LKA Baked Rosemary, Brie, and Mushroom Tart | Cooking With Kids Using Heat
A Savory Baking Recipe That Builds Confidence, Focus, and Kitchen Independence
Kids in the Kitchen is our blog series, where in collaboration with Click and Grow, we’re sharing LKA recipes and tips for getting kids interested in food and involved in the kitchen.
Cooking With Kids Using Heat
At Little Kitchen Academy, students are trusted to work with heat, tools, and ingredients, in a carefully designed, safety-first kitchen environment. Through thoughtful instruction and repetition, students learn how to confidently use cooktops and ovens with purpose and care.
This Baked Rosemary, Brie, and Mushroom Tart brings those skills together beautifully. With sautéing, assembling, and baking all in one recipe, students experience how individual steps build toward a finished dish—while practicing focus, coordination, and independence along the way.
Why This Recipe Matters
This savory baking recipe offers rich opportunities for students to practice essential kitchen skills, including:
- Safe use of heat and cooktop cooking
- Sequencing and multi-step planning
- Knife skills and ingredient preparation
- Observing how heat transforms texture, aroma, and flavor
It’s also a wonderful introduction to savory baking and the idea that meals are built in layers—each step contributing something essential to the final result.
Prep time: 20 minutes
Rest time: 15-18 minutes
Serves: 2-3
Ingredients
- 1 fresh rosemary sprig, chopped
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 30 g yellow onion, thinly sliced
- 60 g cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
- 4 asparagus spears, chopped
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 30 g fresh spinach
- 1 sheet puff pastry
- 40 g Brie cheese, sliced
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp black pepper
- 1 egg, beaten
Instructions
- Preheat the Oven
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Inviting students to help preheat the oven creates an important moment to discuss temperature, timing, and safety. This step sets expectations for what happens now and what comes later, supporting sequencing and sustained focus.
- Sauté the Vegetables
Warm the olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat and sauté the onions until golden.
As the onions cook, encourage students to observe how heat softens them and changes both color and aroma. This reinforces cause-and-effect learning and builds awareness around cooktop cooking.
Add the salt and pepper, mushrooms, asparagus, followed by the garlic. Cook until tender.
Students can help add ingredients one at a time, practicing patience, control, and the understanding that each ingredient plays a role in building flavor.
- Add the Spinach
Turn off the heat and add the spinach, stirring until wilted.
- Prepare the Pastry
Roll out the puff pastry and place it on a parchment-lined baking tray.
Rolling dough supports coordination and spatial awareness. Encourage students to notice the shape, edges, and thickness as they work.
Spoon the vegetable mixture into the center of the pastry, leaving a small border.
This step reinforces planning and discipline—learning where food belongs and why space is intentionally left around the edges.
- Assemble and Bake
Arrange the Brie on top and sprinkle with fresh rosemary.
Brush the pastry border with egg wash and bake until golden.
💡 Fresh rosemary harvested from Click & Grow indoor gardens creates a powerful sensory learning moment. As students chop and gently warm the rosemary, they experience how heat releases its natural oils and aroma—deepening their understanding of how herbs transform flavor and reinforcing the connection between growing, harvesting, and cooking food.
- Reflect and Serve
Cool slightly, slice, and enjoy.
Before serving, invite students to reflect:
- How did the flavors come together?
- What changed in the oven?
- Which step felt most important?
This Spinach, Brie & Asparagus Tart represents what we believe at Little Kitchen Academy: students are capable of complex, meaningful work when given the right environment and guidance. By trusting them with heat, tools, and responsibility, we help build confidence that carries far beyond the kitchen.
