Ingredients
2 cups plain flour
(400g)
1 tsp salt
200g butter
cold, diced
¼ cup ice cold water
1 cup smooth ricotta
½ cup parmesan cheese
finely grated
2 eggs
1 handful cherry tomatoes
1 handful basil leaves
blended with 1 cup olive oil, or use 1/2 cup pesto
Equipment
- 1 Food processor
- 1 Small pastry cases
- 1 Baking paper
- 1 Pastry weights (or coins/dried beans)
- 1 Oven
- 1 Rolling pin
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan-forced).
- Combine the flour, salt and butter in a food processor and pulse until mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
- Add the water and blitz again so a dough forms. Turn mixture out onto a floured surface and knead for a few minutes so you have a smooth, elastic dough.
- Wrap in plastic and let rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Then roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface. Cut the pastry into rounds to fit small pastry cases. Line and trim the pastry then return to the fridge to chill for a further 30 minutes.
- Line tart shells with baking paper weighed down with coins, dried beans or pastry weights and blind bake for 15 minutes. Remove paper and weights and set aside.
- Mix the ricotta, parmesan and eggs together until you have a smooth mixture. Divide this among the blind baked tart shells and top with half a cherry tomato and return to the oven.
- Cook for 15 minutes or until the filling is golden and the tomato has collapsed. Remove from the oven, drizzle with the basil oil or pesto and serve.
Notes
Variation
Instead of pastry cases, a one-cup capacity muffin tin also works really well or you could also just use one large tart tin.
Variation
Instead of baking these tarts with a filling, after blind baking, remove the paper and weights and cook for a further 10 minutes then fill with anything from mashed up avocado and a squeeze of lemon or cream cheese and smoked salmon or mashed up boiled egg with mayo.
Variation
Use feta instead of ricotta for a slightly more salty result.
Variation
You can use pre-made pastry cases or shop-bought pastry.
