I Hate Peas....(or do I ?)

 

This is the hat I bought for Freddie for our pea-tasting event. It came all the way from America, from this site. You can get t-shirts,mugs,stickers to help you make your statement. Trouble is, Freddie may have the hat, but he has been diverting from its message. And the pea and ricotta tartlets are one reason why...

 

Pea and Ricotta Tart
375g readymade puff pastry
2 rashes of bacon
1 teaspoon of oil
150g peas
1 clove of garlic, crushed
2 tbsp ricotta cheese
Salt and pepper to season

Preheat oven to 200C.
Roll out the puff pastry until it is about half a centimetre thick. Using a large biscuit cutter, cut out circles of pastry. Place them carefully with a palette knife onto a piece of siliconised baking paper on a baking tray. Lightly score an inner circle within each pastry circle with a knife. This should be about a centimetre or less in from the edge. This will form a ridge round each tart when baked.
Chop up the bacon into small pieces and fry in a teaspoon of oil for 5 minutes or less until crisp.
Cook the peas in boiling water for 5 minutes. Using a food processor or hand blender, puree them along with one crushed garlic clove and 2 tablespoons of ricotta cheese.
Dollop one generous spoon of this mixture in the middle of each pastry circle. Add a piece of bacon on top of each. Bake in the middle of the oven for 15-20 minutes when the pastry is golden brown.