Broad Bean, Bacon and Red Pesto Tart

Ok, so here's a lovely light summery dish to kick off my blog, inspired by broad beans picked from our allotment.  Broad beans are a veg I've only really 'discovered' in the last few years since growing them. They signify the start of summer to me as we grow them over winter and they're the first of our veg ready for picking.  We share our allotment with another couple and it's become a sunday morning ritual to meet at the allotment, put the kettle on for a coffee, sit in our deck chairs and mull over the week before getting down to work.
If you haven't got broad beans (frozen ones are fine) you can use peas in this recipe instead. I've made a buttery shortcrust but if you don't have time use a 375g pack of readymade shortcrust.

Makes 1 28cm diameter tart, enough to serve 6
For the pastry:
200g plain flour
100g butter
2 tbsp cold water
For the filling:
100g unsmoked or smoked bacon, chopped
6 spring onions (about 1/2 a bunch) trimmed and chopped
200g broad beans (podded weight)
250g tub ricotta cheese
4 medium eggs
100ml milk
Salt and freshly ground pepper
4 tbsp freshly grated Parmesan cheese
4 heaped tsp red pesto

1 To make the pastry, place the flour in a bowl and rub in the butter using your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs (you can do this in a food processor if you like). Add the water and stir in using a round bladed knife, then using your hand bring the mixture together to form a ball (again if using a food processor add the water and pulse until the dough just comes together). Lightly knead the pastry to make a smooth dough.

2 Roll out the pastry to a round about 2cm larger than the tin all round. Lift the pastry into the tin and ease it into the sides and base. Roll the rolling pin across the top of the tin to trim off the excess. This quantity of pastry is just enough for this size of tin and it is quite short so don't worry if there are a few splits and cracks, just patch it up with the trimmings. Place the lined tin on a baking tray and chill for 30 mins.

3 While the pastry is chilling, make the filling. Fry the bacon in a dry frying pan for a few minutes until starting to brown. Add the spring onions and cook for another 2-3 mins. At the same time, cook the broad beans in a pan of boiling water for about 3 mins. Drain, rinse under cold water until cool enough to handle and then pop them out of the grey skins (you don't have to do this but I prefer to for a better colour and flavour).

4 Place the ricotta in bowl with the eggs and beat together with a hand whisk until smooth. Whisk in the milk, season with salt and freshly ground pepper and stir in the Parmesan.

5 Preheat the oven to 200C, Fan 180C, gas 6. Line the chilled pastry case with a sheet of baking parchment and weight down with baking beans or dry rice. Bake in the oven for 10 mins then remove the paper and beans or rice and bake for a further 10 mins. This is called baking blind and helps to keep the pastry crisp.

6 Spread the pesto over the base of the pastry case and scatter the bacon, spring onions and broad beans over the top. Pour the ricotta and eggs mixture evenly over the filling and bake for about 25 mins until the filling is set and golden. Serve warm or cold. We enjoyed ours fresh from the oven with some new potatoes and a leafy salad.