Cherry tomato tart
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Serves: 4 people
Ingredients
- 210g ready-made puff pastry (ie, one frozen sheet) – check it is dairy free. The frozen varieties are usually fine.
- 1 egg yolk
- 2-3 red onions (250-300g), peeled and finely sliced
- 2 sprigs of thyme (optional)
- 120g bag of rocket leaves
- 16 cherry tomatoes, cut in half
- A little olive oil
- 4 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
-
Optional: Balsamic-dressed salad leaves (120g bag of salad)
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180oC for a fan oven.
- Fry the onion in a little olive oil until soft but not coloured. Add the balsamic vinegar and cook for about 10-15 minutes on a slow heat until the mixture takes on a lovely glazed appearance and all the excess liquid has evaporated.
- Add about a half of the rocket leaves and cook for about 2 minutes until the rocket is wilted. Allow to cool until you are ready to make the tarts.
- Roll out the puff pastry in a rectangle. Use a knife to lightly score along all 4 edges of the pastry. The marks should be 3-4 cm apart and be careful not to cut right through. Where the pastry is scored it will rise when cooked, giving it a nice upturned look!
- Spread the onions evenly on the pastry keeping within the scored lines. Cut the tomatoes in half and arrange on top, seeded side facing up.
- Take the thyme and with your finger and thumb tear the leaves from the stalk and sprinkle on the tart. You can use a teaspoonful of dried thyme if you prefer.
- Beat the egg yolk and use this to glaze the edges of the pastry, where you have scored it. This will give it a nice colour when it is cooked.
- Bake in the preheated oven for around 20 minutes until the pastry is cooked and nicely browned.
- Remove from the oven. Use the rest of the rocket to garnish the tarts.
- Either serve on its own or with balsamic-dressed salad leaves.
Tips
You can either make one large tart or small individual tarts using mini flan tins.
If you make individual ones, you may need to reduce the cooking time slightly.
For dairy lovers: use 25g soft rind goats cheese per person, such as Welsh or Somerset. Remove top and bottom rinds. Put a slice of goat’s cheese on the top of each mini flan case and cook as above.
Dairy Free Cooking
Dairy Free Cooking: Tips on Healthy Eating Following Cancer by Lois Whittaker, and published by Evans Mitchell Books, is available now priced £9.99. £1 from the sale of each book will be donated to major cancer charities in the UK. Buy this book from Saga Books.