the mouth~watering food blog what katie ate featured the fact that march, in australia, is/has been in the middle of a meat~free week. the point isn't to turn everyone into vegetarians either. it's all to support free range farms and end factory farming of animals.
since i am a vegetarian, among some of the meat~free dishes katie featured, i'd love to try this...a slow roasted tomato & goat's cheese pesto tart. i like all of those things, tomatoes, goat cheese, pesto and tarts. so...
here's how katie does it:
ingredients,
for the pesto,
2 large handfuls of fresh basil, leaves, stalks removed
1/4 pine nuts, lightly toasted (5-10 mins in a medium heat oven)
1/4 cup olive oil (note: do not use EVOO for this as flavour will be too strong)
100 g soft goat’s cheese
pinch chili flakes
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
for the topping,
3 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
extra parmesan cheese for serving
fresh oregano leaves
fresh basil leaves
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 sheet pre-rolled all butter puff pastry
1 egg yolk and a dash of milk mixed together to make egg wash.
the method,
1.preheat oven to 120˚C (250˚F) place all cherry tomatoes (and or any other varieties of tomatoes which you may like to include, halved or quartered) onto a baking tray, cut side up and slow roast for 2 hours. to make the pesto:
2.meanwhile into the jug of a blender or food processor add the two handful’s worth of fresh basil leaves, the lightly toasted pine nuts, grated 1/4 parmesan cheese, goat’s cheese, balsamic vinegar, chili flakes and 1/4 cup olive oil and whizz to form a thick, smooth pesto paste, season to taste with salt and black pepper and set aside. using a standard dinner plate, cut a circle out from the sheet of pre-rolled pastry, then using a smaller plate (1/2”/1.5cm smaller than original) centre it evenly on top of the pastry circle and gently press down to form a grooved smaller circle border within the larger pastry circle.
prick inside the border – aka the middle of the pastry shape with a fork a good few times and brush the exterior pastry border with egg wash. spread the pre-made pesto paste thinly within the inner circle – avoiding getting any on the border then place the roasted tomatoes in the centre. season with a pinch of sea salt and a generous sprinkling of black pepper and roast in the oven at 180˚C (350˚F) until the pastry is cooked on the bottom and golden brown around the edges. Serve warm with shavings of fresh parmesan and a drizzle of good balsamic vinegar.
oh yeah...and eat ;) enjoy this friday food/2 recipe!