This delicious Creamy Shrimp Tarte is adapted from a traditional Scandinavian recipe. Elegant for lunch or brunch for sure!
You won’t believe how light but creamy this shrimp tarte tastes. I think the evaporated milk and the creamy, nuttiness of the Jarlsberg cheese contributes a lot!
This makes a delicious centerpiece for a lunch or brunch and would also rate highly as a light summer supper. Add a side salad and/or an appetizer to round out the meal.
I served it with this Cucumber Gazpacho Soup with Shrimp Relish and Paprika Syrup as the appetizer.
Chef’s Tips for Creamy Shrimp Tarte
- Salad Shrimp are small cold water shrimp and they have a certain creaminess to them. They are usually fully cleaned and frozen. You will rough chop them before adding but do not overchop or they could become too pasty. If you use larger shrimp you will have to chop a bit more.
- If the shrimp have been frozen, after defrosting them squeeze as much water out of them as possible just in your fist. This will keep the tart from being watery.
- If you are starting with raw shrimp cook them briefly for 1-2 minutes in skillet before adding them to the egg and cheese mixture.
- You can substitute other soft, mild cheese like Havarti or Fontina for the Jarlsberg.
- Fresh dill is a key ingredient here. It is one of the main flavours of the dish so it is worth the effort to source fresh rather than dried dill.
- Semolina flour has a higher gluten level than all purpose flour. Semolina adds a bit of structure to the crust in this recipe. If you don’t have semolina or Type 00, bread flour or whole wheat would be good substitutes as well. You can use all purpose flour instead but you will just have a softer crust.
- When pressing the pastry dough into the pan press the bottom uniformly as thin as you can. You should have 1 1/2- 2″ of dough up the side to hold all the filling.

Creamy Shrimp Tarte
This light and delicious tarte is adapted from a traditional Scandinavian recipe.
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Servings: 6
Equipment
- Food Processor
- 9" deep dish pie plate or spring form pan
Ingredients
Pastry
- 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup semolina or pasta flour I used Type 00. You can sub all purpose for a softer crust.
- 2 tsps sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 Tbsps butter chilled and cut in small pieces
- 2 Tbsps shortening chilled and cut in small pieces
- 1/4 cup ice water
- 1/2 tsp cider vinegar
Filling
- 12 oz salad shrimp cleaned and cooked
- 2 oz cream cheese
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup evaporated milk
- 1 cup Jarlsberg or other nutty cheese, shredded about 4 oz
- 1 1/2 Tbsps chopped, fresh dill
- 1/4 tsp salt
Instructions
Pastry
- Preheat oven to 375° F.
- In your food processor pulse lightly to combine the flour, sugar and salt. Add the butter and shortening and pulse until it looks like a coarse meal.
- Combine ice water and vinegar in measuring cup. Add to flour mixture in food processor. Whisk til combined. Mixture will still be like coarse meal and will not form a ball.
- Spray a 9" deep dish pie plate or a 9 inch spring form pan with cooking spray.
- Press the pastry into the bottom of the pan and up the sides with a fork.
- Bake 5 minutes. Remove from oven and let it rest till ready to fill.
Filling
- Using a paper towel in batches squeeze as much water out of the shrimp as possible. Chop shrimp roughly.
- Wipe out food processor and blend egg and cream cheese. Add the milk and the Jarlsberg cheese and pulse lightly till well blended. Add shrimp, dill and salt and pulse just to mix evenly.
- Pour filling into pie shell. Bake 40 minutes more until set in the middle.
- Remove from oven and allow to stand 10 minutes before serving. Garnish with more fresh dill if desired.
Nutrition
Calories: 422kcal | Carbohydrates: 31g | Protein: 27g | Fat: 20g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Cholesterol: 289mg | Sodium: 782mg | Potassium: 276mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 522IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 363mg | Iron: 3mg
