Crusty cockle tart

A recipe from cooking-ez.com

For 4 people, you will need:

• 1 1 kg cockles
• 2 200 g puff or flaky pastry (pâte feuilletée)
• 3 200 ml liquid cream
• 4 2 egg yolks
• 5 chives (optional)
• Total weight: 1,440 grams

Times:

Preparation	Cooking	Start to finish
2 hours 25 min.	30 min.	2 hours 55 min.

Step by step recipe

1	Prepare the cockles and the cooking liquid left. This can be done well in advance, or the day before.
2	Preheat the oven to 220°C (430°F). Roll out the pastry and line the tart moulds or tins. Fill with baking beans (or lentils) to prevent the pastry puffing up too much.
3	Bake the tart cases for around 15 minutes, watching for colouring. Remove the baking beans and keep the cases hot in the residual oven heat (after turning off).
4	Pour 200 ml liquid cream into a pan and bring to the boil over medium heat. Add pepper but no salt. Add around 5 tablespoonsful of the cockle cooking liquid and taste to check the seasoning. If necessary, add a little more of the cockle liquid.
5	Turn down the heat and add 2 egg yolks.
6	Beat to mix thoroughly and continue beating gently until the "à la poulette" (chick) sauce thickens. Remove from the heat as soon as it is thick enough.
7	Tip in the cockles and stir round briefly to reheat them. Heat the plates.
8	Place a tart case on each plate and fill with a spoonful or two of cockles in sauce. You can also pour the sauce over whatever you are serving on the side, such as the rice shown here. Serve immediately.

Remarks

Just before serving, you can add a few chopped chives to the sauce if you wish.
Tarts like this should be served immediately as the sauce will soon start to soften the pastry and make them less appealing.

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