Very Full Tart

(serves 4-6)

1 red pepper and 1 yellow pepper
about 100 ml olive oil
1 medium aubergine, cut into 4 cm dice
1 small sweet potato, peeled and cut into 3 cm dice
1 small courgette (zucchini), cut into 3 cm dice
2 medium onions, thinly sliced
2 bay leaves
300 g shortcrust pastry
8 thyme springs, leaves picked
120 g ricotta
120 g feta
7 cherry tomatoes, halved
2 medium free-range eggs
200 ml double cream
salt and pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 230 C. Start by roasting the vegetables. Use a small serrated knife to cut around the stalk of the peppers and lift it out along with the seeds. Shake the peppers to remove all the remaining seeds; discard the stalks and seeds. Place the two peppers in a small ovenproof dish, drizzle with a little oil and put on the top shelf in the oven.

2. Mix the aubergine in a bowl with 4 tablespoons of olive oil and some salt and pepper. Spread in a large baking tin and place in the oven on the shelf beneath the peppers.

3. After 12 minutes add the sweet potato dice to the aubergine tin and stir gently. Return to the oven to roast for another 12 minutes.

4. Then add the courgette to the tin, stir and roast for further 10-12 minutes. At this point the peppers should be brown and the rest of the vegetables cooked.

5. Remove all from the oven and reduce the temperature to 160 C. Cover the peppers with foil and cool, then peel and tear roughly into strips.

6. While the vegetables are roasting, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan on a medium heat. Sauté the onions with the bay leaves and some salt for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they turn brown, soft and sweet. Remove from the heat, discard the bay leaves and set aside.

7. Lightly grease a 22 cm loose-bottomed tart tin. Roll out the pastry to a circle roughly 3 mm thick and large enough to line the tin, plus extra to hang over the rim. Carefully line the tin with the pastry, processing it into the corners and leaving the excess hanging over the top edge. Line the pastry case with a large sheet of baking parchment (make sure it covers the bottom and side) and fill it with baking beans. Bake the case blind for 30 minutes.

8. Carefully remove the paper with the beans, then bake the case for a further 10-15 minutes, or until it turns golden brown. Remove and allow to cool a little.

9. Scatter the cooked onion over the bottom of the pastry case and top with the roasted vegetables, arranging them evenly. Scatter half the thyme leaves over. Next, dot the veg with small chunks of both cheeses and then with the tomato halves, cut-side up.

10. Whisk the eggs and cream in a small bowl with some salt and pepper. Carefully and slowly pour this mix into the tart case; the top layer of tomatoes and cheese should remain exposed.

11. The remaining thyme over the top. Place in the oven and bake for 35-45 minutes, or until the filling sets and turns golden. Remove and allow to rest for at least 10 minutes before breaking off the excess pastry from the edge, taking the tart out of the tin and serving.

My Tips:

While removing the stalks of the peppers instead of using a serrated knife you can simply push the stem gently inside, starting at one place and moving around until the stem is safely inside of the pepper. Move around the stem inside a bit to make sure it’s no more connected to the sides of the pepper (ovary wall). Then gently pull it out and shake the seeds out as always.
It is easier to peel the roasted peppers, if you roast them with their outside-up: a whole pepper you would want to put up straight. In this recipe we still need to tear them in strips afterwards, so you can cut your peppers in halves before roasting and put the halves with the skins facing the grill on a rack (with aluminium foil). Depending onl the temperature you will probably need less time to roast, so keep an eye on them ;)
In all recipes with tarts pay careful attention to the type and size of the tart tin! A wrong type of the tin may make it difficult to separate the tart from the tin, and a wrong size of the tin will lead to over- or (rather) under-filled tarts, so you’ll have to make more filling, and especially eggs-cream mixture. This recipe implies a small/ medium-sized tart tin. If you don’t have a loose-bottomed one, make sure to use slightly oiled baking parchment in between.
If you discover some cracks in your pastry after baking it separately, make sure to close/ cover them if possible, because otherwise the eggs-cream mixture will leave the tart and distribute itself evenly between the tart AND the tin. This will make it completely impossible to take the tart out without ruining it.
Experiment and change the recipe to your liking: next time I will definitely use extra 1-2 onions, since the outcome of 2 “medium” onions proved to be quite little. I used more cherry tomatoes and thyme that I think only improved the gorgeous taste of this summer tart :)