This made for a phenomenal brunch! The flavours were great and it looked very nice too. The only slightly hiccough (and I do mean slight) was that, in order to get the egg whites to fully set, I had to cook it until the yolks were also hard. They were still delicious. It just wasn't the set white, runny yolk result that I'd been hoping for. But, given how this one went, I think you'd need to cook the whites and yolks separately for that. That said, it was good enough like this that I probably wouldn't be inclined to bother most of the time. And, I will admit: having the yolks fully set did make it easier to serve.

I've given ranges for a lot of the ingredients here because I do feel that you have a fair bit of flexibility. Our green onions were large, so I only ended up using three. But with smaller ones, I think that the full six called for in the recipe would have been more appropriate. The recipe also called for just over 100g of each kind of cheese. I used 100 and felt that was very generous. I think that I probably could've gotten away with half that amount and still been quite happy. That said, maximum cheese was delicious! And I followed a similar logic with the asparagus, bacon, and garlic. For the eggs, the original recipe actually called for 4-6. But I had a very large pie plate and, even with six eggs, it still looked a bit sparse, so I tossed in an extra two and that seemed just about right.

Asparagus, Corn, and Egg Tart

Slightly adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 1 recipe cornmeal shortcrust pastry
• 100-150g asparagus, trimmed
• 100-150g pancetta or bacon, chopped
• 3-6 green onions, chopped
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 c. frozen corn kernels
• 50-100g mozzarella cheese, grated
• 50-100g cheddar cheese, grated
• 1/3 c. half-and-half (10% MF)
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 6-8 large eggs
• 1/2 c. sunflower or similar sprouts (optional)

Directions

1. Roll out the pastry and use it to line a 23cm (9") deep-dish pie plate or 25cm (10") tart tin. Chill for 20-30 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F).
3. Line the pie shell with baking paper, fill with pie weights, and blind bake for 12 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, blanch the asparagus for 1-2 minutes and then drain and shock in cold water.
5. Cook the pancetta/bacon over medium heat for a few minutes, then add the green onion and garlic and cook until softened (5 minutes + 3-5 minutes).
6. Add the corn and cook for another minute or so.
7. Remove the paper and pie weights from the pastry shell and spread the bacon mixture in an even layer in the bottom of the pie shell.
8. Place the asparagus on top and sprinkle with the cheese.
9. Drizzle with the half-and-half and season to taste with pepper.
10. Return to oven and bake for 10 minutes.
11. Crack the eggs into the tart, doing your best to space them evenly. If it's important to you to have set whites and runny yolks, then separate the yolks from the whites and pour the whites on first. Set the yolks aside for now.
12. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
13. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for 15 minutes.
14. If you reserved the yolks, add them now, doing your best to space them evenly atop the tart.
15. Return to oven, turn off heat, and allow to sit in hot oven for 10 minutes to finish setting whites and thicken yolks.
16. Remove from oven and allow to stand for 5-10 minutes before slicing.
17. Garnish with sprouts (if using), cut into wedges, and serve.