Roasted Veg & Goat’s Cheese Tarts

Method

Step 1
Make the pastry. Put the butter and flour in a food processor and blitz to fine breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolk and 1 tsp of water and pulse until the mixture forms a dough. Tip out the dough onto a lightly floured surface, shape into a ball, wrap in cling film and chill it while you make the filling.

Step 2
For the filling, heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the peppers and courgettes and fry until softened but not browned. Transfer to a bowl and leave to cool.

Step 3
Heat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/400°F/Gas 6. Lightly flour your work surface and roll out the chilled dough until 3mm thick. Cut out 12 circles each 16cm in diameter, re-rolling the trimmings as necessary. Use the circles to line your tart tins, trimming the edges to neaten. Chill the pastry cases for 10 minutes.

Step 4
Line the chilled cases with your greaseproof squares and fill with rice or baking beans, then transfer to a baking tray and bake the cases blind for 10 minutes. Remove the paper and rice or beans, and return the cases to the oven for a further 5 minutes, until golden and crisp. Reduce the oven to 160°C/140°C fan/315°F/Gas 2–3.

Step 5
Divide the pepper and courgette mixture equally between the pastry cases. Add the diced beetroot. In a separate bowl mix together the eggs, milk and thyme leaves and season with salt and pepper. Pour equal amounts of the mixture over the vegetables.

Step 6
Crumble the goat’s cheese over, top with a sprinkling of pine nuts and bake for 12–14 minutes, until the cheese is golden, the pine nuts have taken on a little colour and the filling is hot. Remove from the oven and serve warm.