Mediterranean Tart

• Preparation Time 30 Minutes
• Cooking Time20-25 Minutes
• Serves 4

Vegetarian, Vegan, Gluten-free, Nut-free

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This is a lovely light lunch and delicious with a fresh green salad, after the excess of the festive season, this feels so nice.

This works for me, as it is very east to as I play around with the flavours and  the range of vegetables that could be used to create different flavours profiles. Great to wrap up and take to an outdoor gathering or served at a buffet cold. It provides me with a lovely pastry tart that works in replacement of my usual Quiche.

Other vegetables that work well in this are courgette, different colour beetroots or aubergine.

Nothing beats some gorgeous fresh vegetables, especially when that vegetable is in season.

The tomato for me even surpasses the great British strawberry in its sweetness

Every year in the greenhouse I grow a few different varieties of tomatoes, this recipe is perfect to showcase these.

Ingredients

• 1 1 pack of ready rolled puff pastry, I used Just-Rol
• 1 red or orange pepper roasted.
• 2 medium-sized white onions chopped into half-moon slices
• 1 crushed clove of garlic
• Roughly 300g of small tomatoes in different colours, cut into half.
• Few sprigs of freshly chopped herbs such as thyme and oregano ( if fresh unavailable use dry but remember only a pinch will be needed
• Basil leaves for finishing
• 30g vegan parmesan cheese such as Violife prosociano wedge or green vale parveggio grated
• 50g grated vegan cheese ( choose one that you like and know that melts).
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 2 tsp butter such as Vitalite
• salt and black pepper

Instructions

1. Before beginning to make the tart, first, roast your peppers. Slice the pepper into large pieces discarding any pith and seeds. Rub with a tsp of olive oil, salt & pepper and crushed garlic, then place in a baking tin into a hot oven and cook for around 20 mins or until they start to char. Remove from oven and place to one side until needed.

Pre-heat the oven to 220C

2. Lightly spray a non-stick loose-bottomed tart pan with oil. I used a rectangular pan but a square or round tin would work fine.

3. Line the pan with the pastry and trim the edges, then prick the base all over with a fork. This stops the bottom of the tart puffing up when in the oven, cook for about 15 minutes or until lightly golden, then remove from the oven. You do not want the pastry too dark as it will be going back into the oven later.

4. While the pastry is in the oven heat a non-stick frying pan on a medium heat adding the butter and a tsp of oil. Once the butter has melted add the onions and a sprinkle of salt, stir, then turn down to low heat and leave to cook stirring occasionally. You want the onions a golden colour bringing out their natural sweetness by almost caramelising them. This can take between 15-25 minutes and is crucial to the overall taste of the tart.

5. When the pastry is golden and the onions ready, spread them along the bottom of the tart. Take the roasted peppers, slice them, and layer them on top of the onions. Sprinkle over a little parmesan and grated cheese, leaving the rest for the top.

6. Arrange you cut tomatoes over the top of the cheese until the tart is filled, this is where using the different coloured tomatoes really add to the overall appearance.

Sprinkle with more parmesan and another grated cheese, finishing with seasoning and some chopped herbs

Place in the oven at 200C, cook for 20-25 minutes until golden and bubbly.

Roasting the peppers and caralmelising the onions in this recipe is a must as it brings out the natural sugars in them and adds to the recipe. It would not taste as nice using them raw.

This tart is delicious both warm or cold and is one of my favourites.

• Crisp
• Fresh tasting
• juicy
• Flavourful
• Delicious

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Everything you want in a good vegetable tart.

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• Spicy Roasted Pepper Pasta Sauce
• Lemon & Pistachio Cream Cookies
• Custard Cream Biscuits
• Vegan Tikka Masala
• Vegan Cottage Pie

 If you make this, don’t forget to tag me on twitter as @veganalchemist1 or my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/thegfveganalchemist I love seeing your versions of the recipes.  I would love to hear your comments too.