USING UP THE LEFT OVERS - Cheese, Tomato and Basil Tart


When you have such a small amount of puff pastry left-over, after using most of it as the topping for a tasty chicken pie, it is tempting to simply throw it away. The left-over puff pastry is only the size of a tennis ball, so why worry? Well, even this small amount can make a delicious tart, for a lunch time snack for two or as a starter for a more elaborate supper for four persons. This weekend, we also had some left-over mature cheddar cheese and goat's cheese, and put together with an abundance of our greenhouse tomatoes and the fresh supermarket basil cluttering up the window ledge, then a cheese, tomato and basil tart seemed the obvious solution.


This is a very simply dish that anyone can make. Roll out the left-over puff pastry into a square, circle or oblong and place it into a flan dish or onto a baking tray. Brush the pastry with either milk, as below, or a beaten egg. Place the pastry in a pre heated oven at 180' or gas mark 5, for about 10 to 15 minutes until the pastry is golden brown.


While the pastry is in the oven, chop up the fresh basil, slice the tomatoes and grate the cheese. We also had left-over goats cheese, so this was broken into small pieces as below.


With the pastry out of the oven, lay the tomatoes onto the pastry base.
 

On top of the tomatoes, evenly spread the chopped basil.



Next lay the cheese on top of the basil. In our case we put on the goats cheese on first followed by the mature cheddar, but it all depends what cheese you have left-over. Any cheese will do and one cheese topping is plenty!



Place the tart in a pre-heated oven at 180' or gas mark 5 for 10 to 15 minutes or until the cheese has melted. Serve on an apppropraite plate, as a snack with a nice glass of wine for two persons, or slice the cheese, tomato and basil tart into four equal pieces to serve as a starter for four supper guests.



Enjoy the left-overs (Ls)!

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