Tonight, I needed something quick and simple for dinner that would also use up some of the lovely juicy cherry tomatoes I brought back from the farmers' market - this was perfect !
Sicilian Cherry Tomato & Pesto Tart
ingredients :
1 ready-to-use puff pastry sheet
1 jar pesto
300g bacon lardons
1 onion, peeled and chopped
lots of ripe, juicy cherry tomatoes
grated cheese
I usually use Sacla pesto but I had a jar of Olives Et Al Basil & Pine Nut Pesto from the Christmas hamper which was perfect. It has whole pine nuts in it which adds some lovely crunch.
Line a shallow dish with baking parchment and roll out the puff pastry. Spread pesto all over it. (I used the whole jar.)
Fry the bacon lardons and onions for 10 minutes. Don't overcook them as they will continue to cook in the oven. Drain off any excess grease and sprinkle over the pesto.
Halve the cherry tomatoes and lay them out all over the top of the tart.
Sprinkle with grated cheese and pop it in the oven at 180° for 1/2 hour.
The sweetness of the tomatoes perfectly offsets the saltiness of the bacon and the pesto adds a deeper background flavour. It all mingles together and works really well. The oil from the pesto and the juice from the tomatoes does have a tendency to make the middle of the pastry go a bit soggy so you might like to leave a margin around the edge with no topping so that you have a bit of crunchy, crispy pastry to make up for it.
Linking up with Four Seasons Food with Delicieux & Eat Your Veg whose theme this month is ‘Celebrate Vegetables!’
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I make something very similar to this but without the lardons - however I love French lardons and I'm sure if I was shopping in France I'd be using them at every opportunity. They look great in this.
ReplyDelete(I wonder if I'm the only person who comes home fron trips to France with lardons and little tins of flageolet beans and champignons de Paris in my suitcase?)
All the coaches that go to the Belgian tobacco/chocolate/beer shops on the French border buy speculoos spread and big tubs of washing powder ?!
DeleteOoooh lovely....This is so fresh and delicious sounding! Pesto and tomatoes....lovely! Thanks for sharing with Four Seasons Food.
ReplyDeleteThanks for these. In a bit of a food rut, so nice to have inspiration!
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