Tomato and 'Vegetarian Pasta Cheese' Tart

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After our lovely trip to the Farmers Market this morning, I was trying to find a tomato tart recipe that I’m sure I have got somewhere. I couldn’t find the one I was thinking of, but tomato tart was what I wanted to make with the gorgeous baby plum tomatoes I bought from The Tomato Stall.

well - I didn't buy ALL of them, just 2 punnets

I made the easy tomato tart from Simon Rimmer’s ‘The Accidental Vegetarian’ a couple of months ago, so I thought it only fair to give St Hugh’s version a go. It’s in Veg Everyday, and is basically an open tomato tart. These open tarts are just brilliant and dead easy. You can put almost anything on them – all you need is a block of puff pastry. Keep it in the freezer – it defrosts really quickly and is a complete winner. Even better, this version gave me an opportunity to break into the Bookhams ‘Twineham Grange Vegetarian Pasta Cheese’ that I also bought from the market this morning.

So, for tonight’s supper, here’s what I did:

Tomato and Vegetarian Pasta Cheese Tart

Ingredients: 375g puff pastry, 400 g baby plum tomatoes, each sliced into 3-4 slices (on the diagonal is pretty if you can be bothered) depending on how big they are, 1 finely chopped garlic clove, 50 g Vegetarian Pasta Cheese, finely grated, 1 tbsp finely chopped rosemary, salt & pepper, olive oil

Method: Set the oven to 190⁰ C, lightly oil a baking sheet – the one I use is a shallow rectangular one, approx 23 cm x 34 cm, then roll out the pastry to fit, and score (but don’t cut through) a 1 cm border all round the edge. Sprinkle the garlic over the pastry, then arrange the tomato slices on top. I was feeling particularly artistic this afternoon, so I tried to alternate the red and yellow slices. Grind over some pepper and salt and trickle over a little olive oil, then bake for about 15 minutes.

When the tomatoes are looking tender and starting to brown, take the tart out of the oven, sprinkle over the rosemary and cheese.

Return to the oven for another 10 or so minutes. The cheese will be melting and may be even a little browned, and the pastry cooked.

I served it with Yotam Ottolenghi’s Green Lentils, Aparagus,and Watercress salad from Plenty, amd broad beans, also from today's haul,