Tomato tart recipe

A simple and delicious tomato tart with crisp and flakey puff pastry.

This tomato tart uses a packet of ready-made puff pastry to make cooking it as easy as possible. This means you can have it ready to go in just a little over half an hour. It's really simple to make, and the results are so beautiful and tasty - the whole family will love it. Once you've tried the recipe once you can play about with toppings, adding this and that depending what you have. A little grated parmesan or sliced buffalo mozzarella can be added 5 minutes before the end of cooking, or toss over a handful of rocket as you take it out of the oven.

This recipe is part of our cheap family meals collection - under £1 a head

Ingredients

• 375g packet of ready-rolled puff pastry
• 1 egg, beaten for glazing
• 2-3 tbsp green pesto
• 500g cherry tomatoes, red and yellow, halved
• 1-2 tbsp olive oil
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Salad, to serve

Method

1. Set the oven to 220°C/425°F/Gas Mark 7.
2. Unroll the pastry. With a knife, score a border around the edge of the pastry, but not cutting all the way through, about 1-2cm inside the edge of the rectangle. Score the border in a criss-cross pattern, again, taking care not to cut all the way through. Slide the pastry on to a baking sheet.
3. Brush egg glaze around the edge of the pastry, taking care that the glaze doesn't run down over the sides, otherwise the pastry won't rise properly.
4. Spread the pesto over the pastry, inside the scored line. Arrange the tomatoes on top, cut-side up. Drizzle olive oil over and season with salt and pepper.
5. Bake the tart, at the top of the oven, for 20-25 mins, until the pastry is a golden colour and crisp at the edges, and the tomatoes have started to soften.
6. Remove tart from the oven and serve hot or warm with a green salad. (Not suitable for freezing).

Top tip for making this tomato tart

If you’re unable to get ready-rolled puff pastry, use a 375g packet of all-butter puff pastry and roll it out to a large rectangle to fit your baking sheet.