I love tra­di­tion­al asparagus rolls, and will guard a plate of them pos­sess­ively while rap­idly deplet­ing its con­tents if they’re ever served up at a party. How­ever, asparagus sold in spindly green bundles, her­ald­ing summer’s arrival, is some­thing else alto­geth­er. Here it’s strewn across puff pastry and blas­ted in the oven, trans­form­ing its stringy, grassy tend­en­cies into nutty, lightly crisp deliciousness.

Most people are rushed bey­ond capa­city at this time of year, which is why this tart is great — it falls into that clas­sic food genre, ‘looks much more impress­ive and fiddly than the time and effort it took to actu­ally make it should war­rant’. If you’re up for it though, the avo­cado oil hol­landaise is a dreamy accompaniment.

Avo­cado oil’s mel­low, but­tery fla­vour and the bright sweet­ness of lem­on work delight­fully with the asparagus, and the hol­landaise adds some import­ant gen­er­al fest­ive fan­ci­ness. Should you be hav­ing the most frantic of Christ­mas Eves, the most exhaustedly limp of Box­ing Days, or are simply com­pletely unsure of what day it is because you’re just so busy, this tart will improve everything.

Asparagus Tart with Avocado Oil Hollandaise

Ingredients

• 1 sheet puff pastry
• ¼ cup grated Parmesan
• 10–15 spears fresh asparagus, tough ends trimmed
• 1 tbsp avo­cado oil

Hol­landaise sauce

• 3 egg yolks
• ¼ cup fresh lem­on juice
• Zest of 1 lemon
• Pinch of salt
• 40g but­ter, melted and still warm
• ¼ cup avo­cado oil

Method

1. Pre­heat your oven to 200˚C. Place the pastry sheet on a bak­ing tray lined with bak­ing paper.
2. Lightly score a bor­der 3cm inside the sheet of pastry all the way round, and prick the middle a couple of times with a fork. Bake for 8–10 minutes, until golden and puffed around the edge.
3. Sprinkle the Parmes­an over the pastry, and then arrange the asparagus spears in a single row on top (trim­ming the ends if neces­sary to make them fit).
4. Drizzle over the table­spoon of avo­cado oil. Bake for anoth­er 20 minutes, or until the asparagus is tender.
5. Now make the hol­landaise sauce. In a small pan, whisk the egg yolks, lem­on juice, zest and pinch of salt over a very low heat until thickened slightly.
6. Add the but­ter and then con­tin­ue to whisk con­stantly over a low heat for a couple of minutes.
7. Slowly pour in the ¼ cup of avo­cado oil and stir to com­bine. Remove from the heat.
8. Serve the hol­landaise sauce in a jug on the side to drizzle over the tart.