COOKING // COURGETTE TART

I love the warm weather! Not only does it mean BBQs, Pimms and flip flops but in our family it also signals the beginning of fresher, lighter (and normally healthier) food! With an afternoon free I decided to test my culinary skills by cooking a Courgette Tart with a Roasted Tomato Coulis from Paul Hollywood's book How to Bake! Hands up I didn't make my own puff pastry, but it was actually surprisingly simple and went down an absolute treat with the fam. The tomato coulis was my favourite, it was packed with so much flavour and I even used it as a salad dressing the next day. So if you fancy trying something new, you have to give this a go....

How good do these tomatoes look after being roasted in the oven with some garlic for half-an-hour yummy!

For this recipe you will need:

• 250g puff pastry 

For the topping:

• Olive oil for cooking and sprinkling
• 1 large red onion, peeled and thinly sliced
• Caster sugar for sprinkling
• 500g courgettes
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• Squeeze of lemon juice
• Freshly grated Parmesan

For the roasted tomato coulis

• About 600g large, ripe tomatoes, halves
• 3 garlic cloves unpeeled
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• Olive oil for drizzling 
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• Sea salt and coarsely ground black pepper
• Handful of fresh basil leaves

Method

1. First make the coulis. Heat your oven to 220C. Put the tomatoes, cut side up, in a roasting tin. Add the garlic and trickle over the balsamic vinegar. Drizzle generously with olive oil. Sprinkle with the sugar and season lightly with sale and coarse black pepper. Roast for 20-30 minutes until very soft and juicy and slightly covered on the top. Allow to cool. Peel the garlic and put the cloves, along with the tomatoes and any juices from the roasting tin, into a blender. Add the basil and bit more olive oil. Blitz thoroughly, then pass through a sieve into a bowl to make a smooth sauce. Check the seasoning, cover and chill until needed. 
2. Meanwhile for the topping heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a frying pan and gently fry the onion until softened. Add a sprinkling of sugar and cook for another couple of minutes until the sugar is dissolved. Set aside. 
3. Plunge the courgettes slices into a saucepan of boiling water, blanch for a minute or two, then drain, pat dry and leave to cool. 
4. Line a baking try with baking parchment or silicone paper. 
5. Roll out the puff pastry on a lightly floured surface to a large circle about 2mm thick. Using a large plate as a guide cut out a 26cm round. Prick all over with a fork and use the tip of a knife to lightly mark a 2cm boarder all around the edge. Place on the prepared baking tray. Chill for 30 minutes. 
6. Heat your oven 200C. Spoon the red onion over the pastry within the boarder and then arrange the courgette slices in layers over the top, overlapping them slightly. Sprinkle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Brush the pastry boarder with beaten egg.
7. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the pastry is puffed and golden brown. Allow to cool. Before serving, brush with a little more olive oil and squeeze over some lemon juice. Finish with a fine grating of Parmesan and a few twists of the pepper mill. Serve with a spoonful of tomato coulis on the side and a light summer salad. 

Let me know what you think if you try this!

Love Nic x