Mediterranean Vegetable Tart
This Mediterranean Vegetable Tart can be assembled in 15 minutes or less making it the perfect mid-week meal.
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Simple suppers
The humble roll of ready made puff pastry is a staple in my fridge. Making puff pastry from scratch is a real labour of love and something I just don’t have the time of patience for! You can’t accuse me of not being honest… Ready made puff pastry also happens to be “accidentally” vegan – so long as you avoid the “all butter” kind.
When it comes to mid-week meals I really am all about convenience and so ready made puff pastry isn’t the only “cheat” ingredient you’ll find in this recipe. (Heck, can I really call it a recipe or is it really just an assembly job? Who cares if it’s tasty and gets dinner on the table at a decent time. Am I right?) As well as the puff pastry you’ll also want to pick up a jar of grilled artichokes, a jar of roasted red peppers. If I’m perfectly honest, I almost always have a jar of these on the go too! They are just so handy.
Pre-prepped veggies aside, what really makes this tart are the tomatoes. As we move into summer tomatoes only become more and more delicious. A warm tomato just smells and tastes of sunshine! Throughout lock down I’ve been treating myself to a box of heritage tomatoes from The Tomato Stall. The only tomatoes that taste better than those from the Isle of Wight are the ones from my garden but we are a month or so away from enjoying those.
Hiding underneath the tomatoes on this tart are slices of aubergine and courgette. (You really can pack a lot of veg into this one simple meal!) The reason I like to place these underneath the tomatoes is that they act like sponges, soaking up all of the delicious juices from the tomatoes, as well as the infused oil from the artichokes and roasted peppers. This means that none of the flavour is lost and the pastry beneath stays crisp! You wouldn’t want a soggy bottom now would you?
To finish off this delicious tart you’ll want some vegan “parmesan” and some fresh herbs. My favourite for this particular tart is flat leaf parsley but oregano would also work well. I’m greedy and can easily devour half of this tart with a side salad but really a quarter of the tart should serve one person. Anyway, enough chit chat. I promised you a quick and easy supper so let’s get cooking!
The recipe
Mediterranean Vegetable Tart
Ingredients
- 1 ready rolled puff pastry sheet (roughly 350g)
- 0.5 aubergine sliced
- 0.5 courgette sliced
- 1 handful tomatoes mixed varieties and sizes, sliced or halved
- 5 pieces grilled artichokes
- 1 roasted red pepper thinly sliced
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 pinch cracked black pepper
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley chopped
- 2 tbsp vegan parmesan
Instructions
- Pre-heat you oven to 200C / 400F / gas mark 6.
- Lay a piece of grease proof paper onto your surface to stop the pastry sticking.
- Remove the pastry sheet from it's packaging and cut it in half along the longest edge so that you have two rectangles.
- Lay one half of the pastry on top of the other so that you have created a cross shape.
- Using a rolling pin, gently press the two halves of puff pastry together.
- Carefully transfer the grease proof paper and pastry base on to a baking tray.
- Layer the vegetables on to the pastry in the following order but leaving roughly 2 inches of pastry around the edge: aubergine, courgette, artichokes, tomatoes, roasted red peppers.
- Season the vegetables well with the salt and pepper.
- Fold the edges of the pasty over onto the vegetables (this creates rustic sides to the tart which will stop any juices escaping).
- Place the tart into the centre of the oven and cook for 30 minutes or until the vegetables are soft and the pastry is puffed up and golden.
- Sprinkle over the chopped parsley and parmesan before serving.