Mediterranean Tart

Having seen all the pictures of peoples beautiful rose inspired apple pies on Instagram recently, I decided to put a savoury spin on the dish combining the rich flavours of the Mediterranean with a luscious buttery pastry. This recipe is a little more fiddly and time consuming than some of my others but I think the results are worth it, both in appearance and taste.

Ingredients:
For the pastry:
225g plain flour
100g butter - i use dairy free
pinch salt
4-6 tbsp cold water

For the Tomato Sauce:
300g ish cherry tomatoes
1 jar sun-dried tomatoes
salt and pepper

For the Filling:
1 large Aubergine
1 large courgette

Method:

In a large bowl, carefully rub together the flour, salt and butter until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Add the water a tablespoon at a time until the mixture comes together to form a dough. Wrap in clingfilm and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Pop the cherry tomatoes on a baking tray and drizzle with the oil from the sun-dried tomatoes along with a good sprinkle of salt and pepper. Place in a preheated oven at 160c for 15 minutes or until soft and starting to caramelise. Place the roasted tomatoes along with the sun-dried tomatoes into a blender and blend until smooth, adding more salt and pepper if required.

Finely slice the aubergine and courgette, cutting the larger slices of aubergine in half.

Take the dough from the fridge and roll out on a floured surface to around a 30cm circle. Take a loose bottomed tart tin and carefully drape the pastry over. Take a small piece of excess pastry and use this to push the pastry into the tin, getting into all the corners. Trim the pastry to the top of the dish.  Line the pastry with baking foil and blind bake for 10 minutes, at 160c.

Once the pastry is blind baked, place a generous layer of the tomato sauce over the base then top with the slices of aubergine and courgette in circles to create a flower design. Drizzle with olive oil then bake for a further 15 - 20 minutes until the pastry is golden and the vegetables are cooked.

Allow to cool slightly before removing from the tin then serve instantly.

When you make this, please take a picture and tag me using #diaryofadefectivehousewife

Enjoy!