Courgette and Goat Cheese Tarts

Ok ok, pastry isn’t exactly ‘healthy’, not with all that delicious butter in it anyway. But recently I shared with you how to make easy puff pastry, all in an effort to at least know exactly what I put into my body and to know that what we eat at home is actually home-made and therefore in my eyes, it makes it much better for you than anything shop bought. No additives, less salt bla bla bla..

I made these tarts and boy were they delicious! Hilariously though, my husband came home from work early just in time to share these with me. He covered them with a slice of ham and a slice of processed Emmental cheese (before even tasting them) and devoured them. I guess there is no getting around that, he wanted what he wanted. But he loved them none the less…

I’m really bad when it comes to supermarket shopping. I take forever and look at every item on the isle and usually pick up waaayy too much stuff for those ‘just in case’ scenarios. Cheeses, herbs and vegetables are the items I always go over the top with. And usually at the end of the week, I have to make a random vegetable soup or baked pasta dish to use these items up before I head back out and buy way too much again.

This recipe is my guideline, it works with an array of toppings so don’t feel you have to head to the shops just to get these ingredients, when there are probably some ingredients in your fridge that you’re dying to use up before they go to waste. I also love to make these with halved cherry tomatoes, spinach and goats cheese (Photos included).

So without further delay, I share with you my vegetable tarts…

COURGETTE AND GOATS CHEESE TARTS

(makes 4 individual tarts)

• 1 quantity of my easy puff pastry (2 sheets of ready rolled shop bought will do the job too don’t worry)
• 1 large courgette
• 100 g soft round goat cheese log, thinly sliced
• 1 red pepper
• 2 spring onions
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed
• 3 tsp olive oil
• 4 tsp red pesto or tomato sauce will do too
• a couple of sprigs of fresh thyme
• salt and pepper

THE HOW

I always start by getting my veg prepped. Slice the courgette into 3-4 mm slices. Dice the red pepper and spring onions.

Pre heat the oven to 180 C fan oven/200 C non fan and line two baking trays with parchment.

Brush a griddle pan with a little of the oil (1 tsp) and place the slices over a medium heat and cook until you have nice scorch marks (about 2 minutes) on each side. Remove the courgettes. In a bowl, mix 1 tsp of the oil with the garlic and half the thyme leaves and toss the courgettes in with them, give them a good stir to mix the garlic in evenly. Season with salt and pepper.

Add a tiny bit more of the oil to the griddle pan and throw in the pepper and spring onion and just toss until softened (about 2 minutes). Turn the heat off and set aside.

Roll out the pastry if not already rolled and divide into four rectangles. Score the pastry about 1 cm in from the edges to allow the edges to rise when cooking. Place the tart bases onto the two trays.

Smear 1 tsp of red pesto onto inner rectangle of each tart base.

Layer the courgette, peppers and goats cheese onto the tart bases and repeat until all used up.

Add a grind of pepper and salt to the top and sprinkle with a little more fresh thyme.

Pop into the oven for 15-20 minutes until the pastry edges have risen and browned nicely and the cheese has melted into the vegetables.