The seasons are changing.

The weather is differing.

It doesn't matter whether it's blazing or blizzards wherever you are, it's the perfect time to sink your teeth into a cheeky little tart!

Tarts, by their very nature, are so accomodating:

Bake them ahead.

Serve them hot, warm or cold...

Slice up the merest sliver or a good solid wedge.

Dress them up, dress them down. They're always delightful and you can take them just about anywhere.

Is it any wonder we all love having a tart in our kitchen?

I discovered my first Buttermilk Tart last year during a trip to Texas.

I thought that I was being served up a slice of custard tart...the schoolboy in me immediately thought 'Phlegm Flan!'...I was prepared to make polite protestations that I had overestimated my appetite.

Then I sank my teeth into it...and my teeth kept on sinking!

This Texan custard was like my waitress's hair; bigger and fluffier than it had any logical reason to be!

And the buttermilk didn't sour the flavour at all, it simply cut the sweetness.

I came home and set to discovering how the custard got to be so velvety and light.

I also worked on a biscuit pastry which is sweet, crisp and easy.

The freshly baked tart felt like the perfect setting for a mountain of the season's first strawberries. Still a little tart and firm, they were the perfect foil for the delicate custard.

They loitered atop that tart like a group of ripe, plump vixens on a goose down mattress, waiting to be plundered!

Real men don't bake Quiche.

They layer the flavours on top of each other and bake them all up in a crisp, cheesey, flaky crust!

I got this idea from Julia Child. (who, for the uninitiated, is not a Real Man!)

I recently spent two weeks in bed with her.

I know that sounds deliberately provocative (and a little disconcerting), but I have to say that she was a delightful companion!

I had been felled by a nasty bout of Bronchitis and my doctor had prescribed a cough syrup laced liberally with codeine.

Too fuzzy to operate anything more sophisticated than a can opener (forget about cars or sundry other machines), I snuggled into bed with a copy of Julia's first cookbook.

Upon awaking the following morning, I noticed an empty mug next to the bed...further investigation revealed some cookie crumbs and a little milk in the bottom.

I was more alarmed by seeing my laptop still on the bed with an Amazon.com screen open.

It seems that in the middle of the night, my codeine haze at a peak, I had been dreaming of the basics of French cuisine. I had ordered Julia Child's entire TV series on DVD.

Well, much worse could happen! Watching her whet my appetite in strange new ways.

One idea was this Spinach tart. I cooked the spinach in a gruyere-rich roux, topped it with sauteed mushrooms, then I simply cracked a few eggs on top, placed a nice, fat coil of pancetta on top of each egg and folded over the pastry (which I had loaded with more gruyere!).

I baked it till the crust was golden, the eggs had set and the fat from the pancetta had rendered down into the rest of the layers.

This tart knows how to please. There isn't a guy I know who could resist it!

(Just don't tell them it's a quiche!) (( And thanks again, Julia!))

This started it's life as a tart, but I got lazy and decided to try baking the goat's cheese mix in a roll of filo instead.

It was so much nicer...

The trick is to layer ground pistachio nuts with lemon zest and dried mint between the sheets of buttered filo.

The chevre was mixed with chili flakes and preserved lemon.

Brush. Roll. Bake.

Cut and devour!

Delicious!

Sweet baby carrots steamed to tender perfection.

New Potatoes hot and steaming.

Dill and lemon vinaigrette.

Perfect served hot. (Try it with the corned beef this Saturday!)

Delectable cold.

Great for guilt free snacking.

And all put together with the best olive oil you can get your hands on!

I got accused of neglecting the 'savoury' side of my website in favour of the 'sweet'.

We're all guilty of a similar crime, I suppose.

But this stopped me in my tracks. Gave me a bit of Cook's Block!

Hopefully those of you liking the saltier side of life will enjoy the recipes above (Buttermilk Tart aside!)

More recipes and newsletters coming.

And God bless Julia.

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cheers, Mannix

mannix@thelovebite.com