serves
4
prep
15 minutes
cook
20 minutes
difficulty
Easy
serves
4
people
preparation
15
minutes
cooking
20
minutes
difficulty
Easy
level
This is a perfect example of a cheat ingredient meal – ordinarily puff pastry can be complicated to make from scratch. Here you get all the best bits of a homemade tart in a fraction of the time. Change up the topping depending on what’s in season.
Ingredients
- 500 g frozen puff pastry block, thawed (or use one pre-rolled sheet)
- 1 egg, beaten
Filling
- 100 g cherry tomatoes (red and yellow, if possible)
- 1 small zucchini (courgette), cut into thin ribbons using a vegetable peeler
- A few fresh thyme sprigs
- small handful of oregano, roughly chopped
- 3 tsp (15 ml) balsamic vinegar
- 3 tsp (15 ml) olive oil
- 250 g ricotta cheese
- Salad, to serve, optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven the 190°C. Line a baking tray with baking (parchment) paper
- For the filling, slice the tomatoes in half and place in a bowl. Toss with zucchini, thyme, oregano, balsamic vinegar and a little olive oil and season with sea salt and ground black pepper. Set aside at room temperature to allow the flavours to develop.
- Roll the puff pastry out on a clean well floured work surface using a rolling pin, until it is about 1cm thick and you have a large square, about 20 cm x 20 cm. Use a sharp knife to cut the pastry cut into four squares.
- Transfer the pastry to baking tray lined with parchment paper. Using a knife, score an inner square to create a 1 cm border (do not cut all the way through the pastry). Prick the pastry bases with a fork and then spread the area inside the scored border with ricotta cheese. Place tomato and zucchini mix on top of ricotta.
- Use a pastry brush to brush a little beaten egg on the edges of each tart. Avoid brushing egg over the border lines cut into the pastry, as that can prevent the puff pastry borders from rising.
- Bake for about 20-25 minutes until the tomatoes have reduced in size by half and the pastry has turned a nutty brown. Leave to cool for 5 minutes.
- Arrange on plates and serve with simply dressed salad.
Cook's Notes
Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.
This is a perfect example of a cheat ingredient meal – ordinarily puff pastry can be complicated to make from scratch. Here you get all the best bits of a homemade tart in a fraction of the time. Change up the topping depending on what’s in season.
