The recent sunny weather was obviously helping in keeping spirits up, but I hadn't realised quite how much until I looked at the forecast for this week. So while there's nothing we can do about the rain outside, at least we have no place to go and can instead create some sunshine on a plate, which is exactly what this vegetable spiral tart is!
This vegetable tart was so fun to make - it's definitely a quarantine or weekend recipe. I wouldn't be faffing about with this on a normal week night unless I'm really committed to the cause. Although it takes a little time to make, it's not particularly difficult and looks way more impressive than the actual skill required! It will be a fab crowd pleaser, once we're allowed to crowd our kitchens with friends and family again (for now, I guess my lunches are sorted for the week). I loosely followed a BOSH! recipe from their latest book, with a couple of adjustments. I'm not sure if I had particularly large veg or didn't pack it as tightly as they did, but I definitely didn't need the amount stated in their recipe so I roasted the leftover veg separately and will have it with a tomato sauce and pasta later in the week, so nothing goes to waste. You'll definitely have some off-cuts with this process so that's a good way to use these bits up while the tart is cooking.
I cheated with the pastry on this occasion and bought ready-rolled shortcrust. Shortcrust is easy to make but I was too excited by spiralling veg (lockdown boredom or kitchen nerd?) to bother with the pastry. Although - and I don't mean to toot my own horn - I think I prefer my homemade pastry. The shop bought stuff cracked so easily, so I was left with a much more rustic tart than intended.
For the side dish, I made a giant cous cous salad, with an olive oil, lemon and garlic dressing, and some lovely plump sugardrop tomatoes.
Ingredients
For the tart:
shortcrust pastry (homemade or shop bought)
2 aubergines
2 courgettes
3 carrots
4-6 tbsp passata
handful of basil leaves
1-2 tbsp balsamic glaze
salt and pepper
olive oil
For the cous cous salad:
150g giant cous cous
1 pack vine tomatoes (approx. 16, I used sugardrop tomatoes)
4 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, crushed
salt and pepper
Method
1. Preheat oven to 180c. Line a 20cm tart tin with the shortcrust pastry, cover with baking paper and fill with baking beans (you can use rice or lentils for this too), and bake for 15 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, prepare the vegetables (this is the time consuming bit). Using a knife or vegetable peeler, cut the aubergines, courgettes and carrots into thin strips. You want them to be roughly similar widths. I found it helped to cut the veg in half lengthways, place the flat edge on the counter, and use a vegetable peeler to create even strips. Place the veg in separate bowls or piles, so it's easy to assemble.
3. Spread the passata over the tart base, then scatter the basil leaves and drizzle the balsamic glaze across.
4. Now for the fun part - take one strip each of the aubergine, courgette and carrot, layer these together and roll into a little rose shape. Place this in the centre of the tart, holding it together and start to wrap around the remaining veg, alternating between each type.
5. Once you've filled the tart fully, drizzle with olive oil, season with plenty of salt and pepper, and bake for 30-40 minutes until the tops of the veg are going crisp.
6. While the tart is baking, make the side salad. Cook the giant cous cous to packet instructions (I covered with cold water, brought to the boil, then reduced the heat and simmered for 8 mins). Fry off the garlic in a drizzle of olive oil, then add the cooked cous cous to the frying pan, stirring for a couple of minutes. Whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice and seasoning in a bowl, add the cous cous and tomatoes, then mix to combine.
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