Veggie Tart

This recipe was really easy and I made it originally as a starter for some dinner party guests at the weekend but decided to make a bigger version to enjoy in my lunchbox over the week! I’ve set out the recipe below but essentially I used a lot of leftovers in my fridge which was really handy.

Ingredients

Puff pastry ready made 320g

1 x courgette thinly sliced in circles

1 x red pepper

1 x yellow pepper

Handful of cherry tomatoes quartered

Asparagus cut into 3rds

1 x onion finely chopped

Mozzarella

Parmesan

Handful of pine nuts

 

Pesto 

Bag of basil

2 x tablespoons parmesan

4 x tablespoons olive oil

50g pine nuts

1 x clove of garlic

 

Method

Heat oven to 200 degrees Celsius 

Slice the peppers in half, remove the core and seeds, lay on a baking tray drizzle with olive oil and cook for 30 minutes.

Add a drizzle of olive oil to a pan, add onion and cook on a medium heat for 5 minutes until clear. Stir occasionally so it doesn’t stick to the pan. 

Meanwhile chop courgette, tomatoes and asparagus as per above and add to a bowl. 

After 30 minutes remove the peppers from the oven and move them to a chopping board to leave to cool for 5 minutes. Turn the oven down to 180 degrees Celsius. After 5 minutes and cooler to touch, slice these finely and add to the bowl. 

Season everything with salt and pepper and a drizzle of olive oil and stir to coat. 

Add all pesto ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth – smoother the better for this recipe. 

Roll out pastry (as per packet instructions) and put on baking tray.

Using a large spoon, dollop the pesto onto the pastry and spread with the back of the spoon. Don’t go right to the edges, leave about a 1 inch gap all around. 

Add the toppings from the bowl all on top of the pesto from end to end. 

Break up the mozzarella and place bits all around the topping evenly. 

Finally grate Parmesan over the whole pastry and add some pine nuts across the time. 

Put in the oven and cook for 20 minutes – the pastry should be golden and crispy and the cheese should be bubbling!

** The topping is quite heavy. If you are going to eat this immediately it might be worth considering blind baking first. If you’re letting it cool for lunch this shouldn’t be necessary just slice with care!

Let me know if you make it and how it was!

It is so perfect for packed lunches – a slice with some salad absolutely great for summer!

Enjoy,

A, x.