Easy Asparagus Pesto Tart

This asparagus tart is made with puff pastry and pesto for an easy and flavorful lunch or snack. Feel like you're on a fancy vacation and enjoy the flakiness of this spring tart. If you love smoked salmon, top the tart with it for an even more delicious and fancy meal!

Is there anything better than store-bought puff pastry? It's just so easy to pull out of the freezer, thaw, and then use in recipes like this puff pastry asparagus tart!

One of the best things about this tart is that you can completely customize it. Many times in the past, I've cut a sheet of puff pastry into 4 pieces to make kid-friendly versions for my toddlers and more grown-up versions for my husband and me.

This time though, I just cut the puff pastry into two big pieces for my husband and myself. You can of course double this recipe and make two sheets of puff pastry instead of just one if you're feeding more people or have hungry kids that also want their own larger puff pastry tarts.

Key ingredients:

• Frozen puff pastry (thaw according to the package directions before use)
• Thin asparagus - If you use thin asparagus, you do not have to roast prior to adding to the tart
• Pesto - You can use store-bought or homemade
• Olive oil
• Cheese (optional) - Many different types of cheese work with this asparagus tart! Feta, goats cheese, parmesan, ricotta!
• Smoked salmon (optional)

Can you use thick asparagus?

You can use thick asparagus, but I recommend roasting the asparagus for 7-10 minutes in the oven prior to adding to the puff pastry.

Do I need to do an egg wash?

An egg wash is where to take a beaten egg and brush it onto exposed areas of a pastry. It helps to turn the pastry a golden brown color in the oven.

While you can absolutely use an egg wash, I usually don't because I like to keep my eggs for breakfast! So answer -- you can, but you don't need to.

Step by step instructions:

Thaw one sheet of puff pastry according to the package directions. Carefully roll out onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Press together any seams.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.

Cut the puff pastry into however many tarts you want to make (I did two in the photos below, but sometimes I'll cut into 4 squares and share with the kids). Then, taking a small knife, cut a border, being careful not to slice all the way through the pastry. With a fork, pierce the middle part of the puff pastry many times, as shown below. This is called "docking" and keeps the middle part of the pastry from puffing up as much.

Next, spread pesto onto the middle part of the pastry.

Cut your asparagus slices to measure the width of the inside rectangle, and toss with olive oil. Arrange the asparagus spears on the tarts. I like to arrange them so they are alternated tip and bottom part of the asparagus spear.

Place in the oven and cook for 22-27 minutes, checking frequently until tart is done as desired. I like to make sure the asparagus is roasted and puff pastry is nicely browned.

Remove from the oven and serve! I then like to top mine with some smoked salmon, but that is completely optional! Leave off for a vegetarian version.

If you're a smoked salmon lover like me, you might also enjoy this smoked salmon and goat cheese crostini.

Other ideas:

• You can mix the pesto with some ricotta cheese and use that as the base for the tart and then lay the asparagus on top of the ricotta cheese mixture.
• You can always top your asparagus pesto tart with goats cheese or feta.
• For a veggie-rich tart, you can also layer on some tomato slices and then add the asparagus spears on top of the tomatoes.
• You can also add some cheese to the asparagus tart --- either before or after baking.