Back in San Francisco, Caffe Sapore – being the next-door caffeine shop – was my first stop every morning before work. The cafe sits on a sunny corner at the bottom of Lombard Street and serves a great variety of bagels, salads and sandwiches. The staff was very friendly and the food was always fresh.

I used to grab a triple shot latte and a tricolore bagel (tomatoes, basil and cream cheese). And occasionally, I would order a smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel. This tart is inspired by that bagel.

While playing around with the usual Pate Brisee recipe, I came up with this version, which has cream cheese in it. It is crowned with strips of smoked salmon, chives and corn kernels. I was planning on adding capers, but the smoked salmon gets quite salty when baked, so I chose to add chives instead.

My next mission is the Tricolore Tart!

Smoked Salmon Tart with Chives, Corn and Cream Cheese

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 6 tbsp unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
• 3 oz cream cheese, cold (for tart dough)
• 3 oz cream cheese, room temperature (for filling)
• 1/2 cup corn kernels
• Handful of chives
• 3 oz smoked salmon
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp milk

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F (190C) degrees.
2. Place flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse several times to combine.
3. Add the butter, and pulse until pieces are the size of peas.
4. Add the cream cheese (3 oz, cold), and pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
5. Wrap the dough in parchment paper and chill for an hour.
6. Spare about half a cup of the dough and roll out the remaining dough to a 12 by 5 inch rectangle, 1/8 inches thick.
7. Roll out the rest of the dough and cut borders for the rectangle. Place the borders on top of the rectangle and trim any excess tart dough.
8. In a small bowl, whisk the egg with the milk and brush the borders of the tart dough.
9. Transfer dough onto a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes, remove and let cool.
10. Spread the other half of the cream cheese (room temperature) on top of the warm tart dough, arrange slices of smoked salmon, chives and corn kernels and bake for 15 more minutes.
11. Serve warm.