Easiest Summer Tart

Aah summer! This tart is actually a salad served on puff pastry because lets face it most things tastes perfect on puff pastry!

A true celebration of summer with organic heirloom tomatoes, thin spears of asparagus (sneaked in out of season), homemade pesto and lots of salty feta. I think the addition of pitted kalamata olives would be perfect too.

I love the fact that most of the elements of the tart can be made ahead ready to just assemble and serve on the day. The tomatoes are best marinated 30 minutes before the serving.

Seasonal Swaps: You can use broccolini (purple sprouting broccoli) instead of asparagus. Goats cheese instead of feta will also work well.

The tart serves 4 as as side or a snack.

• 2 x 250g puff pastry or 1 large rectangle pastry
• 200g cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 100g asparagus or broccolini
• enough feta cheese to serve
• extra virgin olive oil to drizzle
• 1 lemon zest
• salt & pepper
• micro herbs/watercress or rocket to serve

Basil Pesto

• 80g fresh basil (leaves picked, no stalks)
• 1/2 cup of pine nuts (or toasted sunflower seeds)
• 1 handful of freshly grated Parmesan (opt)
• a good extra virgin olive oil
• 1 lemon zest & juice to taste
• 1 small garlic clove – minced
• salt & pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 180c and line a baking sheet with baking paper.
2. Add the cherry tomatoes to a bowl, add 3 tablespoons of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper and leave to marinade at room temperature.
3. Score with a sharp knife a border all along the fridge cold puff pastry, gently prick the base in the inside of the pastry with a fork (this will prevent the pastry from rising in the oven). This is an important step. Bake in the oven until golden about 25 minutes. There should be no grey patches visible. Leave to cool down.
4. While the tart is baking, add the baby asparagus to a small baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper, mix well and roast for 5-7 minutes in the same oven as the tart, remove and cool.
5. Add the basil leaves, garlic and pine nuts in a food processor and pulse until the basil leaves are chopped. Add the parmesan cheese if using and pulse again. Its is now time to season the pesto by adding 1 teaspoon of salt, pepper, lemon zest and a few squeezes lemon juice, mix to combine, taste and adjust. Add enough olive oil to the pesto to form a paste. The paste should be thin enough so you can drizzle it on the tart. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
6. To serve, drizzle the pesto over the tart (reserving some for garnish), top with the marinated cherry tomatoes, asparagus and crumbled feta. Drizzle with pesto and olive oil. Season with flaky sea salt and lots of pepper. Top or served alongside the watercress, rocket or micro herbs. Enjoy!