I’m so glad summer is here for lots of reasons, but one of the main ones, is that our food intake changes. Gone are the stews and heavy soups of winter, which are delicious, but can be just a bit too much on the comfort side of food. Over the past couple of months, these have been gradually swapped out for much lighter meals, which are also generally now eaten outdoors, rather than in front of the fire, watching TV. A delicious summery savoury tart was the order the day recently – very few ingredients and so easy to make, you literally don’t need a recipe for it…
what you’ll need
- one packet of filo pastry
- jar of basil pesto
- cherry tomatoes
- feta cheese
- fresh thyme
- chilli flakes
- salt and pepper
I suppose you could definitely make your own filo pastry, but when you can buy this frozen and just roll out, when needed, why bother? I like cooking when it’s uncomplicated and faff-free, and to me, making your own pastry, is neither of these. And, unless you are a pastry maestro, I’m guessing it tastes just as good as home made. On this occasion, we used a jar of pesto, but this is one thing I usually don’t mind making, as it’s all just blitzed in the nutri-bullet.
what you’ll need to do
- roll out the pastry into an ovenproof dish/tin – keep it on the paper it’s rolled in too, as this is OK to go into the oven and it makes slicing and lifting the tart very easy, Prick the pastry all over with a fork;
- Dollop big spoonfuls across the pastry – leave a little in the jar for later – and smooth out so that the base is covered;
- Slice the cherry tomatoes and feta and squash down into the pesto;
- Sprinkle with the fresh sprigs of thyme, olive oil and chilli flakes and season with salt and pepper
Cook at 180° for about 25 minutes. Slice and serve. What could be easier?
