Summer vegetable tart

Over the summer I get through loads of courgettes, tomatoes and peppers in various dishes so there’s almost always a couple of each lurking in a corner of the fridge waiting to be used. Most of the time I’ve also got a lump of puff pastry in the freezer as I rarely need to use a whole block. The other week I was stuck for ideas for a Sunday lunch and decided to use up some of the leftovers.

It just takes a few minutes to prepare. After all it’s just a case of rolling out the pastry and layering on the veg. Nothing to it. If you really want to get fancy you could throw on some fresh rosemary and then finish it with some basil. Ideally you also want to eat this in the warm afternoon sun with a large glass of wine but I’d happily make do with a warm living room, watching the summer rain outside with a large glass of wine. At the end of the day the tart is still delicious no matter the weather.

Serves 4

Ready made puff pastry
1 courgette, sliced
1 pepper, cut into small chunks
4 tomatoes, sliced
Sprig of fresh rosemary
Fresh basil
Milk or 1 egg, beaten
Optional – Half an aubergine, sliced

Preheat the oven to 180C.
Roll out the pastry to about 40cm x 20cm or until it’s just a few millimetres thick.
Transfer it to a greased baking tray and then layer on the veg – courgette, then pepper, then tomatoes and finally aubergine if you’re using it.
Make sure to leave a 1cm gap round the edges.
Tear the leaves off the rosemary sprig and sprinkle over the tart.
Drizzle over plenty of olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
Brush the edges of the pastry with milk or a beaten egg.
Place in the oven for 20 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown.
Remove from the oven and finish with the fresh basil leaves placed on top.