine nuts

Unroll the pastry onto a lightly floured workbench. Use a rolling pin to roll out the pastry a little more so that it is long enough to cut out two 24cm circles. Use a dinner plate as a guide to cut out two 24cm circles. Place first round on a baking tray lined with baking paper. 

Spread with olive paste to evenly cover all but 1cm from the edge. Dab edges with water and place second round on top. Set a small glass upside down in the middle. Being careful not to cut through the baking paper, cut from the glass (i.e. not through the centre) into quarters at the 3,6,9 and 12 o’clock marks. Cut through each quarter again, making 8 strips. Cut each strip into 3 so that you have 24 sun “rays” of pastry emanating from the centre. If at any point the pastry becomes too soft and hard to cut, just pop the tray in the freezer for a few minutes for the pastry to firm back up.

Remove the glass. Place a finger near the centre on one sunray – this is to prevent the ray breaking off at the thin end as you twist. Gently twist the strand three times and then lay it back down on the tray. Repeat until all the rays are twisted to make a pretty pattern. Chill for 20 minutes while you preheat the oven to 190°C. Brush the pastry with egg wash. Prick the centre circle with a fork and sprinkle with pine nuts. Bake for 30 minutes or until puffed and golden brown all over.

Remove tart from the oven and let cool on the baking tray for 10 minutes then transfer to a serving platter. To eat, tear off sunrays, one at a time, and enjoy.

Recipe by Julie Le Clerc