I made these last week to take along to a get together hosted by Lydia Bakes. We all have quite the sweet tooth so I thought something savoury would go down well to combat all the sugar we would be eating (check out the sweet Berry Tarts I made for the catch up too).
I made these Summer Vegetable Tarts from scratch, baking my own pastry cases, but you could easily buy some pre-made from the supermarket which would make these really quick and easy to whip up. Also, feel free to change up the vegetable mix to include your favourites or what you have on hand.
Ingredients:
Pastry cases:
1 ⅓ cups flour
pinch of salt
100g unsalted butter, cold, cut into cubes
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons ice cold water
Vegetable filling:
1 bunch asparagus
1 kumara, chopped into chunks
½ pumpkin, chopped into chunks
12 cherry tomatoes
4 – 6 Portobello mushrooms
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons dried mixed herbs
salt
pepper
200g haloumi cheese
25g feta, crumbled
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
12 small sprigs of rosemary
Method:
Pastry cases:
In a food processor, combine the flour and salt by pulsing the mixture in 2 second bursts. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
Mix the egg with a tablespoon of water. Add the egg to the flour mixture, pulsing again until just combined, adding the extra water if needed to bring the pastry together to forma soft dough.
On a lightly floured surface, shape the mixture into a ball. Wrap in cling film and place in the refrigerator for about an hour, or until firm.
Grease a 12 hole muffin tin. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Roll the pastry mixture out to about 2mm thick. Cut out rounds from the pastry, about 6cm in diameter (I used a drinking glass for this). Place the pastry rounds into the prepared muffin holes and press into place. Prick the bottom of each pastry case with a fork.
Cut out squares of baking paper (or use muffin papers) and line each pastry case before filling each with uncooked rice or baking weights. Place the prepared tin of pastry cases into the freezer for 5 – 10 minutes (or the fridge for 30 minutes) to become cool again and firm up.
Bake for 10 minutes. Take the cases out of the oven and remove the paper and baking weights before returning to the oven for a further 2-5 minutes. Set aside to cool.
Filling:
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Place the vegetables (kumara, pumpkin, asparagus, tomatoes, mushrooms) in a couple of roasting trays, coat the vegetables in the oil, dried herbs, and salt and pepper. Roast the vegetables until tender.
While the vegetables are roasting, cut the haloumi into slices, about 0.5cm thick and fry in a frying pan until lightly golden on both sides.
Once the vegetables been roasted and taken out of the oven to cool slightly, cut the vegetables (excluding the tomatoes) into small, little chunks (0.5cm pieces). Crumb the feta cheese and mix it together with the roasted vegetables.
Place a piece of haloumi in the bottom of each pastry case. Top with the roasted vegetable mix.
Beat together the egg and water. Brush the egg wash over the vegetables in the tart cases. Bake for a further 10 minutes. Once out of the oven, top each tart with a sprig of rosemary and a cherry tomato.
These look fabulous! Definitely going to give them a try :-)
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