Leftovers Vegetable Tart

This is completely worth making and transforms leftovers into a seriously special meal.  You can exchange the flour to plain or gluten-free but I love to use spelt flour for its low gluten content and nutty flavour.  Of course use whatever veg you have but just make sure that you use roughly similar amounts. The onion garlic ratio is key though! For the ultimate pastry, try to keep the pastry cold at all stages.

Serves 6-8 people

Ingredients:

For the pastry:

180g spelt flour, sieved

110g cold unsalted butter, cut into 2cm cubes

50ml iced cold water

1/2 tsp sea salt

For the filling:

1 large handful cherry tomatoes, halved

100g mushrooms, thinly sliced

A handful Brussels sprouts, halved

2/3 courgette, cut into 1cm circles

1 red pepper, thinly sliced

6 banana shallots / 2 medium onions, thinly sliced

4 garlic cloves, diced

6 tbsp olive oil

3 medium eggs, lightly beaten

60g grated cheese, I used Gruyère

2 tbsp soured cream/ yoghurt/créme fraîche

Few gratings nutmeg

Salt and pepper

Start with the pastry and add the flour, sea salt and cold butter cubes into a bowl.  Toss butter in flour and start to pinch the cubes to squash them.  Toss again in the flour and get some air into the flour.  Use hands to lightly crumble together but keep some butter chunks.  Make a well in the middle and pour in half of the iced water.  Start to mix together and add enough water to just bring dough into a ball.  Try not to overwork and cover in cling film.  There will be some visible butter. Chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour.  

Butter and flour a 10 inch tart case or cake tin and then chill in the fridge.  

Flour a cold surface and dust rolling pin.  Roll dough to 1.5cm thick and try not to add any more flour.  Lay tart case over pastry and cut around leaving 2 inches extra round the edge.  Roll pastry into tart case and mould edges trying to even everything out.  Chill in the freezer for 5 minutes.

Preheat oven to 170 degrees C and gently poke pastry with a fork, top with baking paper and baking beans.  Bake for 15 minutes and remove the baking beans.  Return to oven for another 15 minutes or until lightly golden.  Leave to cool.

While the pastry cooks you can prep the veg.  Line a baking tray with a baking sheet.  Add tomatoes, mushrooms, sprouts, courgette and red pepper to the tray.  Drizzle over some olive oil, salt and pepper and turn oven to 190 degrees. Roast for about 25 minutes.  You might need to remove a few veg before.

While the veg roasts, you can fry the shallots in a saucepan on a medium to high heat with 3 tablespoons olive oil for 5 minutes.  Then add the diced garlic and cook for another minute before removing from heat. 

Turn oven back down to 180 degrees.  Now assemble the tart!  Spread the onion mix inside the tart case and top with half the roasted veg.  In a bowl whisk the eggs with a fork and add the cheese, soured cream, nutmeg, salt and pepper and mix.  Pour this into the tart case and decorate with the remaining veg.  Bake for 25 minutes until a top has formed but it is still a little gooey inside.  It will firm up once cooled.  Stored covered for up to 3-4 days.